I read JFK's speech, Mr. Romney. You're no JFK.

To contrast Romney's speech, check out John F. Kennedy's speech from the 1960 election where he dealt with questions about his religion. I hadn't read this speech until today. I'm not a huge Kennedy fan, but this was an awesome speech.

A few paragraphs (not necessarily consecutive) are below.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President -- should he be Catholic -- how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference, and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him, or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end, where all men and all churches are treated as equals, where every man has the same right to attend or not to attend the church of his choice, where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind, and where Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, at both the lay and the pastoral levels, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

Tremendous. I can't believe how unequivocal, how eloquent, how correct Kennedy's speech is. Everyone who's interested in this issue really should read it in its entirety.

Of course, the sad part is that if Romney said any of these things, he couldn't possibly win the Republican nomination.