John F. Kennedy allayed fears about a Catholic becoming president with this famous address in 1960. Now, Mitt Romney has announced that he will make a similar speech about his Mormon faith.
Unfortunately, Mitt can’t use JFK’s script. Kennedy’s speech played to the traditional American value of religious tolerance — whereas Romney must win over a party with a vocal minority that prides itself on its religious intolerance. In fact, he has famously flip-flopped on issues like abortion rights and gay marriage to appeal to this minority.
So, what to say? Maybe he should take a cue from Jon Voight’s intolerant rants in the execrable, Mormon-bashing September Dawn. He just needs to skip the part about killing “Gentiles” and focus his wrath on those who “believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”
People like JFK. That will appeal to the minority he’s determined to court all too well.
Shadow of JFK Tragedy Still Lingers Over Dallas
In Dallas, people sometimes blame the chamber of commerce, the convention bureau, and other organizations for failing to shake the city’s stigma — being identified, first and foremost, with the JFK assassination.
But I don’t fault any of those groups. It’s an open wound that may stay open for a very long time. The most recent evidence:
On Wednesday, police closed Dealey Plaza to morning traffic “after a passer-by found a plywood rat maze scrawled with prophetic messages and attached to a kitchen timer, police said … The 4-foot-square maze contained a live mouse or rat in an exercise ball … Written on the maze were messages such as, ‘There’s never enough time,’ and ‘Open your eyes before it’s too late.’”
This comes almost exactly two years after a man killed himself on the “X” that is said to mark the spot where the president was shot.
Technorati tags: JFK, PR, Public Relations, Dealey Plaza