Sarah Palin has found a new opponent to debate: John F. Kennedy. In her new book, "America by Heart," Palin objects to my uncle's famous 1960 speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, in which he challenged the ministers - and the country - to judge him, a Catholic presidential candidate, by his views rather than his faith.
Palin was taught [she says in the book] that Kennedy's speech had "succeeded in the best possible way: It reconciled public service and religion without compromising either." She [now] finds it "defensive . . . in tone and content" and is upset that Kennedy, rather than presenting a reconciliation of his private faith and his public role, had instead offered an "unequivocal divorce of the two."
After "carefully reading" Palin's book, the author now concludes that she wants a religious test for public office, ignoring the separation of church and state. Wow. Will the attacks ever end? Palin's crime? Suggesting Kennedy should have explained how his faith enriched him.