POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Again, Kennedy was a very earthy Catholic, and people learned that they had little to fear in the area of his religion.
He was also an otherwise splendidly qualified man.
Romney is an altogether different case.
First, he entirely lacks Kennedy's best qualities of thoughtfulness and eloquence.
So if there is another reason to overlook him, the nation loses nothing.
And there is another reason. The man was a missionary for his cult church.
For some the word "missionary" sounds a bit heroic, but for many, it means someone who goes abroad and interferes with the culture and lives of others, someone obsessed with his or her religion.
The last thing America needs today is a president with these limiting, narrow qualities.
Besides, under Bush there's been an unpleasant resurgence of religious practices butting into government where they very much do not belong. Romney's background likely means more of the same rotting of the fiber of government.
In this case, his history is a completely valid reason for rejecting him.
Besides all that, the man is pretentious a stuffed shirt, trying to draw a parallel between himself and Kennedy. Simply ridiculous.
