Our beloved constant companion Rick Santorum took to ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning to expound offensively a number of topics, but perhaps his most shining moment was when he took very relevant political force John F. Kennedy to task for his 1960 remarks on the separation of church and state. Santorum says Kennedy's ideas are so terrible that they make him want to throw up. Wow, if you're going to toss your cookies, Ricky Lee, please do it in front of the cameras so someone can make a gif of it. Anyway, what are the highly questionable Kennedy remarks in question? Here you go:
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 a Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote. … I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish … 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.
Hmm, that sounds pretty tame to the untrained ear, but if you were as self-educated as Rick Santorum, you'd understand how disgustingly un-American these sentiments are. Here's what he told George Stephanopoulos:
I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. This is the First Amendment. The First Amendment says the free exercise of religion. That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square. … To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?
Let's give ourselves all a second to stop throwing up. OK, well, first of all no one, including Kennedy, is saying that people of faith aren't allowed "in the public square." But it's nice that Santorum has taken this opportunity to reveal that he does not believe in one of the fundamental founding principals of our country, which is, of course, his right. But Rick, can you explain one thing? If we don't allow people of faith into the public square to make their case, then what the hell have you been doing for this whole campaign?
Rick Santorum: JFK's 1960 Speech Made Me Want to Throw Up [ABC News]