Juan Cole: Top Ten Differences Between Rick Santorum and JFK

Juan Ricardo Cole is a public intellectual, prominent blogger and essayist, and the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan.

Rick Santorum said Monday that when he first heard John F. Kennedy’s speech on religion and politics, it made him want to puke. Santorum misrepresented what Kennedy said, of course. Kennedy welcomed the participation of religious people in American public life. Santorum is a secret dominionist, desiring a takeover of the US by rightwing religion, which is why he really objects to Kennedy’s statement. (Santorum is deeply under the influence of the scary Opus Dei cult.) But Santorum’s attack on President Kennedy started me thinking about the differences between these two Americans who put themselves forward as leaders of this country.

10. John F. Kennedy was a war hero who fought in the Pacific theater after America was the victim of a war of aggression.

Santorum is a chickenhawk who voted to send US soldiers into Iraq on false pretenses.

9. John F. Kennedy wanted universal health care to help the poor

Santorum wants to repeal the Health Care Reform that provides for every American to have health insurance....