Every pundit in America has made the comparison between Mitt Romney’s recent speech and the one JFK gave in front of the Houston Ministerial Association nearly 50 years ago. There is, however, one major difference: Kennedy’s audience was arguably HOSTILE to the candidate. The same cannot be said for Romney’s audience. 

Would Romney’s Faith in America speech been as effective had the audience been a random cross-section of Americans? Or even a room full of evangelicals who are ON RECORD as being opposed to Romney because he is a Mormon? The latter scenario is much closer to the mindset of the audience JFK faced back in 1960.

Romney didn’t have it so bad. Nationally syndicated talk radio host Glenn Beck announced Friday on his program that he had received a personal invitation from former President and Mrs. Bush to be in the audience. Beck is himself a Mormon. Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission told me on my program Friday that he was in the second row at the Bush Presidential Library during the speech.

Were there any liberals there (besides the MSM relegated to standing in the back of the room)? Were there any atheists or agnostics in the room? Were there any evangelicals in the room ON RECORD as opposed to Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon? Would the ovations have been as long and as warm had there been?