NBC may no longer employ Kennedy family journalist Maria Shriver, but NBC's favorite historians can still be accused of being big Kennedy fans. A new book from RFK's daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who lost a run for governor of Maryland to Bob Ehrlich in 2002, slams the religious right and warns of mixing God and politics. In a book ad in the Book World section of Sunday's Washington Post, her book boasts three promotional blurbs: one from Bill Clinton, one from perennial NBC/MSNBC guest Doris Kearns Goodwin, and one from Michael Beschloss, listed in the ad as "bestselling author and NBC News' presidential historian."
The book's title is "Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God wth Politics and Losing Their Way." I doubt Mrs. Townsend would ever write a book about Martin Luther King Jr., lamenting how he mixed God with politics. But if the cause is conservative, then the religion is spoiled. The book summary on Amazon explained:
For too long, religion has been a political plaything of the right-wing in this country. American churches seem more concerned with what people do with their bodies than with their souls. Now, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend issues a spiritual call to arms to those who feel like her that today's churches--Catholic and Protestant alike--are failing to promote the welfare of those who depend upon them. After recounting her personal story in one of the most prominent Catholic families in America, she shows how America's neediest are now forgotten while their churches fight political battles against abortion rights and homosexual marriages.
Goodwin's blurb is at the top of the ad: "A stirring call to the Church she loves, to reinvigorate its ancient tradition of social justice. Part memoir, part history, Townsend writes with strength and wisdom."
Beschloss plugged the book at the ad's bottom: "An irresistible combination of personal memoir, history, and provocative argument."
Clinton hailed it this way: "Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is a woman of passion, integrity, and faith...She makes a compelling case."
Earth to the book publicist: "News" is a singular, at least in the current vernacular so it should not be "NBC News'" but "NBC News's." Or just leave out the apostrophe.
