Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has often said he thinks he should give the JFK speech — explaining why people should not vote against him because of his Mormon religion — but his aides advised against it.

Now, the former Massachusetts governor is smart to follow his own instincts in deciding it’s time to deliver the speech, Thursday, Dec. 6, at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. He’s wise to give the speech but doing it before an audience of anything but born-again evangelicals in the South is not.