MM strikes back at the co-opting trend:

Historians: Right-Wing Media Claims Of A Conservative JFK Are “Silly” And “Ludicrous”

Historians are throwing cold water on conservatives’ “fundamentally ludicrous” attempts to co-opt John F. Kennedy’s legacy on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

In recent days, several conservative media figures — including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Chris Wallace — have suggested that if Kennedy were alive today, his views would align with conservatives and the Tea Party. But in interviews with Media Matters historians dismissed these claims as “silly” and “bunk.”

“It shows me that John F. Kennedy’s legacy is so powerful that even those who stand for everything he stood against want to claim his legacy,” said Sean Wilentz, professor of history at Princeton University. As for the right-wing pundits’ view of a right-wing JFK? “It’s bunk,” says Wilentz. “John F. Kennedy embraced liberalism. He called himself a liberal, he was grateful to get the nomination of the Liberal Party of New York State. He ran on the liberal line.”

[…]

Silly indeed. I have no doubt that if someone was to tell JFK 51 years ago that in the year 2013 gay marriage would be available in many states, that women can get abortions legally, etc., that he (JFK) may have found that even too much change for himself. However, there is no doubt that JFK was one of those educated east coast elitists for which the tea partiers have so much disdain.