Surely Bob Novak would claim he's just reporting the facts, but it's hard to see his column today as anything other than a slam on Mitt Romney and his religion. Perhaps there are ways of talking about the Sept. 11, 1857, Mountain Meadows Massacre (which, for those without a calculator, happened 150 years ago -- before the Civil War even) and the upcoming movie documenting its events without tying it so closely to Romney, but Novak eschews such pretenses. Even worse, he goes immediately for the lowest of low-hanging fruit:

I attended a screening of the movie hosted by Academy Award-winner Jon Voight (who plays a fictional Mormon bishop). A conservative, he said this was no hit against Romney. ''I didn't even know he was running when we began this,'' Voight told viewers after the screening. But he said this terrible story is important considering America's war against terrorists.

Come again? Why is the Mountain Meadows Massacre "important considering America's war against terrorists"? Because Jon Voight said so? And, we're told, Voight's opinion is valid on this subject because a.) he's a conservative and b.) although he's not a Mormon, he plays one on TV. I'm sure Voight is a fine, smart guy, but no where in the rest of the column are readers given any better reason or authority for why we should care about the 1857 massacre other than Voight's say so, and one wonders if Voight really said as much. Democrats accuse Republicans all the time of playing the "terrorism card," but here's a clear example of how not to play that card. Of course without it, Novak has even less of a column.

Anyway, Novak continues:

In response to this column's inquiry, a Mormon Church spokeswoman in Salt Lake City said: "The weight of historical evidence shows that Brigham Young did not authorize the massacre." She added that "the church has no comment on the 'September Dawn' movie." [snip]

Romney surely is not responsible for what kind of man Brigham Young was, but that question hurts his candidacy. Romney has been described by many Republican insiders as the perfect candidate: magnetic, smart, with an excellent record as an executive. His greatest liability has been religious bias against him. He has never seized this issue, thinking it so wrong-headed that it will go away.

Similarly, he has rejected efforts by the producers of ''September Dawn'' to reach out to him. I made three attempts without success to get his views of the movie. Neither watching it nor condemning it, he may just hope that Americans will not include this bloody tragedy in their spring and summer viewing.

Obviously Novak, who contacted the Mormon Church and Romney (three times no less), is very concerned about this 150-year-old massacre. But I'm at a loss for what Novak expects Romney to say. Should he apologize? Condemn it? Convert? Novak leaves us little choice other than to bring up the old bromide that every religion has a dark past; every race, tribe and country has its crimes. The thing is we shouldn't have to state these old cliches time and again, and it surely falls beneath a journalist of Novak's reputation and professionalism to make us counter his thinly-veiled hit by doing so. The oft-derided dumbness of the national debate just got dumber.