Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to erroneously repeat it to their supporters. Such was the case with U.S. Sen. Scott Brown last week when his office uploaded a video statement onto YouTube about the controversy raging over the Obama administration’s rulings concerning the coverage of contraceptives. Some religious groups are in an uproar over the administration’s position, arguing it forces them to do something against their faith.

Enter elected officials, with lofty rhetoric that invokes the nation’s earliest days.

“Here in Massachusetts, we have a history of fighting for religious freedom,” Brown said in the 3-minute video statement criticizing the Obama administration. “It is an American tradition [that] has never wavered, and it doesn’t have a party affiliation.”

But the statement is only half-true. Yes, the Bay State has a history of fighting for religious freedom. But it’s a tradition – in Massachusetts and across the nation – that in fact has wavered, as anybody who did not take their elementary school textbooks as gospel knows.

“The much-ballyhooed arrival of the Pilgrims and Puritans in New England in the early 1600s was indeed a response to persecution that these religious dissenters had experienced in England,” the historian Kenneth Davis wrote in a 2010 issue of Smithsonian magazine. “But the Puritan fathers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony did not countenance tolerance of opposing religious views. Their ‘city upon a hill’ was a theocracy that brooked no dissent, religious or political.” Davis went on to point out that Massachusetts, at one point, allowed only Christians to run for office. And Bay State historians would certainly add the story of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothings who swept into office in the 1850s and note that anti-blasphemy laws have remained stubbornly on the books.

Brown is not the first politician to throw context and history to the wind in pursuit of a pretty phrase to justify a position. Take John F. Kennedy’s address to the Legislature in 1961, which is seen as one of his best, and which Joseph Kennedy III, his grand-nephew and now a Congressional candidate, headlined at its 50th anniversary celebration last year:

“Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us – and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill, constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities,” the newly elected president said.

The stirring speech takes on a different meaning with some historical context, as provided by the book “Common Ground,” an exhaustive look at Boston’s school busing crisis, whose author, J. Anthony Lukas, notes that the speech was delivered while political corruption, in the form of a bribery case that involved the head of the Turnpike Authority, was playing out on the front pages of the Bay State’s newspapers.

“Judge Trumpets Call to Clean Up State Corruption,” the Globe headline said a few days before Kennedy’s speech, over the following lead paragraph: “Federal Judge Charles E. Wyzanski Jr., in one of the most blistering opinions ever read in a courtroom, last evening sounded a clarion call to clean up a state-wide ‘network of corruption.’ ”

So a speech often seen as Kennedy’s farewell to Massachusetts as he headed to the White House comes off as something else when placed against the backdrop of a looming scandal involving his home state.

Context is key, and that is exactly what Brown was missing as he launched into his criticism of the Obama health care rule.

Grossman sends Winn-related donation to Pine Street Inn

Treasurer Steve Grossman this month donated $1,500 in campaign contributions to the Pine Street Inn as part of an agreement to return money received from a tainted developer.

Arthur Winn, a developer who has donated thousands of dollars over the years to Democratic and Republican candidates, pleaded guilty and was fined $100,000 for illegal campaign contributions made through straw men. The 72-year-old Brookline resident escaped jail time when he was sentenced in federal court in January.

Grossman was directed by the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance to dispose of $1,500 he received from Winn in 2002, when he ran for governor, according to Grossman’s political committee. The money had to go to a charity with no connections to Grossman.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Winn made 96 campaign contributions through “conduits” over 8 years totaling $64,000 to various Democratic and Republican candidates at the federal, state, and local level.

Other candidates who received Winn money through conduits included Congressmen Stephen Lynch and Michael Capuano, former Gov. Mitt Romney, and former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who is serving 42 months in prison on bribery charges.

The donations came as Winn was pushing a mixed-use development known as Columbus Center. The project eventually collapsed during the economic downturn.

Grossman wasn’t the only elected official that OCPF asked to donate Winn-related funds to various charities: Others included Secretary of State William Galvin ($6,000); Congressman Bill Keating’s state committee ($1,000); Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ($1,000); and City Councillor At-Large Stephen Murphy ($3,500).

“The candidates did nothing wrong,” said Jason Tait, an OCPF spokesman. “They accepted what they thought were legitimate contributions.”

Gov. Patrick and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray purged $500 and $1,500, respectively, before OCPF reached out to their campaign committees.

Suffolk poll has Coakley on top in ‘14 governor’s race

A Suffolk University poll has Attorney General Martha Coakley grabbing 43 percent of Democratic primary ballots when likely voters were asked who they would vote for in 2014. Gov. Deval Patrick has said he won’t be running for a third term, which means the field will be wide open. Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray picked up 11 percent, while Newton Mayor Setti Warren, who briefly ran for U.S. Senate last year, received 8 percent. Treasurer Grossman and Auditor Suzanne Bump received 7 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

“Martha Coakley’s numbers prove that there can be a second chance in politics,” said Suffolk pollster David Paleologos. “But anything can happen over the next two years, and with 31 percent of Democratic voters choosing candidates other than those named or refusing to answer, there’s plenty of opportunity for a dark horse to emerge in this race.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Check out updates to Boston’s political scene at The Lit Drop, located at dotnews.com/litdrop. Email us at newseditor@dotnews.com and follow us on Twitter: @LitDrop and @gintautasd.