Outgoing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin passed along this wisdom on her Twitter feed earlier today. Because the quote, as she recounts it, is so garbled, it is indeed difficult to know who actually said it. But, it sounds remarkably similar to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's description of its Profile in Courage award.

The award is named for President Kennedy's 1957 Pulitzer prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. Senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands for unpopular positions.

The Profile in Courage Award seeks to make Americans aware of the conscientious and courageous acts of their public servants, and to encourage elected officials to choose principles over partisanship – to do what is right, rather than what is expedient.

Here's an earlier version:
Both descriptions echo the famous 1960 speech in which Kennedy addressed the subject of religion. Said Kennedy then:

I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic.

I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views — in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.

But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do likewise.

There's something going on here. Irony? Projection? Ignorance? I'll leave that up to you.

Related: The Real Meaning Of Sarah Palin