Mitt Romney: no Muslims in my cabinet

Mitt Romney, who increasingly appears to be the likely Republican candidate for the 2008 US presidential elections, doesn’t want Muslims in his cabinet. He has given at least two reasons, both outrageous:

TPM Election Central has learned that at a private fundraising lunchleon in Los Vegas three months ago, Romney said a second time he would probably not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet — and on this occasion, he made other comments that one witness described as “racist.”

The witness, Irma Aguirre, a former finance director of the Nevada Republican Party, paraphrased Romney as saying: “They’re radical. There’s no talking to them. There’s no negotiating with them.”

A second witness, a self-described local registered Republican named George Harris, confirmed her account.

The new accounts provided by the witnesses lend credence to the now-notorious account of a more recent private Romney event that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor yesterday that already caused an uproar. In that account, a Muslim businessman, Mansour Ijaz, claimed that Romney had said that based on the “numbers of American Muslims” in the country, “I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified” for a muslim.

So basically he believes that all Muslims are radicals, and thinks minorities that don’t meet a certain threshold should be barred from cabinet or other senior positions. The percentage figure for Muslims in America goes from 0.5% to 1% of the population.

Update: Scott Horton digs deeper into this issue.

0 thoughts on “Mitt Romney: no Muslims in my cabinet”

  1. Why do think Romney is the likely Republican candidate? I think it’s a little to early to tell…a lot of voters are just starting to learn about the candidates now and are pretty flexible in their commitment to one specific candidate. Just in the last few weeks, Huckabee started gaining on Romney in Iowa (I think they’re practically tied there) and Huckabee is probably better able to capture the votes of the “social conservatives” that Romney is courting …It depends on if Republican voters choose the candidate that reflects their views and interests, or the candidate they think will best be able to beat Clinton.

    It will be interesting to see how/if voters react to his comments on appointing a Muslim to the cabinet (which apparently he now denies saying). I can’t see how it would help him gain support and votes, but maybe I’m just naive. Secure the base, maybe…but not gain votes.

  2. Much more interesting/worrying is the fact that Norman Podhoretz is one of Giuliani’s key foreign policy advisors….

  3. Here is a good analysis of why Romney might beat Giuliani, since even though Giuliani polls better nationally Romney is doing better in the primary states:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/059631.php

    The strongest thing against Giuliani is that for social conservatives he’s a disaster, and Romney has wooed many in among that demographic despite being a Mormon. The anti-Mormon sentiment is quite strong, nonetheless, and Giuliani appeals to a lot of libertarian right-wingers (or probably will once Ron Paul is out of the race.)

  4. “Giuliani appeals to a lot of libertarian right-wingers”

    Yeah right! Giuliani’s stances on gun control and government does not help him appeal to the libertarian right-wingers.

  5. Romney has a valid reason for shunning Muslims.

    All Muslims, including moderates are urged to kill anyone who follows a Prophet who comes after Muhammad. Muhammad is the messenger of God and is the seal of the Prophets. According to the Q’uran, that is a non negotiable issue.

    Mormons do not proselytize Muslims because both the teacher and the student is under penalty of death.

    There is no comparison of tolerance between a Muslim and a Mormon. Mormons are infinitely more tolerant but not crazy.

    Mormons by the way have had 13 Prophets since Muhammad.

    Any questions?

  6. Thanks for the link. I’m still not sure…I think it’s a toss-up. Giuliani is still way ahead in California and NY. And Romney has that whole “flip-flopper” problem (I’m cringing as I write that – I really hate that jargon). Should be an interesting couple of months.

    By the way, thanks for the delicious link about the foreign policy advisers for all of the candidates. I didn’t know that Giuliani dropped Podhoretz. When did that happen, I wonder? Well, I guess that’s a good thing. Seriously, what was he thinking???? I also see that he dropped Bob Kasten from his foreign policy team. Another Wisconsin Republican crashes and burns on the national scene! OK, I’ll stop now – I’m sure no one around here is even remotely interested in Wisconsin politics! 🙂

  7. “Romney has a valid reason for shunning Muslims.

    All Muslims, including moderates are urged to kill anyone who follows a Prophet who comes after Muhammad. Muhammad is the messenger of God and is the seal of the Prophets. According to the Q’uran, that is a non negotiable issue.

    Mormons do not proselytize Muslims because both the teacher and the student is under penalty of death.

    There is no comparison of tolerance between a Muslim and a Mormon. Mormons are infinitely more tolerant but not crazy.

    Mormons by the way have had 13 Prophets since Muhammad.

    Any questions?”

    Yet it was Catholics who forcibly converted the native Americans and it was the Britons who killed off a substantial population of the Aborigines.

    Idiot.

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