Romney Denies He Said Putting Muslim In Cabinet Isn't Justified
At a press availability today, Mitt Romney personally denied the report in the Christian Science Monitor saying that he'd privately told an Islamic businessman that he didn't see how putting a Muslim in his cabinet could be "justified" given demographic realities.
Here's the exchange, as transcribed by the Romney campaign:
REPORTER: Governor, there is a report today that a businessman says that a close fundraiser in Vegas a couple weeks ago, he asked you a question about having an Islamic person in your cabinet and you said that based on the population of Muslims in the United States that you don't think it would be justified?GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: No. His question was did I need to have a Muslim in my Cabinet to be able to confront radical Jihad and would it be important to have a Muslim in my Cabinet and I said, 'No, I don't think that you have to have a Muslim in the Cabinet to be able to take on radical Jihad anymore than during the Second World War we needed to have a Japanese-American to understand the threat that was coming from Japan or something of that nature.' I just rejected that argument number one, and then number two, I point out that people who would be part of my Cabinet is something that I really haven't given a lot of thought to at this point, but I don't have boxes that I check off as to their ethnicity. It's not that I have to have a certain number of each different ethnic group; instead I would choose people based upon their merits and their capabilities.
So Romney's argument here is that he didn't say he wouldn't put a Muslim in the cabinet -- he just said that you don't need one in the cabinet to effectively counter jihad.
We have more coming on this in a bit.
Comments (19)
Ken H. wrote on November 27, 2007 2:54 PM:"radical" Jihad...?
Is there any other kind?
On the issue at hand, he didn't just deny the report - he flat out called the author of the CSM piece a liar (note that the piece QUOTED Romney, it didn't summarize his comments).
And given that Mansoor Ijaz is commonly trotted out to add ethnic flavor to the FOXNews, NRO, WTimes neoconservative stew it doesn't seem like a real smart move.
Joe Blow wrote on November 27, 2007 2:56 PM:Why does my head feel like it's about to explode?
EH wrote on November 27, 2007 2:58 PM:That's a lot of radical Jihad.
"...His question was did I need to have a Muslim in my Cabinet to be able to confront radical Jihad..."
Something tells me this "radical Jihad" meme means the question is not being restated verbatim.
goodgirlroxie wrote on November 27, 2007 3:05 PM:So who's telling the truth, and who's backpedaling? Romney or Ijaz? Is there a transcript of the interview so this can be laid to rest?
Did Romney misspeak? If he did, why won't he just say that?
I say let's put this little public utterance (if it can be finally verified) together with the one where he said he places a higher priority on his "right to be kept alive" than he does on our civil rights.
The guy's a bozo. It will take us decades to put the current bozo president behind us. Do we really want two bozos in a row?!
joe wrote on November 27, 2007 3:09 PM:i've always found it amazing that white men, mostly, are always opposed to "quotas." when a company, or government, or president's cabinet, has been historically staffed by all white men, and only men, isn't that a quota? a 100% white men quota?
something tells me that romney will be no champion of diversity once he's not president of the united states.
fakey-fake-faker-fake-faker !
EH wrote on November 27, 2007 3:42 PM:Yes, a recording might be nice here. It may tell us that Romney in fact did not say that he would exclude Muslims from his cabinet, it's only blacks and women he would decline to consider.
politus wrote on November 27, 2007 3:48 PM:I wouldn’t get too far out on a limb with this Mansoor Ijaz guy. He is a known prevaricator and self-promoting huckster. At every opportunity he claims to have negotiated on behalf of Sudan in 1997 to turn Osama bin Laden over to the United States government. That is malarkey, of course, since bin Laden was expelled from Sudan to Afghanistan in May of 1996.
I think Romney is an eely character who would tell any lie to win a few votes, but I think Mansoor Ijaz is even more dishonest and mendacious. Absent a transcript or recording of the remarks in question, I tend to believe Romney on this one.
How 'bout a reminder to the governor - which he appears to need so often - that the Constitution explicitly prohibits any sort of religious test for any government job? In any direction. Period. And if elected he'd be required to enforce that.
biff diggerence wrote on November 27, 2007 4:01 PM:Hey, stop busting my ass over this stuff.
Look at this jaw.
Look at my Ronny Raygun hair.
cv wrote on November 27, 2007 4:06 PM:No one seems to comment on the other amazing part of this exchange. Having a muslim in the cabinet would be like having a Japanese guy in the cabinet in WWII. The analogy seems to say that we were at war with Japan, but now we are at war with Islam.
dave wrote on November 27, 2007 4:53 PM:since when are Muslims a race?
danger wrote on November 27, 2007 4:54 PM:Oh, but based on demographic sensibilities, he'll be justified in packing his cabinet with Mormon nominees.
Not trying to rip on Mormons, but his hypocrisy is astounding.
gcs wrote on November 27, 2007 5:27 PM:This guy really will say absolutely anything at all to get elected. I'd love to see him and Il Rudee in a knock-down, one-on-one Lie-a-thon.
slb wrote on November 27, 2007 5:36 PM:No one seems to comment on the other amazing part of this exchange. Having a muslim in the cabinet would be like having a Japanese guy in the cabinet in WWII.
That's what struck me, too, but for slightly different reasons. We've been told over and over and over again that this is a different kind of "war." I would argue that "war" is not the right characterization in the first place, but in any event, it is different, and it requires a different approach. The war with Japan was a conventional war, and while I am sure that Roosevelt and his military commanders did have people who knew the Japanese to advise them on honing their strategy to make it maximally effective, that would not have been a key element of the planning.
But military might is not going to be sufficient to achieve our goals in the Middle East, as our war in Iraq and the Israeli bombing of Lebanon in 2006 should have made clear. It's going to be far more critical for the president and the Security Council to have input from someone who knows and understands the culture of the region and the Islamic faith if we are going to have any chance of doing more than chasing our tails over there. I'm not saying that would necessarily have to be someone at cabinet level, but it is silly to dismiss the idea out of hand.
Of course, this occurs to me, too: Had Roosevelt had a Japanese-American in his cabinet, it's doubtful we would have the blot of the internment camps in our history books.
bob wrote on November 27, 2007 5:58 PM:I would not trust Mitt Romney over pretty much anyone on Earth. He is just such a constant and transparent liar.
Also, I assume the transcript is wrong and it should state: "at a CLOSED fundraiser in Vegas" NOT "at a close fundraiser" which makes no sense.
A CLOSED fundraiser means the press is not allowed to attend. Thus, no transcript or audio/video recording. But, there were obviously more people than just the two of them at the fundraiser. What do they say? Someone else must have heard it.
danger
thats absurd to make that assertion, to say that he would pack his cabinet with mormons.
You need to make a logical argument to get a point across - if you have a point
Islamic Fascism declared war against the U.S. and all non-Islamic nations. The truth is the truth. Why would any free human want to suppress this? http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl
za wrote on November 27, 2007 10:24 PM:hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............
When did "Muslim" become an "ethnicity?"
Are ALL Republicans morons? Or just the ones running for President?
davcbr wrote on November 28, 2007 5:53 AM:Yes, when did "Muslim" become an ethnicity. You will notice that he did not say 'it would be like needing to put a German the cabinet...'
