Dr. Ben Carson is getting kicked in the teeth over some tactless remarks he made on Meet the Press this past Sunday about Muslims occupying the highest office in the country:
Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim as President of the United States.Responding to a question on "Meet the Press," the retired neurosurgeon said, "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that."
He also said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution.
Carson’s rival for the Republican nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), stepped away from those remarks, adding that there is no religious test for elected office, thereby making their exclusion unconstitutional.
“You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am a constitutionalist,” he said.
It’s another landmine that Carson has stepped on, the first being citing prison as a reason why homosexuality is a choice. In March, he said that people “go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay.” Carson later apologized for the statements. Yet, this Muslim kerfuffle began with Donald Trump’s town hall event in Rochester, New Hampshire last week, where a questioner said that the country has a Muslim problem, suggested Barack Obama wasn’t an American, said he was Muslim (he cited the birth certificate), and asked when could we “get rid” of them.
Now, this man did mention “we have training camps growing where they want to kill us,” which was followed by the “get rid of them” question, though when you preface your inquiry by saying, “We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims;” you could probably put two-and-two together. It’s hard not to see how he didn’t suggest booting the entire Muslim population of the United States, not the camps. The training camps can’t kill people, and he was obviously worried about who allegedly occupied them.
Yet, let’s step off this silliness for a second because we have our barrels facing the wrong direction. This whole ‘Obama is a Muslim’ nonsense began with Hillary Clinton in 2008, and Bloomberg’s John Heilemann confirmed that yesterday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe (via Newsbusters):
JOE: The Republicans are wrong for doing what they're doing. It started, this started with Hillary Clinton and it was spread by the Clinton team.MIKA: We're just telling the truth. Sorry.
JOE: Back in 2008.
MIKA: Harold, please: don't, don't.
HAROLD FORD, JR.: But Mika, you can't tell me to stop when you, when the two of you are making comments. If there's a basis, an actual evidentiary basis for your comments then I would agree with it.
JOE: That there the ones that spread it in 2008?
FORD: That spread what in 2008?
JOE: That Barack Obama may not be, that Barack Obama may not be Christian.
STEVE RATTNER: We should ask Heilemann this question, because he's the official --
FORD: I don't recall that but if you're telling me that was the case, I just don't recall it.
JOE: John Heilemann?
JOHN HEILEMANN: It was the case.
JOE: It was the case. Thank you John Heilemann.
Now, we can find Trump’s refusal to denounce the remarks made by the questioner reprehensible. We can call the statements made by Carson deplorable, even bigoted as PJ Media’s Rick Moran wrote over the weekend. He isn't backing down either. Yet, we must remember all of this Obama/Muslim malarkey has a point source: Hillary Clinton.
Can a Muslim be President of the United States of America? In a word: Yes. Now let's move on. -H pic.twitter.com/AB99hiUPie
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 21, 2015
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