As we have noted before, Herman Cain has been desperately spinning his infamous claim that, if elected president, he would not appoint any Muslims to serve in his administration.
Recently Cain was in New Hampshire where he discussed the issue again with political blog GraniteGrok and asserted, beginning at the 3:36 mark, that he never said that he would refuse to appoint Muslims, only that he would not be comfortable with appointing Muslims:
Cain: This is floating around on the internet and I hope that everybody sees my response on your website because, quite honestly, I’m sick of answering the same question over and over and over. I’m trying to run for president and I want to talk about these big issues.
I didn’t say I wouldn’t have a Muslim in my cabinet. If they look up the actual transcript, it says I was asked “would you be comfortable with a Muslim in your cabinet?” I said “no,” so I’m not back-peddling.
Interviewer: From what I understand, this was a question asked to you by Lee Fang of Think Progress, a very left-wing, progressive, George Soros-funded website …
Cain: Yes
Interviewer: And I do put it that we because we need to know we cannot fight an enemy if you cannot name that enemy …
Cain: Right. This guy worked for Huffington Post – I don’t remember the other affiliated organization. It was in the middle of a barrage of questions from a barrage of reporters and they were asking me about the economy, they were asking me about integration, they were asking me to explain this and then, out of the blue, this guy asked me “would I be comfortable with a Muslim in my cabinet.” Where did that question come from?
And so I was honest: No. But did I say absolutely I wouldn’t have a Muslim? I did not that and if you read the transcript you’ll see. All my career I have hired the best people irregardless of race, creed, color, religion, orientation or any of that. I look for the best people.
The question was “would I be comfortable?” Now why would I be uncomfortable? Because there are some people in this country who want to infuse sharia law in our courts. I adamantly disagree with that and if I talk to someone who believes in sharia law more than they believe in the Constitution, no I’m not comfortable having somebody like that in my administration. American laws, American courts.
So some people have misconstrued what I said. Some people have said that I’m now walking back from it. Read it. I said I wouldn’t be comfortable and I’ve explained what that meant: Constitution first, not sharia law.
So good luck figuring out what Cain’s actual position is because he is basically saying that he’d hire the best people but would be very uncomfortable appointing a Muslim because some Muslims believe in sharia law … and so he wouldn’t hire any Muslims.
And that would make sense, because that is exactly what he told Bryan Fischer:
I have been upfront, which ruffles some feathers, but remember Bryan, being politically correct is not one of my strong points; I come at it straight from the heart and straight from the way I see it. And the comment that I made the become controversial, and that my staff keeps hoping will die, is that I wouldn’t have Muslims in my administration. And it’s real simple: the Constitution does not have room for sharia law. I want people who are going to believe and enforce the Constitution of the United States of America. And so I don’t have time, as President of the United States, to try and screen people based upon their religious beliefs – I really don’t care what your religious beliefs are, but I do know that most of the people of the Muslim faith, they believe in sharia law. And to introduce that element as part of an administration when we have all of these other issues, I think I have a right to say that I won’t.
Cain made it crystal clear that he “wouldn’t have Muslims in my administration” and that he didn’t care if that made him a bigot. Yet now he is trying to claim that he never said anything of the sort.
If Cain is “sick of answering the same question over and over and over,” he ought to stop giving different answers every time he is asked and simply admit that Muslims would be banned from serving in his administration instead of continually lying about his position.
