Asked if he would ever nominate a Muslim for his cabinet, he replied:
"...based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration."
In a way, I agree. When it comes to Mormons, anyway. This country is just not ready for a minority (Mormon) president.
More like this
Just for those curious, there's a new website, Islam in China, which might be interesting to some. The site points out that there are more Muslims in China than there are in Saudi Arabia.
Thabet points me to a new survey of Muslims and the European public.
I listened to Akbar Ahmed on Fresh Air today.
Islam on Campus: A survey of UK student opinions. N = 632 for Muslims. Remember that this is an elite sample of the youth insofar as they're polling university students.
It is such delicious irony that his main obstacle is the religious bigotry of evangelicals, the majority of the GOP.
Going by the numbers then, he'd have to appoint mostly non-college educated poor people to his cabinet. On second thought...
While Romney is certainly a jackass - something about stones and glass houses here - I take issue to some extent with mixing "religion" and "bigotry". It dissolves religion from its true definition: a set of beliefs about the world. I, for one, would like to maintain my right to judge someone for their beliefs without being a "bigot". An example: if I think someone's a quack for being a Scientologist, am I a "bigot"? Does Islam or Christianity have any more emprical backing?
Jeff: Exactly. Romney is right, assuming he feels the same way about all delusional prospects for cabinet positions!
Appointing cabinet and administration positions by proportional representation in the US population. What is that employment approach called? Non-affirmative inaction? It's going to blow his mind when someone tells him that he can also consider intelligence, ability and job qualification when determining his appointments ... or maybe he'll just look puzzled.