Mitt Romney: No Muslims in my Cabinet Posted by Shadi Hamid

It's amazing we tolerate this from our presidential candidates, especially one who has been the target of bigotry himself and who should know better. Will there be an uproar over Mitt Romney's anti-Muslim comments? No, probably not, unfortunately. According to an op-ed by Mansour Ijaz in the Christian Science Monitor:

I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that "jihadism" is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today. He answered, "…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."

Notice the language. Romney can't even say a simple "yes" about having Muslims serve at lower levels of the government. No, he would imagine. Thanks. Keep imagining. And from when did we start deciding cabinet appointments based on the size of the ethnic or religious group the potential appointee comes from? No, and this isn't necessarily a hypothetical question (Fareed Zakaria). Then again, Zakaria doesn't want to blow up Iran, so he could never be hired by a Republican.

Comments

[HeatherH]

That's disgusting. Substitute "woman" and "there aren't enough women in the top ranks of business/academia/politics to justify a woman/three women in the Cabinet." Or "Asian." Completely unacceptable, and those of us who are members of other groups that get treated this way -- which is to say women, but also, ummm, Mormons -- ought to be first in line denouncing it.

[Dan Kervick]

Heather's analogy doesn't work very well, since Romney cited the percentage of Muslims in the entire population, not just in business, academia and politics, and the percentage of women in the whole population is quite high. What is truly odd about Romney's reply is that he seems to be more or less explicitly endorsing the position that cabinet positions should be doled out on the basis of ethnic or religious identity, and that Muslims fall short of the minimum threshold percentage in the population to merit a cabinet quota. Of course, the usual Republican response to this kind of question is to say that cabinet positions should be filled with the "best available applicant", regardless of ethnic or religious identity. It should seem odd that where Muslims are concerned, the Republicans have suddenly discovered the virtues of diversity and quotas.

[Mark]

To put it simply... can you name ONE person who would be qualified enough to fill a position like that? Given the available selection of people who would be considered experienced enough to serve in that high of a position, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a qualified name. I totally see his point. Obviously if there was a large number to choose form so you can pick the best, that'd be different... but since the field of selection is so small, the person might not wind up actually being muslim.

[Elbeau]

Romney...dude...come on

I've been blogging my head off trying to get people to quit judging you based on your religion...only to have you do it to someone else?

[Jay C]

Mark: how about Zalmay Khalilzad? (h/t Matt Yglesias )

Qualified enough for you?

[Don Bacon]

Mark, to put it simply. . . try reading Shadi's diary where he suggested Fareed Zakaria before you run on again about how hard pressed Shadi is. The rest of your post makes no sense either. The issue is not the size of the field, it's the depth of expertise in a central US foreign policy area.

[Sam]

Is there something wrong with this? How can anyone expect to vote for someone without an opinion of his own. By his logic, he aims to exclude a number of minorities that are present in the United States from his cabinet. There is no need for outrage over this comment. I'm sure any person that votes for Mr. Romney is well aware of his belief system and the origins of his belief system.

[Lori]

Sorry, Mansoor. I am not buying it. No way Romney would have said exactly what you attribute to him. I gotta think you must have asked a different question and perhaps your question assigned a premise that cabinet members must be representative of minority groups in the same numbers as they appear in population. That being the case, then that answer is based on his observation that Muslims are a small minority. I don't think he believes that. Its absurd that Romney would choose his cabinet based on representation of minority groups. Romney surrounds himself with the smartest of the smart, brilliant minds, and he does not care much where they come from or what they look like. Check his record if you have concerns that he would discriminate. He abhors discrimination. Your analysis makes no sense and is a total distortion.

[yolo]

No muslim should be allowed to serve anywhere in the world!!!! Not until a chuch is built in the KSA!!! The reality is that islam s tye most evil cult that has evr existed. Read the koran and then speak,

[Don Bacon]

Romney's brushoff of the idea of a Muslim in the cabinet is not consistent with his campaign pledge to: "integrate our strategy into a broader approach to the broader Muslim world--including working with our NATO allies and with progressive Muslim communities and leaders to build a partnership for prosperity."

But it is entirely consistent with his anti-Muslim position.

from a 2005 speech to the Heritage Foundation:

"How many individuals are coming to our state and going to those institutions who have come from terrorist-sponsored states?" he said, referring to foreign students who attend universities in Massachusetts. ''Do we know where they are? Are we tracking them? . . .How about people who are in settings, mosques for example, that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror? Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping? Are we following what's going on?"--Gov. Romney, Sep 14, 2005

Track them and wiretap them, but don't let Muslims into the cabinet.

[moron]

It's amazing we tolerate this from our presidential candidates

This post is just another tiresome example of the convention that all "serious" pundits must adhere to in order to be considered "serious":

They must pretend not to recognize that the enteire raison d'etre of the GOP is bigotry.

It is not "amazing" at all that "we" tolerate this sort of bigotry coming from presidential candidates. I don't know what "we" you think you're talking about, but any "we" who would be open to listening to a word you have to say on the subject is not the same "we" that Romney is trying to court with his naked appeals to prejudice.

Mr. Hamid, even though you must obviously understand this already, I will explain it to you as if you as if you were a six-year old, because you insist on feigning ignorance:

The modern GOP was founded on racism, xenophobia and religious prejudice. Those are the passions that drive their candidates and animate their voters. They are the party that scooped up the worst of the worst of the nigger-baiting Dixiecrats when the Democratic party signed on with the civil rights movement.

Everybody is aware of this, including Republican politicians and voters themselves.

Mr. Hamid, please stop this silly imputation of good faith to the GOP. It has no grounding in reality, and it just makes you look like a dishonest hack.

Someone who genuinely did not understand that racism and bigotry are the basis for today's GOP would have to be too stupid to put their pants on in the morning, let alone be a Fulbright fellow.

[Shawnie]

I would like to see the complete interview. This article is written by someone who already has a strong anti-Mitt bias and only sound bites are referred to.

When I read it, the question asked was if a cabinet position should be reserved for a Muslim. What a stupid question, should a cabinet position be reserved for a Catholic, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Mormon, a Jew??

Ethnicity covers Muslims by the way, so the author flubbed on his own sarcastic argument.

If the author was really concerned about national security and the contribution that patriotic Muslims could make then the suggestion should have been “should they be placed in national security positions” - not the cabinet.

Mitt did not answer the question as well as he could have, but the dumbest answer of all would have been “Yes”. Because we don’t reserve cabinet positions based on someones’ religion. Especially one that is not main stream. Duh.

Here are the cabinet positions (sorry, my tab spacing isn’t pasting in correctly):

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Attorney General Michael Mukasey
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner (acting)
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson
Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon Mansfield (acting)
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff

Please explain which position should be mandated for an Islamic religion and why?? Mitt’s mistake was assuming that the general public understood the nature of what the Cabinet was, knowledge innate to him but not to the general public. Once you look at this list, the inflammatory question becomes nonsensical.

[Eric Martin]

When I read it, the question asked was if a cabinet position should be reserved for a Muslim.

Where did you read that, because the question does not ask this?

Please explain which position should be mandated for an Islamic religion and why?

Why? No one suggested this.

Once you look at this list, the inflammatory question becomes nonsensical.

No, the question remains as pertinent as ever. Actually, moreso given the diversity present.

[Elbeau]

The quote about not including muslims is unsubstantiated.

Romney...you're forgiven...pending more information:

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTcxM2E5ZGJlMzYzYzg0ZjllM2QyZjhkMThmMGY2MzQ=

[Shawnie]

Eric, you have that wrong...

The man is asking about creating positions, read it again. Get a hold of the whole entire conversation....

He is NOT saying that a Muslim can't serve in an existing position in the cabinet, he is saying that creating a position based on one's religion is not justified. The author of the the article does a good job of chopping it up in such a way that it seems to say a Muslim can't be on the cabinet.

And the logic is failed. We don't create cabinet positions based on religion or ethnicity. This is a transparent chop job.

[Eric Martin]

Shawnie, if I have it wrong, please provide the actual, unchopped quote. I'm going on the question as presented by Ijaz. You said that you "read it" to say something other than what Ijaz says. I read it again. Then again. Then again a third time, and each time it reads like this:

I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters...

I'm asking: Where did you "read" the question different than that - as you claimed?

Could you please link to it so that I may also read the version of the question that you refer to?

Thank you in advance for the link.

[Dr Coles]

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

[Eric Martin]

So are all Muslims adherents of this Islamic Fascism doctrine?

And if so, did Bush commit high treason by appointing such an enemy (Zal Khalilzad) to such important positions in his administration?

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