Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Muslims need not apply

By Capt. Fogg

I haven't yet stooped to using any candidate's religious affiliation against him and I operate under the assumption that most will not let such things interfere with their professional lives or their oath of office. Of course since so many of the Republican tribe have been espousing Christian Supremacy and confusing Church teachings with the law, it's sometimes hard to refrain.

I continue to think it has nothing to do with his being a Mormon, but Mitt Romney may have crossed a boundary and it may be time to ask what kind of prejudices he has or is pandering to.
"…based on the numbers of American Muslims 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."
said Mr. Romney to the Christian Science Monitor. I presume that by "lower levels" he refers to something more than waxing the presidential limo but this, I feel, is a revealing position and shows us as did his snubbing of the man in the wheelchair that there is something less under the tailored suit than is advertised. Would it be too much to consider an appointee's knowledge and skills rather than what ethnic pigeonhole you can stuff him into?

In choosing a candidate, I'm not necessarily put off by suggestions that a cabinet "look like America" but I'm not looking for tokens, I'm looking for competence and that's something sadly lacking in recent years.
"More ironic, that Islamic heritage is what qualifies them to best engage America's Arab and Muslim communities and to help deter Islamist threats"
says Mansoor Ijaz writing for the Monitor and I agree. Would that the idiot George had been able to listen to an adviser who knew the difference between Sunni and Shia and the tensions between them. Ijaz, by the way, is substantially responsible for exposing A.Q. Khan, who had been selling Pakistani nuclear technology on the black market and he did so at some personal risk. Nice to know that Mitt would disqualify him for reasons of ethnic purity.

What I'm looking for in a president is a man who will look for the best and won't preclude anyone on the basis of religion or race or his feelings about abortion or gay marriage or the war in Iraq. That's not Mitt, obviously. I don't care what the president's advisers look like or what ethnicity he thinks they should represent and by automatically relegating people who identify with Islam to lower positions by virtue of that identification, Mitt further disqualifies himself from consideration.

Perhaps he's pandering to what he perceives as an anti-Muslim bias in America or perhaps he really means it. In either event I don't think he belongs anywhere but on the cover of some Men's wear catalog where looking good and holding the pose isn't an act of dishonesty.

Cross posted from Human Voices

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

ironic that someone who has faced religious discrimination in abundence himself would stoop to saying something like that.

Also, it ain't all good with ijaz. You don't get to be a commentator on FOX withuot being a bit of a shady character. This is a guy who petitioned clinton on behalf of Sudanese oil intersts. I'm as free trade as they come but even i would be apprehensive about hagning out with Sudanese government types by chioce.

10:33:00 AM  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

i would find myself never being able to watch a president romney in front of the cameras without wondering "is he wearing his magic underwear?" that simply wouldn't do.

the fact that huckabee is an ordained southern baptist minister disqualifies him in my book. history is awash with gruesome examples of how brutal and vile the clergy is when they run states.

11:17:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent post, Capt. Somewhere along the way a politician's religious affiliations went from his/her private business to the forefront of their campaigning blurring that line between church and state. I don't mind a prez who has a strong faith; I would hope that it would make him more morally conscious of his actions. But when someone talks of chosing cabinet members along religous lines, it starts to smack of McCarthyism all over again.

LOL minstrel "is he wearing his magic underwear?"

11:32:00 AM  
Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

I can't imagine even hearing the words "President Romney"

I've never noticed that being a victim makes anyone automatically virtuous.

I don't trust anyone actually, but Ijaz did manage to talk the Sudanese into deporting Osama to Saudi Arabia, but those good friends of ours didn't accept him and he went to Afghanistan and the rest is history. Still I think he's right about Romney.

12:22:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

fogg- why did he even KNOW sudanese government officials is what I'm saying.

Also, as a Massachusetts resident, Romney didn't do a good job here. Guliani for all his faults can at least claim a fair amount of success in NYC. believe it or not, I actually like romneys health care thing. they drove down prices quite a bit by offereing an affordable plan or so it appears. the state competing in the free market!

3:03:00 PM  

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