Herman Cain: Muslims must show loyalty to work for me
(CNN) - GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain stood firm Friday on his promise to make Muslims prove loyalty to the U.S. Constitution before appointing them to his administration - a test, he has said, that would not apply to people of other faiths.
The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza denied that the proposed test is a form of discrimination when pressed Friday by CNN's John King.
"That's not discrimination. It's called trying to protect the American people," Cain said. "This nation is under attack constantly by people who want to kill all of us, so I'm going to take extra precaution."
In March, Cain made headlines when he told a Think Progress blogger that he would feel uncomfortable appointing a Muslim as a member of his cabinet or as a federal judge. And while speaking on Fox News on Wednesday, he said there was a "greater dangerous part of the Muslim faith" than other religions.
Cain told King on Friday that he would be comfortable with a Muslim serving in office only if he could gauge the person's sense of loyalty through a one-on-one conversation.
"I never said I would discriminate against Muslims or any other religion for that matter, but I am going to take extra precautions if a Muslim person who is competent wants to work in my administration," he said.
Cain has grown in popularity over recent months. The latest poll released by Quinnipiac University on June 8 puts him in third place in the 2012 GOP field, with 10%. He falls behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who placed first, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who came in second.
– On Monday, June 13, CNN will host the first New Hampshire Republican Presidential Debate, live from Manchester, NH at 8 p.m. ET. Follow all the issues and campaign news leading up to the debate on CNNPolitics.com and @cnnpolitics on Twitter.
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"I never said I would discriminate against Muslims or any other religion for that matter, but I am going to take extra precautions if a Muslim person who is competent wants to work in my administration," he said.
Isn't this the definition of discrimination? Singling out a person by race, creed or religion is discrimination plain and simple. another example of the right wing rewriting the constitution to suit their needs.
Cain, you are discriminating against Muslims, don't fall in Faux news trap.
When this joke was a kid whites were as afraid of him as he is of Muslims. They grouped all blacks into one big pile and said that they are dangerous and want to rape little white girls and kill white men. I guess it just goes to show you that racisim is 360 degrees. Even victims of racism, when they have the power, will want to do the same thing to the people they hate and are afraid of as was done to them before they gained some power.
If Godfather's Pizza does not distance themselves from this guy they should face a serious backlash from the 95% of people in this country who do not support Herman Cain for president.
You ever notice that whenever an African-American runs for office as a right wing Republican, they always have to take some type of stand and/or make some outrageous statement such as this to prove they are not, you know like Obama or the other AA politicans. Alan West, Alan Keyes, Mike Steele they ALL have done it and Cain is no different. His statement not only goes against the wishes of our Constitution about judgement on religion, but also borders on bigotry. Would he insist that a Catholic male take a test to prove he would not molest altar boys? How about a Mormon to prove he would only have one wife? Cain's stand only makes the Tom Delay bunch of the right wing happy...they might even give him a pass into the Good Ol' Boys club, but it won't get him close to the White House, and that's a GOOD thing!
More red meat for the base. Sadly, this man seems to forget Black History: whites routinely questioned blacks' loyalty to the U.S. despite generations of military service and rich cultural contributions (Some whites still question blacks' legitimacy to power in the U.S. a la claims that Obama is a foreigner and subverting the United States). What a shame.
this guy is an idiot.
Looks good on paper and I am pretty sure a LOT of Americans are going to fall for this but in the end anyone can lie to your face about what they are thinking and doing while they are planning to set up a bomb or fly an airplace into buildings.
I am more afraid of the white extremists who bomb abortion clinics with not just one but two bombs to kill responders to the first emergency. Or kill doctors at a place of worship or a guar doing his job at a museum in DC.
Every demented extreme is dangerous. Too much religion of any kind kills!
WOW! what an uncle tom
I'm no Constitution expert by a long shot, but if it does not include language to prohibit presidential candidate Cain's blatant bigotry, it should!
A potted plant would be a better president than that idiot currently there.
How is this guy not getting the smack down from everyone? Repbs must be wanting to shut him up, right?