Romney Denies Vowing No Muslims In Cabinet

Republican Presidential Hopeful Disputes Account By Muslim Businessman

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS News' Scott Conroy.

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Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is facing questions about religion today. And for once, it's not his own.

Speaking to reporters after a health care forum in St. Petersburg, Florida, Romney emphatically disputed a Muslim businessman’s account of what transpired at a mid-November fundraising event in Las Vegas.

Mansoor Ijaz wrote in a Christian Science Monitor %t published today that Romney said he “cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified” for a Muslim in his administration, in light of the percentage of Muslims living in the U.S.

CBS News asked Romney to provide his version of the encounter, which occurred at an event that was closed to media.

“His question was, 'did I need to have a Muslim in my cabinet to be able to confront radical jihad and would it be important to have a Muslim in my cabinet,'" said Romney. "And I said, ‘No I don’t think that you have to have a Muslim in the cabinet to be able to, to take on radical jihad any more than during the Second World War we needed to have a Japanese-American to help us understand the threat that was coming from Japan,’ or something of that nature.”

Romney said that instead of filling his cabinet posts with ethnicity in mind, he would choose his cabinet members based on merit.

Asked if that included the possibility of appointing a well-qualified Muslim, Romney said, “I’m open to having people of any faith and ethnic group but they would be selected based on their capacity and their capabilities and the values and skills that they could bring to the administration, but I don’t choose people based on checking off a box.”

"I think his comment is indicative of how he might govern, and I think it’s absolutely wrong,” said Sen. John McCain, one of Romney’s rival’s for the GOP presidential nomination, after being told that Romney said he would not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet. “You appoint the most qualified people for the job, no matter who they are, where they came from…to somehow exclude any group of Americans, in my view, is, well, it just is not the way to go.”

CBS News producer Eric Salzman spoke to Ijaz on the phone today. Ijaz said that Romney’s account of the Las Vegas encounter was inaccurate and stood by what he wrote in the Christian Science Monitor. Ijaz said that he assumed the Romney camp would try to contest the account.

Ijaz also said that in the past he was a major Democratic fundraiser, but that he has been out of political fundraising since the 1990s. The Romney campaign was quick to highlight to reporters Ijaz’s ties to the Democratic Party.

“The individual who wrote that column is a Democratic Party fundraiser,“ Romney’s press secretary Eric Fehrnstrom wrote in an email. “This is a person with a partisan political agenda, and it’s surprising that the Christian Science Monitor didn’t disclose this important fact.”

The controversy came on a day when Romney spoke about health care to a crowd of about 70 people at All Children’s Hospital in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

The former Massachusetts governor began his speech by outlining some of the health care-related work he did in his consulting career and said that he has been associated with the issue for some time. Romney touted his Massachusetts health care plan, which requires everyone in the state to have health insurance or face possible penalties, and said that he thinks it would be a great model for other states to emulate.

Romney took a reporter’s question about Rudy Giuliani’s claim that Romney has not stood by his record as governor as an opportunity to reopen the increasingly bitter back-and-forth attacks between the two leading GOP candidates.

“I’m very proud of my record and actually as you can probably tell here today, I basically talk about my record everywhere I go,” Romney said. “I’m very proud of our health care system that we were able to improve in Massachusetts. I’m proud of the fact that I turned in a $2 billion rainy day fund at the end of my term in office. He turned in a $3 billion budget gap … I think Mayor Giuliani has a fact problem which is meaning that he makes them up.”

[sevenveils]

A cabinet of cults! A Scientologist, Wiccan, Catholic, Muslim and Mormon were all sitting in a bar...

[dlounsbury1]

Monsoor Ijaz is a past financial contributor to Hillary Clinton. This was reported by several other responsible news outlets. Many aren''t reporting that very important angle.

However,you fail to report on the belated timing of this gentleman''s report. Instead of him immediately writing an article he delays. Why? Well by now, all the people who could readily challenge his recollection have trickled away.

[dlounsbury1]

Monsoor Ijaz is a past financial contributor to Hillary Clinton. This was reported by several other responsible news outlets. Many aren''t reporting that very important angle.

However,you fail to report on the belated timing of this gentleman''s report. Instead of him immediately writing an article he delays. Why? Well by now, all the people who could readily challenge his recollection have trickled away.

[zootallures2]

How about some soup? That''s what I''m gonna put in my cabinet.

[jsilver2th]

Ask him if he would appoint a Scientologist to his cabinet if they were otherwise qualified...

So quick to ask for tolerance for his religion- so quick to type cast others...

Why did Romney say the Scientologist leader Hubbard''s novel was his favorite book?

Why won''t he release his tax returns?

[pelosisaho1]

gkc99, the only cowards on board are toilet slime like yourself. I don''t give a rats a&& for Romney, but you can keep your dissing the troops Kerry too.

[memerider]

I think individuals'' religion has no place in political talk. It''s private and I don''t want anyone chosen because they are a member of any religion. That undercuts separation of church and state for anyone who still cares. Let''s stop all the talk about religion and leave it out of political conversations altogether. That goes for Muslims, Christians, and all the rest. Let''s focus on people''s credentials for jobs and keep church out of our state.

[sgtrds]

Islam is the religion of death not peace. Great answer Mitt.

Posted by ez4me2sa at 01:04 PM : Nov 28, 2007

ALL religion is the death of peace and freedom. Every last one of them. None are more or less guilty or better or worse then any of the rest of them.

[ez4me2sa]

Islam is the religion of death not peace. Great answer Mitt.

[ez4me2sa]

clarence521: "You want to know about mormons you had better watch them they are wolves in sheeps clothing, the only thing they care about is (2) things how to get in your wallet and how to get in your wifes panties. I lived amongst them for a long time and learned the hard way, that they cannot be trusted in any shape form or fashion."


What rock did you crawl out from under? You''ve got your head up your a$$.

[whatithink-2009]

jmcgilvray,

I don''t think it is any religion that is evil, but the human ability to make anything we touch turn evil. However, that is the case with all religions. People have to be willing to look in a mirror. There is no good or bad people. There is good and bad in all of us. Some have just shown one side more than another. But, all of us are capable of showing both.

[yongamerica]

GW Bush has publicly called Condoleezza Rice his wife. I wonder in how many ways this statement is true.

[gkc99]

"PS: I wonder if Monica''''s blue dress is on display in the Clinton library? "--Posted by rangerdahl


Funny how all the Bushits are obsessed with that BJ! Guess it''s cuz they jealous thinking of Slick Willie having a cutie pie like Monica when all they can do is jerk off to pix of Anne Coultergeist on TV!

[whatithink-2009]

yongamerica,

Why do GOP supporters always bring up that body part? Seems to me that a Log Cabin Republican is dying to come out.

[gkc99]

"Romney has more brain cells in his rect*um than all of the Demosheep candidates combined"--Posted by robertkjjj


Yeah, he was smart enough to stay out of Vietnam, unlike John Kerry!

But most of the Neoconscum was pretty good at dodging any personal danger. They love war now, though! As long as the po''-boys and Nigras do the dying for them.

Romnuts is a coward. He''s also a shape-shifter who can metamorphose into anything the voters want, far more than even the Clintons. The man simply cannot be trusted. If you want a Bushit type conservative in the WH, a vote for Huckleberry would be more to the point. If you want a Rockefeller type Repug, Giuliani is you man. If you want a snake oil salesman, go for Rumnuts.

[yongamerica]

robertkjjj - "Romney has more brain cells in his rect*um..."

That''s where most of his cognitive thoughts come from.

[yongamerica]

The doctrine of the Church of Latter Day Saints states that Mormons are a %u201Ca royal priesthood, an holy nation%u201D.
This church sees itself as a Theocracy and it''s history proves this point several times over. Mitt, as a good follower (Sheep) of the church will abide his Prophet''s (Gordon Bitner Hinckley, current church president) wishes and commands. Otherwise he shall be excommunicated.

The Mormons even created its own alphabet to mystify its deepest doctrine and secrets.

[whatithink-2009]

robertkjjj,

I''ll vote for Romney when you vote for Sharpton. Seems you don''t mind racists as long as they are the right color racists.

[robertkjjj]

Whatithink, it''s apparent you don''t read English or understand me well, as your reference to 10,000 makes no sense. Go read
www.jihadwatch.org
I am done for today trying to educate brain-dead Muslim Apologists.
Oh, and also read:
www.thereligionofpeace.com

[whatithink-2009]

Do not try to blame what is happening today in Iraq on Islam. If Iraq did the same thing to us, no matter how much we may dislike our president, we''d be doing the same thing. Nobody wants to be invaded by a foreign element.

Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you!