Mitt Romney is a bigot

Famous varmint hunter Willard “Mitt” Romney has been reported to have said he would exclude any Muslims from his cabinet. According to Monsoor 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.”

Romney, whose Mormon faith has become the subject of heated debate in Republican caucuses, wants America to be blind to his religious beliefs and judge him on merit instead. Yet he seems to accept excluding Muslims because of their religion, claiming they’re too much of a minority for a post in high-level policymaking. More ironic, that Islamic heritage is what qualifies them to best engage America’s Arab and Muslim communities and to help deter Islamist threats.

Apparently, Romney doesn’t understand that our government isn’t constructed along strict demographic lines. Maybe someone should ask him if he thinks it should be. For one thing, that would mean more women than men in both houses of Congress. Which would be a good thing, although it’s likely Romney wouldn’t agree. As for the stupidity of Romney’s bigotry, go read Ijaz’s article.

Furthermore, as Trapper John pointed out, Romney’s an opponent of Affirmative Action, so the position he bases on his bigotry is also hypocritical. And, of course, Romney has tried to weasel out of the situation by claiming a case of bad reporting. Well, TPM Election Central has now discovered that this wasn’t the first time Romney has expressed his bigotry:

As you know, Romney is in a bit of a spot because of an  account in the Christian Science Monitor by an Islamic businessman who claims Romney said that he “cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified” for a Muslim. Today Romney  denied this version of events, saying that he had actually been asked whether he thought he needed a Muslim in his Cabinet to effectively counter Jihad, not whether he opposed the idea of having a Muslim in his Cabinet.

But as we reported earlier today, we located two GOPers in Nevada who say that Romney had in fact been asked a similar question and given a similar answer at another event three months ago. George Harris, a state GOP official, told us that he asked Romney at a private fundraiser if he would have any Muslims in his Cabinet. According to Harris, Romney’s reply was “most likely not.”

We’ve now discovered that there’s a contemporaneous account of this episode in something called Liberty Watch Magazine, which Harris publishes.

So, Romney is not only a bigot, he’s also probably a liar. Act surprised.

The only question is whether being a bigot against Arabs and Muslims will help or hurt Romney, in the Republican primaries.