GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson was interviewed by guest host Martha Raddatz on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday and doubled down on his comments about the possibility of a Muslim president, explaining the biases inherent in Sharia law and asking, based on those biases why would anyone take a chance on a Muslim.
Raddatz began the segment by making the same mistake the liberal media have been making about Carson's comments about Muslims he made the week before on NBC's "Meet The Press" - she took his words out of context:
Raddatz: I want to go back to your controversial comments on the possibility of a Muslim president. The question seemed quite clear. The question was, should a president’s faith mattered? You said, “I guess it depends on what that faith is.” The question was, “So, do you believe Islam is consistent with the constitution?” And you said, “No, I do not. I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” Do you stand by that now?
Carson: Well, first of all, you know what I said is on a transcript and it’s there for anybody to see.
Raddatz: I’m reading the transcript Dr. Carson, that’s exactly what you said.
Carson: Read the paragraph before that. Where I said, anybody, it doesn’t matter their religious background, if they accept American values and principles and are willing to subjugate their religious beliefs to our constitution, I have no problem with them. Why do you guys always leave that out, I wonder?
Raddatz: I don’t think we do Dr. Carson and it was really quite clear, [Note: she says that she doesn't think the media leave it out - but, she just did] “I would not advocate we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.” You also talked about Sharia law, that they must denounce Sharia law. Do you assume that all Muslims embrace Sharia law?
Dr. Carson answered by getting to the real point: the importance of Sharia law to the practice of Islam and the biases inherent in Sharia law.
Carson: Well, let’s, what we should be talking about Islam and the tenets of Islam and where do they come from? They come from Sharia, they come from the Koran, they come from life works and examples of Muhammad. They come the Fatwas, which is the writings of the scholars, you know, and if you go back and you look at, what I would like is for somebody to show me an approved Islamic text that opposes Sharia. Let me see it. If you can show me that, I will begin to alter my thinking on this, but right now, when you have something that’s against the rights of women, against the rights of gays, subjugates other religions and a host of things that aren’t compatible with our constitution, why in fact would you take that chance?
Carson had a similar conversation with Jake Tapper on CNN's "State Of The Union," where he accused the media of making his statement about Muslims a bigger issue than the voters make it, asking Tapper, "Is it possible that maybe the media thinks it's a bigger deal than the American people do? Because American people, the majority of them, agree and they understand exactly what I am saying."
Dr. Carson's comment about the majority of Americans agreeing with him is backed up by two recent polls. In a survey released on Thursday 9/24, Rasmussen reported that by a margin of 51% to 28%, most likely voters say they would not vote for a Muslim presidential candidate (20% undecided). Diving into the data, we see that most Republicans (73%-15%) and independents (48%-26%) wouldn't vote for a Muslim president, while Democrats (43%-35%) would consider voting for a Muslim presidential candidate.
YouGov conducted a similar poll and found that, by a 57%-27% margin, most American adults agree with Carson's statement on "Meet The Press" (17% undecided).
It is important to note that the two polls had different bases. The Rasmussen poll surveyed likely U.S. voters (per Rasmussen's definition), while the YouGov poll questioned all Americans aged 18 or older.
In his conversation with Jake Tapper, Carson insisted, "of course Muslims can be patriots."
"I've worked with Muslims. I've trained Muslims. I've operated on Muslims. There are a lot of Muslims who are very patriotic. Good Americans and they gladly admit, at least privately, that they don't accept Sharia or the doctrines and they understand that Islam is a system of living and it includes the way that you relate to the government," he said.
"And you cannot, unless you specifically, deny that portion of Islam be a Muslim in good standing. Now if that is the case, if you are not willing to reject that, then how in the world can you possibly be the president of the United States."
Later in the interview, Tapper said: "You're assuming that Muslim Americans put their religion ahead of the country." Carson responded:
"I'm assuming that, if you accept all the tenets of Islam, that you would have a very difficult time abiding under the Constitution of the United States."
Watch Carson's exchange with Martha Raddatz in the video below.