Ben Carson

[shocka khan]

Carson showed his backside over the weekend with the 'muslims aren't qualified to be president' remarks. There are bad muslims (Osama Bin Laden et. al.), but there are bad Christians as well (Josh Duggar, for instance). Our country as a whole starts to circle the drain when we start making statements like '________ aren't qualified to be president'.

Feel free to insert any gender, race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation for _____.

Besides, it's a logical fallacy to make statements like that. What's true of the parts is not true of the whole.

Interesting that a black man would be blowing a racist dog whistle, but that's my conclusion about his remarks.

[ShockerEngineer]

Carson showed his backside over the weekend with the 'muslims aren't qualified to be president' remarks. There are bad muslims (Osama Bin Laden et. al.), but there are bad Christians as well (Josh Duggar, for instance). Our country as a whole starts to circle the drain when we start making statements like '________ aren't qualified to be president'.

Feel free to insert any gender, race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation for _____.

Besides, it's a logical fallacy to make statements like that. What's true of the parts is not true of the whole.

Interesting that a black man would be blowing a racist dog whistle, but that's my conclusion about his remarks.

I pretty much agree with this. Carson really shot himself in the foot with that one.

[RoyalShock]

A couple of points:

He didn't say a muslim isn't qualified to be president. He said he wouldn't advocate it.

Secondly, how is referring to someone based on their religion, racist?

[Play Angry]

Scott Walker drops out this afternoon.

[Play Angry]

A couple of points:

He didn't say a muslim isn't qualified to be president. He said he wouldn't advocate it.

Secondly, how is referring to someone based on their religion, racist?

It was a pretty dumb quote that shows a lack of political skill IMO. Rather than emphasizing the values he thinks are important and stating that someone with the proper experience, intelligence and similar priorities is a candidate he can support (fairly obvious stock answer), he fell into the trap and let the interviewer connect on a Hail Mary.

He really needs to step it up quickly or risk losing the sizable followng he built over the last 6-8 weeks.

[shocka khan]

A couple of points:

He didn't say a muslim isn't qualified to be president. He said he wouldn't advocate it.

Secondly, how is referring to someone based on their religion, racist?

Let me help you.....
"Of course it's worrisome if you have a party that's perceived as anti-Latino, anti-Asian, anti-gay, intolerant of Muslims," said Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain's presidential campaign back in 2008. Asked specifically about Carson's comments, Schmidt told the Associated Press that it revealed "total lack of understanding about the American political system."

I didn't say that, John McCain's campaign manager said that. And, upon reflection, perhaps the statement is not as much racist as it is bigoted.

bigot: a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions

synonyms:
chauvinist, partisan, sectarian, racist, sexist, homophobe, dogmatist, jingoist

[wu_shizzle]

1) If a practicing Muslim cannot honestly vow to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, he should be disqualified from becoming President. I don't want to put words in Dr Carson's mouth, but it seemed clear he was talking about Islamists and not Westernized Moderate Muslims.

2) Islam is a religion not a race, so how are you hearing the "racist dog whistle"?

[wu_shizzle]

Scott Walker drops out this afternoon.

Really surprising how quickly he turned into Rick Perry.

[RoyalShock]

Let me help you.....
"Of course it's worrisome if you have a party that's perceived as anti-Latino, anti-Asian, anti-gay, intolerant of Muslims," said Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain's presidential campaign back in 2008. Asked specifically about Carson's comments, Schmidt told the Associated Press that it revealed "total lack of understanding about the American political system."

I didn't say that, John McCain's campaign manager said that. And, upon reflection, perhaps the statement is not as much racist as it is bigoted.

bigot: a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions

synonyms:
chauvinist, partisan, sectarian, racist, sexist, homophobe, dogmatist, jingoist

You are the one who claimed Carson said muslim's weren't qualified to be president and that "Interesting that a black man would be blowing a racist dog whistle". It has nothing to do with what John McCain's campaign manager said.

I wouldn't advocate a Democrat, communist, Buddhist or an illegal alien be elected president. That doesn't make me a bigot. So Mr. Carson has an issue with how well the stated beliefs of a muslim line up with our Constitutional values. I don't see how that makes him intolerant. Had he said he doesn't believe muslims should be allowed in the United States, I might agree with you.

I think the words racist, bigot and others get thrown around far to cavalierly these days.

[ShockerEngineer]

1) If a practicing Muslim cannot honestly vow to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, he should be disqualified from becoming President. I don't want to put words in Dr Carson's mouth, but it seemed clear he was talking about Islamists and not Westernized Moderate Muslims.

We know this and look at the words in the full context. The media doesn't care, and will just blast "Ben Carson thinks a Muslim shouldn't be qualified to be President" along with "See? All Republicans are xenophobic!"

[shockmonster]

Carson showed his backside over the weekend with the 'muslims aren't qualified to be president' remarks. There are bad muslims (Osama Bin Laden et. al.), but there are bad Christians as well (Josh Duggar, for instance). Our country as a whole starts to circle the drain when we start making statements like '________ aren't qualified to be president'.

You may not mean it like this but it sounds like you are saying: Osama Bin Laden = Josh Duggar. Now I'm not defending Josh Duggar because he has his issues but this is not equal.

I was listening only to a part of the television this morning but I thought that I heard Carson to clarify his comments to say that anyone who believes in Shria Law should not be able to be President. Most of the muslims are not a part of Shria Law, but occasionally, extremism does creep into our culture from mosques (ie Oklahoma City heheading, and the shooting at the army base where numerous service men were killed. Again, I only heard some of it as I was getting ready and couldn't stop and listen so I may have missed some of it.

[SHOCKvalue]

Whenever the argument is made that Christians are equally as bad as Muslims because Muslims have OBL/ISIS/etc and Christians have Westboro/Pat Roberson/abusive Priests I can only sit back shake my head at the critical thinking skills required to make that pitch to oneself to the degree necessary to allow that thought to leave one's lips. Kahn will be around to explain himself soon, or otherwise realize his folly, because I don't believe he is that far gone, but most of those with a terminal case of liberal retardation will run with that argument until they collapse from trying to support it. Really weird, and textbook irrationalism.

Back on topic: I was afraid that Carson would do something like this. It happens to people that speak for themselves, rather than on behalf of political contributors and the machine. A political outsider will always put his or her foot in their mouth, because they are not a puppet.

And as long as Muslims in this country push for hints of Sharia Law to be implemented, I 100% unapologetically agree with Carson. Carson himself is a little different as he is a Seventh Day Adventist, much like Romney is a Mormon, but I wouldn't have, nor did I have, any issues voting for either one of those guys. That said, the Muslim next door might be a perfectly nice guy in passing and at your cook outs, but at their core that vast majority of Muslims in the world support stuff like 9/11, OBL, and ISIS. That makes them just a little - shall we say - different from other global ethnic or religious groups. You could say it is a red flag, but that may be understating.

[Play Angry]

The quote is easy to defend from a "Ben Carson is not actually a bad guy" context.

The quote is more difficult to defend from a "Ben Carson has the requisite skillset to win a presidential election and deserves your donations, now" context.

[Kung Wu]

Would someone that disagrees with Ben Carson please explain why having a President that is beholden to Sharia Law would make a good fit for the United States of America?

[wufan]

...the Muslim next door might be a perfectly nice guy in passing and at your cook outs, but at their core that vast majority of Muslims in the world support stuff like 9/11, OBL, and ISIS...

This has not been my experience. I don't go around asking folks (Muslim or otherwise) if they support ISIS, but not my experience that "the vast majority" are evil.