Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has gotten into trouble this year for his controversial statements on Islam. First, Cain said he wouldn't welcome a Muslim in his Cabinet (he later walked that statement back). Now, Cain says he supports the right of local governments to ban mosques. Cain, a political newcomer and former Godfather's Pizza CEO, said on Fox News Sunday that his view doesn't amount to religious discrimination, because Islam mixes faith and politics like no other religion. Will this hard-line position continue to fuel his surprise success in the polls, or repel mainstream voters?
Cain is sabotaging his own campaign: Herman Cain's "perplexing" obsession with Muslims is just bad politics, says Joshua Green at The Atlantic. It doesn't distinguish him from the other candidates, Republican or Democrat, because no one is pro-Sharia law. He's just making himself look like a "drooling yokel," instead of the smart businessman he is. The only thing this will get him is a terrible "finish in the Ames straw poll and an ignominious departure from the race."
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Actually, we should applaud Cain's courage: "Herman Cain gets it," says Pam Geller at Atlas Shrugs. He surely knew his comments would get him "slammed by the leftist/Islamic machine." But he also recognized that any Republican candidate hoping to win the nomination has to "have the guts and political courage" to speak honestly and forcefully about the threat that Islamists pose to our nation.
"Herman Cain talks mosques, Sharia, and the Muslim Brotherhood"
Forget politics. This is bigotry: It's hard to see how making a statement that "flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution" is going to win Cain votes, says the Rev. Chuck Currie at his blog. Remember freedom of religion? Plus, Cain is totally overlooking the fact that Muslim Americans reject terrorism and extremism, and value religious freedom. Cain is spouting "bigotry" here, and if the other GOP candidates want to show real courage, they should condemn his comments.