"Carson's point is exactly right. Perfectly, 100% correct."
Carson's point is 100% wrong. Just ask your friendly neighborhood Muslim.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 'very disappointed' in Ben Carson
By Mark Hensch
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said on Monday said he feels let down by GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson’s stance that practicing Islam should be a disqualifier for the presidency.
“I was very disappointed by Dr. Ben Carson,” Abdul-Jabbar said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Religion is not supposed to be a litmus test for office here in the United States of America,” he told said. “Religion has nothing to do with it.”
“It is your qualities as an American citizen and if you believe in the Constitution and if you want to fight to preserve and enhance it,” added Abdul-Jabbar, who is Muslim. “Most Muslim-Americans come in the second category there.”
Carson on Sunday said he would not be comfortable having a Muslim in the Oval Office.
“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I absolutely would not agree with that.”
The retired doctor stood behind that position during a later interview with The Hill.
“I do not believe that Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country,” Carson said, a reference to Islamic law.
“Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that’s inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution,” he added.
Carson’s remarks follow GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s refusal last week to challenge people at his rally who said President Obama is a Muslim.
Abdul-Jabbar charged that the claim is a cheap slur used by voters who dislike Obama’s status as the nation’s first African-American president.
“So many people were disappointed that a black American could be elected president that they have to invent all these fictitious why they don’t think they have to respect the president,” the NBA Hall of Famer said.
“He beat them twice,” Abdul-Jabbar added, citing Obama’s presidential election victories in 2008 and 2012. “I think that’s the worst part. He whipped them, and they don’t like that.”
Carson is trailing Trump in the race for next year’s Republican presidential nomination across multiple national polls.
Trump leads the GOP pack, with 28.5 percent support to Carson’s 18.8 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average.
thehill.com |
