Mitt Romney was recently asked if a Muslim American might serve in his cabinet, considering the magnitude of the threat Romney believes radical Islam poses to America. According to a first-hand account in CS Monitor, Romney responded, “…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.”
Muslims are one percent of the American population. Mormons are two percent. Using Romney’s weird quota-based system for deciding the ethnic makeup of his cabinet, which he seemingly decried on CNN, Romney would have to discriminate against members of his own faith.
One wonders if a Mormon should be president at all, considering how few members of that faith there are in America. Maybe Romney should run for governor of Utah. The ethnic mathematics make more sense there.
Update: Steven Benen adds, “Open and unabashed discrimination towards certain Americans — Muslims and gays, among others — is not only acceptable to too many conservatives, it’s expected. It’s why Romney’s vow to discriminate against Muslims will probably not hurt him politically.”
Update Update: A commentor at Think Progress notes that Romney’s cabinet will have to be 51 percent women.
