Responding to Mitt Romney's statement that he would refuse to appoint a Muslim to his cabinet were he elected, Ezra Klein strikes a wrong note with me:
My outrage on the subject isn't different or more enlightening than anyone else's outrage on the subject, but Mitt Romney's admission that he wouldn't consider any Muslims for high level cabinet appointments is shocking, even anti-American, stuff. Romney, of course, is a Mormon, and has spent much of this campaign begging the electorate not to allow his membership in a cult harm his presidential campaign. For Romney to now turn on Muslims is like the fifth least popular kid on the playground trying to help his status by stealing the lunch money of the few losers beneath even him.Granted, Ezra might be speaking tongue in cheek here to make a point about what American perceptions of Mormonism and what an incredible hypocrite Romney is given his circumstances. But what Ezra is actually arguing by extension and analogy is that Romney has ludicrous beliefs, and therefore Romney should support others who have ludicrous beliefs. That's not very generous to Mormons or Muslims—and it's not far from the soft prejudice that (say) Catholics have faced in political contests (and may continue to, I don't know). Of course it's only American that any damn magical thing a politician wants to believe about Abraham and his descendants, on this continent or others, should have no real bearing on his fitness for office.
