Cain's Cabinet: Muslims Out, Gays In

(Hey- I just report the news)

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/06/07/Cains_Cabinet_Muslims_Are_Out_Gays_Are_In/

Insurgent GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain offered an odd explanation on Monday for why he’d be OK with appointing a gay Cabinet member – gay people, he said, would be opposed to Shariah law.

“I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all,” Cain said assuredly in response to a question from a blogger at ThinkProgress. “I just want people who are qualified. I want them to believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. So yep, I don’t have a problem with appointing an openly gay person. Because they’re not going to try to put Shariah law in our laws.”

The candidate made the statement after a speech hosted by The Family Leader, an antigay group in Iowa, and then quickly moved on, even laughing at his own point.

Perhaps Cain is aware that homosexuality is illegal under Shariah law, with the penalty in some countries being death. But he was likely reacting to earlier criticism for saying he wouldn’t appoint a Muslim to his theoretical Cabinet. In March, he claimed “there is this creeping attempt” to “gradually ease Shariah law and the Muslim faith into our government.”