The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : What Did He Say?

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Does Romney really think divorced people shouldn't be president and Muslims don't get a cabinet seat until their percentage of the population increases? Some people are insulted or amazed by the former. As to the latter issue, Romney appeared to say that Muslims should only be in lower level positions, not the cabinet given their percentage of the population. In light of the recent tussle over whether Judge Tuttman was really an affirmative action hire I found this hard to believe( even more so since Romney of all people should immediately rule out religion as an disqualifier for public office) so I asked spokesman Kevin Madden about it. He directed me to this from Romney's CNN appearance: "... But I also think that suggesting that we have to fill spots based on checking off boxes of various ethnic groups is really a very inappropriate way to think about how we staff positions. I'm very pleased that, among my Cabinet members, for instance, I had several African-American individuals. I had people of different backgrounds. But I don't go in every circumstance I'm in and say, OK, how many African-Americans, how many Hispanic-Americans, how many Asian-Americans, and fill boxes that way. I fill responsibilities based upon people's merit and their skill. And, sometimes, it includes many ethnic minorities. And, other times, it includes different minorities. But I'm very pleased with my record." Madden also added: "At this point, we're not focused on what Governor Romney's cabinet might look like. But the Governor does not believe that in order to effectively fight radical jihad you need to have Muslims serving in the Cabinet." Well, "need" to have them may not be the root of the problem. If the CNN statement is the "real" Romney answer that is reassuring; if the "wait until they get a higher percentage in the population" is the answer that is deeply troubling. Of course, a rival camp thinks the latter is the "real" Romney, offering this: "Today we learn that this guy is not sure whether or not he'll appoint folks based on the specific percentage of people of a certain background? Does merit not matter? Or should any African American, Hispanic American or Asian American appointments be worried they only can get a job in a Romney administration based on their percentage of the population? That sounds like a Hillary cabinet, affirmative action based, not one determined by a businessman's acumen to find the very best."

UPDATE: The divorce issue seems to have been only an observation by Romney that voters are "concerned" about divorced politicians. (But are they? Has that hurt McCain, Thompson or even Rudy? This says divorce rates lower as a concern than how much voters like a candidate's spouse.)

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