Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer, highly influential in national Republican politics, said in his latest column that GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson’s recent comments about Muslims are incompatible with the Constitution, both legally and morally.
Writing in the Washington Post, Krauthammer credited Carson as an authentic candidate in the race but said his repeated comments this week that a person of Muslim faith should not be president were toxic to the GOP.
“Carson is incompatible with a Constitution that explicitly commands that ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,'” Krauthammer wrote.
He added, “Carson is not one to cynically pander. Nor do I doubt that his statement about a Muslim president was sincerely felt. But it remains morally outrageous. And, in a general election, politically poisonous.”
It was last Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Carson first made the controversial remarks about Muslims. Asked if he believed Islam was “consistent” with the U.S. Constitution, Carson said no.
“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” said Carson. “I absolutely would not agree with that.”
In an interview with the Washington Examiner media desk on Friday, Doug Watts, a spokesman for Carson, maintained that the former neurosurgeon was accurate.
“I’m sort of surprised that Charles Krauthammer would say that,” said Watts. “I think he’s generally got a straight beat on things and does not get cowed by political correctness and the rampaging conventional wisdom. I don’t think he heard the [original] statement on NBC would be my first reaction.”
Watts said Islam is not compatible with the Constitution, “And I’m surprised Charles Krauthammer thinks it is,” he said “That’s the only reason he would call this ‘morally outrageous.'”
