DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz blasted Republicans Sunday for not supporting “a Muslim, or any” American’s right to run for president, and called on four Republican presidential candidates specifically to apologize.
“It’s hard to understand what’s so difficult about supporting an American citizen’s right to run for president, but unsurprisingly, this left Republicans scratching their heads,” said Wasserman Schultz in a statement. “Of course a Muslim, or any other American citizen, can run for president, end of story.”
“To think otherwise is not only harmful to our political process, but it elevates and validates discrimination in this country,” she said.
Former neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that he would not be support a Muslim for president, while Republican front-runner Donald Trump declined to answer the question of whether he’d support a Muslim.
“Some people have said it already happened, frankly,” said Trump on “Meet the Press” Sunday.
Wasserman Schultz then conflated the position of Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with that of Trump and Carson saying that, “In interviews today, not one, not two, not three, but four GOP candidates for president failed to clearly support the concept that a person’s religious beliefs should not disqualify him or her from being president. … John Kasich, Ben Carson, Rand Paul and Donald Trump should apologize and state clearly where they stand.”
Neither Kasich or Paul endorsed Trump or Carson’s stance, however.
Asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” what he made of Carson’s statement, Paul said, “I think it’s not so much what religion you are, but it’s what you stand for.”
Asked about Trump’s statement and whether a president’s faith should matter on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Kasich replied, “Well, look, I don’t know about that, Chuck. I mean, I’d have to think about what that means.”
“But I believe the president, in fact, is a Christian,” Kasich added.
Paul also said Sunday that “I try to see that as a separate thing, someone’s religion. I just think that it’s hard for us, we were attacked by people who were all Muslim. It’s incumbent … [on] civilized Islam needs to step up say this doesn’t represent us. I know they do, but I don’t hear enough of it. I need to hear more of it.”
In response to a Washington Examiner inquiry on how Kasich and Paul’s statements merited inclusion, DNC spokesperson Kaylie Handson said that they had failed to “support the concept that a person’s religious beliefs should not disqualify him or her from being president.”
