Herman Cain Is Back To Hating Muslims

Ever since his rise in the polls, Herman Cain has backed away from the anti-Muslim rhetoric that earned him headline, and no small degree of support, over the summer. In a new interview, though, he seems to be back to where he left off:

Herman Cain said that he believes a majority of American Muslims share extremist views in an interview published on Monday.

In an interview that included a few eyebrow-raising comments, Cain’s exchange about American Muslims may get the most attention.

“I have had one very well-known Muslim voice say to me directly that a majority of Muslims share the extremist views,” Cain said in an interview with GQ.

Asked if he thought this individual — whom Cain would only identify as “a very prominent voice in the Muslim community” — was right, Cain said that although he found it hard to believe, ultimately he trusted his adviser.

“Yes, because of the respect that I have for this individual. Because when he told me this, he said he wouldn’t want to be quoted or identified as having said that,” Cain said.

This is a change from July when Cain apologized for many of the things he had said over the summer after meeting with a group of Muslims in Northern Virginia. I guess that wasn’t sincere. It’s also interesting that, as Andy Levy notes on Twitter, Cain seems to have gotten over his recent disdain for anonymous sources.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, Religion, US Politics, , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. sam says:

    An antidote to this nonsense might be the upcoming show on Muslims in America. See, The Extraordinary Ordinariness of ‘All-American Muslim’.

    Herman Cain is a disgrace. And an idiot.

  2. legion says:

    I wonder if Cain doesn’t do things like this deliberately, to sabotage his own rising star _just_ enough to keep him from getting the actual nomination, while still coming off like a hero to the red-meat crowd in the GOP base(ment).

  3. michael reynolds says:

    I wonder, in fairness to Cain, when this interview was done. There can be long lead times. That doesn’t excuse his moronic Muslim bashing, but might explain why he’s singing an old song.

  4. @michael reynolds:

    The GQ article says this:

    In mid-October, well before the allegations started to break, GQ sent correspondent Chris Heath, senior editor Devin Gordon, and food critic Alan Richman to Seventh Hill in Washington, D.C., the best pizza joint in town, to have a Sunday-afternoon pizza party with the GOP’s surprise front-runner.

  5. michael reynolds says:

    @Doug Mataconis:
    Okay then he’s just an idiot.

  6. An Interested Party says:

    Herman Cain Is Back To Hating Muslims

    Surely you realize that this isn’t a bug, but rather, a feature to many of the people he’s trying to persuade to vote for him…