A Ben
Carson staffer gave CNN's Jake Tapper the hook after the newsman
continued to press the presidential candidate on the controversial
statement he made about Muslims one week ago.
'This
interview is over,' a staffer's voice is heard from off-screen, cutting
off an exchange between Carson and Tapper on Sunday's State of the
Union.
Tapper was asking the retired neurosurgeon if he still meant what he said about Muslims.
'I would
not advocate we put a Muslim in charge of this nation, I absolutely
would not agree with that,' Carson said last Sunday on Meet the Press.
To Tapper, Carson first requested that people go back and look at the transcript, before doubling down on what he said.
'I
would have problems with somebody who embraced all the doctrines
associated with Islam,' Carson said, citing later in the interview that
he objected to the portions of Islam that tell practitioners how to
treat women and how to treat people of different faiths. 'That they can
be dominated,' Carson explained.
Tapper
suggested that the candidate was singling out Muslims as people who
would put their religion ahead of the constitution or automatically
embrace a theocracy in the United States.
'I
think the statement stands,' Carson said. 'Is it possible that maybe
the media thinks it's a bigger deal than the American people do? Because
American people, the majority of them, agree and they understand
exactly what I'm saying.'
Tapper suggested the American people who agreed with Carson were ones who didn't believe Muslims could be patriotic.
'Of
course Muslims can be patriotic,' Carson said, but he still noted that
Muslims would need to 'reject the tenets of Islam' to be president of
the United States.
'I think one
of the things is that you are a member of a church that there's a lot
of misinformation about, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, you're an
African American,' Tapper said. 'You know what it is like for people to
make false assumptions about you and you seem to be doing the same thing
with Muslims.' Carson looked perplexed.'In what way am I making false assumptions about them?' the presidential candidate asked.
Tapper answered that the candidate assumed that Muslim Americans put their religion ahead of their country.
'I'm
assuming that if you accept all the tenets of Islam that you would have
a very difficult time abiding under the Constitution of the United
States,' Carson replied. Then a voice was heard off camera telling Tapper, sharply, that his time had come to an end.
'OK, thank you, Dr. Carson, I appreciate it,' Tapper said.
