A Word From Ben Carson

Ben Carson: A Muslim shouldn't be elected president Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says Islam is antithetical to the Constitution, and he doesn't believe that a Muslim should be elected president. Carson, a devout Christian, says a president's faith should matter to voters if it runs counter to the values and principles of America. 

Responding to a question during an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," he described the Islamic faith as inconsistent with the Constitution.

"I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation," Carson said. "I absolutely would not agree with that." He did not specify in what way Islam ran counter to constitutional principles. In a separate appearance on NBC, one of Carson's rivals for the GOP nomination, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, was asked whether he would have a problem with a Muslim in the White House. "The answer is, at the end of the day, you've got to go through the rigors, and people will look at everything. 

But, for me, the most important thing about being president is you have leadership skills, you know what you're doing and you can help fix this country and raise this country. 

Those are the qualifications that matter to me." Carson's comments came amid lingering fallout over Republican Donald Trump's refusal last week to take issue with a man during a campaign event who wrongly called President Barack Obama a Muslim and said Muslims are "a problem in this country." 

Obama is Christian. GOP candidates have since been split over whether to criticize Trump, who has been a vocal skeptic of Obama's birthplace and faith. Also on NBC on Sunday, Trump said that a Muslim in the White House "it's something that could happen... "Some people have said it already happened, frankly." 

In the NBC interview, Carson said he believes that Obama was born in the U.S. and is Christian, saying he has "no reason to doubt" what the president says.

Carson also made a distinction when it came to electing Muslims to Congress, calling it a "different story" from the presidency that "depends on who that Muslim is and what their policies are, just as it depends on what anybody else says." Congress has one Muslim member, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. "If there's somebody who's of any faith, but they say things, and their life has been consistent with things that will elevate this nation and make it possible for everybody to succeed, and bring peace and harmony, then I'm with them," Carson said.

Does Obama Lies Like a Psychopath?

Presidential candidate Ben Carson say's that Obama will look at the unemployment rate and then lie to you like a 'psychopath'. In a new CNBC interview published Friday, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson explained why he thought the president acts like a "psychopath."

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and conservative author, pointed to what he called President Barack Obama's comfort in lying to the public. He cited the unemployment rate as an example of this.

"I said he reminds you of a psychopath, because they tend to be extremely smooth, charming people who can tell a lie to your face with complete — it looks like sincerity, even though they know it's a lie," Carson told CNBC's John Harwood. "I think he knows full well that the unemployment rate is not 5.5%. He knows that."

(The interview aired before Friday's jobs report, in which the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%.)

Carson was most likely referring to the debate over how the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the unemployment rate. Some conservatives have called for more attention to be paid to those who have given up looking for a job, whom the most commonly used statistic excludes.

Carson, repeating an argument he has previously made, said Obama's administration was willing to manipulate the unemployment number to paint a more positive portrait of the economy.

"He knows that people who are not well informed will swallow it hook, line, and sinker — even though they are sitting there in the city and can't find a job," Carson said.

Watch more from Ben Carson. The video below is Dr. Ben Carson announcing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination from the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit, MI:
[source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/presidential-candidate-ben-carson-obama-133100317.html]