After establishing himself as the Republican presidential candidate most overtly critical of Muslims in America, Herman Cain taking steps to reach out to the community.
TPM confirms that Cain is planning to connect with an as-yet unreleased list of Muslim leaders to, as the Daily Caller first reported, “have a discussion about religion and politics.”
Specifics on the meeting are sketchy. Yahoo’s Chris Moody reported the meeting will be “be private, closed-press,” at a “Time/location TBA.”
Team Cain campaign told TPM it was not ready to release the names of those who’ll be attending.
Cain’s campaign has become surprisingly focused on American Muslims, starting with the question the candidate took from ThinkProgress back in March. Cain said he would not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet, a statement he later revised to say he wouldn’t accept them without taking special care to make sure a Muslim applicant isn’t a terrorist.
Earlier this month, Cain went on Fox News Sunday and said American cities have the right to ban mosques if they so choose, due to the nature of the faith, which he described thusly:
“Islam is both a religion and a set of laws — Sharia laws. That’s the difference between any one of our traditional religions where it’s just about religious purposes.”
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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