Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Wednesday night grilled Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on his suggestion to keep immigrants out of the United States if they believe in “radical Islam.”
Kelly referenced the governor’s Monday comments at the American Action Forum, where he said that the U.S. “shouldn’t tolerate those who want to come and try to impose some variant of, some version of Sharia law.”
She asked Jindal to defend his comments on “The Kelly File.”
“We don’t discriminate against anybody of any religion and certainly there are many Muslims who are proud patriotic Americans, and that’s great,” Jindal said. “It’s also true there are radical Muslims — there are Muslims that want to treat women as second-class citizens, there are those who want to use our freedoms to undermine the freedoms of others. It makes no sense to let those types of folks come into our country.”
He explained that he made his original comments when asked if he thought members of the Islamic State should be allowed into the U.S.
“Those are identified terrorists who are killing us and our allies,” Kelly responded. “But just to say that if you are a radical Islamist, or more specifically if you believe in Sharia law, that you won’t be allowed into the United States is controversial. Who decides how far into Sharia law you have to be? Who decides who’s a radical Islamist and who’s just an Islamist?”
Jindal said that “you have the right to believe what you want as long as you’re not harming others, so as long as you’re not trying to limit the freedoms of other people.”
“You don’t have the right to come here and say, for example, that you think women should be treated as second class citizens,” he said.
“This is a country with lots of crazy beliefs,” Kelly hit back. “And actually, some religions continue to treat women as second class citizens, and it’s not just some forms of Islam. Are we going to start banning everybody who doesn’t treat women or children or criminals, for that matter, the way we like?”
Jindal said that the U.S. should not “be blindly following Europe” where immigrants don’t “assimilate.” The governor said that he believes American immigrants must learn English and believe in “American exceptionalism.”
Jindal has made similar comments before. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he said that the U.S. has a “responsibility” to make sure that immigrants “integrate.” And in January, he said that some European cities have Muslim “no-go zones,” a debunked myth.
Watch the clip via YouTube:
H/t Mediaite
“…there are Muslims that want to treat women as second-class citizens, there are those who want to use our freedoms to undermine the freedoms of others.”–Jindal
There are also Christianists who want to treat women as second-class citizens and want to use our freedoms to undermine the freedoms of others (read: homosexuals). Whatcha gonna do about them, Bob?
“It makes no sense to let those types of folks come into our country.”–Jindal
They’re already here, Bob.
Jindal wants to act like a religious bigot without sounding like a religious bigot and it can’t be done.
That’s why what he is saying sounds all wishy washy, and does not make a lot of sense.
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.[2]”
The citizenship oath is pretty comprehensive and any one who can take it without mental reservation should be admitted. It might be well though to let them know the degree to which the Constitution supports freedom of speech.
He sounds like a babbling high school junior who did not do the reading assignment - but has a vague idea about the content - and is trying to discuss it without saying anything that might end up being incorrect.
So much for the Republican party nationally and in most states.