McCain: Still Insane in the Membrane

So, that BeliefNet article in which McCain said he believes that "the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation" had another great bit that Steve Benen teased out in which McCain also noted he wouldn't want a Muslim president.

"I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it," he said. "But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith."

Do you think he learned about "the Islam" on the internets using the Google?

I'd like to point out that McCain's statment also suggests he would not be comfortable with a Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, pagan, or atheist president, either. And I'd further like to point out that, Christianity itself being so vastly diverse, some Christian denominations have more in common with fundamentalist Islam than they do with Baptists (or whatever denomination he's claiming to be this week), and some have more in common with pagans. This comment doesn't even make sense just given the enormous breadth of Christian beliefs, no less the Constitutional prohibition on religious litmus tests.

Anyway, in an attempt to pull his foot out of his mouth and his head out of his ass, McCain later tried to clarify his remarks:

Apparently, McCain later realized he'd made a mistake, because the transcript of the interview added, "McCain contacted Beliefnet after the interview to clarify his remarks: 'I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values.'"

In other words, McCain was for discrimination before he was against it.

Right.