After ThinkProgress Video Stokes Controversy, Herman Cain Disavows Pledge Not To Appoint Muslims

On Saturday, ThinkProgress interviewed GOP presidential aspirant Herman Cain regarding his controversial statements on Muslims in America. We asked the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza if he would be comfortable appointing a Muslim either in his cabinet or as a federal judge. Cain definitively declared, “No, I would not”:

An uproar over Cain’s comments ensued, both because of the GOPer’s bigotry towards Muslims as well as the obvious violation of Article 4 of the Constitution, which states that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

Today, the Cain campaign walked back his previous statement. In an interview with Salon’s Justin Elliott, Cain spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael stated that:

Mr. Cain would consider any person for a position based on merit, as anybody else would, as is the law.

While Cain’s apparent change of heart about allowing Muslims (or anyone for that matter, regardless of faith) in his administration is both positive and appropriate, questions regarding Cain’s beliefs about Muslims in general remain. After all, when ThinkProgress asked him about the controversy over his statements that Muslims “have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them,” Cain approvingly quoted his grandfather: “I does not care, I feel the way I feel.”