McDonnell on Islam

Bob McDonnell, Governor-elect Bob mcDonnell, I should say, did himself  a solid this week and stayed above the fray invovling Pat Robertson and his comments on Islam.

The famous televanglist, who coincidentally founded the University where McDonnell attended law school, said Islam was not a religion but a “violent political system.”

McDonnell didn’t condemn Robertson, but he definitely didn’t defend his remarks either:

“I’ve got probably 15,000 donors to the campaign and I can’t stand and defend or support every comment that any donor might make,” McDonnell said in response to a question from CNN at the Republican Governors Association annual meeting near Austin. “I think people are entitled under the First Amendment to express whatever opinions that they may have, but I can only say that as governor of Virginia, I intend to have an inclusive administration where we bring people across the political and religious system to help us govern.”

This highlights why I like Bob McDonnell. Throughout the campaign he displayed a remarkable ability to stay on message and answer questions in a way that did him no harm and offered his critics no fire power.