Excerpt:
GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson dismissed the idea that he is prejudiced against Muslims, insisting Tuesday during a news conference here that his statement Sunday that he would not support a Muslim for president was taken out of context.
"I don't care what a person's religious beliefs are or what their religious heritage is. If they embrace American culture, if they embrace our constitution and are willing to place that above their religious beliefs, I have no problem with it," Carson said before a rally in Sharonville.
The retired neurosurgeon said his initial comments — which came during an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" — were not about Muslims broadly but about radical Islam and religious radicals of other faiths. "It's on the record on NBC. On 'Meet the Press.' Did anyone pick up on that? Of course not, because that wasn't the juicy story," Carson told reporters.