Reply #11: read into it what you will

[frogcycle]

but the fact is that being precise in your language is a virtue.

I can not say that person X is not a wife-beater. I can say I know person X well and am very sure that is not the case, that I would be astonished to learn that is the case.

Being a Muslim is NOT a negative, despite all the hand-wringing spin about this particular phony issue. It would have been extremely poor form to have said anything even bordering on "I could never believe that of him" or whatever assurances you are looking for. And despite all confidence that everything he says on the subject is exactly as stated, neither HRC, nor you, nor I can state categorically that we know he has never been a Muslim. Was he one for five minutes when he was first born? What would constitute "being a Muslim" anyway? Is someone born a Muslim, or a Christian, or a Buddhist? Damned if I know; I'm an atheist. As far as I know, if someone thinks to themselves "I'm a satanist" for a minute, then they were once a satanist.
As far as I know, you were never a satanist.

"Qualifying language" is not necessarily a backhanded slap at someone. You just choose to make it so.