Islam gaffe candidate Banister quits Australia election [View all]

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

An Australian election candidate who was widely mocked after she mistook Islam for a country in a TV interview has withdrawn her candidacy.

Stephanie Banister, 27, was contesting a seat in Queensland for the anti-immigration One Nation Party. She had only been in politics for 48 hours.

Ms Banister also confused the term "haram" (forbidden) with the Koran and suggested Jews worshipped Jesus Christ.

The interview, which aired early this week, went viral on social media.

''I don't oppose Islam as a country, umm, but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia,'' Ms Banister told Seven News reporter Erin Edwards.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23644422

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The Young Turks' take on it...

"If you need to know the differences between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, you probably shouldn't ask Australian nationalist politician Stephanie Banister.

The 27-year-old One Nation party candidate for parliament proved herself ignorant on key facts while discussing her policy beliefs with a 7News reporter Wednesday evening. At one point, she declared "Islam" to be a country; at another, she suggested the Jewish religion follows Christ; and another, she asserted a federal disability program was working quite well despite not going into effect for three more years."*

Is Stephanie Banister the Australian Sarah Palin...or is she even more of a joke? The Australian nationalist politician is now trying to ban halal foods, based on hilariously bad religious misinformation. Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, John Iadaorla, and Wes Clark Jr. discuss.

*Watch the video from Yahoo Australia/ News 7:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/election/a/-/article/18429781/australian-sarah-palin/

The 'Australian Sarah Palin'