Sean Hannity all but put words in Dr. Ben Carson’s mouth in order to help tamp down the controversy after Carson said he did not think a Muslim should be president.

Carson caught flak when he said on Meet The Press, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that." He also said he does not believe that Islam is consistent with the constitution.”

So leave it to Sean Hannity to jump on the Republican Rehab bandwagon. There’s probably nothing that energizes Hannity more than bigots in trouble over bigotry.

Before bringing on Carson, Hannity warmed up his audience by suggesting that a Muslim president would turn the U.S. into some kind of theocracy.

“Let’s look at what happens when you mix Islamic values with a political system,” he began. “Religious dictatorships known as theocracies dominate the Muslim world.” He then began citing some of the excesses of Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Bahrain. Of course, he never mentioned Jordan, Turkey and Indonesia or Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

When Carson first spoke, he insisted that he stood by his comments.

BEN CARSON: Absolutely, I stand by the comments. You know, what we have to do is we have to recognize that this is America, and we have a Constitution. And we do not put people at the leadership of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution. So if, for instance, you believe in a theocracy, I don't care if you're a Christian. If you're a Christian and you're running for president and you want to make this into a theocracy, I'm not gonna support you. I'm not gonna advocate you being the president.

Hannity pretended his concern was for human rights as he reiterated his fear mongering about what might happen if a Muslim were president and then, like a defense attorney questioning his client on the stand, “asked” if that was what Carson feared, too.

HANNITY: I spoke with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser today. He's a moderate Muslim, and I asked if he could name a single Muslim country that treats women the way we treat women, or minorities the way we treat minorities in this country. He couldn't name a single one. Was that what you were thinking in your mind when you were answering the question, in other words, the way Muslim theocracies currently operate?

And surprise! That’s exactly what Carson said he meant. Even as he began to back away from his original statement.

CARSON: That's correct. I mean, they currently do not tend to operate the same way that our system does. Now, if someone has a Muslim background and they're willing to reject those tenets and to accept the way of life that we have, and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then, of course, they will be considered infidels and heretics, but at least I would then be quite willing to support them.

Hannity next led Carson to more explicitly walk back his remarks:

HANNITY: All right, so what I hear in your statement there is you kind of are tempering those remarks. For example, if there was a moderate Muslim that denounced Sharia, that denounced radical Islamists, that denounced quotes in the Koran about killing the infidels or not taking Christians and Jews for your friends, that denounced the controversial life of Mohammed, you would be open to that Muslim running for president?

CARSON: Of course.

But Defense Counselor Hannity wasn’t through exonerating his client, I mean guest.

HANNITY: Then, so basically the controversy is over in that sense. Did you mean to say 'radical Islamist' or one that supports a form of government as is practiced in Muslim countries, is that more what you meant to say?

CARSON: Well, you know, that was implied in the comment, because I prefaced that by saying I don't care what religion or faith someone belongs to if they're willing to subjugate that to the American way and to our Constitution, then I have no problem with it. That's what I said before that.

Hannity was not the only Fox News host on the Carson defense team. Fox & Friends were right there for him in the morning and Andrea Tantaros cheered him on in the afternoon.

Watch Hannity spoonfeed Carson his talking points below, from the September 21 Hannity.