Two amazing things have taken place:
The Hospital internet is now working!
An Arab language newspaper has come out against the Mosque at Ground Zero:
“I can’t imagine that Muslims [actually] want a mosque at this particular location, because it will become an arena for the promoters of hatred, and a monument to those who committed the crime. Moreover, there are no practicing Muslims in the area who need a place to worship, because it is a commercial district. Is there anyone who is [really] eager [to build] this mosque?…
“Those pushing to build this mosque may be construction companies, architect firms, or political groups who want to exploit this issue. The individual who submitted the building application – I do not know whether he [really] wants [to build] a mosque that will promote reconciliation, or whether he is [just] an investor looking for quick profits. Because the idea of a mosque right next to a site of destruction is not at all an intelligent one. The last thing Muslims want today is to build a religious center that provokes others, or a symbolic mosque that people will visit as a [kind of] museum next to a cemetery.
“What the citizens of the U.S. fail to understand is that the battle against the 9/11 terrorists is not their battle. It is a Muslim battle – one whose flames are still raging in more than 20 Muslim countries… I do not think that the majority of Muslims want to build a monument or a place of worship that tomorrow may become a source of pride for the terrorists and their Muslim followers, nor do they want a mosque that will become a shrine for the haters of Islam… This has already started to happen: [the Islamophobes] are claiming that a mosque is being built over the corpses of 3,000 U.S. citizens who were buried alive by people chanting ‘Allah akbar’ – the same call that will be heard from the mosque…”
I take exception to the words “Islamophobes, but all in all a piece that acknowledges what MSNBC and CNN and the rest of the “Defend Obama” media can’t or won’t see. (Dana Milbank for example)
Bill Kristol thinks it will be over soon, I hope he’s right.
memeorandum thread here.
The biggest loser here won’t be the president (who was already sinking in the popularity ratings.) or Congressional democrats (who get a great chance to separate themselves from an unpopular president, or the republicans, (who get another talking point) or even the people trying to get the mosque built (who will get concessions for moving it and be celebrated as “tolerant” for doing so)
No the biggest loser is the media who fawned all over the president’s statement, called the American People ignorant bigots for disagreeing and then expect them to not only watch their programs but to take their word on issues.
Of course within their Niche market it might not hurt that much but their days of influencing the mass of Americans is rapidly and thankfully drawing to a close.
Update: Case in point
When did we stop praising politicians for doing what is right even when it’s not politically expedient?” she asked rhetorically. Suggesting that it was unjust for them to suffer political consequences since “the reason everybody is groaning all the time about our politicians is because they’re such hacks and nobody stands up for what’s right,” she concluded saying that “somebody has to say that we’re not going to act like the people who stole freedom from Americans, the people who attacked us”– suggesting that the people who oppose its construction are, to some extent, the moral equivalent to those who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. Her point seemed to have been that religious intolerance was behind both sentiments, but the issue is already heated enough without constructing this kind of analogy.
I wasn’t up early enough to see this on Morning Joe or I would have mentioned it.
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