…concerning the White House making their own mess on the Ground Zero Mosque issue (that I really am sick of writing about). The inability to see that the White House turned this into a national story by the president’s statement and then his attempted retreat and the attempt to play the “demagogue” card on the issue.
More amazing is the continued attempts to push the White House to try to use the Bushes to bail them out here. Why either of the Bushes would be compelled to do so is totally beyond me.
It is interesting to note I don’t hear them calling on the silent Bill Clinton to speak up on the issue. Why? Because Bill Clinton is much too smart to do so, particularity if there is the slightest chance his wife will be running in a 2012 primary against this president.
The team did have Irshad Manji on in the first hour and her interesting WSJ piece:
Consider Bob, who feels so offended by antimosque activists in his state of Tennessee that these feelings alone drive him to support more mosques—without prior thought to what, exactly, he’s supporting. “I found local citizens to be intolerant and un-American,” Bob tells me over email. “So as a gesture of tolerance and Americanism, I donated to the mosque building fund.”
Before pledging a penny, Bob should have asked the imam: “Where will the men’s side of this mosque be?” It’s a discreet way of discerning whether the project will replicate segregation, and thus whether the mosque will wind up bolstering the intolerant behavior that Bob can’t abide.
She however sees possibility for the Mosque provided some questions are answered:
Namely, accountability. If Park51 gets built, thanks to its provocative location the nation will scrutinize what takes place inside. Americans have the opportunity right now to be clear about the civic values expected from any Islam practiced at the site.
That means setting aside bombast and asking the imam questions born of the highest American ideals: individual dignity and pluralism of ideas.
• Will the swimming pool at Park51 be segregated between men and women at any time of the day or night?
• May women lead congregational prayers any day of the week?
• Will Jews and Christians, fellow People of the Book, be able to use the prayer sanctuary for their services just as Muslims share prayer space with Christians and Jews in the Pentagon? (Spare me the technocratic argument that the Pentagon is a governmental, not private, building. Park51 may be private in the legal sense but is a public symbol par excellence.)
• What will be taught about homosexuals? About agnostics? About atheists? About apostasy?
• Where does one sign up for advance tickets to Salman Rushdie’s lecture at Park51?
These questions aren’t gratuitous. I, for one, remain haunted by the 300 Muslims chanting “Death to Rushdie” on Sept. 10, 2001.
Note the date. The fact is radical Islam didn’t first arrive in the US on Sept 11, 2001, it was just the first day Americans realized it.
Will the MSM ask such questions? Will they dare? Will any show other than Morning Joe in the 6 a.m hour dare bring it up?
Even when playing advocate they still do a better job than the rest of the MSM.
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