The Grand Ol' Party is dying. It is dying a very ugly death. Poor Mr. Lincoln, betrayed one final time.
The latest piece of evidence is the pseudo-controversy over the "Ground Zero" mosque. You know the story, yes? New York Muslims are constructing a cultural center at Park 51 in lower Manhattan, about 2 blocks from "Ground Zero" (the site of the former World Trade Center).
There really is no controversy. The Muslims have every right to build the cultural center. Even opponents acknowledge it. But right-wing freaks are having a field day, whipping up their demented base.
Newt Gingrich was on Fox & Friends on Monday, saying "the proposed mosque would be a symbol of Muslim 'triumphalism' and that building the mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks 'would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.'"
Conflating Islam with what happened on 911 (not to mention the gratuitous Nazi invocation): now that's leadership.
Between Newt and former New York Governor George Pataki (who has also been ginning up the Islamophobes) it looks like we have two men who want to run for president in 2012. They know that the only way to the GOP nomination is through nativism, bigotry, and ignorance.
In the past, even as recently as the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican leaders would sometimes urge restraint when the rhetoric got too ugly. Recall when John McCain tried to calm the roiling hatred during his campaign.
But now, as Gingrich and Pataki so gratuitously demonstrate, ambitious Republican leaders positively leap to the fore at any public stoning.
They are killing their party. After 150 years, the Confederates are finally killing the party of Lincoln.
I read Derrick Z. Jackson's article on Common Dreams entitled "Obama's Two Step on NY Mosque (http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/17-6) and it recalls his Wright duplicity.
ReplyDeleteFirst he said: "let me be clear. As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
Then he had a retake and said:
"I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about."
Flip flopping after the polls show that as many as 70% of Americans oppose the Mosque.
In times like this madness the country needs brave and consistent leadership.
Sorry brother but Obama provides neither and he ain't even a Republican.
With respect.
Ridwan
Everyone agrees that the mosque is legal. The argument is whether it is appropriate or not. The argument that it is not appropriate is that a mosque near Ground Zero would be hurtful to the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11. It could only be hurtful if those families conflate Al-Qaeda and Islam, because otherwise the two are unrelated. Now, conflating the two is simply stupid, but I think it very likely that many of the families have this stupid position and would be offended.
ReplyDeleteSo the question comes down to whether feelings based on stupid and ignorant positions can make something appropriate or not. I would hope not.
Personally I can't think of anything MORE appropriate than a mosque near Ground Zero with a mission to demonstrate that Islam is not the same as Al-Qaeda.
I don't think this in anyway signals the death of the GOP, the idiocy seems to be a majority position in the USA.