Crossposted from OpenLeft (USA) with commentary.
This fucking guy is really something. He recently said that he knows how to politik! Is this what he means?
Obama’s Ground Zero Mosque Comments: President Recalibrates
My intention was to simply let people know what I thought. Which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally in accordance with the law. Regardless of race. Regardless of religion. I was not commenting on and will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country’s about and I think it’s very important that as difficult as some of these issues are, we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.
Comments
How is that waffling?
He didn’t change his position at all. He just corrected people who misinterpreted his original statement. If he wanted to prevent Republicans from twisting he his words around, he would never say anything. Not sure how you can blame him for Republicans’ dishonesty.
by: miasmo
I disagree.
If he hadn’t meant to do anything except recite the Constitution’s freedom of religion clause, he should have kept his mouth shut. I for one construed his initial remarks as being supportive of the construction of Cordoba House. I’m sick and tired of parsing his words.
by: bmull
That’s nonsense. Republicabs only believe in the 2nd Amendment.
I think it’s a good idea for the President to remind us every now and then of the other ones.
This will turn into another example of how Gibbs was right after all.by: steviez314
I think Obama is terrible, but I don’t think he waffled on this issue
Here’s the real waffler:
435 Dem Primaries 2012
Coffee Party Usa
TheRealNews.Comby: metamars
Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League essentially said the same thing.
When Obama refused to comment on the “wisdom” of building a mosque near Ground Zero, he threw the insensitivity point back out there. And that’s all that Foxman meant to say.
What he should have said is that Muslims have a right to build a mosque anywhere in the US, two blocks from Ground Zero or otherwise. As it stands, it is as if ordinary decent Muslim-Americans must share in the blame for 9/11, which is just to stir up more Islamophobia.
by: shergald
And now we have NY Governor Patterson waffling.
You can’t really have it both ways, disagree with Foxman and then agree with him in an afterthought:
Albany – Sponsors of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not slamming the door on Gov. Paterson’s idea to build the center someplace else.
“We are open to a conversation to find out more on what the governor has in mind,” the center, Park51, said in a Twitter post yesterday.
While mosque opponents charge the chosen site is insensitive to 9/11 victims, Paterson doesn’t oppose the planned location.
He suggested earlier this week it might ease tensions if the center was further away from Ground Zero, and raised the possibility of offering state-owned land.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_...
Ease tensions for whom. Just who is creating the tension? Sarah Palin? What a joke this is.
by: shergald
A further thought.
If the Muslim organization is forced by dint of social pressure to move the site of the planned mosque, the 9/11 terrorists will have won another victory: they will have succeeded in chipping away at American freedoms, perhaps of even institutionalizing Islamophobia.
The Ground Zero mosque is only one of many antiIslamic efforts to stop mosque building across the country. It seems to be just another right wing GOP effort to create a new racism upon which they can recruit voters. With Reagan’s racism against Blacks having dissipated, what is left for the GOP to run against?
Muslims (terrorism) and Hispanics (aka the anti-immigration effort)!
For what it’s worth: a New York Daily News internet poll.
Poll Results
A Landmarks panel vote clears the way for a mosque near Ground Zero. Is it an appropriate location for the mosque?
Yes, there is no reason why it should not be there. 69%
No, it does not belong so near the site of the 9/11 attacks. 24%
I’m not sure. 7%
http://www.nydailynews.com/nyd...
by: shergald
