N.Y. Board Gives Go-Ahead to Mosque Near Ground Zero
Following a sometimes lively debate Tuesday night, a Manhattan community board voted in favor of a plan to build the Cordoba House, a mosque and Muslim cultural center, near ground zero.Following a sometimes lively debate Tuesday night, a Manhattan community board voted in favor of a plan to build the Cordoba House, a mosque and Muslim cultural center, near ground zero. The vote was mostly for symbolic purposes, as the project could go ahead without it, according to The Associated Press, but it served as a show of local support and solidarity. –KA
AP via YouTube:
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The former presidential candidate says opposition to building a mosque near Ground Zero "is all about hate and Islamaphobia" and that the "justification to ban the mosque is no more rational than banning a soccer field in the same place because all the suicide bombers loved to play soccer." (Full statement after the jump).
Nothing tests a president like standing up against a wave of fear and prejudice, even at potentially great cost to his own party and prospects.
What's the deal with the hubbub over the so-called Ground Zero mosque? Clearly, as The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf notes, it has a lot to do with the popular culture-war-themed wedge issues that crop up right around now in each election cycle.
Right-wingers like Sarah Palin know that nothing gets Americans hot under the collar like some good old-fashioned wordplay. Take "death panels" as one recent example of fanciful rhetorical styling for political gain. Or how about this one: "Ground Zero mosque."
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