''The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over. The proposed 'Cordoba House' overlooking the World Trade Center site -- where a group of jihadists killed over 3,000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks -- is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites,'' - Newt Gingrich, conflating all American Muslims as Islamists, and ignoring the many non-Americans killed at Ground Zero. Extra points for fake populism, and following Palin's despicable lead.
The Palin-led tone of the GOP is increasingly, well there's no other word for it, neo-fascist. As if it is now un-American to support freedom of religion - especially near a site destroyed by those who oppose it. Palin sees a mosque as a stab in the heart of America. I see it as a sign of America's endurance as a place where freedom of religion is sacrosanct, and where we make distinctions between genuine believers and those who distort and pervert faith for political and murderous ends.
I see the Cordoba project as the best response to Bin Laden's evil that a true democracy can muster.