TO MOSQUE OR NOT TO MOSQUE – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  The controversy of the proposed mosque at Ground Zero is not going away.  Indeed, I think it will grow.  The majority of New Yorkers, most of them liberals, are outraged.  Now, U.S. senators are weighing in, as the Weekly Standard reports:

At the Capitol on Thursday, three United States senators weighed in on the decision to build an Islamic cultural center mere blocks from the site of worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. When questioned about the proposal by THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Senators Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.), Olympia Snowe (R., Maine), and John McCain (R., Ariz.) all called the Ground Zero mosque “insensitive.”

In an interview in his Washington office, Isakson explained his reasoning. “The attackers were members of al Qaeda, sponsored by Osama bin Laden, which is an element of radical Islam,” Isakson told me. “I have a serious concern that it serves any good purpose. And in fact it could be totally insensitive to the tragedy that took place there.”...

...Snowe’s concern with the proposed project lies with the families of those who were murdered by the terrorists in the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center. “I think there should be particular sensitivities to the families,” Snowe told me as she was getting on an elevator after the Senate voted to confirm Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court. “It is insensitive to the families.”

Senator McCain:

“I understand that I am a senator from Arizona, and I’m a long way from New York City. But I am entitled to my opinion. And obviously my opinion is that I’m opposed to it. I think that it’s something that would harm relations, rather than help.”

COMMENT:  The senators are right.  The idea of the mosque is already harming relations, despite the buffoonery of Mayor Bloomberg, who thinks it's just a swell idea.  I guess billionaires really are different.

I think the mosque will quietly go away.  The sponsors have to raise $100-million...and they have to get construction workers who'll be willing to work on it. 

The contrast between elite opinion and citizen opinion on the subject is striking, though.  The elitists scream "First Amendment."  The citizens scream "human beings."  The citiizens have the better argument.

August 6, 2010