Sarah Palin is demanding more answers from Obama regarding the proposed mosque/recreation facility/laser tag center proposed to be built within a few blocks of Ground Zero. Apparently the new angle for criticism is that the hidden agenda reason why Muslims want to build it there is that it’s a historically-dictated victory monument. As opposed to, say, an endeavor to memorialize the innocent Muslims who also died in the attack, or perhaps an attempt to try and convince a skeptical percentage of Americans that terrorists don’t represent Muslims any more than the KKK represents Christians, both of which make far more sense considering the moderate people who are endeavoring to build it. Or maybe…here’s a nutty notion…there’s Muslims living in the area already and they’d like a convenient place to worship.
With any luck, Obama won’t get into a back and forth with her. But I got nothin’ better to do at the moment, so I’ll take a whack at it:
She demands to know why Obama wasn’t encouraging them to accept Governor Paterson’s offer to “look into trying to provide them with the state property they would need” which would be “at a distance,” according to Paterson.
Well, three reasons. First, Paterson promised them nothing except to “look into” “trying” to provide it. Why trade off a property where they’ve got everything locked up and ready to go for a vague promise from a lame duck and unpopular governor? Second, as was well documented on “The Daily Show,” everywhere from Wisconsin to California, attempts by Muslims to build houses of worship is being met with resistance and protests. It’s no longer about geography; it’s about religious tolerance. And third, Obama’s job is to uphold the Constitution. The Constitution says these people have the right to build a house of worship. Therefore Obama upholds that right. Not only does Obama’s obligation end there, but as has been demonstrated, there’s nowhere else he could suggest they DO build it that wouldn’t garner protests from the locals.
Palin also asked Obama, “Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as ‘hallowed ground’? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.”
The answer is: You believe wrong. Those are not legitimate questions for Obama to ask. Government has no business asking them. A president has no business asking them. Palin can ask them if she wants because she is a private citizen, and the same First Amendment that protects a Muslim’s right to worship protects Palin’s right to ask about it. But the foremost upholder of the Constitutionally-dictated hands-off of religion doesn’t get to, and it would be inappropriate if he did. The fact that she is unable to reach this conclusion on her own simply shows, yet again, that she is woefully unqualified for the job she sought in 2008, and if she had taken the oath of office, she would have either been lying or intellectually unequipped to understand what she was promising.
Furthermore, if Sarah Palin were really interested in why they want to build their mosque/community center/dojo in that location, why doesn’t she ask for a sit-down with them? I bet they’d be glad to accommodate her.
So I throw it back to you, ex-governor. Instead of asking Obama these questions, when his only stake in the matter is to do what he promised to do when he took the office, why don’t YOU go ask them face to face? I’ve read a lot of articles in which she’s voiced opposition, but haven’t found any where she’s gone to the source. Doesn’t that seem the simplest solution?
Why don’t you ask them yourself, Sarah?
PAD
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Bill,
“I think i’d actually give CA a greater likelihood of flipping than Nevada–stronger candidate and, for all of Reid’s unpopularity, he will have endless buckets of money to spend.”
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I see your point. I just feel Boxer is the slightly stronger candidate and CA is a BIG state. I also think people are saying Angle is a weal candidate because even many in the GOP WANT her to be a weak candidate. if she wins, it could really open the floodgates for new, fresh candidates who can raise money and don’t have to tow the Establishment line. Granted, Reid will be given a lot of monetary help and appearances simply by being the majority leader.I simply feel with the current environment and state of Nevada (pardon the pun) at the moment, he loses. He is trailing Angle in the polls, has not polled above 50% at all, Morris will help define her message and strategy and she is getting money from all over the country. Plus, with Haley, Whitman and Fiorina, she could fit into the growing Year of the Woman narrative.
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“I hope that, if they win, republicans will look at Christy in NJ as an example of how to do it–even if you don’t agree with his politics it’s nice to see a politician who isn’t a mealy mouthed weasel.”
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You hit this one on the head. Christie has been outstanding. He is doing the heavy lifting and making the hard choices. GOPers would do well to follow his lead.
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“Can’t say I’m encouraged that this will be the case. At this point I’d be happiest at the prospect of a total sweep by the GOP just on the extremely likely chance that it would result in Ed Schultz’s head literally swelling up like a pumpkin and exploding. On live TV. How cool would that be?”
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Cool beyond words:)
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“I also think people are saying Angle is a weal candidate because even many in the GOP WANT her to be a weak candidate. if she wins, it could really open the floodgates for new, fresh candidates who can raise money and don’t have to tow the Establishment line.”
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Well, that and every time she opens her mouth the entire state does an epic facepalm. Seriously, she’s a total loon.
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“Can’t say I’m encouraged that this will be the case. At this point I’d be happiest at the prospect of a total sweep by the GOP just on the extremely likely chance that it would result in Ed Schultz’s head literally swelling up like a pumpkin and exploding. On live TV. How cool would that be?”
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Cool beyond words:)
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Yeah, but you would have to suffer through watching the dámņëd show to begin with. So why suffer?
I think Angle is in that zone where, if she says anything gaffetastic–and she has loads of potential there–it reinforces the perception of her. reid is unpopular but I predict he will drive her negatives through the roof with a blanket ad campaign. It could backfire, I suppose, but more often than not negative campaigning works.
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I hold no great admiration for the skills of our political class but it’s dangerous to run neophytes–they have little skill in not saying the wrong thing. What amazes me is that the same can be said for so many of the professional politicians as well.
Jerry,
What,in your opinion earns her “total loon” status? Just wondering. Because that’s a pretty serious charge.
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Dear God is there enough bandwidth here to list all of the ways…
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Well, I do love how she won the primary and immediately changed her positions for the general election to look less Far Right. Nothing new there as both sides tend to do that. What was new and fun was her then threatening to sue the Reid campaign for putting up a website containing her primary promises and platforms. Her people claimed that this was a copyright issue over the look of Angle’s original website and the Reid campaign one, but the original cease-and-desist letter they sent clearly stated that any and all information, not just the general look of the site, but the information contained within, posted by was what violated Angle’s copyrights.
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It looked stupid and she took a hit for it in the polls. Hëll, even the guys over at Little green Footballs had a field day mocking her over that one.
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It also isn’t a one off for her. She got stopped by the local press and asked about statements she made that didn’t seem very sane. Her response was to call a reporter an idiot who was “believing Harry Reid’s lies” because he asked her about the subject. Problem for her was that the reporter asked her a question about the word-for-word quote that was in part briefly on her website and that there’s audio and video of her saying what he asked her about. The quote in question?
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“You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it’s good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years. I hope that’s not where we’re going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.”
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She followed that up by telling the Reno Gazette-Journal that a recent increase in gun sales nationwide “tells me that the nation is arming. What are they arming for if it isn’t that they are so distrustful of government? They’re afraid they’ll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways … If we don’t win at the ballot box, what will be the next step?”
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He asked her about those statements and what she meant by them. She didn’t like being asked about them by the press. So if you ask her about her own words and she doesn’t like that you’re asking her about it… You’re an idiot who is “believing Harry Reid’s lies” about stuff she didn’t say even though she did and has it in print on her website and the audio is easily obtainable. Yeah, that’s sane…
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But beyond even her somewhat deranged notion that she can say something pretend that she didn’t… Good God! People here and elsewhere went batshit crazy over Palin using the metaphor of not retreating but rather reloading in a speech where the intent of the words were very clearly not actually gun or violence related. But this was just utterly batshit insane of Angle.
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There is no metaphor or alternate meaning in these words. Her statements are crystal clear here and you really only have two choices as to how you take them.
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1) She honestly believes that if she and her supporters don’t get their way in November or sometime soon after that then they should look to their guns as a way to fix that problem. She is therefore completely and totally batshit crazy insane and a total loon.
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2) She said that just to fire up the fringe. She said, just to throw some red meat to the fringe nutcases in the base, that they should be ready to look to armed revolution (and maybe murder) if they don’t get their way and get their way soon. She is therefore so mind numbingly stupid and totally batshit crazy as to be close enough to insane and a total loon so as to make no difference.
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Oh, and she told Jon Ralston, one of the top political reporters in the state, that asking her about it, asking her about something she said, was “nitpicking on all the little topics that Harry is putting out there.”
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She was doing an interview where the subject of abortion came up. She says she’s against it. Normal enough for a Republican candidate. Then the issue of medical conditions threatening the life of the mother, rape and incest came up. She went into a long winded… well, answer wouldn’t be the right word that ended with this golden pull quote.
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“I think that two wrongs don’t make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade.”
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Been raped by that peculiar uncle and now you’re pregnant? No problem there because Sharron Angle thinks that’s a real lemonade opportunity for little girls. Get told point blank that your pregnancy could cause long lasting health issues or even kill you? Don’t listen to that doctor because Sharron Angle will be there with her lemon press. Sure, you may die before full term, but at least Sharron will be happy that you tried to make lemonade for her.
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She may also be just the single most brick stupid person I’ve ever seen () when it comes to doing softball interviews. She was interviewed by Fox’s Carl Cameron and he set her up to the point of holding her hand with a softball about her issues with talking to the local and national media. Her answer had even Carl Cameron grasping for words as he picked his jaw up off of the floor.
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“We needed to have the press be our friend.”
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“We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported.”
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“And when I get on a show, and I say, ‘Send money to SharronAngle.com,’ so that your listeners will know that if they want to support me they need to go to SharronAngle.com.”
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And that was after actually admitting that same thing on a Christian radio station.
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David Brody: “Not to harp on the point but when you’re on Fox News or talking to more conservative outlets but maybe not going on “Meet the Press” or a “This Week”, those type of news shows, then the perception and the narrative starts to be like you are avoiding those mainstream media outlets.”
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Sharron Angle: “Well, in that audience will they let me say I need $25 dollars from a million people go to Sharron Angle.com send money? Will they let me say that?”
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Yet Carl Cameron actually seemed shocked by this revelation. Shock made even odder by the fact that, beyond her saying this before, every time she was on Fox the hosts (Neil Cavuto, Hannity, Fox & Friends, etc) pretty much always softball her and let her pitch her website multiple times.
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But still… She actually said it! So is she simply stupidly naive or does her brain function so poorly that she actually believes that the press is supposed to ask her questions that she supplies or wants to be asked so that she can get reporting the way she wants it each and every time? Does it even matter?
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She is a first class loon and every time she opens her mouth these days her numbers drop. There are about a hundred other things that I can list as well, but my dinner break is only so long.
Sarah seems to be one of those people with a complete inability to understand or even consider viewpoints different from hers. Almost a solipsist that thinks the world only exists to cater to her whims.
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And it seems that is a very popular trait in big-wig Republican policitians these days. A nuanced dude capable of understanding his opponents – like John McCain – seems almost like a freak of nature.
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The stereotypical problem of Liberals is that they empathize a little too much with whoever, and Conservatives a little too m, but Sarah takes the stereotype several steps further.