Then I Guess I’m Willfully Blind, Maureen
By now you have to be willfully blind not to know that the imam in charge of the [Ground Zero mosque] project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is the moderate Muslim we have allegedly been yearning for.
We are the ones we have been waiting for!
Oh . . . MoDo?
Allow me to quote the moderate Muslim Feisal Abdul Rauf regarding 9/11:
I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened. But the United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.
Moderate!
Why, he’s so moderate, he can’t tell you if Hamas is a terror organization:
According to the State Department’s assessment, “Hamas terrorists, especially those in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, have conducted many attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings, against Israeli civilian and military targets.”
Asked if he agreed with the State Department’s assessment, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf told WABC radio, “Look, I’m not a politician.
“The issue of terrorism is a very complex question,” he told interviewer Aaron Klein.
Not really. I mean, when you send rockets into Israel, and equip suicide terrorists with exploding vests, and such . . . there’s nothing too very complex about that.
Moderate!
In fairness to Dowd, her column may have been plagiarized.
Kevin Stafford (abdb87) — 8/17/2010 @ 11:58 pmHer reader is gonna be p*ssed…
Gazzer (adbfb4) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:10 amBut Republicans are extremists.
Kevin Murphy (5ae73e) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:31 amI yearn for a moderate Muslim about as much as I yearn for a kick in the groin.
Dave Surls (57bbfd) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:37 amLinked to this article.
John Hitchcock (9e8ad9) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:54 amPatterico, as with the other thread, this is a great example of what I call the Rousseau-ian Conceit.
It’s a weird self hatred of the West. Every fault is put under a microscope. But the odd part is that non-Western cultures are dealt with by putting on Mr. Magoo style glasses.
Thus, Feisal Abdul Rauf becomes a moderate. Because “moderate” means “good person” to Ms. Dowd.
She might ask the good imam when he will support the building of a Christian church in Mecca. Since he is a moderate.
But that’s different, you see.
I could understand being really harsh about all faiths and all governments. Or being really understanding of both. It’s this business of demonizing ones own nation, while deifying other nations or faiths, that I don’t understand.
For example: would Ms. Dowd be happy if Mormon cab drivers refused to pick up fares who were carrying alcohol?
Eric Blair (28f3dc) — 8/18/2010 @ 1:10 amHere’s an example of the hypocrite MoDo throwing women under the bus and pretending to throw Clinton under the bus while being an apologist for the liberal horn-dog Letterman.
John Hitchcock (9e8ad9) — 8/18/2010 @ 1:48 amDidn’t the Gray Lady previously vouch for al-Awlaki? As being moderate. Insulated?
MDr (fd1f4b) — 8/18/2010 @ 2:06 amGrowing up in New York, watching Cardinal O’Connor and Giuliani fall all over each other to support the IRA, you just get used to it.
Terrorism is always what the other guy is doing.
Nels (3e56d7) — 8/18/2010 @ 2:13 amWhen you are a liberal who thinks the US and its policies were at fault for 9/11, of course Imam Rauf appears to be a moderate Muslim. It is the same reason that Bill Ayers is a respected educator and not a terrorist to these same folks.
Rhymes With Right (2b0652) — 8/18/2010 @ 2:34 amMo D’oh! strikes again.
Icy Texan (f3f4df) — 8/18/2010 @ 2:56 amIn all-too predictable fashion, Mo D’oh asserts that “the ultimate victory for Osama and the 9/11 hijackers is the moral timidity that would ban a mosque from that neighborhood,” but then follows it with the “moderate Muslim” statement.
Well, which is it, Maureen? Should the mosque be allowed because ‘otherwise they win’? OR, should it be allowed because ‘there is nothing to fear’ from this Imam? One can envision her reading through the first draft and making the decision to add the ‘you are stupid if you think he’s dangerous’ assertion.
Standard lib tactic: bolster an unsupportable position with an ad hominem attack. See: AWG — “the science is settled“.
Icy Texan (f3f4df) — 8/18/2010 @ 3:43 amSo MoDo finally found a use for men – as stand-ins for the imagined ebenezer of liberal fever dreams.
I wonder if, late at night and all alone, MoDo attempts to scry her next column with a glass of expensive and imported chardonnay spilled across the crunchy Cheetos scattered on her bed. She seems about as coherent as that.
Maybe it’s just that black highlighter she holds in a death grip.
Vivian Louise (c7cad6) — 8/18/2010 @ 4:04 amMo Dowd’s last feature was a whitewash of the Sauds
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 4:23 amin Vanity Fair, so she maybe a little myopic
Do you know how what it takes to turn a moderate Muslims into a radical Muslim ?
Access to a weapon and a proximity to Jews …
A son coming out as gay …
A daughter dating an infidel …
Jeff (fba88f) — 8/18/2010 @ 4:30 amWe’re talking facepalm with an octopus people;
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 4:30 amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPd9pVUwPYA
I’ll respect Islam as soon as they respect us. Muslims need a beat down for their aggressive behavior as much as the Germans needed it.
ID (9284aa) — 8/18/2010 @ 4:36 amYou got your basic extremist rattle snake and your basic moderate rattle snake. The extremist snake will strike if you get within range. The moderate rattler can be picked up and he won’t bite you. You can take my word for it, I’m a Democrat and I know about these things and about how the racist little people say things that are detrimental to world harmony.
JPE (0609ab) — 8/18/2010 @ 5:20 amThis is dissapointinghttp://www.politico.com/blogs/maggiehaberman/0810/CAIR_loves_Gov_Christie_.html?showall
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 5:29 amWhat sentient human being cares what Mo Do thinks?
Mike Myers (3c9845) — 8/18/2010 @ 5:44 amwell, on top of those things, Patterico there is also:
1. his funding by AQ,
2. his association with the government of Iran (shedding additional light on the Hamass thing)
3. the anti-semitic tweets by his PR people.
4. naming it cordoba house.
I mean the last one is plain for the world to see. if he really wanted to help us heal and honor the innocent muslims who died that day, why not name it for one of them, or for any one of thousands of decent muslims who have died on the right side of the War on Terror.
Btw, there are renewed rumors that a deal is in the works to move it. of course they all involve Gov. Patterson intervening in a competent fashion, so, um, color me skeptical.
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 8/18/2010 @ 5:51 amhttp://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2810
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 5:59 amThe left once again confuses its moral cowardice for moral superiority.
daleyrocks (940075) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:02 amHe is moderate, but only compared to the wackos. And the standard shouldn’t be whether the guy is as bad as the crazies but how he stacks up according to our values and principles.
steve (369bc6) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:03 amBtw, there have been muslims who lost loved ones on 9-11 who have said that the mosque shouldn’t be there. don’t they have absolute moral authority for modo?
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:13 amBtw, in other news Nancy Pelosi has called into a searching investigation into the funding behind… opposition to the mosque.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2010/aug/17/audio-rep-pelosi-calls-investigation-wtc-mosque-op/
yes, really. nope, nothing creepy about that.
Psst, nancy, half your party disagrees with you on this. that ain’t a conspiracy, that is settled opinion.
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:20 amHave MoDo and SanFraNan ever been seen in the same room? Careful folks, the Speaker wants you investigated.
JD (f89659) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:25 amOn a related note, if you missed Keith Olbermann’s unhinged Ground Zero Victory Mosque rant last night, don’t miss Ace’s epic takedown of same this morning.
Gregory of Yardale (a84c5d) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:36 ambtw, i posted on the pelosi thing, here: http://allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2010/08/nancy-pelosi-on-ground-zero-mosque-hey.html
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 8/18/2010 @ 6:45 amEric Blair – your problem is that your thinking is too linear. Too syllogistic. As if there’s a goal to it like discovering the “truth” or something.
Rauf is obviously a moderate when he says that the United States is an accessory to 9/11 because that statement is more “nuanced”. Can’t you see it? He is able to see fault on BOTH sides, so obviously he’s a lot less dogmatic than you people who go all black-and-white the minute somebody sets off a bomb.
Heck, you people are always talking about the killing of “innocent” people, but more sophisticated thinkers like Maureen realize that there is no innocence. That’s just a literary construct. A power play. You keep trying to cast the world in terms of winners and losers, good guys and bad guys. But sensitive people like Imam Rauf know that calling Hamas a terrorist organization will only objectify them – keep them from being real people with real feelings.
You people slay me.
Well, actually you don’t. Fortunately you are kept in check by your antiquated western values.
/sarc
Gesundheit (cfa313) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:03 am‘White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has spent three days on the phone doing damage control with angry Democrats and urging them not to go public against the president, Democratic sources said.
Obama went ahead with the Ramadan dinner remarks even though his top political advisers had not reached a consensus on what he should do. Emanuel was one of the skeptics”
ha ha ha ha ha
ColonelHaiku (2deed7) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:18 amsnicker snicker snicker ha
much fun in Summer
“…The Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals will hear an appeal by Silver Spring-based Global Mission Church, which was denied the right to build a sanctuary on its property on the border with Montgomery County.”
“The hearing will take place at 1 p.m. Jan. 20 in Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church St., Frederick. If the board can’t hear the entire case in one day, it has set aside Jan. 28 and March 1 for additional testimony.”
“The Frederick County Planning Commission on Oct. 14 denied the proposal by primarily Korean parish affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, to build an 85-foot-tall, 138,027-square-foot church in southern Frederick County.”
“The land upon which the church would be built borders Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve, a 93,000-acre area where development is restricted.”
“Residents of both counties complained the church did not belong in the Agricultural Reserve and its height and size would obstruct the view from historic sites, such as Sugarloaf Mountain.”
http://www.gazette.net/stories/12312009/newmnew161213_32556.php
Christians are prohibited, by governments, from building churches on property they own every single day of the year in this country, and for the most trivial of reasons too.
But, according to Dowd and the Hypocrite-in-Chief Muslims have a right to build mosques, and no one should even dare criticize them for doing it, much less use the law to block construction.
Maybe Maureen and the bumbling nitwit in the White House ought to get their fat asses out to Frederick County and tell the authorities there that those Christians have a right to build their church.
El Jefe might also want to reverse his earlier demand that Jewish (only) contruction be halted in the West Bank, tell the Palestinians to piss off, and announce to the whole world that Jews have every right in the world to build houses and whatnot in the West Bank, if he doesn’t want to look like an even bigger moron than he already looks.
But, I wouldn’t advise holding your breath waiting for that stuff to happen, if I was you.
Dave Surls (69f376) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:19 amWe wanted to put a new sign in front of our Lutheran elementary school, but we had to get an attorney to “threaten” the city before we could get it past the zoning laws – even though our school has been there for 40+ years!
Gesundheit (cfa313) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:35 amDave
my favorite was a town restricted a man from developing his property because his land was home to several endangered species, including Homo Giganticus (sp?). That would be bigfoot to most people. The Daily Show of course had alot of fun with that. “Have you ever seen a bigfoot on your property?”
“No.”
“Well, then doesn’t that prove just how close they are to extinction?”
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:37 amBTW, MoDo also accords GWBush some “strange new respect” in that column, in line with my earlier post on the subject.
Karl (12dcea) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:38 amThat fits – since GW was pretty “nuanced” himself about moderate Muslims. Sadly.
Gesundheit (cfa313) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:41 am‘White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has spent three days on the phone doing damage control with angry Democrats and urging them not to go public against the president, Democratic sources said.
Of course, “Democratic sources” in this case are almost certainly Emanuel himself. Anyone else notice how quick ol’ Rahm has been recently to let his media allies know when he disagrees with Obama? I am starting to wonder if Rahmbo isn’t the first administration member to decide he wants to “spend more time with his family” after this midterm election.
JVW (eccfd6) — 8/18/2010 @ 8:26 amJVW
The question i have is this. was Rahm fully clothed at the time?
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 8/18/2010 @ 8:30 amDid any of you guys see the Daily Show clip of Glenn Beck saying more or less the same things as this imam three months ago, then freaking out in the present at the imam’s audacity?
That was funny.
Leviticus (30ac20) — 8/18/2010 @ 8:42 amTo a hard leftist, Rauf is a moderate. That is scary.
mbabbitt (d2d105) — 8/18/2010 @ 8:44 amNo, except this administration is more tied to Mubarak and the Sauds, irony of ironies
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 8:51 amA lot of Muslims think the Ground Zero mosque is a deliberate provocation.
A lot of Muslims would like it to be built somewhere else, and think the Koran forbids this kind of ugliness. That’s the thing about Islam… it’s often characterized by the rudest and ugliest, to the detriment of the sane Muslims (and yeah, there really are many moderate Muslims out there).
They see what MoDo doesn’t see, because they aren’t out to prove the political right wrong.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 8/18/2010 @ 8:58 amTo the left, a moderate is a Muslim who wears suits not suicide vests, and who doesn’t like the US much.
Patricia (358f54) — 8/18/2010 @ 9:01 amIt seems by way of Islam as a whole or hole not denouncing radical Islam is very telling. Imam Rauf is now telling New York Governor Patterson to pound sand to his requested meeting.
I say the definition of a moderate Muslim is one who has run out of ammunition. Prove it otherwise Islam, you could not have a bigger ear for listening than you do now so do it or we’ll forever hold our piece.
Tina Ferrer (27e685) — 8/18/2010 @ 9:35 amWillful blindness is a positive attribute when MoDo is the object of observation. The sight of her grim visage is enough to make a married man count his lucky stars.
ropelight (b7decb) — 8/18/2010 @ 9:49 amTina Ferrer,
I’m sure your sentiment is exactly what frustrates many Muslims who don’t want to kill people, but rather desire to be evangelical in a more humane manner.
This kind of mosque being called moderate really does destroy the concept of moderate. It’s a slap in the face of whatever moderates are out there.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 8/18/2010 @ 10:03 amDid any of you guys see the Daily Show clip of Glenn Beck saying more or less the same things as this imam three months ago, then freaking out in the present at the imam’s audacity?
What did he say?
Gerald A (2b94cf) — 8/18/2010 @ 10:40 amIt’s why we were in Afghanistan and Iraq, that Stewart derided almost daily for most of the last eight years
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 10:44 amGerald A, here’s a summary with some video.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 8/18/2010 @ 10:44 amMyself;
I’m yearning for a Muslim that doesn’t want to kill me for saying that a picture of something is Mohammed.
I’m yearning for a Muslim that recognizes that since g-d made the human race in so many different sizes and colors that perhaps g-d wants us to believe in g-d in our own way (or not. It’s that free will thingey)
I’m yearning for a Muslim who will agree that Sharia law is a bad thing for women and other creatures.
I’m yearning for a Muslim who will make a statement/commitment and stand by it and not lie and cheat just because I’m Kafir.
I could care less how or where Muslims want to worship g-d.
I DO care that they seem to be demanding that I and everyone else worship THEIR g-d or we will be murdered.
jakee308 (e1996a) — 8/18/2010 @ 11:41 amLiberals look like modern day living pretzels.
tarpon (541ea9) — 8/18/2010 @ 11:43 amAs I suspected Beck did not say “more or less the same things as this imam three months ago”.
Gerald A (2b94cf) — 8/18/2010 @ 11:47 amOh, I thought that goes without saying Gerald. the facts speak for themselves.
I fell for the notion that Beck is off the rails, but he’s really not bad at all.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 8/18/2010 @ 11:51 amJon Stewart lies? Who knew? Certainly not his sheeple audience. I just wonder when Stewart, and the rest of the MSM, will start explaining how they could have been so stupid to support Obama over Hillary, and then McCain?
Liberalism is about to get suplexed from the top rope and the people that actually caused this – Stewart and the MSM – are going to blame it on Obama in three months when logically somebody with no relevent experience could possibly be effective. YOU killed liberalism, Stewart, by entwining it with Obama and providing cult like fawning instead of exploration of the candidate. Obama will be disgraced in the end when the real culprits will maintain their posts within the declining MSM. It won’t be soon before you can buy the entire MSM for $1, instead of just Newsweek.
East Bay Jay (2fd7f7) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:04 pmSomeone once made the following observations with respect to Muslim populations in battle zones:
Oftentimes a “moderate” Muslim is one who is temporarily out of ammunition;
Similarly, the term “civilian” when applied to a Muslim male of military age often means he isn’t at that moment carrying a weapon.
Context is important. The context of the proposed cultural center and mosque is that it is to be located on what seems to be the closest available plot of land to Ground Zero. Why was that particular site chosen?
It appears from various polls that a majority of Americans are not buying the stated purpose of the project–education and “bridge building”. At this point it is apparent to anyone paying attention that the project is more likely to achieve the diametrical opposite of its stated goal.
History suggests that, no matter what the stated purpose of the building is, it will be regarded by Muslims as a monument to the victory of the Islamist terrorists over the “Great Satan.”
Someone else once observed that the difference between a “moderate” Muslim and a “militant” Muslim is that the moderate one is willing to wait a few centuries to achieve the same goal that the militant wants to reach tomorrow.
Moderate, indeed.
ExRat (d82866) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:08 pmHow do his views differ from those of the leaders of countries that our soldiers die for.. like Iraq and afghanistan? Are those muslims “moderate” enough for our soldiers to die for?
tel (8bb588) — 8/18/2010 @ 12:29 pmModerate Muslim = someone who’s content to let other Muslims do the killing.
pst314 (672ba2) — 8/18/2010 @ 1:05 pmRoger Ailes from Fox was not terribly impressed with Dowd’s column today and was slightly less than kind in response. Heh.
daleyrocks (940075) — 8/18/2010 @ 2:31 pmMoDo slept with her boss for a few years, then magically got a column. Quite an ardent feminista, no?
Dmac (d61c0d) — 8/18/2010 @ 3:15 pmThat post from Roger Ailes is hysterical.
JD (1ecb57) — 8/18/2010 @ 3:20 pmThat’s not really Roger Ailes, it’s a nutsrooter
ian cormac (8e4d9a) — 8/18/2010 @ 3:27 pmFunny, nonetheless.
JD (1ecb57) — 8/18/2010 @ 3:34 pmian – Even if it’s not Ailes from Fox, it’s still hysterical.
daleyrocks (940075) — 8/18/2010 @ 3:35 pmWhy, he’s so moderate, he can’t tell you if Hamas is a terror organization:
Sorry, but I don’t know if any person who truly knows the symbolic heart of Islam — and is aware of the ruthless, vengeful and bloodthirsty nature of its founder, Mohammed — can ever be a moderate. To claim otherwise is similar to saying a devotee of Communism or Fascism is moderate.
And to the list of people whose photos will be right next to the definiton of “useful idiot” in the encylopedia, add the name of “Maureen Dowd.”
Mark (411533) — 8/18/2010 @ 7:47 pm