Ground Zero Mosque

Tim Pawlenty Says 'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam's Outreach 'Disgusting' And 'Dangerous' (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | August 17, 2010, 2:27PM

Add Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) to the list politicians with selective memory about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's global outreach on behalf of the United States.

Pawlenty, a presidential hopeful for 2012, appeared on Fox News' "Hannity" last night to decry Obama's support for the Islamic cultural center proposed by Rauf's Cordoba House at a site two blocks from Ground Zero. He also criticized the State Department for sending Rauf on a diplomatic mission to the Middle East, saying that was "disgusting" and "dangerous."

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Ground Zero Mosque

Key Religious Groups Either Oppose Or Won't Weigh In On 'Ground Zero Mosque'

Brian Beutler | August 17, 2010, 1:19PM

Protesters against a proposed community center and mosque near ground zero called Cordoba House.

Few of the nation's most influential religious organizations have offered support for the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque." A survey of several groups by TPM finds that they either oppose the plan or take no position on the issue.

Most vociferously opposed is the Southern Baptist Convention.

"I take a back seat to no one when it comes to religious freedom and religious belief and the right to express that belief, even beliefs that I find abhorrent," said Richard Land, president of SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, on his weekly radio program. "But what I don't do is I don't say that religious freedom means that you have the right to build a place of worship anywhere that you want to build them."

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Ground Zero Mosque

How Republicans Might Drag The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Fight Into The Fall

Brian Beutler | August 16, 2010, 2:52PM

Sen. Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Barack Obama

From Terri Schiavo to "death panels," Congressional recesses have long bred political controversies. But while some (like Schiavo) fizzle, others, (like "death panels") have a lasting impact on policy and politics. An open question for now is whether the row over the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" will be with us past August.

Republicans and conservative activists have made no secret of the fact that they want the issue to have legs, but that gets trickier when politicians return to Washington to actually govern. One option Republicans will have to pressure Democrats on the issue will be to force Democrats to vote on the question of whether they support the cultural center and mosque.

"There are no plans to do that at this point," says a top Republican House aide. "It's a month away, and I'd guess any chances we get to message...will be focused on jobs."

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Ground Zero Mosque

Is The Term 'Ground Zero Mosque' This Year's 'Death Panel'?

Brian Beutler | August 16, 2010, 1:51PM

Arguably, the recent partisan griping over the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" really went from a simmer to a boil in mid-July, when former half-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin went on a Twitter rampage, calling on New York Muslims to "refudiate" the Cordoba initiative.

If that were truly the case, it would be a fitting tribute to the role Palin played last August when she popularized the conservative obsession with euthanasia by claiming the Democrats' health care bill contained "death panels."

But in reality, the loaded and inaccurate term "Ground Zero Mosque" had a much more organic rise to prominence beginning this past spring, when Palin and the GOP were instead politicking on the oil spill, the New Black Panthers and other right wing causes célèbre.

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