TPMDC Howard Dean: August 2010
Roundup
TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Cordoba House Organizer: Anti-Muslim Sentiment 'Like A Metastasized Anti-Semitism'
Appearing on This Week, Cordoba House organizer Daisy Khan said there was concern among American Muslims about America being Islamophobic. "Yes, I think we are deeply concerned, because this is like a metastasized anti-Semitism," said Khan. "That's what we feel right now. It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia. It's hate of Muslims. And we are deeply concerned. You know, I have had, yesterday had a council with all religious -- Muslim religious leaders from around the country, and everybody is deeply concerned about what's going on around the nation."
McConnell: New York Should 'Take Into Account Public Opinion' From Around The Country On Cordoba House
Appearing on Meet The Press, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he thinks New York officials should take public opposition to the proposed Cordoba House Muslim community center into account in deciding the project's location: "Well, ultimately that's going to be decided by the people of New York. But I think we--because of the, the nature of the attack on 9/11, a lot of people, not just in New York, but around the country, have strong views about this. And I hope the people of New York who can actually make the decision will take into account public opinion, not only locally, but around the country, in making a final decision on the location of this facility."
Topics: 'Ground Zero Mosque', 2010 elections, Afghanistan, Cordoba House , Daisy Khan, Hamid Karzai, Howard Dean, Iraq, Mitch McConnell, Ray Odierno, Rod Blagojevich, Roundup, Sunday Shows
Howard Dean
Olbermann Pushes Dean On Cordoba House Stance (VIDEO)
Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean
Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean appeared last night on Countdown, to defend his remarks that the Muslim community center project near Ground Zero in New York should be moved to a different location. During the interview, Dean called for a dialogue between 9/11 families and the center's organizers -- and insisted that he was not associating himself in any way with the outspoken opponents on the right such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin.
Keith Olbermann mentioned during his introduction of Dean that Arshad Hasan, the head of the Dean-founded liberal political group Democracy For America, has criticized Democrats -- without directly mentioning Dean -- who have sought to compromise with an "implacable opposition." And Olbermann put tough questions to Dean, such as asking what compromise he can imagine people like Gingrich and Palin would accept.
"Yes, I don't think the Sarah Palins and Newt Gingriches have any interest. They're clearly exploiting this for whatever political gain they think they can get out of it," said Dean. "But I think there are some people of good will, perhaps, including some of the families of the victims that we might actually sit down around a table with. This is a tough issue I think some of my own folks on my end of the spectrum of the party are demonizing some fairly decent people who are opposed to this. And, again, in no way am I defending, you know, the right wing of the Republican Party.
"But there are 65 percent of the people in this country are not right-wing bigots. Some of them really have deep emotional feelings about this. And I think we at least ought to respectfully hear them and sit down with Muslim-Americans and with some of the people that object to this, and have a thoughtful, reasonable dialogue and see what comes out of it. And in order for it to be a fair, thoughtful and reasonable dialogue, you have to be willing to move."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Ground Zero Mosque', Cordoba House , Howard Dean, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
Howard Dean
Howard Dean Says Cordoba House Should Be Built Somewhere Else (AUDIO)
Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean
Another very prominent Democrat now says the planned Cordoba House Muslim community center in New York City should be moved away from the vicinity of Ground Zero: Former Democratic National Committee chairman and ex-presidential candidate Howard Dean.
"I've gotta believe there has to be a compromise here," Dean said during a radio interview. "This isn't about the right of Muslims to have a worship center, or Jews or Christians or anybody else to have a place to worship, or any place around Ground Zero. This is something we ought to be able to work out with people of good faith. And we have to understand that it is a real affront to people who've lost their lives -- including Muslims. That site doesn't belong to any particular religion, it belongs to all Americans and all faiths. So I think a good, reasonable compromise could be worked out, without violating the principle that people ought to be able to worship as they see fit."
Dean said that after having met so many objections, the center should be moved somewhere else, but that this should be done with the cooperation of its organizers. He also said: "I think it's great to have mosques in American cities. There's a growing number of American Muslims. I think most of those Muslims are moderate. I hope that they'll have an influence on Islam throughout the world, because Islam is really back in the 12th century in some of these countries like Iran and Afghanistan where they're stoning people to death. And that can be fixed. And the way it's fixed is not by pushing Muslims away, it's by embracing them and have them become just like every other American -- Americans who happen to be Muslims."
Perhaps Dean is right, and the Muslim center could be moved to South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, North Dakota, or New Mexico. Or it could go to California or Texas, or somewhere else in New York. Or perhaps it could go to South Dakota, or Oregon, or Washington or Michigan -- or even to Washington, D.C. Yeah.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Ground Zero Mosque', Cordoba House , Howard Dean
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