Sarah Palin has joined the fracas over a Islamic community center and mosque that's being proposed for a site two blocks from Manhattan's Ground Zero. In a series of what The Economist calls "lexicologically inventive" Twitter posts, Palin asked peace-seeking Muslims to "refudiate" the mosque as an "unnecessary provocation" after 9/11. Her mangling of the word "repudiate" aside, is Palin right, or wise, to jump into this dispute? (Watch a Fox discussion about Palin's comment)
Palin's "intolerance" is shameful: If you told Palin that some place in America was "off-limits to a Christian church," says Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune, she'd reject the notion as unconstitutional. The same is true of mosques — and it should be noted that this mosque is conceived to "combat extremism," thus "preventing future terrorism." For Palin to implicitly blame "Islam for the 9/11 attacks is like blaming Christianity for the bombing of abortion clinics."
"Palin's intolerance on the Ground Zero mosque"
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This isn't about religious freedom: Californians in Temecula Valley are challenging the First Amendment by opposing a mosque being built there, says Donald Douglas at American Power. But the "Temecula case doesn't seem to be anything like the opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque, which is clearly an example of Islamic Jihad's imperial conquest. New York Muslims will literally be praying on a battle zone where bodies are still being recovered." Good for Palin for lending her big name to opposing it.
"To build or not to build? Mosque protests go nationwide"
This tweet controversy is vintage Palin: Well, Palin's "never one to shy away from political conflict," says Chris Good in The Atlantic. New Yorkers may not universally embrace her involvement, or appreciate her arguable "religious bigotry." But this willingness to dive headlong into "something so hot-buttoned and charged with religion, anger, and fear," on Twitter, without a safety net, is why her supporters love her.
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