Monsters

It doesn't take long for the anti-muslim rally to become anti-non white people type thing:

A man walks through the crowd at the Ground Zero protest and is mistaken as a Muslim. The crowd turns on him and confronts him. The man in the blue hard hat calls him a coward and tries to fight him. The tall man who I think was one of the organizers tried to get between the two men. Later I caught up with the man who's name is Kenny. He is a Union carpenter who works at Ground Zero.

As John Cole points out, he also delivers the line of the decade to the protesters: “All y’all dumb motherfuckers don’t even know my opinion on shit.”

They didn't care about his opinion. He wasn't white, and that's all they needed to know. He wasn't the only one:

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

“Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.

“Get out,” others shouted.

In fact, the two men — Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face. But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

“I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here,” a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

It isn't about the mosque, it's about bigotry towards anyone who isn't white.

It's really, really depressing.

Al Franken and Howard Dean

I didn't entend on turning this blog into a play by play of the stupidist controversy in the history of the universe, but I gotta say I do think people's reactions to this issue are important.

The whole thing has become mind-blowingly depressing for quite a few reasons, but Howard Dean's cowardice was a pretty serious punch in the gut.

It's mainly for that reason that I wanted to spotlight Al Franken's response to the issue:

Franken said conservative opposition to the mosque is “one of the most disgraceful things that I’ve heard.”

“I don’t know how many of you have been to New York, but if a building is two blocks away from anything, you can’t see it. It’s a community center. They’re going to have a gym. They’re going to have point guards. Muslim point guards,” Franken said, to laughter and applause.

“They (Republicans) do this every two years. They try to find a wedge issue, and they try to work it.”

Fucking brilliant.

Dean's idiocy highlights a bigger issue about the role of cult figures in politics.

Howard Dean's canditacy was at the heart of how I got intrested in politics and he's someone I respect and admire tremedously. I was absolutely gutted watching returns the night of "the scream" (with RB, in my dorm room I might add), and still think he could have run a far better campagin against Bush in the general than Kerry did. The debate where he courageously questioned our support of Israel was one of the first times I truly felt the need to put my full support behind a politician rather than simply a party or an idea. I've supported a decent amount of cantidates via canvasing, donations and otherwise, but it's hard to think of someone not named Donna Edwards that I've been more passionate about than Howard Dean.

And here's the thing, he really couldn't be more wrong about the mosque. It's not even close. There's no nuance, there's no defending his position. He is 100% wrong.

That wasn't that hard, was it? Do I hate Howard Dean now? Does this mean that I should have supported Kerry in the primary or that I wanted Bush to win?

I know the examples don't fit perfectly, but stuff like this is why I get so frustrated with people who flip their shit and act like you should be canvassing for Romney in 2012 if you criticize the way Obama has run his administration.

Theses people aren't your best friend, and they will without a doubt disappoint you. I still remember calling Donna Edwards' office the day after she voted for the no strings attached bailout. It's not always fun, but it's not the end of the world either.

There are very simple rules on dealing with politicians: When they do something you like, support them. When they do something you don't like, don't support them or oppose them.

Easy rules to live by and it makes things a hell of a lot less complicated then debating what various politicians feel "in their hearts" or "what they would have done" during ideal circumstances.

Speaking Out Against Bigotry

Huge credit to Barack for this:

WASHINGTON — President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that “as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”

“I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” the president said in remarks prepared for the annual White House iftar, the sunset meal breaking the day’s fast.

But, he continued: “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.”

While I think the wording of a lot of these polls has been a bit misleading (do you favor building a mosque on HALLOWED GROUND ZERO 9/11 9/11 9/11?), there is absolutely no political gain in bringing up with issue if you're Obama and he deserves huge credit for doing the right thing regardless of the consequences.

All the other cowardly New York Democrats should take note.