Hamas Wants To See Ground Zero Victory Mosque Built. Also, Liberal Columnist To GOP, Please Stop Using This Issue To Win Votes, It's Hurting Democrats!

Well, they did endorse Obama during his campaign so it's nice to see there's one group not regretting their support.

A leader of the Hamas terror group yesterday jumped into the emotional debate on the plan to construct a mosque near Ground Zero -- insisting Muslims "have to build" it there.

"We have to build everywhere," said Mahmoud al-Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas and the organization's chief on the Gaza Strip.

"In every area we have, [as] Muslim[s], we have to pray, and this mosque is the only site of prayer," he said on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on WABC.

"We have to build the mosque, as you are allowed to build the church and Israelis are building their holy places."

No word yet on whether or not they support Gutfeld's gay bar next door.

I don't know about you but I'm pretty sick and tired of being lectured about religious freedom from a religion that won't let non-believers enter the city limits of their holiest sites. No, I don't think we should let their stone age thinking drive our laws but when it comes to tolerance and good will, it seems Muslims might want to take a look in the mirror before lecturing to others.

In case you missed it last night, Ace had a great take on why the elites are going all in on this issue when it's so clearly a no-brainer the other way.

Added: This is unbelievable. Mark Halperin says the GOP should join with Obama because their opposition to the Ground Zero victory mosque is hurting Democrats and helping the terrorists.

If you go full force on the offensive, every Democratic candidate in every competitive race in the country will have three choices, none of them good, when asked about the Islamic center: side with Obama and against public opinion; oppose Obama and deal with the consequences of intraparty disunity; or refuse to take a position, waffling impotently and unattractively at a crucial time.

Say what you will about the wisdom of Obama's policies overall, but his belated commentary on religious freedoms clearly was not done for political gain. Quite the contrary. the President knew that he and his party would almost certainly pay a political price for taking a stand, especially this close to the election, and with few prominent leaders, other than New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on the White House's side. The reaction since the President spoke has been vitriolic and unvarying from leading voices on the right, painting Obama as weak, naive, out of touch and obtuse (not to mention flip-flopping, after his confusing follow-up comments Saturday suggested to some that he might be hedging his position).

Yes, Republicans, you can take advantage of this heated circumstance, backed by the families of the 9/11 victims, in their most emotional return to the public stage since 2001.

But please don't do it. There are a handful of good reasons to oppose allowing the Islamic center to be built so close to Ground Zero, particularly the family opposition and the availability of other, less raw locations. But what is happening now — the misinformation about the center and its supporters; the open declarations of war on Islam on talk radio, the Internet and other forums; the painful divisions propelled by all the overheated rhetoric — is not worth whatever political gain your party might achieve.

It isn't clear how the battle over the proposed center should or will end. But two things are profoundly clear: Republicans have a strong chance to win the midterm elections without picking a fight over President Obama's measured words. And a national political fight conducted on the terms we have seen in the past few days will lead to a chain reaction at home and abroad that will have one winner — the very extreme and violent jihadists we all can claim as our true enemy.

Oh noes! Democrats will have 3 choices if Republicans force the issue and all of them are bad! That's so mean and unfair. How could they? Bastards!

I wonder if Halperin wrote any columns in say 2004, 2006, or 2008 imploring Democrats not to attack Bush over Iraq, Afghanistan or anti-terror programs out of fear it might have given comfort to the insurgents in Iraq or terrorists around the world? I doubt it.

On the upside, it's nice to see a guy like Halperin not even pretending to be anything but a Democratic partisan. I salute the honesty involved.

One problem I think liberals have in dealing with the reaction to their support of the mosque is that they think the GOP is just pandering to the rubes with this. Personally, I doubt it. I think on this issue most people are genuinely offended. When 60+ percent of the country is on the same page, it's not simply a partisan wedge issue, it's something that most people get on a gut level.

It's the reason they have to resort to the strawman of 'religious freedom'. As I keep saying, this is simply a smear tactic, not an argument.

The fact that liberals like Halperin are pleading for mercy show they know they are getting killed on this.

Halperin article via Ben Smith.

Even More: Jim Geraghty mocks the hell out of Halperin's column.

Via Dave in Texas in the comments, even an idiot like Roger Ebert knows having Hamas on your side isn't helpful.

Thanks, Hamas, for supporting the mosque. That's really helpful.

It's simply the logical extension of the choices liberals have made in this debate.

posted by DrewM. at 09:50 AM

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