Amid all of the political jockeying by Rethuglicans and some Dems alike on the "not at Ground Zero" Islamic center, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shown courage in defending the construction of the facility. Up until this point, public opinion has been swayed by misinformation about the location and purpose of the center, and by attempts to bind the al Qaeda killers with Islam as a whole. Bloomberg is going against public opinion in his city because it's the right thing to do; as a leader, he's trying to set an example for how we respect the Constitution and the protection of minority rights. Key quote from his remarks at the annual Ramadan Iftar dinner at his official residence:
Islam did not attack the World Trade Center -- Al-Qaeda did. To implicate all of Islam for the actions of a few who twisted a great religion is unfair and un-American. Today we are not at war with Islam -- we are at war with Al-Qaeda and other extremists who hate freedom. . . .The members of our military are men and women at arms -- battling for hearts and minds. And their greatest weapon in that fight is the strength of our American values, which have always inspired people around the world. But if we do not practice here at home what we preach abroad -- if we do not lead by example - we undermine our soldiers. We undermine our foreign policy objectives. And we undermine our national security.Why is that so hard for the majority of Rethugs and fearful Dems to say?
