The debate over the Ground Zero mosque has jumped the shark with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call for an investigation into those who oppose it. For Ms. Pelosi it seems there is nothing the government shouldn’t investigate, control or inject itself into as long as it serves the interests of liberal elites.
Never mind that the overwhelming majority of 9/11 victim families opposes building the mosque so close to such hallowed ground. Ms. Pelosi evidently believes these families have formed some kind of vast right wing conspiracy to inflict sensitivity upon those who would kow-tow to a controversial Muslim cleric.
“There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some,” Ms. Pelosi said in comments captured by Kerry Picket of the Washington Times’ Water Cooler blog. “And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque is being funded.”
Nobody is “funding” Bonnie McEneaney’s opposition. Her husband Eamon worked for the firm Cantor Fitzgerald, the name that brings back haunting memories of people plunging to their deaths from the inferno that was the World Trade Center on September 11. That firm was on the 105th floor of a building that once dominated the New York skyline.
Mrs. McEneaney told New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica: “Nobody disputes the principle of freedom of religion. Of course Muslims should have the same spiritual rights the rest of us have. The question isn’t about that. The question is about sensitivity. To me, this is solely about sensitivity, the feelings of the friends and relatives who lost loved ones on 9/11.”
One can feel the painful honesty of those words; as well as an earnest desire to be respectful, yet direct.
Contrast her words with Pelosi’s during an event in the Speaker’s home town of San Francisco:
“How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we’ve been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we go forward to an election about the future of our country and two of the first three questions are about a zoning issue in New York City.”
Nobody “ginned up” Bonnie McEneaney and to even suggest so is repulsive. Ms. Pelosi’s tin ear heretofore only understood to be a problem for her on domestic and economic issues such as jobs, taxes and health care now puts her in the same extreme, delusional camp as those who suggest the 9/11 attacks were an inside job.
If anyone’s funding should be investigated it is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the controversial cleric heading up the mosque project. His comments about the United States being an accessory to 9/11 mock the tragic death of Mrs. McEneaney’s husband and 3000 others.
The imam claims the mosque is part of his “bridge building” efforts. Many of us would like to know just who is funding the efforts of a man who refuses to admit Hamas is a terrorist organization. Is it just a coincidence that the leader of Hamas recently came out with a public statement in support of building the mosque at Ground Zero?
And now, today, In a moment of revealing, surreal clarity, the third most powerful officeholder in the country would prefer to investigate those who oppose the mosque instead of those who are behind it.
But perhaps we shouldn’t be so shocked, since it was Ms. Pelosi, after all, who infamously told us Congress had to pass the massive health care bill in order for Americans to see what was in it.
In both cases, such inarguable logic helps clarify why the Speaker’s approval rating is fast approaching single digits and why she may be ex-Speaker Pelosi come January.
Penny Nance Young is CEO of Concerned Women for America.