This sort of nonsense from the right on the Ground Zero mosque is what I meant when I said this isn’t as big a deal as some are making it. America has not “surrendered” to radical Islam nor has it been “conquered.” Local politicians have made an offensive and ill-advised mistake that might make things harder in a long, complicated struggle. What rhetoric is left if this is surrender?
Update: A handful of outraged e-mails have come in, with the usual insults: I’m ignorant of the Islamist threat, I’m guilty of nascent Frumism, etc. Here’s a friendly dissent:
Jonah:
“This sort of nonsense from the right on the Ground Zero Mosque is what I meant when I said this isn’t as big a deal as some are making it. America has not “surrendered” to radical Islam nor has it been “conquered.”
Me:
Then why do they call it the Cordoba Project…as in Cordoba, Spain. And por que do we not know where the money is coming from?I tend to agree with Andy McCarthy. In other posts you have mentioned how smart Andy is. And he is. Who has it wrong?
Well, I certainly don’t have it wrong when I’ve said how smart Andy is. He’s wicked smart. I always learn something from him and I’m proud to know him, even if we don’t always agree on everything. But on this, I’m not sure where we disagree (though I’m sure he’ll tell me). I read his piece. He doesn’t say we’ve surrendered to Islam. He doesn’t say this makes us the United States of Arabia. He doesn’t suggest we’ve been conquered. He does argue that the people behind the Cordoba House would like to conquer America and perhaps make us into the U.S. of Arabia. He does make the case that they’re up to no good and that Bloomberg blew it.
So I guess my question is: Where do Andy and I disagree? I certainly can’t find it in what I’ve written. He may be right about the motives behind the Cordoba House. He certainly knows more about the details of these people than I do. But even if he’s right about all that, this is still not quite the apocalyptic disaster others (not Andy) have made this into. Even if Cordoba House thrives two blocks from Ground Zero, there’s still a lot that would need to happen before America was “conquered.” Or do I have that wrong?