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ABC Works to Rehabilitate Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s Reputation After Pining for George W. Bush

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

ABC News set out Monday night to rehabilitate the reputation of the iman behind the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, Feisal Abdul Rauf, trying to discredit criticism of him from the right as Sharyn Alfonsi portrayed him as a model of religious tolerance who condemns suicide bombers, terrorism and Hamas and who deserves admiration because he “eulogized Daniel Pearl.” The night before, in a Sunday World News story on protests over the mosque, ABC expressed sudden respect for former President Bush as reporter Linsey Davis used him to undermine opponents: “In an attempt to make a clear distinction between Islam and terrorism, within days of 9/11 President Bush went to a mosque.” Alfonsi generously began with how “he candidly discussed his beliefs with Barbara Walters for her 2006 special on Heaven” where he promised her “the Jews, the Christians, whoever believes in God and does good will be saved.” As for whether “one man’s suicide bomber is another man’s martyr?”, Alfonsi assured viewers: In his book, the imam wrote: “The truth is that killing innocent people is always wrong and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right.” Playing a clip of Rauf saying “United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened” on 9/11, Alfonsi noted that’s why “critics called him a terror sympathizer,” but, she countered, “a spokesman for the imam tells us the comments were, quote, ‘taken out of context.’”   She concluded with another endorsement for Feisal Abdul Rauf’s character: And while all of the imam’s writings and interviews are now being thoroughly examined, many critics have overlooked one of his more memorable speeches. The imam actually eulogized Daniel Pearl, the journalist murdered by Islamist terrorists in Pakistan, and, Diane, he asked forgiveness for what’s been done in the name of Islam. Sawyer chirped in: “That’s right, he was there at that memorial.” A couple of columns with facts and concerns ignored or dismissed by Alfonsi: From the August 23 New York Post, “ Rauf: a moderate? Beware imams’ doubletalk ,” by Hoover Institution media fellow Paul Sperry. And from National Review online over the weekend, a piece by Andrew C. McCarthy: “ Which Islam Will Prevail in America? That is the real question at hand in the Ground Zero mosque debate .” Sunday night, anchor David Muir announced: “Tonight, we take you to the protest, and we take you back to the days right after 9/11 when then-President Bush offered his own words about Islam.” From that story: LINSEY DAVIS: In an attempt to make a clear distinction between Islam and terrorism, within days of 9/11 President Bush went to a mosque. FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, SEPT 17, 2001: That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. DAVIS: But in recent weeks, many prominent Republicans have suggested otherwise… Earlier on Sunday: “ Amanpour on One-Sided This Week: ‘Profound Questions About Religious Tolerance and Prejudice in the U.S .’” The story on ABC’s World News from Monday, August 23, transcript provided by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth: DIANE SAWYER: Back here in New York, several hundred people spent Sunday in loud and dueling protests about the mosque near Ground Zero – for and against. The head of the mosque is on his third stop in the Middle East sent by the U.S. to spread a positive word about being Muslim in America. And Sharyn Alfonsi asked some more questions today about who he is.      SHARYN ALFONSI: He candidly discussed his beliefs with Barbara Walters for her 2006 special on Heaven. BARBARA WALTERS: Do only Muslims go to Heaven? IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF: The fundamental thing is you must accept God. You have to believe that there is a creator. The Jews, the Christians, whoever believes in God and does good will be saved. ALFONSI: Rauf, who watched his father, a Muslim scholar, pioneer interfaith dialogue in the 60s in New York, went on to do the same thing after the September 11 attacks. Rauf was the imam – or head priest – of a New York mosque just 12 blocks from Ground Zero. WALTERS: Do you believe that a suicide bomber goes to Heaven? RAUF: One of the things that we are taught is never to say somebody will go to Hell or somebody will go to Heaven. It is up to God to decide. WALTERS: So one man’s suicide bomber is another man’s martyr? RAUF: Well, the expression that I’ve heard is, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s hero.” ALFONSI: But, in his book, the imam wrote, “The truth is that killing innocent people is always wrong and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right.” He’s been praised for being moderate. But it was this interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes after the September 11 attacks that has drawn scrutiny. RAUF: I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened. ALFONSI: Critics called him a terror sympathizer. But a spokesman for the imam tells us the comments were, quote, “taken out of context.” He went on to describe the mistakes the CIA made in the 1980s by financing Osama bin Laden and strengthening the Taliban. And what about claims that the imam sympathizes with Hamas? Asked if the State Department was correct to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization: RAUF CLIP #1: I do not want to be placed, neither will I accept to be placed, in a position where I am the target of one side or another. RAUF CLIP #2: The targeting of civilians is wrong. ALFONSI: And while all of the imam’s writings and interviews are now being thoroughly examined, many critics have overlooked one of his more memorable speeches. The imam actually eulogized Daniel Pearl, the journalist murdered by Islamist terrorists in Pakistan, and, Diane, he asked forgiveness for what’s been done in the name of Islam. SAWYER: That’s right, he was there at that memorial. Good to see you tonight, Sharyn. Thank you.

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ABC Works to Rehabilitate Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s Reputation After Pining for George W. Bush

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The New York Times Rushes to Defend Ground Zero Imam

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The New York Times offered still more moral support for the controversial Ground Zero mosque on Sunday’s front-page profile by Anne Barnard of the man behind the building project, imam Feisal Abdul Rauf — ” For Imam in Muslim Center Furor, a Hard Balancing Act .” Among the contributors to the report: Thanassis Cambanis and Mona El-Naggar in Cairo, and Kareem Fahim, Sharaf Mowjood and Jack Begg in New York. Mowjood? As Alana Goodman of the Business and Media Institute reported earlier this month , Sharaf Mowjood is a former lobbyist for the Council on American Islamic Relations, an interest group that strongly supports the mosque. Mowjood coauthored a glowing Dec. 9, 2009 article on the mosque with reporter Ralph Blumenthal and also contributed to a sympathetic story by Barnard August 11 about public relations missteps by the mosque sponsors. Barnard began with an anecdote about a Rauf lecture in Cairo where the imam (with a voice the Times describes as “soft, almost New Agey”) was accused by radical Islamists of being an American agent (a story which of course bolsters Rauf’s moderate credentials). Barnard seemingly took it as her mission to rebut charges of extremism against Rauf. In his absence — he is now on another Middle East speaking tour sponsored by the State Department — a host of allegations have been floated: that he supports terrorism; that his father, who worked at the behest of the Egyptian government, was a militant; that his publicly expressed views mask stealth extremism. Some charges, the available record suggests, are unsupported. Some are simplifications of his ideas. In any case, calling him a jihadist appears even less credible than calling him a United States agent . Barnard insisted that Rauf’s views, in context, placed him “as pro-American within the Muslim world.” He consistently denounces violence . Some of his views on the interplay between terrorism and American foreign policy — or his search for commonalities between Islamic law and this country’s Constitution — have proved jarring to some American ears, but still place him as pro-American within the Muslim world. He devotes himself to befriending Christians and Jews — so much, some Muslim Americans say, that he has lost touch with their own concerns. Barnard set up more criticisms for the sole purpose of rebuttal, and waited until paragraph 34 out of 35 to bring up, defensively, Rauf’s failure to describe Hamas as a terrorist organization. Mr. Abdul Rauf also founded the Shariah Index Project — an effort to formally rate which governments best follow Islamic law. Critics see in it support for Taliban-style Shariah or imposing Islamic law in America. Shariah, though, like Halakha, or Jewish law, has a spectrum of interpretations. The ratings, Ms. Kahn said, measure how well states uphold Shariah’s core principles like rights to life, dignity and education, not Taliban strong points. The imam has written that some Western states unwittingly apply Shariah better than self-styled Islamic states that kill wantonly, stone women and deny education — to him, violations of Shariah. After 9/11, Mr. Abdul Rauf was all over the airwaves denouncing terrorism , urging Muslims to confront its presence among them, and saying that killing civilians violated Islam. He wrote a book, “What’s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America,” asserting the congruence of American democracy and Islam. That ample public record — interviews, writings, sermons — is now being examined by opponents of the downtown center. Those opponents repeat often that Mr. Abdul Rauf, in one radio interview , refused to describe the Palestinian group that pioneered suicide bombings against Israel, Hamas, as a terrorist organization. In the lengthy interview , Mr. Abdul Rauf clumsily tries to say that people around the globe define terrorism differently and labeling any group would sap his ability to build bridges. He also says: “Targeting civilians is wrong. It is a sin in our religion,” and, “I am a supporter of the state of Israel.”

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Fox News co-owner funded ‘Ground Zero mosque’ imam: report

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The second largest shareholder in News Corp. — the parent company of Fox News — has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to causes linked to the imam planning to build a Muslim community center and mosque near Ground Zero in Manhattan, says a report from Yahoo!News. According to the report from Yahoo!'s John Cook, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who owns seven percent of News Corp., “has directly funded [Imam Feisal Abdul] Rauf's projects to the tune of more than $300,000.” Cook reports that Prince Al-Waleed's personal charity, the Kingdom Foundation, donated $305,000 to Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, a project sponsored by two of Rauf's initiatives, the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, which is building the Manhattan mosque. That Fox News' second-largest shareholder, after Rupert Murdoch, has financial links to the “Ground Zero mosque” will be seen as ironic by critics of the news network, who have watched with chagrin as the network's talking heads attempt to link the mosque to radical Islamism. Last week, Daily Show host Jon Stewart lambasted Fox panelist Eric Bolling's attempt to link the Cordoba Initiative to Hamas and Iran. Stewart used News Corp.'s connections to Prince Al-Waleed, and the prince's connections to the Carlyle Group and Osama bin Laden to make a tongue-in-cheek argument that Fox News may be a “terrorist command center.” “Stewart didn't need to take all those steps to make the connection,” Cook writes. Cook also reports that Prince Al-Waleed has in the past funded a number of Islamic organizations that have been maligned by Fox News commentators: Al-Waleed donated $500,000 to the Council on American-Islamic Relations — which has been repeatedly denounced on Fox News's air by Geller and others as a terror group — in 2002. Indeed, Rauf's “numerous ties to CAIR” alone have been cited by the mosque's opponents as a justification for imputing terrorist sympathies to him, yet few people seem to be asking whether Murdoch's extensive multi-billion business collaboration with the man who funds both Rauf and CAIR merits investigation or concern. Other beneficiaries of Al-Waleed's largess include the Islamic Development Bank, a project designed to “foster the economic development and social progress of [Muslims] in accordance with the principles of Shari'ah.” The IDB funds the construction of mosques around the world, and has been implicated by frequent Fox News guest Stephen Schwartz in an attempt to spread radical Wahhabism (a fundamentalist branch of Islam) throughout the United States. Cook notes that it was none other than News Corp.'s New York Post that reported on Prince Al-Waleed's donation to Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow. He reports that Fox News had no comment for his article, and emails to the prince's Kingdom Foundation were not returned. Prince Al-Waleed owns an estimated $2.5-billion-worth of News Corp. Majority shareholder Rupert Murdoch recently took a stake in the prince's Middle East-based media conglomerate, Rotana Group. Murdoch and Prince Al-Waleed are reportedly working on launching an Arabic news network that will compete with existing pan-Arabic networks Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. added by: im1mjrpain

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WaPo, Editorially a Proponent of Church/State Separation, Worries About Too Few Muslim Chaplains in Va. Prisons

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Those familiar with the Washington Post know that the paper is a staunch defender of a very liberal vision of the separation of church and state. For example, the paper’s editorial board was heavily critical of the Supreme Court’s Mojave cross ruling. But when it comes to the supposed dearth of Muslim chaplains at Virginia prisons, Sunday’s Metro section went into full hand-wringing mode. “Inadequate Funds for Chaplains,” complained a subheader for the page B1 story by staffer Kevin Sieff. “In Va., most money goes to Protestant clergy,” another subheadline for the story “Support limited for Muslims in prison”* lamented. Of course, it wasn’t until paragraph 27 that Sieff noted that “[n]either Catholic nor Jewish chaplains have sought funding from corrections officials.” As Sieff explained early in his article, “a 200-year-old interpretation of the state constitution… bars Virginia from doing any faith-based hiring” and “is the only state where prison chaplains are contractors, not state employees.” Sure, “Muslim chaplains could visit correctional facilities to minister to Virginia’s 32,000 inmates,” Sieff explained, “but they received no funds from the state” until a $25,000 grant was given to Muslim Chaplain Services of Virginia last July. “The department [of corrections] has been living in the past. No other state in the country is so far behind the curve,” Sieff quoted the lament of one Larry Coleman of the American Correctional Chaplains Association. Yet nowhere in his 43-paragraph article did Sieff quote a defender of the Old Dominion’s approach to prison chaplaincies. What’s more, Sieff presented Virginia policy as an unwitting accomplice in homegrown terrorism. “In the absence of qualified Muslim religious service providers, inmates can become attracted to radical views and the politico-religious messages coming from other inmates,” Sieff quoted from a study by terrorism experts at George Washington University and the University of Virginia.  Of course, volunteer Muslim chaplains who are not on the state payroll may have more credibility as a moderating influence on Muslim inmates than those who may be seen as government stooges by virtue of their affiliation with the state, but Sieff failed to find anyone who would argue that point.  *The online version’s headline is slightly different, “Limited  spiritual support in Virginia prisons as number of Muslim inmates grows”

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Bob Schieffer Blames Internet For Americans Believing Obama Is Muslim

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Bob Schieffer on Sunday blamed the internet for the growing number of Americans that think Barack Obama is a Muslim. Namelessly referring to last week’s Pew Research Center poll finding that eighteen percent now believe this, the “Face the Nation” host concluded Sunday’s program saying that “in the internet age, ignorance travels as rapidly as great ideas.” He continued, “Now, not only great minds can find one another and compare notes, so too can the nuts and the perverts and those who are simply looking to validate their prejudices.” And continued, “So despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, a new poll tells us a growing number of Americans, most of them on the right, believe Barack Obama is a Muslim. No doubt, due in part to the fact that stories to that effect have gone viral on the internet” (video follows with transcript and commentary):  BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST: Finally, today on another subject. The greatest advances in the store of human knowledge have always taken place when great minds found themselves in the same place at the same time, as when the Greeks gathered on the hillsides of Athens, when the political geniuses who founded this country came together. The great promise of the internet was that for the first time great minds no longer had to be in close proximity. But what we have also learned now is that in the internet age, ignorance travels as rapidly as great ideas. Now, not only great minds can find one another and compare notes, so too can the nuts and the perverts and those who are simply looking to validate their prejudices. So despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, a new poll tells us a growing number of Americans, most of them on the right, believe Barack Obama is a Muslim. No doubt, due in part to the fact that stories to that effect have gone viral on the internet.   Disagreeing with our leaders is our right. And in truth, part of the fun of being an American. But to suggest the President is a Muslim is absurd. No matter how fervently some who dislike him may wish it so.   The purpose here, though, is not to argue politics but just to underscore how this illustrates the downside of the internet, the only news delivery system we’ve ever had that has no editor. We must always remember that that what we read there may not always be true. Indeed. Ironically, we must also remember that what we see on television may not always be true either. After all, when Schieffer said “a new poll tells us a growing number of Americans, most of them on the right , believe Barack Obama is a Muslim,” this was a nice little sleight of hand to disguise the truth. Here’s what the Pew poll really said : The view that Obama is a Muslim is more widespread among his political opponents than among his backers. Roughly a third of conservative Republicans (34%) say Obama is a Muslim, as do 30% of those who disapprove of Obama’s job performance. But even among many of his supporters and allies, less than half now say Obama is a Christian. Among Democrats, for instance, 46% say Obama is a Christian, down from 55% in March 2009. The belief that Obama is a Muslim has increased most sharply among Republicans (up 14 points since 2009), especially conservative Republicans (up 16 points). But the number of independents who say Obama is a Muslim has also increased significantly (up eight points). There has been little change in the number of Democrats who say Obama is a Muslim, but fewer Democrats today say he is a Christian (down nine points since 2009). As such, what Schieffer said about “most of them on the right” may have been accurate, but it certainly didn’t properly relay the poll’s findings. Maybe more importantly, the Pew survey didn’t ask participants where they get their news from. This means that Schieffer’s accusation that the opinions expressed by respondents he disagrees with must certainly come from the internet is only a speculation without any basis in fact. It appears despite his suggestion to the contrary, ignorance travels pretty quickly on television as well.  

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Muslim Scholar on MSNBC: ‘Vocal Minority’ Spreading Fear, ‘Demonize’ Islam

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

During the 10 a.m. ET hour on MSNBC, anchor Chris Jansing spoke with Islamic scholar Hamza Yusuf Hanson about the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, who proclaimed: “I think there’s a lot of fear….there has been a concerted effort by a certain segment. It’s a very small minority, but their powerful and vocal, to demonize the Muslim community.”              Yusuf was on to discuss his founding of Zaytuna College in California, the nation’s first Islamic higher education school. However, Jansing introduced the segment by placing the college in this context: “…the [mosque] controversy prompted Time magazine to ask, Is America – if America is Islamophobic. A Time poll found that 46% of Americans believe Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers. And a small college in Berkeley, California, may become the new battleground in America’s uneasy relationship with Islam.” After briefly discussing the college, Jansing turned to the mosque: “Do you understand the unease among many Americans, and we are seeing a lot of it come out with this mosque controversy?” After denouncing opponents of the project, Hanson defended the imam involved: “Feisal Abdul Rauf, who’s the imam there, is an extremely gentle person and to frame him as an extremist means that the whole community is mad…these are people that have spent their life in interfaith dialogue…” Rauf claimed the United States was an “accessory” to the September 11th attacks during a September 2001 60 Minutes interview on CBS. Jansing again cited the Time magazine poll and asked: “I wonder what your reaction is to that poll and what can be done to turn it around?” Hanson argued Islam was one the world’s most peaceful religions: “I would look at, there’s a paper on Google called ‘Body Count,’ which shows that Islam, actually, out of the seven major religions, the only religion less violent, historically, is Hinduism. And I think people tend to forget Muslims historically have lived very well with people.” The study Hanson cited, put out by the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, claimed that only 5.52% of war deaths in the past 2,000 years were caused by Islamic belligerents. In conflicts such as the current war in Iraq, the United States was described as the “Christian Belligerent Civilization” and the death toll listed was between 614,000 and 1,100,100, as if American forces were solely responsible for the casualties. The report concluded that Christians were the cause of 30.73% of war deaths in the past two millennia, the single largest percentage out of the seven faiths included.   Later in the 10AM ET hour, Jansing discussed the mosque controversy with construction worker Andy Sullivan, who was organizing a boycott of aiding in the construction of the proposed building. Jansing made sure to bring up the Time magazine argument: “And to people who say that we’re sort of playing into the hands of these folks because we’re displaying religious intolerance. What do you say to them?” Sullivan replied: “If it was a religious matter, September 12th, we would have went in there and stormed the place, okay? Did we? No. We didn’t….We do not want this gigantic mega victory mosque – because that’s what it’s going to be looked at from around the world, especially our enemies – built right in that location, especially when we haven’t even built the Trade Center yet.” Here is a full transcript of Jansing’s August 20 interview with Hanson: 10:13 a.m. ET CHRIS JANSING: Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean is against the plan to build an Islamic Center and mosque near Ground Zero. Dr. Dean laid out his case last night with Keith Olbermann. HOWARD DEAN: This is a very polarized topic and I think the right place for this is to really listen to what people are saying. If people have strong feelings about this – I’m not talking about bigoted, prejudice feelings – I’m talking about strong emotional objections to this, then I think we ought to hear what they are and we ought to listen to them carefully. JANSING: Meanwhile, the controversy prompted Time magazine to ask, Is America – if America is Islamophobic. A time poll found that 46% of Americans believe Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers. And a small college in Berkeley, California, may become the new battleground in America’s uneasy relationship with Islam. Zaytuna College in Berkeley is the first accredited Muslim college in the U.S.. The first classes were held this summer. I’m joined by Zatuna College founder Hamza Yusuf Hanson. Thanks very much for joining us, good morning. HAMZA YUSUF HANSON [FOUNDER, ZAYTUNA COLLEGE]: Thank you, good morning. JANSING: Yeah, classes began this summer, I think people are just starting to hear about this. Tell us a little bit about the mission of the college, why did you find it – found it? HANSON: Well, first of all, just to clarify, it’s not actually accredited. It’s – we’re in the process of accreditation and that takes a considerable amount of time. But, I mean, basically the idea behind it is the Muslim religious community is quite extensive now in the United States and every religious community in America eventually develops institutions in order to train people and teach people and colleges, Harvard began as a seminary, Yale began as a seminary, so we tend to forget that actually many of our greatest colleges began as religious institutions. JANSING: So, let me ask you why you think that there was a need for a Muslim university. As I understand it now, if you want to be an imam and you want to have a mosque in the United States, you have to leave the country to study, right? HANSON: Well, that’s the problem. I mean, we have foreign imams that often come to the country and many of then are very fine, decent people but they don’t understand the nuances of the American society. They haven’t studied the traditions of our own country. And it’s important, I think, to have those two elements. You have to have people that are Muslim, but – here teaching. But also people that understand the culture that they’re living in, understand the community itself, the young people, the immigrant children that are born here, they’re Americans, they’re not from Cairo, they’re not from Rawal Pindi in Pakistan, so, it’s really important. JANSING: And in fact, you, yourself, grew up Christian, as I understand it. Both in Walla Walla, Washington and Northern California. Do you understand the unease among many Americans, and we are seeing a lot of it come out with this mosque controversy? HANSON: I – know you, I think there’s a lot of fear and some of it’s justifiable in that over the last ten years there has been a concerted effort by a certain segment. It’s a very small minority, but their powerful and vocal, to demonize the Muslim community. Abdul Rauf, who – Feisal Abdul Rauf, who’s the imam there, is an extremely gentle person and to frame him as an extremist means that the whole community is mad because, you know, if you take somebody like that or Daisy Kahn, I mean these are people that have spent their life in interfaith dialogue and really trying to attack the very ideology that I think people are afraid of. JANSING: You know, you heard that poll, 46% Of Americans see Muslims as more likely than other religions to be violent against nonbelievers. I wonder what your reaction is to that poll and what can be done to turn it around? HANSON: Right. I would look at, there’s a paper on Google called ‘Body Count,’ which shows that Islam, actually, out of the seven major religions, the only religion less violent, historically, is Hinduism. And I think people tend to forget Muslims historically have lived very well with people. You know, I think Muslims are not redefining America here. And there’s a lot of fear that they are. I think that we’re reasserting the original definition of this country, which is about religious freedom. So it’s really important. My own great, great-grandfather, Michael O’Hanson, his greeting to America coming from Ireland was the nativist, anti-Irish, Catholic, anti-Catholic Irish riots in 1844 in Philadelphia. But those riots actually led to the consolidation of the city of Philadelphia and the Irish Catholics now are fully enfranchised. One out of every four Americans has Catholic roots in this country now, even though they were 1% of the population at the founding of the country. So, I think Muslims now are new kids on the block and every community that comes to this country, you know, they have to really find their place at the table and I think that’s what Muslims are negotiating now. America is a process of negotiations. And I think- JANSING: And you, as you say, are part of that renegotiation process with this new university. We have to leave it at that. But Hamza Usef Hanson, thank you so much for being with us today. HANSON: Okay, well, thank you very much.

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WaPo Publishes Puffy 25-Paragraph Story: ‘When It Comes to Praying, Obama Prefers Privacy’

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

” When it comes to praying, Obama prefers privacy. ” Thus reads the page A2 headline for Michael Shear’s August 20 Washington Post story that reads like an extended Obama White House campaign press release. Shear opens with a story about how Obama prayed with “three Christian pastors” over the phone as he flew to Chicago to celebrate his 49th birthday. “As he celebrated his birthday, he was in a reflective mood,” Shear cooed. “He told them he wanted to pray about the year that had passed, what’s really important in life and the challenges ahead,” the Post staffer added before cuing up Joel Hunter, “an evangelical pastor who ws on the call and who is part of a small circle of spiritual advisers who frequently talk to Obama by phone.” Hunter served up the argument of Shear’s article, that because Obama is private about his Christian faith, it’s no wonder polls show a growing number of people unsure of his faith, with some even thinking he’s a Muslim. “You know what happens with a vacuum?” Hunter asked, before answering his own question, “It gets filled.” Aside from Hunter and Obama himself, Shear quoted only Obama staffers: deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Joshua DuBois, Obama’s “chief faith adviser in the White House.” Shear failed to raise any Christian leaders who, for instance, might question how a Christian like Obama could be as staunchly opposed as he is to any restriction on abortion rights. Shear also noted that Obama “talked about his belief in Jesus’s resurrection” at an Easter breakfast earlier this year, going on to quote the relevant passage in the next paragraph. Yet Shear failed to recognize that Obama’s mishmash of spiritual beliefs aren’t exactly in line with the exclusivist claims of historic, orthodox Christianity. Indeed, one can detect a bit of Clintonian word-wrangling in an 2004 interview with Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times , particularly when Obama tackles the meaning of Jesus’ statement that he alone is “the way, the truth, and the life” (emphasis mine): “I am a Christian,” the 42-year-old Illinois state senator and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate says, as one of the nearby customers interrupts to congratulate him on his recent primary win. Obama shakes the man’s hand and says, “Thank you very much. I appreciate that,” before turning his attention directly back to the question. “So, I have a deep faith,” Obama continues. “I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place , and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. “That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.” It’s perhaps an unlikely theological position for someone who places his faith squarely at the feet of Jesus to take, saying essentially that all people of faith — Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, everyone — know the same God. That depends, Obama says, on how a particular verse from the Gospel of John, where Jesus says, ” I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me,” is heard.

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CBS’s Erica Hill to Ann Coulter: Will Mosque Issue ‘Go Away’ Before November Elections?

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Speaking to conservative commentator Ann Coulter on Thursday’s CBS Early Show, fill-in co-host Erica Hill seemed to hope the Ground Zero mosque controversy had run its course: “Does it go away or does this continue through November?” Hill’s question to Coulter followed fellow guest, Democratic strategist Tanya Acker, ranting: “…the notion that in the United States of America we would deny people the right to have a religious edifice is simply – like, that’s just not – it’s unconscionable….I think that smart Republicans, fair Republicans, fair people of all political persuasions need to look – are looking at this really as a constitutional issue and really as a freedom issue. It should not be this political question that it’s become.” Picking up on Acker’s argument, Hill turned to Coulter: “So, it shouldn’t be a political issue. Though is it going to continue to be one as we head to November?” In her response, Coulter fired back at Acker: “I will say Tanya’s absolutely giving the Democratic position. America, you want a mosque at Ground Zero, you vote for the Democrats.” Acker angrily replied: “No. No, I’m giving – I’m giving the American position, Ann. I’m giving the American position because my constitution says that-” Hill then interrupted, notifying both guests that they were out of time. At the top of the segment, Hill asked both Coulter and Acker for their reactions to the pullout of major U.S. combat forces from Iraq. Beginning with Coulter, Hill wondered: “…this is happening two weeks ahead of President Obama’s schedule, Ann. Is this, perhaps, a step forward for the administration, some more positive news coming out?” Coulter replied: “Well, Iraq isn’t really his war. That is George Bush’s and it’s gone very well.” Hill interjected: “This was his deadline, though.” Here is a full transcript of the August 19 segment: 7:00AM TEASE HARRY SMITH: No regrets. President Obama insists Muslims have the right to build a community center and mosque near Ground Zero. Though a growing number of Democrats say it’s the wrong place, and a majority of Americans agree. 7:07AM SEGMENT: ERICA HILL: Joining us now with their take on the political impact of all this are conservative commentator Ann Coulter and Democratic Party strategist Tanya Acker. Good to have both of you with us this morning. So the last large U.S. combat brigade leaving Iraq. Obviously there are still troops there, as we heard from the General [Steven Lanza], talking about that as well. But this is happening two weeks ahead of President Obama’s schedule, Ann. Is this, perhaps, a step forward for the administration, some more positive news coming out? [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Heading Towards The Midterms; Political Impact of Iraq Pullout] ANN COULTER: Well, Iraq isn’t really his war. That is George Bush’s and it’s gone very well. HILL: This was his deadline, though. COULTER: Afghanistan is his war and that’s not going so well. HILL: So you’re not seeing any positive- COULTER: No. I think he’s been a disaster on foreign policy. I mean, there was a reason to concentrate on Iraq. Iraq is good for regime change. The people are fairly educated. That is exactly the opposite in Afghanistan. You’re dealing with peasants who are stoning a couple who elope. Turning that country into a democracy, I think, is a pipe dream, which is why with Bush he went in, he knocked out the Taliban, left a few troops behind. But then turned the major war on terrorism into Iraq, a country that’s good military, that is sitting on a lot of oil, that’s in the middle of a crucial region of the world. What do we want to be in Afghanistan for? And instead, this president, purely out of political correctness, because he wanted to respond to MoveOn.org crowd about ‘oh, Iraq, it’s a war of convenience, whereas Afghanistan it’s a war of necessity.’ No, no, no, no, no. Bush cared about national security. This guy about – Obama cares about political correctness. And it’s a big mistake. HILL: Tanya, I hear you – I can hear you in the background there. I know you want to jump in, go ahead. TANYA ACKER: Well, it’s so funny because Ann’s perspective is so completely ahistorical, and also, it seems – she seems to not have a very good grasp of American political science. Barack Obama’s the President of the United States right now, which means that Iraq is his war. It also means Afghanistan, too, is his war, as it was George Bush’s war when he first directed that operation. I’d also remind Ann that Afghanistan is –  borders this country called Pakistan. And that’s – there’s a reason that we need to keep that country and that region of the world stable. But all that aside, and you know, putting some of that nonsense, bracketing that for a moment, I think the General [Steven Lanza] made a really good point. It is time now that we let the Iraqi people govern themselves. They need to rule themselves. And that – that military really needs to take responsibility for its own country’s security. We’re not gone. We’re going to provide a very important, valuable training mechanism. But I definitely think this is a step in the right direction. HILL: There’s been so much talk. It seems every day something new comes out about plans for a mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero. Tanya, I’ll let you kick this one off. We’re hearing again from the President on this, saying he doesn’t regret those comments. Is this the kind of thing that’s going to go away or is this starting to shape, in fact, the road to November elections? ACKER: Well, you know, look, I think there are a lot of partisans who are going to try to turn this into an even nastier issue than it’s become. But I think that we would all be wise to follow Ted Olsen’s lead, George Bush’s former solicitor general who lost his wife on 9/11, who said that the notion that in the United States of America we would deny people the right to have a religious edifice is simply – like, that’s just not – it’s unconscionable. And I think the President’s doing the right thing. I think that smart Republicans, fair Republicans, fair people of all political persuasions need to look – are looking at this really as a constitutional issue and really as a freedom issue. It should not be this political question that it’s become. HILL: So, it shouldn’t be a political issue. Though is it going to continue to be one as we head to November? COULTER: Well, one person made it not only a political issue but a national political issue and that is President Obama. Who wanted a standing ovation from a Muslim audience at a Ramadan dinner at the White House. So he comes out in favor of the mosque. And then as soon as he’s not in front of a crowd that’s going to give him a standing ovation for that, he’s taken it back. I don’t know what his position is now that he claims he’s standing by. HILL: Does it go – does it go away though? Does it go away or does this continue through November, before I let you go? COULTER: Not until we know what’s going to happen to that mosque at Ground Zero. And I will say Tanya’s absolutely giving the Democratic position. America, you want a mosque at Ground Zero, you vote for the Democrats. ACKER: No. No, I’m giving – I’m giving the American position, Ann. I’m giving the American position because my constitution says that- HILL: Ladies, we have to leave it there. But there is much more to talk about in the months ahead. Don’t worry. Tanya Acker, Ann Coulter, good to have both of you with us this morning. ACKER: Thank you.

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CBS’s Erica Hill to Ann Coulter: Will Mosque Issue ‘Go Away’ Before November Elections?

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AP Orders Staff: ‘Stop Using the Phrase “Ground Zero Mosque”’

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

In an unusual move, the Associated Press has publicly released an advisory memo to its reporters on how to cover of the Ground Zero mosque story – and the first rule is that journalists must immediately stop calling it the “Ground Zero mosque” story. “We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘Ground zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at ground zero’ on all platforms,” reads the advisory, which was issued by the AP’s Standards Center. Instead of the “Ground Zero mosque,” AP recommends that reporters use the terms “mosque 2 blocks from WTC site,” “Muslim (or Islamic) center near WTC site,” “mosque near ground zero,” or “mosque near WTC site.” The AP suggests that it might “useful in some stories to note that Muslim prayer services have been held since 2009 in the building that the new project will replace.” In addition, the news service offers a “succinct summary of President Obama’s position” on the mosque, but doesn’t include the positions of any other politicians. Also included in the advisory is a “Fact Check” to provide “additional background” for reporters. “A New York imam and his proposed mosque near ground zero are being demonized by political candidates – mostly Republicans – despite the fact that Islam is already very much a part of the World Trade Center neighborhood,” reads the first paragraph of the Fact Check. “And that Muslims pray inside the Pentagon, too, less than 80 feet from where terrorists attacked. And that the imam who’s being branded an extremist has been valued by both Republican and Democratic administrations as a moderate face of the faith.” One of the “facts” that the AP feels the need to “clarify” is that Ground Zero mosque organizer Feisal Abdul Rauf is a moderate Muslim. “Rauf counts former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from the Clinton administration as a friend and appeared at events overseas or meetings in Washington with former President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and Bush adviser Karen Hughes,” says the article, though it does also mention briefly Rauf’s comments about America being an “accessory” to the Sept. 11 attacks. The advisory also “fact checks” pure opinion statements made by conservatives, like former House Speaker Newt Gringrich’s assertion that “America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization.” “Such opinions are shared by some Americans, while others are more reluctant to paint the religion with a broad brush and more welcoming of the faith in this country,” reads the Fact Check. “Bush, himself, while criticized at the time for stirring suspicions about American Muslims, traveled to a Washington mosque less than a week after the attacks to declare that terrorism is ‘not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.'” AP is arguable the most influential news organization in the country, and many media outlets adhere to its guidelines in their reporting.

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AP Orders Staff: ‘Stop Using the Phrase “Ground Zero Mosque”’

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MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Derides the ‘Heated’ and ‘Ugly’ Rhetoric from Those Who Oppose Mosque

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday complained about “ugly” comments arising from the debate over the Ground Zero mosque. She also spun the founder and chief proponent of the construction as a moderate, “despite some criticism of the Imam from the right.” [MP3 audio here .] After fellow MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd asserted that the President felt like he had to speak out because “the debate was getting so loud,” Mitchell editorialized, ” Getting loud, heated, ugly and inaccurate, in fact. ” She then proceeded to tout Feisal Abdul Rauf to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius. Mitchell enthused, “And despite some criticism of the Imam from the right, it turns out that Feisal Abdul Rauf has been an unofficial U.S. ambassador to the Muslim world in addition to promoting peace and religious tolerance in Manhattan.” At no time did she offer her viewers any hint that Abdul Rauf has made some controversial assertions. These include making comments that seem supportive of Sharia law in the United States, refusing to condemn Hamas and referring to the United States as an “accessory” to 9/11. Instead, she touted, “And Walter Isaacson, who we both know well from the head of the Aspen Institute, was quoted as saying, ‘He’s consistently denounced radical Islam and terrorism and promoted a moderate and tolerant Islam.'” However, this doesn’t square with Abdul Rauf’s September 30, 2001 appearance on 60 Minutes where this exchange occurred: ED BRADLEY: Are — are — are you in any way suggesting that we in the United States deserved what happened? IMAM ABDUL RAUF: I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened. BRADLEY: OK. You say that we’re an accessory? ABDUL RAUF: Yes. BRADLEY: How? ABDUL RAUF: Because we have been an accessory to a lot of — of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, it — in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA. Given Mitchell’s complaints about “inaccurate” statements in the Ground Zero debate, her above quote is sloppy at best. A transcript of the August 18 segment, which aired at 1:18pm EDT, follows: ANDREA MITCHELL: And when they speak privately to you Chuck, are they annoyed with Harry Reid for escalating this as a political matter? CHUCK TODD: You know, they have not been critical of anybody, even privately, on how they’ve reacted to this because, frankly, they understand that they created a bit of a political problem for everybody else. I’ve talked to other Democrats outside the White House who believe that the Harry Reid could have handled this differently, who think that maybe Harry Reid invited holding up more opportunities for Republicans to put other Democrats in a position to have to come out with a statement about this, have to deal with this in their own races, because here’s a guy who, basically, felt the need to respond to his opponent in Nevada, to respond to Sharron Angle. So if he can respond, then, of course, why can’t anybody else who is running for re-election in 2010 respond to their Republican opponent in their district or state? So I think that is where the annoyance I’ve heard. I have not heard it from the White House because the White House gets it and the President himself said they read polls and know that they put members of their own party in an awkward position. But, this is a case where they feel like, where the President himself felt like he had to speak out on this, because, frankly, the debate was getting so loud and heated and, maybe, unproductive. MITCHELL: Getting loud, heated, ugly and inaccurate, in fact. And we’re going to set the record straight on some of that coming up. … MITCHELL: We are now learning more, indeed, about the man behind the proposed Islamic center. And despite some criticism of the Imam from the right , it turns out that Feisal Abdul Rauf has been an unofficial U.S. ambassador to the Muslim world in addition to promoting peace and religious tolerance in Manhattan. Here with me now, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Uh, David, you’ve been looking at this from removed- and also from inside the White House and inside the State Department. And it’s extraordinary. This is a man who traveled with- to Doha in 2006 at the worst time in the Iraq war with Karen Hughes from the Bush State Department as an envoy, an unofficial envoy, spoke out after 9/11 in Manhattan. DAVID IGNATIUS: Andrea, from everything that we can tell about him, he is almost a model of what you want as a moderate Islamic cleric, with credibility among Muslims to be sure, who is prepared to speak out to the United States. I mean, if you were going to design, as a thought experiment, a way to pull people away from al Qaeda and it would be hard to think of somebody more powerful than this who says that the 9/11 attacks were wrong . Working with the United States is right. Speaking out against a violence is an obligation for Muslims. If we’re ever going to get out of this mess, if we’re going to avoid a war with Muslims around the world, which we all deeply want to do, this is the kind of ally we need and the attacks on him, I have to admit, I don’t understand some of them. MITCHELL: And Walter Isaacson, who we both know well from the head of the Aspen Institute, was quoted as saying, “He’s consistently denounced radical Islam and terrorism and promoted a moderate and tolerant Islam. That’s why I find it a shame that his good work is being undermined by this inflamed dispute. He’s the type of leader to be celebrating in America and not undermining.” And this at a critical time. Is it your sense, and I know you had a meeting at the White House on the national security meeting a week or so ago and were at the State Department involved with Hillary Clinton. So, your sense from the President and his comments that he is trying to reach out because of what is coming up in the Muslim world? He’s got in the balance Israeli and Pakistani negotiations just on a tipping point trying to get something going for the first week in September before he has to go to the UN for the annual speech, the third week in September. This is a very critical moment. IGNATIUS: My sense, Andrea, with the President ten days ago, and I have to stress this was before his intervention at the Ground Zero mosque was that he wants to reanimate these themes that are prominent in his presidency, both notably in his Cairo speech, that he’s trying to reach out to the Muslim world and make progress of his very difficult issues of Israeli/Palestinian negotiations, that he is signaling a willingness, indeed a desire to reopen the negotiations with Iran about the nuclear program. These are themes that the President was really hitting hard and I think it’s- but in the case of Iran, it’s a real last attempt before we get on an inexorable clock with Iran heading towards nuclear weapons capability, see some other way to go.

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MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Derides the ‘Heated’ and ‘Ugly’ Rhetoric from Those Who Oppose Mosque

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