Remember these people: Democrats who have spoken up for the better values of the country by supporting the right of U.S. Muslims to build a community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan or wherever else they want to!
- Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL); hey, if Harry Reid is defeated in November, can we have this guy?
- Rep. Joe Sestak (PA); this one is showing real courage since he's running for the Senate in a state where rural social attitudes are often compared to those in Alabama.
- Alexi Giannoulias: Democratic candidate for the Senate, Illinois; he might make a worthy successor for Barack Obama in that state.
- Sen. Al Franken (MN); we may have wondered whether we needed a comic in the Senate, but evidently it takes a sense of the absurd to stand up for real values.
- Sen. Russ Feingold (WI); this one is in a re-election fight too. Good for him to call out "gutter politics."
- Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR); this guy shows himself thoughtful and imaginative on many issues; a new Senator to watch.
- Rep. Charlie Rangel (NY); the old war horse may be ethically challenged when it comes to Congressional perks, but he knows right and wrong when it comes to racial bigotry.
- Rep. Keith Ellison (MN); he knows about bigotry since, as a Muslim and an African American, he faces it all the time.
- Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (NY); her endorsement is more of allowing the city's regular zoning processes to go forward than of the rights of the builders, but even this shows some political courage in New York.
- Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Jerold Nadler (NY); these Congresspeople represent parts of New York City and they have stuck up for the project. Opposition seems to increase with distance.
Much of this post is cribbed from Talking Points Memo with my commentary.
1 comment:
Yes, the "[bizarre] oppostion does increase with distance." Living in NYC at the time 9/11 occurred, we visited Oregon the following month, found many people very strung out about it. Similar to odd emails I received immediately after from person I knew through environmental work. Finally had to ask her to stop sending me all her links, hysteria of relatives.
Why was it different for us,five miles uptown where we could, if the wind shifted, smell burning in the air? Thought about this often and have couple of theories. It was very surreal that beautifully sunny day in Manhattan.
Once past the horror of lost lives, I felt it was all about misguided politics and consequences of that mixed with cultures very different from mine. I would hope that the over-reaction to the Muslim community center might be a wake-up call to the administration that we have a serious mental health problem in the U.S., one that is open to hate groups targeting any issue that would fuel this sickness.
I dream. sigh.
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