Mosque developer 'refudiates' Palin

[one_voice]

From NY1's Josh Robin, this report that was just teased by the cable TV station:

In an exclusive interview, the developer who wants to bring a controversial mosque and Islamic center to Lower Manhattan denounces the 9/11 terrorists while mocking Sarah Palin’s call to Muslims to “refudiate” the project.

“I got an email about tweet and I just started laughing, “ Sharif El-Gamal tells NY1’s Josh Robin. “I could not believe that a potential presidential candidate cannot spell or cannot use the English language correctly.’’

El-Gamal said his plans for the mosque actually were caused by the attacks, which he emotionally recalled.

“What happened that day affected me personally, affected my city,’’ he said. “I was one of the first people that was down there at 9/11 and for 48 hours I was there helping my heroes, helping the firefighters, the policemen and I was giving water to everyone. What happened that day was a personal attack on me as a New Yorker. Something that I will never forget, never forgive those terrorists for what they did. And those terrorists did not act in the name of Islam.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/maggiehaberman/0710/Mosque_developer_refudiates_Palin_.html?showall

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. "I could not believe that a potential presidential candidate

cannot spell or cannot use the English language correctly"

Bush lowered the bar beyond what anyone could have imagined.

[Scurrilous]

2. I Refudiate Palin - Joe Klein

<snip>

"As an inveterate lover of neologisms, I am fiercely approviating of Sarah Palin's recent coinage: she called on peace-loving Muslisms to refudiate the proposed mosque at the World Trade Center site. This continues two grand American political traditions. The first is benign. Those politicians who have only a passing familiarity with proper English tend to be the most creative when it comes to wordiating. Warren G. Harding was responsible for two classics: "normalcy" (as opposed to "normality") and my all-time favorite "bloviating." I had high hopes for George W. Bush when he ethno-inventificated the "Greecians" during the 2000 campaign. ("Strategery" was also excellent, but apparently apocryphal). Unfortunately, his speech-writers got hold of him and his wanton vocabulations ceased. Palin poses a potential gold-rush of neo-Americanoid language.

The second political tradition is not so benign. In fact, it is totally evil. If there ever was a place to demonstrate this country's core value of religious tolerance, it is at the site of the World Trade Center. As regular readers know, I am an intensely proud New Yorker--from the outer boroughs, even--and Palin's intolerance runs counter to my all-American value system. I am a such a staunch supporter of diversity that I find that cliched word insufficient: multiversity is more like it. There is nothing more satisfying for a true New Yorker than to discover a great new restaurant--Afro-Lebanese fusion, perhaps--run by a gay Muslim-Adventist couple. I mean, hummus grits! Why not?

Consequently, it was a disappointment for me to watch parts of a New York Historical Society Landmarks Commission hearing on the Mosque issue where many of my fellow multiversaries, these of the self-hating mode, ranted in un-American fashion against the placement of the mosque on the site. Palin's bigotry is obnoxious but understandable: she doesn't know from hummus-grits. But my fellow Noo Yawkers--especially my fellow Jews--who made a mockery of themselves at the hearing should be sentenced to two weeks in Atlanta. Wasilla."

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/07/20/i-refudiate-palin/#ixzz0uGKUBC10