Mitch McConnell lied on Meet The Press yesterday. He insisted the "national debate" on the planned Islamic Center was begun by Pres. Obama. On the contrary, it was begun by the shrieking of Pam "Atlas Jugs" Geller and her google-eyed fans, most of whom wouldn't visit NYC out of fear that every New Yorker is out to kill them, con them, or give them a social disease. It makes me nuts that almost every person speaking out against the plan has no connection with Manhattan.
As far as I'm concerned this is a local issue. I am frustrated to the point of banging my head against the wall by the fact that our governor, Pat Quinn, has decided to offer his "view" on the matter. Every idiot with a mouth and an opinion seems to think it necessary to offer a view.
My mother taught me that a marvelous human virtue is minding one's own business. If something has nothing to do with you, offering your view (particularly when said offering isn't requested) is grossly impolite. That there are those who think, in the age of the internet, that the barriers that exist in the real world are somehow less important, giving tacit permission to any- and everyone to speak up and speak out on questions that have nothing to do with them. Indeed, many of those who choose to speak out believe their views have a great deal of weight - people like Newt Gingrich and Carly Fiorina. It just floors me that some person sitting in Montana or Arkansas or where ever believes that his or her view on a building project they will likely never see outside a news report on television is part of some "national conversation". Really, it's an example of the breakdown of etiquette of mammoth proportions.
Somehow, the right believes they have a winner with this one. Let them think so. I'm with Ted Olson on this, the constant screeching and spittle-spraying hate is only going to turn people off. More important, if the Republicans really believe it is their bounden duty to tell the rest of the world how to live their lives, they should remember that this whole ginned-up fake controversy is nothing more than the Terri Schiavo case writ large. That worked out really well for them.
