WaPo JournoLista Sargent Gets Sandbagged by Obama and Harry Reid

Big Journalism ^ | 8/17/10 | John Sexton

[Nachum]

Greg Sargent is a Washington Post blogger and compromised JournoList hack whose “Plum Line” entries are decidedly left of center. Greg was overwhelmed with enthusiasm last Friday when, for a brief but shining moment, it appeared President Obama was supporting the construction of the ground zero mosque. He gushed that it would “go down as one of the finest moments of his presidency.”

Sargent contrasted Obama’s bold stance with the “clever little dodge” which some Republicans were using. Here’s his description of the conservative stance, “The group has the right to build the center, runs this argument, but they are wrong to exercise it.”

That was Friday. On Saturday, the President gave an impromptu response to a reporter’s question, which went like this:

I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding.

[Nachum]

http://www.nachumlist.com/journolist.htm

[Mikey_1962]

The Nazis had a Constitutional right to march through Skokie IL; but it wasn't right.

The Westboro Baptists have a Constitutional right to protest at soldier's funerals; but it isn't right.

The Muslims have a Constitutional right to build a mosque at ground zero; but it isn't right.

[ILS21R]

Greg Sargent = useful idiot

[JustSurrounded]

I'm not convinced they have a Constitutional right to build a mosque at ground zero. They have a Constitutional right to freedom of religion, not freedom of construction. Just because a structure may have religious function does not mean I have the right to build it anywhere I please.

[ltc8k6]

I hate Illinois nazis...

[maggief]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/

House Democrat now politicizing mosque issue

This is genuinely sad. But we now have a House Democrat who has come out against the planned Islamic center — and is using the issue politically against his Republican opponent, who had previous supported it.

The Democrat in question is Rep. Michael Arcuri of New York. Previously, his Republican challenger, Richard Hanna, had shown the courage to buck his own party and support the center, on the grounds that opposing it was at odds with American values.

(snip)

UPDATE, 11:11 a.m.: Three more New York Democrats have now come out against the project.