Ranks of the Bigots Swell

Yesterday's Q-Poll throws a dash of cold water on Mike Bloomberg's attack on the supposed bigotry of the opponents of the GZ mosque. As the NY Post reported, not only do New Yorkers want the mosque moved; they also want AG Cuomo to investigate the funding sources: "Move the mosque! Seven in ten New Yorkers say the proposed mosque/Islamic community center near Ground Zero should be relocated because of opposition from 9/11 families — and an equal number want state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to probe the group’s finances, a new statewide poll released today found. “Overwhelmingly — across party and regional lines — New Yorkers say the sponsors ought to voluntarily move the proposed mosque to another location,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll."

7 in 10-that's a lot of bigots Daisy Khan. And the investigation should commence forthwith since the more we know about developer Gamal, the more he comes off as a hustling low life. The Post editorialists nails this: "No wonder the guys who want to build that Islamic center near Ground Zero are quiet as mosque mice about financing: Turns out, as The Post first reported, their own financial records are, well, a bit short of blue chip. Indeed, Sharif El-Gamal, who owns the site -- as The Post's Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein reported Sunday -- owes nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the city in back payments. His firm, 45 Park Place Partners, simply skipped its property-tax bills in January and July, according to the Finance Department. Gamal's folks say he delayed payments while seeking a lower tax rate, The New York Times reported."

Do you think that the mayor might want to take back his assertion that questioning the funding sources of the mosque would be un-American?  As the Post goes on to point out: "All of which sheds new light on the question of how Gamal and Rauf will get the $100 million said to be needed for the mosque project. Rauf has talked out of both sides of his mouth about that. He's told US audiences that the cash will come from US Muslims but suggested to an Arabic newspaper that he'll get funding from Arab countries."

But, as City Room reports, Bloomberg is sticking to his dead end position on funding: "Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo should not investigate the financing of the proposed Islamic community center near ground zero, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Tuesday, reiterating his support for the project. “I think it’s a terrible precedent,” he said. “You don’t want them investigating donations to religious organizations, and there’s no reason for the government to do so.” Mr. Bloomberg made his remarks about the controversial development project, known as Park51, in response to questions about a Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday that found voters in New York State deeply divided, with more than 70 percent of them wanting Mr. Cuomo to investigate the project’s financing."

In our view, the terrible precedent that was set was done so in November, 2001, when New Yorkers elected this tone deaf and political abhorrent man as their mayor-the rest is just commentary.

Now we know that politics makes for some very strange bedfellows, but for the mayor to be sleeping with Gamal-let alone the two faced Rauf and Khan-is just a bit too unseemly for us. We'll give the Post the last word here: "As we've said repeatedly, they have a right to build an Islamic center hard by Ground Zero -- inappropriate as many find that to be. But they have to be able to pay for it. With clean money. And until they say -- at the least -- how they'll do that, there's little cause to back their project."