August 12, 2010

As usual, Jon Stewart does a better job of painting the right wing as the extremists they are for the fear mongering over the Islamic community center being built near Ground Zero than our sorry excuse for a "main stream media" does.

Stewart: They’re going to build a mosque at Ground Zero? We haven’t even rebuilt a building at Ground Zero. Now they’re going to build a mosque on that “hallowed ground” or is it not exactly “hallowed ground”?

Fox Newscaster: This is 45 Park Place in lower Manhattan. It used to be the Burlington Coat Factory.

Stewart: Okay, I think that’s actually a couple of blocks away from Ground Zero. Not that the Burlington Coat Factory is not hallowed ground. If fact, I would say anywhere you can get a London Fog trench coat for under $300 is a place to be revered.

Let’s clarify a couple of things. It’s not technically being built at Ground Zero. It’s more Ground Zero adjacent and it’s not technically a mosque, it’s an Islamic cultural center. So, for its critics, what location would be acceptable?

Pat Buchanan: Move it several blocks away.

Bill O’Reilly: Put it five blocks away or ten blocks away.

Rich Lowry: 15 block radius…

Newt Gingrich: 20 blocks away

Andrea Tantaros: Why not the Upper West Side in Woody Allen’s building?

Stewart: Woody Allen... Woody Allen??? That’s your go to out of touch New York liberal Jew reference? What, are they asking to build a mosque in 1976?

Stewart goes on to show all the protests to mosques being built around the country and not just at Ground Zero. So we’ve got a pattern here. Doesn’t matter how far you are from Ground Zero, the fear mongers are protesting.

Stewart: Why does everyone think America is divided?

Hint to Jon Stewart… because we’ve got one cable news channel aided and abetted by right wing hate radio drumming up these fears for political gain.

Stewart: It appears distrust of Muslims is the one thing that goes from sea to shining sea. Haven’t any of these people heard of freedom of religion? Lt. Gov. of Tennessee, you want to take this one?

Ramsey: I’m all about freedom of religion. You can even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion or is it a nationality, way of life, a cult or whatever you want to call it.

Stewart: I think religion is what they want to call it. But point taken. You know I can see being confused by Scientology or the thing Madonna does with the red bracelets or this whole Justin Bieber craze, certain World Craft Guilds, Harry Potter book clubs, but I think fourteen hundred years and over a billion Twitter followers, people have kind of accepted it as a religion now. But some people I guess don’t want to be lectured about religious liberties.

Gingrich: I don’t want to be lectured by them about religious liberty at a time when there’s not a single church or a single synagogue in Saudi Arabia and I don’t see this group demanding that the Saudis should open up and allow churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia.

Stewart: Exactly. Why should we as Americans have to have a higher standard of religious liberty than even Saudi Arabia? It makes no sense. And by the way, if there’s one thing that Newt Gingrich, if there’s one thing that Newt Gingrich and Republicans have always stood for it is cutting off all ties to Saudi Arabia. But the grip is so tight, the Saudi grip, if they would only let go of our hands.

You know this whole thing just makes me very sad. Can’t we just have some kind of communal event where we try and come together

And as Stewart notes, they are. But that's not going to stop the fear mongering from the right over this issue. It's shameless but thankfully we've got Stewart doing the job our "news" is not with calling them out for it.

I'm not sure what it's going to take for Newt to ever decide he should not be showing his face anywhere in public but I'm glad to see Stewart taking him on for his hypocrisy.

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