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Mosque Debate Grows, Splinters
Politicians beyond New York continued to stake out positions Tuesday on the controversy over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near the site of the World Trade Center, but divisions emerged within each party over what has become a surprise issue in the 2010 elections.
In Pennsylvania’s closely contested Senate race, the Democratic candidate, Rep. Joe Sestak, appeared with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and endorsed the rights of project organizers to construct the Islamic center at its proposed location. Mr. Sestak’s position put him at odds with several other candidates in his own party, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who on Monday announced his opposition to the mosque’s being built near the site of the destroyed towers in Manhattan.
The issue dominated a news conference Tuesday in which Mr. Bloomberg endorsed Mr. Sestak’s Senate bid. Mr. Sestak, who had won the Democratic nomination over the opposition of Senate leaders and the White House, appeared pleased to once again highlight a difference between himself and Mr. Reid.
“I’m proud to be endorsed by someone who speaks what he believes … and speaks about the principles and the ideals and the constitutional rights of America,” he said.
And days after several Republican congressional candidates and political leaders began highlighting their opposition to the plans, several prominent GOP figures expressed concern that the issue was a distraction that risked alienating some voters.
The proposed site for a Muslim cultural center, just blocks away from Ground Zero continues to stir controversy. Video courtesy of Reuters.
The discussions within each party underscored how the mosque debate had emerged as a national political flashpoint in the wake of President Barack Obama’s initial comments at a Ramadan dinner Friday, in which he seemed to fully back the project. The president over the weekend appeared to step back, saying that he was defending religious freedom, not commenting on the “wisdom” of building the center so close to Ground Zero.
Many Republicans, too, said the developers had a legal right to build the center and mosque at their chosen location, but that they should defer to public opinion and build somewhere else.
Still, the issue has surged to the forefront this week in a number of political battlegrounds, fueled in part by leading conservatives such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. All are potential 2012 presidential contenders who argue the mosque’s proximity to Ground Zero is an affront to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“It’s about being sensitive, being respectful, and having good judgment about not putting a mosque within two blocks of Ground Zero,” Mr. Pawlenty told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity Monday night.
Mr. Gingrich, in an email, said he was “in favor of religious liberty” but called the proposal “deliberately provocative.” He suggested the project be built “in the South Bronx (which needs the jobs) or many other sites.”
Strategists in both parties said Tuesday that Mr. Obama’s decision to thrust himself into the debate put Democrats at risk just as the general election season was set to begin in earnest. Several surveys this week showed that as many as two-thirds of Americans opposed the mosque. But a Fox News poll also found that 61% believed that the Muslim group had a right to build at the site, regardless of whether it was appropriate.
Karl Rove, the chief political strategist for former President George W. Bush, said he was “baffled” by Mr. Obama’s decision to weigh in on the mosque and that his efforts to tweak his position will help “shape and deepen people’s antipathy” toward Washington.
But some Republicans expressed concern about the long-term political effects of the debate.
Grover Norquist, president of the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, called the issue a distraction from the Republicans’ “winning message” for the November elections about federal overspending. Mr. Norquist, who has pushed the GOP to court Muslim voters, said religious minorities “have to wonder if some politicians are deciding that their First Amendment rights are subject to political winds.”
A group of prominent Arab-American and Muslim Republicans issued a public letter Tuesday asking if the GOP believes “that one can only practice his/her religion in certain places within defined boundaries and away from the disapproving glances of some citizens.” The group included Randa Fahmy Hudome, an energy official in the George W. Bush administration, Reagan administration labor official George Salem and conservative activist Suhail Khan.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a rising GOP star, this week said he was offended that the mosque was “being used as a political football by both parties.”
In the Florida governor’s race, GOP candidate Rick Scott aired a television ad criticizing Mr. Obama’s mosque stance. His rival, state Attorney General Bill McCollum, said he, too, was against the mosque, as did the presumptive Democratic nominee, state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.
In Pennsylvania, when asked Tuesday about the mosque, Mr. Sestak embraced the “constitutional right of religious freedom and in the separation of church and state applying equally to everyone.”
“This is an issue for New York to resolve as long as it respects those constitutional rights, where, let’s also step back and say: let’s stop playing politics with religion,” he said, standing with Mr. Bloomberg.
As the two men stood in a shopping plaza parking lot, an audience member and mosque opponent, Robert B. Sklaroff, began asking Mr. Bloomberg questions about whether some organizers of the mosque project had made anti-American statements. The mayor responded: “Look, I would suggest you go from here directly to the library. Get a copy of the Bill of Rights and you’ll realize that everybody has a right to say what they want to say.”
Mr. Sklaroff said later in an interview the mayor sidestepped his question.
By Michael Howard Saul and Peter Wallstein
The Wall Street Journal
(Devlin Barrett contributed to this article)