9/11 family member Ted Olson breaks from the GOP on NYC mosque: Obama ‘was right about this.’

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

9/11 family member Ted Olson breaks from the GOP on NYC mosque: Obama ‘was right about this.’

This afternoon, Ted Olson — whose wife died in the September 11th attacks — distanced himself from other conservatives and told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that he did not oppose the building of a mosque near ground zero. “It may not make me popular with some people, but I think probably the President was right about this,” he began:

OLSON: I do believe that people of all religions have a right to build edifices or structures, places of religious worship or study where the community allows them to do it under zoning laws and that sort of thing. And that we don’t want to turn an act of hate against us by extremists into an act of intolerance for people of religious faith. And I don’t think it should be a political issue. It shouldn’t be a Republican or Democrat issue either. I believe Governor Christie from New Jersey said it as well, that this should not be in that political partisan marketplace.

Watch it:

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVhwgMfuwU4&feature=player_embedded

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/18/mosque-olson/

[texastoast]

1. George Washington would agree

But I wonder if he has been demoted by the Texas State Board of "Education" :crazy: like Thomas Jefferson has been.

[chelsea0011]

2. I'm beginning to think Olsen is the only true republicant strict constitutionlist.

[No Elephants]

3. Let's review.

1. It's not a mosque.

2. NO ONE, even Republicans, denies the Muslims have a right to build a community and prayer center two blocks from Ground Zero.


3. Obama said he would express NO opinion on the wisdom of building it there, so no one has a clue if he thinks it's wise or not. Some people, both Democrats and Republicans have said it's not wise. Not exactly a chasm between that and Obama's silence on the wisdom issue.

We need to stop letting media gin us up deceitfully--and we need to start insisting that media stop stirring stupid pots stupidly and get back to the role Framers envisioned for it.

You know, the role that actually earned media Constitutional freedom of the press in 1789. Peter Zenger. thomas Paine. Broadsides, etc. Government watchdog. Not Brangelina and not crap like this.

[Iowa]

4. Best post I have seen on this topic. Well done!

[cottonseed]

8. Recomended +1

[guruoo]

5. And heads explode...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2573117/posts

[Jennicut]

6. Wow, just really disgusting comments. To be expected...and this is them attacking

a conservative. Of course, he stood up for the gays so he has cooties now.

[onehandle]

7. Ooh. They called him a 'constitutional lawyer.'

Funny. When they are screaming for gun 'rights,' constitutional lawyers are the good guys.

When brown people are looking for rights, not so much.

[guruoo]

12. And they get away with it, time, and time again. nt

[mitchum]

9. Good for him, but he is still a fucking scumbag

[calimary]

10. He has a very large karmic debt to pay because of bush v Gore.

I've found myself wondering if the loss of his wife in 9/11 may have given him other things to think about.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mitchum]

13. Yes, it did...other women

[Missy Vixen]

14. Evidently, Barbara Olson had some kind of change of heart before her death

>I've found myself wondering if the loss of his wife in 9/11 may have given him other things to think about.<

I remember reading that she recanted some of her previous stances shortly before September 11th, and was being shunned in Republican circles because of it. Her comments about Bill Clinton's mom were pretty much the end for her, evidently. (IIRC, she called Virginia Kelley a "barfly".)

We're never going to know how her death changed Ted Olson. I still don't care for him. I have to give him snaps on this one, though. If we believe in freedom, we believe in freedom for all, even those we may disagree with.

[mitchum]

15. Not true...she was on a book tour shilling her latest screed about the "evil" of Sen Clinton...

when her plane went down.
Good riddance to right wing rubbish.

[Missy Vixen]

38. Ask Bartcop

There are several other long-term lefty bloggers that also documented the fact that Barbara Olson was evidently shaken by the public reaction to her comments about Virginia Kelley.

[w4rma]

16. Republicans want to make this a partisan issue, but most people could care less one way or another.

Islam didn't attack us on 9/11. Terrorists attacked us and it had nothing to do with our, or their, religion.

[bluestateguy]

17. Ted Olson, Former Bush Solicitor General And Husband Of 9/11 Victim, Backs Obama On 'Ground Zero Mos

Source: Huffington Post

Ted Olson, former George W. Bush solicitor general, attorney behind the case against California's gay marriage ban, and husband of a woman who died aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, said Wednesday that President Obama was right about his analysis of the "Ground Zero Mosque" as a constitutional right protected by the First Amendment.

Olson's wife, conservative commentator and lawyer Barbara Olson, perished on September 11 aboard American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that was hijacked and flown in the Pentagon.

Asked on MSNBC about his opinion on the plans to construct a 13-story Islamic community center two blocks away from Ground Zero, Olson gave a response that served as a rather high profile departure from what has become the conservative norm on the issue.

"Well it may not make me hap-- popular with some people, but I think, probably, the president was right about this," Olson told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. "I do believe that people of all religions have a right to build edifices, or structures, or places of religious worship or study where the community allows them to do it under zoning laws and that sort of thing, and that we don't want to turn an act of hate against us by extremists into an act of intolerance for people of religious faith. And I don't think it should be a political issue. It shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic issue, either. I believe Gov. Christie from New Jersey said it well, that this should not be in that political, partisan marketplace."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/18/liz-cheneys-keep-america-_n_686697.html

[drm604]

18. If he keeps this stuff up

I could almost start to like Ted Olson.

[madrchsod]

22. ya what the hell happen to him....

maybe he saw the Light?

[mopinko]

26. I was wondering if he had a near death experience

maybe it was losing his wife.

[still_one]

30. This is entirely consistent with his philosophy. Don't be misled that he is a

progressive, or is a defender of civil rights, he isn't

Most of his arguments would be directed toward states rights, and that blade will easily cut the other way depending on the state

[still_one]

27. This is no surprise, nor would it be a surprise if scalia and others from the Federalist

Society adopt those same views

They are strict "Constitutionalist", which means that the interpretation of the Constitution leaves very little wiggle room

That cuts both ways. In the bush V Gore case, they argued their case on the basis that the Florida Supreme Court violated Article II Section 1 Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution by making new election law? Do standardless manual recounts violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Constitution?

What Gore should have done is demand a TOTAL recount of the whole state, instead of certain areas. What the Democratic party should have done is PAY attention to what was going on in Florida before the election, and realize that the ballots in certain counties were misleading. An ounce of prevention would have avoided the disaster in 2000, but unfortunately that was meant to be

The problem I have with advocates of the Federalist Society is that for instance they would argue that a business has the right to serve whoever they wanted to, so even though in this case they are arguing for religious rights and civil rights, in others cases they would argue against civil rights. They would definitely argue for the overturn of Roe V Wade saying there is no "right to privacy" in the Constitution

So even though the end results in the Mosque and Prop 8 issue we agree with, there would be enough issues that we would not agree with them on

[eleny]

19. He better watch out for the dawn patrol of tea bags

[hlthe2b]

20. I wonder what ole Ted would have been like if she had lived...

Would he have taken these stances that buck the RETHUG party line--defending the right for gays to marry? Verbally defending Muslims' right to practice their religion and build their community center on land they legally purchased and were approved to do so, despite the outrage of 911-exploiting RETHUGS? I don't know, of course, but I wonder.... :shrug:

[still_one]

28. He would, but that does not make him progressive, just interesting how on these

issues the progressives and "true conservatives" align

There would be enough states rights, and civil rights issues, and right to privacy issues, that would NOT be compatiable with the progressive point of view

You might remember the story where an African American was tortured and dragged by a group of white supremists in Texas. His name was James Byrd


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Byrd,_Jr.

At that time his wife argued that Federal Authority had no right to be involved in this case as a "hate crime". She argued it should only be handled by the state as a murder case

I have no doubt Ted Olsen would have argued the same way

Both Ted and Barbara Olsen were big fans of Ann Coulter, and that should tell you everything you need to know about them

[hlthe2b]

32. That's my point... remembering her very far RW views...

I wonder if he'd taken any stances that were more socially liberal... I'm no Ted Olsen fan. Just wondering if he'd stayed in lockstep had Babs survived.

[still_one]

37. Personally, I think he would have, if for nothing else on the basis of state's rights /nt

[Lifelong Protester]

21. So what kind of epiphany has this guy had lately?

I was so surprised to see him next to Boies (sp?) at the prop 8 hearing.

[mitchum]

23. Good for him, but he is still a fucking scumbag

[still_one]

31. You are absolutely right, and anyone who know the Federalist Society argument

would realize that notwithstanding these two issues, the majority of FEDERAL civil rights issues over state he would be oppossed to

[Bonhomme Richard]

24. Maybe after what he did in 2000 he saw what the dark side...

was all about.

[Bonhomme Richard]

25. Maybe after what he did in 2000 he saw what the dark side...

was all about.

[Douglas Carpenter]

29. kick and recommend!!

[NC_Nurse]

33. Occasionally a Repub with integrity comes along. Amazing.

[earcandle]

34. Cut the crap already. Our constitution supports freedom of religion, so stop the fucking controversy

already!  It is NOT up to Obama and it isn't up to the news
media or anyone else. 

No one gets to vote on this.

There were some criminals set up by Bush Administration and
Saudi Arabia that pulled off a criminal stunt called 911.
When are we going to grow fucking up.  I am a little sick of
retards.  

[aranthus]

35. Except he didn't address the real issue.

The issue is not whether people have the right to use the Burlington Coat Factory site for an Islamic Cultural/Community Center (it isn't a mosque). They do. In fact, they can buy the land and build anything that they want on it that is consistent with local ordinances. The issue is whether it is appropriate that they place their center in that particular place.

[customerserviceguy]

36. I keep seeing the trotting out

of a select few who lost loved ones on 9/11 being for the mosque as some sort of justification for having it.

I remember there was some sort of a competition back in 1968 to find a black person who would vote for George Wallace. Some reporter actually found a guy who used to be a janitor in the Governor's Mansion when Wallace's wife Lurleen was the nominal governor of Alabama. As I recall, he liked her, and said he would vote for her husband.

Did that mean that George Wallace wasn't a racist in the Sixties?

[boppers]

39. Well, there's a huge trotting out of people who *didn't* lose somebody on 9/11 with opinions.

Who did Palin lose? Gingrich? Bohener?

[aranthus]

43. It's not quite the same thing.

First, Olson wasn't merely being "trotted out." Second, Olson only really addressed the undisputed issue that the owners have a right to build the center where they are planning to build it, and the further undisputed issue that 9/11 should not be used as an excuse for anti-Muslim prejudice. He never addressed the issue of whether the builders should build where they want to build. But let's say he had. Should the feelings of those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks count more than those who saw the horror on television hours later? What do you think?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

40. Ted Olson is right and Dean is wrong?

[aranthus]

42. No. They are both right.

Olson was saying that the owners of the site have a right to build their community center, something with which Dean (and almost everybody else, including conservatives) actually agrees. Dean is saying that the owners should build the center somewhere else, even though they have the right to build it in the Burlington Coat Factory building. Olson was addressing a non-issue. Dean is talking about the real issue. He may be wrong about whether the center should be built, but both Olson and Dean are right that the owners have the right to build.

[Odin2005]

41. You go, Ted!