re: #135 Dan M.

Of course they have every right to build the mosque there. Obama could have said that very simply. By focusing only on the Constitutional issue, you ignore the reasonable voices that simply think that building a mosque 200 yards from Ground Zero is at best insensitive and at worst a deliberate provocation.

It has been claimed that the mosque was supposed to open on 9/11/11. Was that made up by right-wing mosque opponents or is that true? If it is true, I don’t see how anyone could argue with the position that it’s at best insensitive. If it’s not true, I would appreciate some refutation of the original claim if it exists. However, if the claim is also completely unsubstantiated, I will also accept that as evidence that it is likely untrue.

A great many things are 200 yards from Ground Zero. Retail, a strip club (perhaps a wee bit further), and millions of square feet of office space. Oh, and several churches, including one flattened by the collapsing towers and still awaiting disposition by the Port Authority to rebuild (St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church).

The proposed center was never going to open on 9/11/2011 - that was a lie concocted by Andrea Peyser at the NY Post in an op-ed and completely unsourced to anyone involved in the project. It was surmised that the project might have a groundbreaking on 9/11 of this year, but that too was never sourced to anyone involved in the project.