House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she favored disclosure for the groups funding opposition to the mosque planned for Ground Zero as well as who is funding the construction of the Islamic center. -db
Washington Post
Commentary
August 18, 2010
By Greg Sargent
Nancy Pelosi kicked off a bit of controversy on the right this morning when the news broke that she had told a local San Francisco radio station that she agreed with those calling for a look at how the groups opposing the “Ground Zero mosque” are being funded.
It was a bit unclear what she was referring to, and now her office sends over a statement from her clarifying what she meant and sort of standing by what she said:
“The freedom of religion is a Constitutional right. Where a place of worship is located is a local decision.
“I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that ‘We agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.’
“For all of those expressing concern about the 9/11 families, we call upon them to join us in support of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act when Congress returns in September.”
So Pelosi wants “transparency” about who is funding the center, too. As for a look at the opposition, “we should also ask who is funding the attacks” is a bit of a walkback, but not much of one. It’s unclear, to me at least, exactly what this means. The attacks on the center are coming from various quarters. There are outside groups like Liz Cheney’s Keep America Safe, who presumably do get their funding from somewhere, though it doesn’t take much money to blast out Liz Cheney statements and to cut ominous sounding Web videos.
There are the GOP party committees, I suppose, but while they may be offering general guidance, it seems unlikely that they’re directly choreographing these attacks in any meaningful sense.
Either way, Pelosi doesn’t seem to be calling for some kind of government investigation into the mosque’s critics, as thrilling as that would be to some on the right.
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News Corp’s number-two shareholder funded ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ planner
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