"I no longer want to live on this planet."

[DinoDoc]

Oh no, the President decided to articulate a defense of basic First Amendment rights, how undisciplined

For a politician? Yeah, it was incredibly stupid.

[Boris Godunov]

My thinking is that he's arrogant. He did the same thing with that Chicago cop and the professor. He went from nobody state senator to President in four years and thinks that when he opens his mouth and states his opinion, hearts and minds will follow.

Except that's not what happened. He was asked his opinion on the situation by a reporter at a press briefing. Yeah, he probably should have said no comment, but his voicing his opinion is hardly indicative of what you suggest here, that's just your little fantasy projection.

[Boris Godunov]

As far as I know, the mosque was going to be approved. Bloomberg was behind it. Why did Obama stick his foot in it when the locals were doing well enough on their own? It's undisciplined.

He wasn't getting involved, for ****'s sake. He [i]briefly[i/] mentioned the mosque controversy to pivot into a general statement about the rights of Muslims in Americans and religious freedom and tolerance in general, which was rather neatly part of the theme of his address to a Muslim group to mark the start of Ramadan. Oh, the horrors.

[Al B. Sure!]

Obama gets a from me on this one.

[giblets]

And the man's a Christian? Right.

This is back in March of 2008, btw.

Christians aren't permitted to say anything flattering about other religions?

[Hauldren Collider]

Except that's not what happened. He was asked his opinion on the situation by a reporter at a press briefing. Yeah, he probably should have said no comment, but his voicing his opinion is hardly indicative of what you suggest here, that's just your little fantasy projection.

He's smart enough on his feet to spin any question into a non-answer and he's apparently NOT smart enough to know when it's stupid to reveal an opinion.

[DanS]

He wasn't getting involved, for ****'s sake. He [i]briefly[i/] mentioned the mosque controversy to pivot into a general statement about the rights of Muslims in Americans and religious freedom and tolerance in general, which was rather neatly part of the theme of his address to a Muslim group to mark the start of Ramadan. Oh, the horrors.

You're being naive, Boris. The president saying something is getting involved. For one, he has an army of lawyers at his beck and call and it is easy for the federal government to intervene in any number of ways.

NB: His response didn't scandalize me in the least. The only objection that I would have is if the mosque were being funded by Saudis as a big FU to the US.

[flash9286]

He's smart enough on his feet to spin any question into a non-answer and he's apparently NOT smart enough to know when it's stupid to reveal an opinion.

Or he has a backbone and has other priorities than just the next election.

[Al B. Sure!]

God forbid a politician says real **** and is honest without worrying about the political implications of his statements...

[DinoDoc]

Except that he didn't do that if you see his statements the very next day.

[Al B. Sure!]

Yeah well I don't know what his statements were and I actually know nothing of this topic except what was said in this thread. **** politics.

[Guynemer]

This all whatever the religious equivalent of racism is... It makes me wonder if, because it's not cool to say you're against him for being Black, that people switch up to something else 'strange and different' like him being a Muslim.

That is absolutely a part of this, as seen in this article describing a protest a couple months ago: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/kelly/95748769_On_this_ground__zero_tolerance.html?page= all

"A Mosque at Ground Zero Spits on the Graves of 9/11," one placard proclaimed. Another sign depicted a toilet, with this message: "This is a Mosque. Do You Want it Built at Ground Zero?"

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

"Go home," several shouted from the crowd.

"Get out," others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called "The Way." Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

"I'm a Christian," Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.

But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

"I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here," a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

[Boris Godunov]

Except that he didn't do that if you see his statements the very next day.

How was what he said the next day in any way at odds with what he said the day before? He never specifically endorsed the building of the center, he only mentioned it to highlight an example of a case where Muslims were having to deal with a lot of negative perceptions from the American public.

[Hauldren Collider]

That is absolutely a part of this, as seen in this article describing a protest a couple months ago: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/kelly/95748769_On_this_ground__zero_tolerance.html?page= all

"racist ****heads"

Wow, that's awful

[Hauldren Collider]

Or he has a backbone and has other priorities than just the next election.

This is OBAMA we're talking about, his first and foremost goal has ALWAYS been politics. If you think this is just me calling him names cause I don't like him, just consider how many promises he made during the campaign. I think he broke some records.