The Conservative Media and Park51

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MediaMatters has a piece on Laura Ingraham’s evolution of thought on the Park51 project which highlights the ways of the conservative media.

Ingraham, December 2009 in an interview with Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

INGRAHAM: Let’s talk about the Islamic center at Ground Zero. Questions — I can’t find many people who really have a problem with it. Bloomberg for it. You got rabbis in New York saying they don’t have a problem with it. Why near Ground Zero? Why did you choose that space?

KHAN: Well, I think the closeness of the center to Ground Zero, first and foremost, is a blow to the extremists. And you know, we Muslims are really fed up, Laura, of having to be defined by the actions of the extremists. You know, we are law-abiding citizens. We are faithful people. We are very good Americans. And we need to project a different message of Islam, one of tolerance, love, and the kinds of commonalities we have with different faith communities. And the center will be dedicated to promoting what it means to be Muslim and what it also means to be American, and that is the real message that needs to get out.

INGRAHAM: When you see surveys — and I know your group takes a moderate approach to Americanizing people, assimilating people, which I applaud. I think that’s fantastic.

[...] But I like what you’re trying to do, and Ms. Khan, we appreciate it..

Ingraham, August 2010.

“I say the terrorists have won with the way this has gone down. Six hundred feet from where thousands of our fellow Americans were incinerated in the name of political Islam, and we’re supposed to be — we’re supposed to be considered intolerant if we’re not cheering this?”

In a mere eight months, Ingraham went from “we appreciate” what American Muslims are doing in building the Park51 Islamic center to “the terrorists have won.”  Here is how she justifies her turnaround.

…Ingraham then stated that in the time since her interview, “a lot of questions emerged.” Ingraham’s “legitimate questions” included the claim that Rauf was “blaming America for 9-11, blaming America for bin Laden,” and that one “of these Imams at an Islamic center he’s associated with in Manhattan” stated “that the Jews were behind 9-11.”

Check out the MediaMatter article to understand why Ingraham’s “questions” are little more than smear.  The bigger point here is the way in which conservative media types have shown themselves to be a highly disciplined lot.  They have a knack for staying on point and switching views to suit the storyline they wish to project.  And for the most part, they speak in a monolithic voice generating enough noise to sway public opinion.  You saw it during the health care debate and you see it today when polls indicate that a majority of conservatives are not sure whether their President is a Christian or, astoundingly, whether he was even born in the United States.

In truth nothing happened in the intervening eight months to cause one to have to change their views on the New York mosque.  What was true in December of 2009 is equally true in August of 2010.  Nothing changed except this: conservative’s had found another cause célèbre they could use for political gain.  And as all good foot soldiers know, truth and honor have no place on the field of political battle.  Just ask Laura Ingraham.

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