Excerpt:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a very tolerant fellow. Don't believe me? Just ask him:
[L]et me declare that we in New York are Jews and Christians and Muslims, and we always have been. And above all of that, we are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose. There is nowhere in the five boroughs that is off limits to any religion.
Well, that's a relief. Good thing we got that squared away before those wild-eyed bigots and Muslim-haters who are opposing the construction of an Islamic community center and mosque within spitting distance of Ground Zero got it in their heads to try and prevent the free exercise of anyone's religion. After all, isn't that what this whole foofaraw is all about? Tolerant, courageous, benign lefties manning the battlements against the ignorant, savage, peons who, in their hate for non-Christians, are seeking to deny peaceful, moderate Muslims their constitutional rights?
To raise such a ridiculous strawman as the idea that opponents of the Park 51 project are seeking to suppress Islam gives Bloomberg and other lefties the opportunity to indulge in their favorite fantasy; the illusion created in their mind's eye that their tolerance makes them heroic figures to the rest of us mere mortals. It isn't enough that they believe what they stand for is right. There must also be the ancillary benefit of others admiring them for it.