Palin's "Refudiate" Tweet on Mosque Near Ground Zero Draws Fire (for Substance and Style)

Rick Lazio, Republican candidate for governor of New York, speaks to reporters about his opposition to a proposal to build a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center during a Landmarks Commission hearing, Tuesday, July 13, 2010 in New York.

/ Mary Altaffer

Updated July 20, 7:50 p.m. ET

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin weighed in on Sunday on the controversy over a mosque planned near ground zero, but her remarks were met with a wave of criticism over her sentiment and her choice of words.

"Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate," Palin said via Twitter.

She subsequently deleted her "tweet" and published a new message, which did not include the made-up word "refudiate": "Peaceful New Yorkers, pls refute the Ground Zero mosque plan if you believe catastrophic pain caused @ Twin Towers site is too raw, too real."

Other commentators, however, were already pouncing on her messages.

"If republicans can demand that immigrants speak English, can't we demand same of Sarah Palin?" liberal blogger John Aravosis tweeted.

Libertarian blogger Jon Henke attacked Palin's sentiment rather than her words: "We want peaceful Muslims to distinguish themselves from radical Muslims, but we can't distinguish between a peaceful Mosque & terrorists?"

At the center of the controversy is the proposed 13-story project a few blocks away from Ground Zero that will house a mosque, a gym and a community center for several groups, including the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, which promotes cross-cultural understanding between Islam and the West.

Daisy Kahn, a spokeswoman for the group reportedly said in a written statement, "We agree with Ms. Palin that it is time to heal from the wounds of the tragic events of 9/11. We peace- loving Muslims have a responsibility to lead the effort of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. We envision a community center for multi-faith collaboration that is focused on promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion."

The project has divided New York politicians. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo support the project, while Republican Rep. Peter King and former Rep. Rick Lazio, a Republican running for governor, want an investigation into the project's financing.

Meanwhile, bloggers continued to skewer Palin for her language choice after her second tweet. Blogger Charles Johnson notes that Palin uses the word "refute" incorrectly in her second tweet, while he points out that she used the word "refudiate" last week during an appearance on Fox News.

Palin continued tweeting new messages on the subject, given all the attention her messages were receiving.

"Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing," she tweeted.

Palin followed up with a message making light of the jokes coming at her expense: "'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!"

Other Twitter users apparently took Palin's message to heart, combining the language of Shakespeare and Palin's rhetoric to create unique messages under the hash tag #ShakesPalin.

"We few, we happy few, we band of Mama Grizzlies." tweeted Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified blogger Jon Henke.

[lifer66]

This WILL be an issue in the upcoming November election because our president either; (1) spoke as the president and made it a reality, (2) doesn't really understand the gut level feelings of people in this country about 9/11 or, (3) is an egotist acting foolishly in #1 and doesn't really care about #2, because he is intentionally trying to antagonize and separate rather than heal and lead. I don't think anyone really has a handle on where this is going but it WILL DEFINITELY be a major issue. Watch and see.

[Rodeo_Joe]

Republican efforts to profit from xenophobia is playing well politically.

The Mosque, the 14th Amendment, etc.

"Real Americans" like Mayor Bloomberg may not be pretty, but they are "Real".

[crystalsmitherton]

I don't agree that the terrorists will be laughing at America once this mosque is built. I believe that will happen when the Muslim terrorist comedy club is built. Let's gather our resources to stop it from happening. To help, go to http://newspile.weebly.com/

[bellaB3]

but do the terrorsts have ANY sense of humour?

[formrusmcsgt]

What does this say about dubyette?

It says that she's ignorant of the language she was allegedly trained to utilize as her "currency" as a journalist.

It also shows a tendency to shoot off her mouth when she doesn't have a clue what she's talking about.

Neither are desireable traits in a leader, regardless of how nice the package looks.

There's nothing under the hood here.

[Leaderless]

I would pay to see formrusmcsgt expressed how he feels about Sarah in front of Todd Palin.

[L33Tmonger]

As other liberals on this site, you're an idiot. Movie stars and musicians post typos in the juvenile tweets all day long and no one cares. Palin misspells "repudiate" as "refudiate" and you morons have a field day. I guess you need some kind of excitement in your lives, but even this is pretty low.

[formrusmcsgt]

What does this say about dubyette?

It says that she's ignorant of the language she was allegedly trained to utilize as her "currency" as a journalist.

It also shows a tendency to shoot off her mouth when she doesn't have a clue what she's talking about.

Neither are desireable traits in a leader, regardless of how nice the package looks.

There's nothing under the hood here.

[SOF1946]

Sarah Palin, the Queen Bee of the Tea Party Express, is just another reactionary, right-wing "Puffoon".

[knowerseeker]

...and that is one of the reasons I use Firefox for my web browsing. With the proper add-on installed, Firefox is capable of automatically spell-checking 99% of what you type on the web BEFORE you post it. It doesn't help with grammar though....

[P0ST1ING_AWAY]

by jimatmadison July 20, 2010 8:26 PM EDT
..............................................
The lamest thing about the 'Lame Stream Media' is that it pays attention to this tweeting twit.
=================================================================
Ouch !!! You hit THAT nail on the head ....

[skepticalJM]

Religious expression is guaranteed under the constitution. As long as religion doesn't play politics. any form of religion is all right. We separate church and state here for good reason: being bigoted in your thoughts about God does no one harm; that is, if it does not find its way into loss of social freedom or harming other citizens through its actions. Both liberals and conservatives should remember this.
On the other hand, introducing another ideology so that it will destroy our homogeneity as a society is quite another thing. In many ways today Christianity is just as bad as Islam in trying to do just that. Christians must remember Christ's words: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God those that are God's."
God's create unity, not division through love.
Governments build and nurture societies through laws.
Lets keep it that way.

[bearkat30]

I guess repudiate wasn't one of the words she wrote on the palm of her hand...