August 20, 2010 11:11 AM

Howard Dean on Mosque Comments: "I am Not Going to Back Off"

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
In The News ,
Democrats

Howard Dean

(Credit: AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

Former Democratic Presidential Candidate and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean is defending his comments on the so-called "ground zero mosque," which he has called "a real affront to people who lost their lives."

Writing on Salon.com, Dean states he is "not going to back off" his earlier comments - but then stops short of explicitly calling for the project to be moved, as he had earlier suggested.

He calls for compromise in the column, writing that "I personally believe that there are other possible solutions that could result from [a dialogue] and that a genuine exploration of those possibilities is something we ought to try."

"This center may be intended as a bridge or a healing gesture but it will not be perceived that way unless a dialogue with a real attempt to understand each other happens," he writes. "That means the builders have to be willing to go beyond what is their right and be willing to talk about feelings whether the feelings are 'justified' or not."

Dean argues that most of the people opposed to the "ground zero mosque" - actually a planned Islamic community center that would include a mosque two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center -- "are not right-wing hate mongers." He says that while the developers have a right to build what and where they want, they should consider that many Americans "have very strong emotional resistance to building on this site."

"This is about ending the poisonous atmosphere engendered by fear and hate, and in order to do that there has to be genuine listening, hearing and willingness to compromise on both sides," he writes.

Dean has been criticized by many on the left for his initial comments - including, implicitly at least, Democracy for America, which grew out of Dean's own 2004 presidential run.

"Well-intentioned leaders of the Democratic Party are getting caught up in the fray as well, some of them seeking to find common ground with an implacable opposition," the group wrote in an email to members, as Ben Smith reports. "It's not helping."

Dean said he was surprised by the negative reaction to his comments because much of it, he said, "had to do with defending the constitutional rights of the builders of the center."

"Of course I never attacked those rights; I explicitly supported them, as the president also did this week," he writes. "Nor did I side with the Islamophobic rhetoric of Newt, Palin et al. There are a great many people in this debate talking past each other, as is often the case these days."

MORE COVERAGE:

Trade Center Mosque Divides Sept. 11 Relatives
Fact Check: The "Ground Zero Mosque" Debate
Rudy Giuliani: Move Mosque away from Ground Zero
Does America Hate Islam?
Howard Dean: NYC Mosque a "Real Affront"
"Ground Zero Mosque" Developers: We Won't Move
Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque


Add a Comment See all 32 Comments
by lejmarshall September 4, 2010 2:32 PM EDT
Shame on you Howard Dean. Think again! Shame on you!
Reply to this comment
by duffyono August 26, 2010 1:59 PM EDT
Howard, how incredibly disappointing for those of us who supported you in 2004 to hear these comments regarding the establishment of an Islamic center. You're wrong, plain and simple. The vast majority of those who oppose this project are indeed right wing bigots looking for any reason at all to denounce Islam. Their objections would remain the same even if the construction happened to be located ten blocks away. Shame on you for giving aid and comfort to their religious intolerance.
Reply to this comment
by verycold August 23, 2010 10:28 PM EDT
Nearly 65 percent of US citizens are opposed to this mosque being built on that site. Daisy is on record saying the purposely picked this site because of the proximity to Ground Zero. She also said originally that it was meant to be a slap in the face of the extremists that have taken over the peaceful Muslim faith. I fail to see how this is a slap in the face, but perhaps because of the intention of the mosque if that is to be believed.

However after 9/11, this Feisal Abdul Rauf in an interview with Bradley said specifically that the US was complicit, responsible for the attack, because he felt of the US policy that has killed many people around the world. Bradley looked shocked by his accusation and asked for clarification. That voice was not one of a moderate. Nobody right after such an event would utter such cruel words meant to hurt.

It is easy for Daisy to say it is only a small group of Muslim haters, but that simply is not true. Dean is voicing the same concerns as many that oppose this mosque in that location.

If they really want harmony they need to come up with another site and wish everybody well and move on. As it is, they have dug in and refuse to think about moving this mosque. So where is the healing?
Reply to this comment
by gimmeAdangBreak August 23, 2010 3:33 PM EDT
Somebody convince the head Imam to build it elsewhere for his/the Mosque's own protection. Besides, the traffic is lousy in that area, and some hothead will only blow the place up or burn it down after it is built, and fester more hatred.
Reply to this comment
by missyfive August 23, 2010 12:31 PM EDT
Howard Dean is right. If Muslims want to build a bridge to peace, it would look at what they are doing and offer to move the mosque/community center elsewhere. But clearly the intent is not to show a peaceful profession of the religion but to show supremacy and achievement in the face of loss and tragedy.
Reply to this comment
by missyfive August 23, 2010 12:31 PM EDT
Howard Dean is right. If Muslims want to build a bridge to peace, it would look at what they are doing and offer to move the mosque/community center elsewhere. But clearly the intent is not to show a peaceful profession of the religion but to show supremacy and achievement in the face of loss and tragedy.
Reply to this comment
by slatep August 22, 2010 4:08 PM EDT
THIS IS HOW THEY DO IT, PEOPLE

IT STARTS OUT WITH REQUESTS FOR SMALL CONCESSIONS FROM THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, DENMARK, FRANCE AND THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

ONCE THESE SMALL CONCESSIONS ARE MADE, THEY BIDE THEIR TIME.

A LITTLE LATER, SOME SLIGHTLY LARGER CONCESSIONS ARE ASKED FOR AND RECEIVE

THEY BIDE THEIR TIME,

WHEN A EVEN LARGER CONCESSION IS REQUESTED AND PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES START TO PUSH BACK, WE ARE ACCUSED OF BEING RACIST OR PREJUCIDED.

THE TERRORISTS LEARNED EARLY ON THAT THE WORDS PREJUDICE AND RACISM WILL LIGHT A FIRE FASTER THAN ALMOST ANY OTHERS.

WE HAVE NOW PROGRESSED TO THE POINT WHERE WE ARE NOW WITH THIS LATEST CONTROVERSY OVER THE CORDOBA MOSQUE.

BRING OUT THOSE DREADED WORDS.

CONTROVERSY! CONTROVERSY! CONTROVERSY!

WE ARE NOW BEING QUESTIONED, BY OUR OWN MEDIA, WETHER OR NOT WE ARE TRULY AS SENSITIVE AND TOLERANT AS WE THINK WE ARE ?

NOW; MUCH WRANGLING BACK AND FORTH!

This is just a little cautionary statement, Folks.

They start out small and one morning you wake up and THEY are in control.!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by ge556 August 23, 2010 9:47 AM EDT
Talk about fear-mongering. Sheesh.
by martin9p2 August 21, 2010 3:29 PM EDT
The mosque is supposed to be "conciliatory"? I don't hear any conciliatory words from the Muslim community at this time (when they should be at their "most conciliatory"), so let's just nip this conciliatory mosque in the bud.
Reply to this comment
by larrylinn1 August 21, 2010 3:19 PM EDT
What did our Founding Fathers have to say about religon and the Government?
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." - Thomas Jefferson
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of... Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."- Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason, 1794-1795.)
"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together." James Madison
?Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.? Benjamin Franklin
Reply to this comment
by jgg000101 August 20, 2010 11:08 PM EDT
so obama and nancy pelosi agree with HAMAS, and dean and reid agree with palin. whoda thunkit.
Reply to this comment
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