Pelosi threatens speech rights … and gets what she wants?

by Adam Turner  •  Sep 10, 2010 at 9:08 am

https://www.legal-project.org/blog/2010/09/pelosi-threatens-speech-rights-and-gets-what-she

On August 18, 2010 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi waded into the increasingly divisive Ground Zero Mosque & Community Center (GZMCC) debate by stating "There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded. How is this being ginned up…" Perhaps after being told by her staff of the plain meaning of the First Amendment, the next day Pelosi "clarified" her prior statement, saying that she did not actually favor a blatantly unconstitutional "congressional inquiry" but instead merely supported "the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that 'We agree with the (Anti-Defamation League) that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.'"

On September 5, 2010, Speaker Pelosi's thinly veiled threat bore its first real fruit. Politico, a Capitol Hill newspaper, produced an article on the GZMCC's "money trail." Either blinded by ideology or political correctness, this article took the "evenhanded" approach, by detailing and equating the largely foreign funding of the GZMCC supporters – including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – to the overwhelmingly American funding of the coalition that opposes the construction of the GZMCC. It also copiously quoted Ibrahim Cooper of CAIR, whose organization has been reported to be a terrorist supporting front organization, founded by Hamas supporters, which aims to make radical Islam the dominant religion in the United States. The reporters of this piece didn't bother to confront Hooper regarding CAIR's troubling background, by the way, but they did report that it had received foreign donations.

But most importantly, from our organization's point of view, was that Speaker Pelosi got her wish – Politico investigated "who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center… (and) … who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center." And she didn't even have to hold those Congressional investigations/hearings. Perhaps the writers and the editors of Politico will think twice next time about helping a public official abuse the clear meaning of the First Amendment's free speech protection clause.

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