The hedging - they have the right, but they're wrong - is sounding awfully familiar. The thing is, that's almost the "Nazis have the right to march in Skokie" argument. But, whereas in the Skokie case, we get the meaning, in this case, it does sound an awful lot like splitting hairs and trying to have it both ways.
Republican congressional candidate Richard Hanna reversed himself Monday on the planned Lower Manhattan mosque, saying he opposed the project one week after he’d said he supported it.
Hanna’s new position came hours after U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, said he doesn’t believe the mosque should be built two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
“As I said in previous statements, they have a constitutional right to build this, but with rights come responsibilities,” Hanna said in a statement issued Monday afternoon by his campaign. “This is the wrong location. Building a mosque near Ground Zero is insensitive, an affront to the victims of 9/11, and it lacks respect for the general public’s feelings.”
