The harsh Republican response to President Barack Obama's defense of a mosque near Ground Zero marks a dramatic shift in the party's posture toward Islam — from a once-active courtship of Muslim voters to very public tolerance after 9/11 to an openly aired sense of mistrust.
Republican leaders have largely abandoned former President George W. Bush's post-9/11 rhetorical embrace of American Muslims and his insistence — always controversial inside the party — that Islam is a religion of peace. This weekend, former Bush aides were among the very few Republicans siding with Obama, as many of the party's leaders have moved toward more vocal denunciations of Islam's role in violence abroad, and suspicion of its place at home.
The shift plays to a hostility toward Islam among many Republican voters, and it fits with traditional Republican attacks on Democratic weakness on security policy.
"Bush went against the grain of his own constituency," said Allen Roth, a political aide to conservative billionaire Ron Lauder and, independently, a key organizer of the fight against the mosque. "This is part of an underlying set of security issues that could play a significant role in the elections this November."
Obama's remarks provide a clear, national focus for the simmering question of Islam in American life, and Republicans showed every sign Saturday of beginning to capitalize on it, with Republican candidates in New York and Florida seeking to inject the issue into local races as Democrats largely held their silence.
That stance in the GOP — both in terms of political strategy and policy views — appears to be carrying the day. Most of the possible Republican presidential hopefuls, led by Sarah Palin, came out sharply against the mosque.
This position violates basic American values inshrined in our constitution. Where is the patriotism of these Republicans? Patriotism is not merely waving a flag. It is embracing our constitutional values.
John H. Armwood
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