Althouse: "I'm not a Bigot, Just Lazy!"

Ann Althouse is pretty pissed about the LPC's unanimous decision to clear the way for the construction of Park51. And she's "trouble[d]" that The New York Times makes it seem that people like her

just hate (or dislike) Muslims and, for that reason, would deny them the same freedom other religious persons enjoy.

Well, maybe Althouse should grateful! If she's not a bigot, she's either lazy or stupid. Consider her words:

But what should not be lost, in understanding that, is that the owner's freedom means that the owner has a choice. The owner is certainly not required to build a Muslim center and mosque on that site. Because it is a choice, it's not wrong for the community to ask: Why are you making this choice? Why are you doing something that feels so painful to us? The community isn't wrong to plead with the owner to choose to do something else with that property. It's not enough of an answer to say we are doing it because we have a right to do it.

Except, of course, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Park51 have been perfectly clear about why. A little paper Althouse has probably never heard of, The New York Times, noted last December that

A presence so close to the World Trade Center, “where a piece of the wreckage fell,” said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric leading the project, “sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11.”

“We want to push back against the extremists,” added Imam Feisal, 61.

Also, Park51 has a mission statement, but I can see how Althouse missed this because it's written in size 24 font. (Remember when Althouse blamed Democrats because she didn't have time to read the hcr bill? This time, she'll probably blame the Times for running an article on Sam Kinison's birthday.)