Bonfire of the Insanities - By Ann Coulter
In response to Gen David Petraeus denunciation of Florida pastor Terry Jones right to engage in a symbolic protest of the 9/11 attacks by burning copies of the Quran this Sept. 11 President Obama said:
Let me be clear: As a citizen and as president I believe that members of the Dove World Outreach Center have the same right to freedom of speech and religion as anyone else in this country.
Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida lauded Obamas remarks saying America is a place where youre supposed to be able to practice your religion without the government telling you you cant. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called Obamas words a clarion defense of the freedom of religion -- and also claimed that he had recently run into a filthy jihadist who actually supported the Quran-burning! Keith Olbermann read the poem First they came ... on air in defense of the Quran-burners nearly bringing himself to tears at his own profundity. No wait my mistake. This is what liberals said about the ground zero mosque only five minutes ago when they were posing as First Amendment absolutists. Suddenly theyve developed amnesia when it comes to the free-speech right to burn a Quran. Weirdly conservatives who opposed building the mosque at ground zero are also against the Quran burning. (Except in my case. It turns out Im for it but mostly because burning Qurans will contribute to global warming.) Liberals couldnt care less about the First Amendment. To the contrary censoring speech and religion is the lefts specialty! (Any religion other than Islam.) They promote speech codes hate crimes free speech zones (known as America off college campuses) and go around the country yanking every reference to God from the public square via endless lawsuits by the ACLU. Whenever you see a liberal choking up over our precious constitutional rights you can be sure were talking about the rights of Muslims at ground zero God Hates Fags funeral protesters strippers The New York Times publishing classified documents pornographers child molesters murderers traitors saboteurs
terrorists flag-burners (but not Quran-burners!) or women living on National Endowment of the Arts grants by stuffing yams into their orifices on stage.
Speaking of lying dwarfs last week on The Daily Show Bloomberg claimed he was having a hamburger with his girlfriend when a man came up to him and said of the ground zero mosque: I just got back from two tours fighting overseas for America. This is what we were all fighting for. You go and keep at it.
Were fighting for the right of Muslims to build mosques at ground zero? I thought we were trying to keep Muslims AWAY from our skyscrapers. (What an embarrassing misunderstanding.) PLEASE PULL THE TROOPS OUT IMMEDIATELY.
But back to the main issue: Was Bloomberg having a $150 Burger Double Truffle at DB Bistro Moderne or a more sensible $30 burger at the 21 Club when he bumped into his imaginary veteran? With the pint-sized mayor shrieking at the sight of a saltshaker I assume he wasnt having a Hardees No. 4 Combo Meal.
Adding an element of realism to his little vignette Bloomberg said: I got a hamburger and a pickle and a potato chip or something.
A potato chip? Translation: I dont know what I was eating because Im making this whole story up -- I wouldnt be caught dead eating a potato chip or any other picaresque garnish favored by the peasants. At least Bloomberg didnt claim the man who walked up to him took credit for setting the Times Square bomb because he was a tea partier upset about ObamaCare -- as Sherlock Bloomberg had so presciently speculated at the time.
Gen. Petraeus objected to the Quran-burning protest on the grounds that it could be used by radical jihadists to recruit Muslims to attack Americans.
This is what liberals say whenever we do anything displeasing to the enemy -- invade Iraq hold captured terrorists in Guantanamo interrogate captured jihadists or publish Muhammad cartoons. Is there a website somewhere listing everything that encourages terrorist recruiting?
If the generals main objective is to hamper jihadist recruiting may I respectfully suggest unconditional surrender? Because on his theory you know what would really kill the terrorists recruiting ability? If we adopted Sharia law!
But wait -- werent we assured by Fire Islands head of national security Andrew Sullivan that if America elected a brown-skinned man whose father was an African who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy the terrorists would look like a bunch of lunkheads and be unable to recruit?
It didnt work out that way. There have been more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by these allegedly calmed Muslims in Obamas first 18 months in office than in the six years under Bush after he invaded Iraq.
Also as I recall there was no Guantanamo no Afghanistan war and no Iraq war on Sept. 10 2001. And yet somehow Osama bin Ladin had no trouble recruiting back then. Can we retire the it will help them recruit argument yet?
The reason not to burn Qurans is that its unkind -- not to jihadists but to Muslims 
who mean us no harm. The same goes for building a mosque at ground zero -- in both cases its not a question of anyones rights its just a nasty thing to do.
Ann Coulter is a columnist and author of Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault On America.
