Unbeknownst to O’Reilly, Rauf has already dedicated his mosque to “peace,” and has already condemned “what happened here on 9/11.” And so I can envision the whole scene right now: O’Reilly appears at the groundbreaking, makes a wry and self-referential speech about “Islamophobia” and Islamic moderation, and then the avuncular, genial Rauf takes the mic and thanks his good friend Bill, and talks about how we have turned a corner in this country against prejudice and intolerance. His support for Sharia will go unmentioned, of course.
I can see this coming still, but as Pamela Geller points out here, Rauf and O’Reilly will have to build a bridge or two first.
“Bill O’Reilly Will Help Build Ground Zero Mosque If Imam Rauf Condemns 9/11 and ‘The Jihad’ (VIDEO),” by Jeremy Taylor at TV Squad, October 19 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Bill O’Reilly had Deepak Chopra on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ (weekdays, 8PM ET) Tuesday, and during a discussion about O’Reilly’s role in the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, Chopra revealed that he knew Daisy Khan, wife of Ground Zero mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
O’Reilly had message for Chopra to deliver to Rauf through Khan:
“You tell him this. All Imam Rauf and his crew have to do is say ‘we’re going to dedicate this mosque — community center — to peace. And we are going to condemn what happened here on 9/11,”‘ O’Reilly stipulated. “(Then) I’ll get a hammer and help them down there.”
“I’m telling you, they’re prepared to do that,” Chopra responded.
As it stands, O’Reilly has tasked Chopra with bringing Imam Rauf onto ‘The Factor,’ where Rauf will presumably do his condemning, and then O’Reilly will presumably make plans to do his building….