Bloomberg wraps himself in freedom he says is 'shameful' for others to seek-911 family member, Politico

8/27, "'Disgrace' Bloomberg 'misrepresents' families," Politico, by Ben Smith

"New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg attacked critics of the Park51 Islamic Center near ground zero during his appearance yesterday on the Daily Show, and in doing so, he invoked the support of family members of 9/11 victims -- a move that drew sharp criticism today from one prominent figure.

"The family members that I’ve talked to -- and I’m chairman of the board of The World Trade Center Memorial -- 100% in favor of saying these people who want to build a mosque, can build a mosque, that the lives of our loved ones were taken because the right to build a mosque or to say what you want to say was so threatening to people," he told Jon Stewart.

"There's no formal mechanism for polling family members of the 9/11 victims, but his comment has rankled some, including one of the project's outspoken critics, Debra Burlingame, who is also one of the eight family members on the board of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum -- though not one of the ones Bloomberg has spoken to recently.

Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot of a downed jet, emailed over her outrage at the mayor's remarks, and also suggested that his power could have muted the views of the family members to whom he'd spoken. Burlingame also chairs the conservative group Keep America Safe with Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol. She emailed:

• "It's bad enough that Mr. Bloomberg covers himself in the memory of the heroes who died on 9/11 in order to silence legitimate criticism of the mosque project, it is even more shameless of him to do it while misrepresenting the position of their loved ones. Mr. Bloomberg cited that his chairmanship of the memorial board made him privvy to what family members think.
  
• 
  
• Mr. Bloomberg knows full well that family members on the memorial board have grave concerns about this project, and that some of us have publically opposed it. If he really cared what we think, he would have come to us and asked. We're still waiting for the call.

Mr. Bloomberg has now crossed the line from merely supporting the mosque to participating in a public campaign aimed at silencing its critics.

• He has improperly invoked private conversations of 9/11 family board members who, unfortunately,
  

• are all too aware of his power,
  

both as chair of the foundation which will memorialize their loved ones and as mayor of a city where that memorial will be built.

• He is recklessly wreaking havoc among families, running from media event to radio interview to photo op to Comedy Central gagfest,
  

• shamelessly hawking this narrative
  

that we, those whose family members were

the true victims of religious intolerance, must

• also carry the burden of proving we're not intolerant. He's a disgrace.

Re other politicians: He has the audacity to go out and stump for the mosque all over the media, while at the same time calling other political leaders--who reflect the position of 70% of the public-

• -"shameless" or suggesting they don't really care--like him.
  

We have said over and over that this isn't a challenge to freedom of religion.

We are appealing to the mosque developers as a matter of decency.

Bloomberg sticks his fingers in his ears; he will have none of it. Instead, he is causing grave injury to 9 /11 family members, while

• painting this insensitive, arrogant imam as a victim.
  

Mr. Bloomberg is casting himself as a principled champion of the first amendment even as he is telling the rest of us to shut up.

The mayor is pulling out all the stops to bully New Yorkers

• into falling in line with his politically correct nonsense at the last place in America where there should be any pretense about what happened on 9/11.

Our message to the mayor: we aren't going away, not now, not ever."

"Burlingame isn't the only member of the 9/11 Memorial board openly opposed to the Park51 project.

• Dave Beamer, whose son Todd was one of the passengers who fought terrorists on United Flight 93,
  

attacked the project, President Obama, and Islam more broadly, in a speech posted yesterday on YouTube."

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