nfl, however, there has been no confirmation from favre himself. now back to hardball. welcome back to hardball, a plan to build an islamic center near ground zero got permission to move forward today, but the proposal has drawn fierce opposition from families of 9/11 victims and high-profile conservatives from sarah palin to newt gingrich. so is this center an insult to 9/11 victims and their families, or would it actually counter islamic extremism? dan senor is opposed to the location and is a senior fellow at the council of foreign relations and scott stringer is the manhattan borough president. let s start with one position and then we ll go to the most ferocious position. i think we ll agree on that. mr. president, mr. stringer, why
i want to know why you re doing this now because it s a fait accompli? i will tell you, chris, because i think there s an opportunity for national political figures and city and state political figures, mayor bloomberg, attorney general cuomo, mr. stringer, to step forward and approach the imam and say, look, we understand your objectives. we understand what you are trying to do. your objectives are good. your motives are good. we just think you are going to undermine them. you are provoking something that s going to wind up being more divisive, and this is going to be a step backwards for new york, not a step forward. dan this is classic. i want to say to you this not about having a polite conversation with the imam. this is not about this political game that in fact is being played around the country. you live in lower manhattan. i represent lower manhattan and i can tell you that the people who stayed, didn t flee after the terrorist attacks, wanted to rebuild a communit
ferocious position. i think we ll agree on that. mr. president, mr. stringer, why would you want to allow what looks to be a provocative move by a religious group to put an islamic center on the grounds where an islamic zealot group killed 3,000 americans? first of all, this issue has gotten blown out, way out of proportion. it s really amazing that sarah palin and the extreme right wing had a seized this issue when in reality this religious institution has operated in and around ground zero for close to 30 years, and the reality is that we are simply talking about a plan to create a peaceful expansion of a building that they own. what are we supposed to do, seize the property and throw them out? then the terrorists win. we re better than that. this is new york city where we expect people to live among different people of backgrounds and have a sense of tolerance, and i can t believe that this issue has gotten to this point
then we re go to the more ferocious position. i think we could agree on that. mr. stringer, why would you want to allow what appears to be a provocative move by a this group where 3,000 americans were killed? first of all, this issue has gotten blown way out of proportion. it s amazing sarah palin and the extreme right wing have seized this issue. in reality this institution is operated in and around ground zero for close to 30 years. the reality is we are simply talking about a plan to create a peaceful expansion of a building that they own. what are we supposed to do? seize the property and throw them out? then the terrorists win. we re better than this. this is new york city where we expect feel to live among people of different background and have
in debates why are you doing this if it s a fait accompli? can i make a point. i want to know why you re doing this now because it s a fait accompli? i will tell you, chris, because i think there s an opportunity for national political figures and city and state political figures, mayor bloomberg, attorney general cuomo, mr. stringer, to step forward and approach the imam and say, look, we understand your objectives. we understand what you are trying to do. your objectives are good. your motives are good. we just think you are going to undermine them. you are provoking something that s going to wind up being more divisive, and this is going to be a step backwards for new york, not a step forward. dan this is classic. i want to say to you this not about having a polite conversation with the imam. this is not about this political game that in fact is being played around the country. you live in lower manhattan. i remember lower manhattan, and i can tell you that the peo