A reader sent me this mailer from Bob Friedrich, who's challenging incumbent Queens state Assemblyman David Weprin in Tuesday's Democratic primary, commenting with some shock on its use of Sept. 11 imagery in calling Weprin out for his support of the right of the Park51 project to go forward.
The reader said the literature, which argues that to be against the placement of Park51 so close to Ground Zero is not intolerant, but commonsensical, hit the 24th AD on "the eve of 9/11."
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio has been pounding away on the subject of Park51, calling on Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo to investigate the project's funding sources in his capacity as state attorney general -- and getting called out for his use of 9/11 imagery in the process.
However, in primaries, candidates often struggle to differentiate themselves from their rivals, and at a time when polls (for what they are worth) show most New Yorkers oppose the idea of the Park51 mosque and Islamic cultural center being built near the site of the terrorist attacks, Friedrich may be making a politically reasonable play for votes -- even if some voters are turned off or even offended by the images used and their timing as well.
