Part of the reason the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero became a national controversy was that Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio needed a strong culture-war issue with which to outflank his far-right primary challenger, Carl Paladino. You might remember Paladino as the guy who sends around e-mails with stuff like "Miss France having sex with a man, a photo of dancing African tribesmen titled 'Obama Inauguration Rehearsal,' a photo of President Obama and the first lady doctored to simulate a 1970s pimp and prostitute," and an e-mail showing chimpanzees doing an Irish dance titled "proof the Irish discovered Africa." Recently, he suggested "convert[ing] empty and underutilized prisons into centers where those on welfare and unemployment insurance can receive job training, state-sponsored work, housing and lessons in 'personal hygiene.'" Because if you don't have a job in a recession, it's because you don't know how to brush your teeth or take a shower.
Anyway, how's going after Park51 going for Lazio? As Dave Weigel points out, he and Paladino are now in a statistical tie for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. While neither of them really has a good chance of beating Democrat Andrew Cuomo, it's interesting that Lazio's Islamophobia-fest failed to bring him any traction. As a result, the Republican nominee for governor in New York could be the kind of guy who thinks racist e-mails are so hilarious he sends them around to all of his friends.
