Chief Leader - August 24, 2010

That led to some counter-criticism of the union leader by an equally outspoken writer for the United Federation of Teachers newspaper, who emphasized that he was speaking as an individual rather than for his organization.

Mr. Cassidy said that those who labeled opponents of the mosque/cultural center being built just two blocks from Ground Zero "anti-Islamic" were engaging in "an all-too-common tactic used to stifle debate."

He took particular offense at Mr. Bloomberg's suggestion that the opposition ran counter to the spirit of firefighters who took part in the rescue efforts without asking, "Excuse me, what's your religion?" saying, "It is utterly inappropriate for the Mayor to invoke dead heroes in a pathetic attempt to bolster his argument. His comments are irrational— he's wrong and owes 343 families an apology."

Mr. Cassidy went on to question why Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was so intent on a location so close to the World Trade Center at a time when two-thirds of Americans oppose it being built there, stating, "It is incomprehensible that anyone seeking better relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, as Rauf claims, would push forward with a project that offends so many Americans and is certain to deliver the exact opposite result of his stated mission."

Michael Hirsch, a staff writer for the New York Teacher, responded on a blog for union journalists, "Fine, be offended. It's his right and it's theirs. There's no accounting for taste, or the lack of same. But when right-wing Muslims raged and threatened violence against a cartoonist lampooning Mohammed, did Cassidy join in to defend the offended? He didn't and neither would I. The point is, opponents have no justification for wanting to stop either construction of a cultural center or the publication of cartoons that may or may not be in bad taste."