That phrasing itself reveals the scope of the problem.

To put it bluntly, those who are “protesting the building of a mosque near Ground Zero” are by definition either liars or idiots, and the evidence points toward the former.

The project planned (and privately funded, to be built on private property) four blocks from Ground Zero is not a mosque. It’s an Islamic cultural center.

A YMCA or Christian Science Reading Room is not a Cathedral. A Jewish cultural center is not a synagogue. An Islamic cultural center is not a mosque.

I say that the opponents of the cultural center are more likely liars than idiots because they inveigh at length, and not totally inaccurately, about the historical penchant of Muslim conquerors for building mosques on the sites of their victories.

That they know this much about Muslims and mosques, yet don’t know that “mosque” has a definition and that the proposed project doesn’t fit that definition, just isn’t very credible.

Therefore the reasonable conclusion is that they’re lying because they know that their case is more emotionally compelling if it includes a mosque and the attendant aforementioned historical arguments.

The issue doesn’t hinge on whether or not it’s a mosque, of course. If it’s built on private property with private funds, it’s not Pamela Geller’s business, period.

The fact that the opponents of the project are lying their asses off about is just the icing on the “these people are evil” cake.