Ted Olson's "Courage And Clarity".
Courage and clarity
Nine years ago next month, Ted Olson lost his wife, Barbara, when terrorists flew a jet into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. She was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, bound for Los Angeles to tape a segment of the TV show “Politically Incorrect.”
The Olsons had been marquee names in legal, political and media circles: he as the victor in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision that decided the 2000 presidential election, she as a sharply conservative pundit seen and heard on cable news programs.
The tragedy of 9/11 silenced Barbara Olson but not her widower, who has distinguished himself lately with what could be construed as his own segments of being politically incorrect. Certainly, Mr. Olson's recent stands on gay marriage and the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero do not align with what has become, depressingly, the anti-everything Republican orthodoxy.
Instead, Mr. Olson teamed with his Bush v. Gore nemesis David Boies in a legal challenge to California's voter-approved ban on gay marriage, publicly advocating equality. And this week, Mr. Olson spoke out on the plans for a mosque to be built two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City.
In backing President Obama's statement of support for the right of Muslims to build a mosque on the city-approved site, the former solicitor general for the Bush administration spoke these words on television on Wednesday:
“I do believe that people of all religions have a right to build edifices, or structures, or places of religious worship or study, where the community allows them to do it under zoning laws … and that we don't want to turn an act of hate against us by extremists into an act of intolerance for people of religious faith. And I don't think it should be a political issue. It shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic issue, either.”
When opponents of the construction talk about 9/11 families, now they must acknowledge the remarkable Mr. Olson, too.
Nine years ago next month, Ted Olson lost his wife, Barbara, when terrorists flew a jet into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. She was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, bound for Los Angeles to tape a segment of the TV show “Politically Incorrect.”
The Olsons had been marquee names in legal, political and media circles: he as the victor in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision that decided the 2000 presidential election, she as a sharply conservative pundit seen and heard on cable news programs.
The tragedy of 9/11 silenced Barbara Olson but not her widower, who has distinguished himself lately with what could be construed as his own segments of being politically incorrect. Certainly, Mr. Olson's recent stands on gay marriage and the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero do not align with what has become, depressingly, the anti-everything Republican orthodoxy.
Instead, Mr. Olson teamed with his Bush v. Gore nemesis David Boies in a legal challenge to California's voter-approved ban on gay marriage, publicly advocating equality. And this week, Mr. Olson spoke out on the plans for a mosque to be built two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City.
In backing President Obama's statement of support for the right of Muslims to build a mosque on the city-approved site, the former solicitor general for the Bush administration spoke these words on television on Wednesday:
“I do believe that people of all religions have a right to build edifices, or structures, or places of religious worship or study, where the community allows them to do it under zoning laws … and that we don't want to turn an act of hate against us by extremists into an act of intolerance for people of religious faith. And I don't think it should be a political issue. It shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic issue, either.”
When opponents of the construction talk about 9/11 families, now they must acknowledge the remarkable Mr. Olson, too.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 9:09 AM
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