Just in case anyone thought that the Taliban or al-Qaida doesn’t really care about the mosque issue, a Newsweek article gives us this quote:

“By preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor,” Taliban operative Zabihullah tells NEWSWEEK. (Like many Afghans, he uses a single name.) “It’s providing us with more recruits, donations, and popular support.”

“We received many e-mails asking for advice on how Muslims should react to the hijab ban, and how they can punish France.”) This time the target is America itself. “We are getting even more messages of support and solidarity on the mosque issue and questions about how to fight back against this outrage.”

Zabihullah also claims that the issue is such a propaganda windfall—so tailor-made to show how “anti-Islamic” America is—that it now heads the list of talking points in Taliban meetings with fighters, villagers, and potential recruits. “We talk about how America tortures with waterboarding, about the cruel confinement of Muslims in wire cages in Guantánamo, about the killing of innocent women and children in air attacks—and now America gives us another gift with its street protests to prevent a mosque from being built in New York,” Zabihullah says. “Showing reality always makes the best propaganda.”

I’m sure the Taliban will be ecstatic to hear that we’re also burning mosques now.

Oh, and we’ve all heard about how the polls for the number of Americans who believe Obama is a Muslim are rising. Huffington Post did something like I did earlier and compares this number to other crazy beliefs accepted by some 1 in 5 Americans.

Most people would put two and two together and assume this rise reflects the growing anti-Islamic fervor surrounding the very successful fake mosque controversy. Kevin Drum at Mother Jones shows that the increase is almost completely with Republicans who are more highly educated (and therefore watch more Conservative-based news).

But Glenn Beck says it’s Obama’s fault. He says he doesn’t think that people believe that because, as the Left thinks, “Americans are just stupid, ignorant, or racist.” No, they aren’t stupid, just “confused.” Thanks Beck, that’s so much nicer.

So why they are they “confused”? It’s because Obama didn’t bring the kind of change they thought. He’s a Christian but it just isn’t the Christianity anyone recognizes. Obama supposedly bashed America’s arrogance towards Europe during his “apology tour” and so I guess apologizing is inherently Muslim or something. Oh, and Obama said he “submitted to God’s will,” and submission is Islam.

In that case, Beck will be shocked to find out that he and all Mormons are in fact Muslim since, as the Book of Mormon says, people must be “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict” (Mosiah 3:19).

Here’s the proof Beck gives: The people who took the poll say they got the information regarding Obama’s religion from: 16% television, 7% internet, 6% newspapers, 3% magazines, and 11% from his behavior.

That’s it. One in ten people claim to base their opinions on Obama’s words and deeds, and to Beck that’s proof it’s Obama’s fault.

But wait, add those up and it’s only 43%! Well, Beck forgot to mention that “Media or News” was 36%, and all together, the media constitutes 60%.

So let’s break this down: 60% of people who think he’s a Muslim because of what they got from the media and 11% claim they got the idea from something Obama actually himself said or did, and this proves it’s Obama’s fault. After all, it’s only a 6-to-1 ratio! (or 3-to-1 if you accepted Beck at his word.) I guess Americans are stupid only when they accept false beliefs based on propaganda over actual words and deeds to a 15-to-1 ratio.