I am beginning to believe that Daisy Khan and Feisal Abdul Rauf really are moderates. This would explain a lot.

Why has "moderate" Islam failed so miserably in the face of the ever growing popularity of extremism throughout the Muslim world?

Maybe it's because so-called moderate Muslims are as breathtakingly inept, cravenly dishonest, ethically compromised, and intellectually bankrupt as so-called "progressive" Christians.

For now I only have time to address the issue of ineptitude. Seriously. If I were a "moderate" Muslim, I would not secretly plan for years to build a Mosque at Ground Zero, refuse to denounce extremist groups such as Hamas, raise $100M in foreign money mostly from parts of the world where Jihadism is increasingly popular and powerful, name my organization after a city that symbolizes Islamic theocratic expansionism, and launch an international organization of Muslim clerics with the word "Shariah" in its title.

I used to think that there was no evidence that the Cordoba Initiative is sincere in their claims to be "moderates" who are genuinely committed to opposing terrorism and aggression in the name of Islam. But now I am beginning to think that they are in fact shining examples of the best that "moderate" Islam can do.

If we consider the track record of Islamic "moderates", then perhaps the combination of incompetence, arrogance, and base stupidity displayed by the Cordoba Initiative is all the proof we need that these folks are genuine "moderates". Anyone who thought that the response to the Ground Zero Mosque would be any different from the firestorm of anti-Islam sentiment that has been unleashed is a fool. And so perhaps the Cordoba Initiative, and "moderate" Islam generally, is just a ship of fools.

It would explain a lot.