Grimm and Giuliani tag team the morning shows

Staten Island's charismatic congressional candidate Mike Grimm and America's Mayor Rudy Giuliani both appeared on television this morning to... preach tolerance and understanding? Tell America to embrace state's rights and freedom of religion?

Nah.

They went to decry the Park51 Muslim community center (aka 'ground zero mosque') as 'divisive' and Grimm even called for a federal investigation into the funding of the project.

Now there's all kinds of political posturing, and election-season maneuvering in these statement (can you imagine how much out-of-state cash Grimm banked after this appearance?) but it's interesting that Mike Grimm called for the feds to investigate the project's funding - something he "knows a lot how to do himself," according to the fawning Fox News host.

The project, estimated to cost $100 Million, may have some money coming from overseas, and when that info comes out, boy, the right wing will have a field day right in Clove Lakes Park.

For instance: imagine if the Park51 project was funded by, let's say, the Qatari government - or even a Qatari government minister personally suspected of harboring al-Qaeda terrorists, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

That would be something, right.

Well, maybe you could ask Mr. Giuliani about the Qatari minister because that's exactly who gave his private security company, Giuliani Partners, a multi-million dollar 'consulting' contract:

CBS News, Nov. 2007:

Since 2005, Giuliani Partners and its Giuliani Security & Safety (GS&S) unit has provided security consulting and advice in Qatar through contracts overseen by the country's Interior Ministry, which is currently run by a member of the royal family who has long been accused of supporting al Qaeda, according to security consultants familiar with the area. 

"According to several counterterrorism experts who formerly worked for the U.S. government, Qatar's current Interior Minister and royal family member, Shaikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al-Thani briefly harbored Al Qaeda terrorists in 1996, including the suspected mastermind of the September 11th hijacking plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed," wrote Middle East policy analyst Jeremy M. Sharp in the CRS report.

So after Grimm's done chasing down the money trail of a peaceful Sufi Muslim (the hippies of Islam) who is currently on a State Department trip overseas promoting tolerance and unity in the Muslim world (he did it for Bush too), maybe he can launch an investigation into Giuliani Partners and find out why an American company, founded by Rudy Giuliani, is doing business with the very people who actually harbored the 9/11 terrorists.