I like Karen Tumulty but she really has to stop quoting people without noting their vested interests. She ends her latest article by quoting then paraphrasing Grover Norquist criticizing critics of 51park (aka Cordoba house).

Norquist said "The support for criticizing a mosque is half a mile wide and an inch deep," conservative activist Grover Norquist warned. "And at the end of the process, the only people who will remember it are the people who feel threatened by this -- not just Muslims, but Sikhs, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Mormons."

Tumulty goes on to paraphrase him in her own voice. I'd like to think that Norquist is right on this one. He is coincidentally on the side of freedom and justice this time. However, as usual, he is advocating for someone who gave him money. If a registered lobbyist says something pleasing to a (former ?) client, that affiliation should be noted.

Actually I'll go further. I think that journalists should be the natural enemies of lobbyists. I think a reasonable rule of sound journalism is that lobbyists should not be quoted -- ever. What can readers possibly gain from amplification of the influence of lobbyists ?