Republican Courage

Rare, though it is, from Utah Senator (and Mormon) Orrin Hatch, about the building of the Park51 mosque:

Let’s be honest about it, in the First Amendment, religious freedom, religious expression, that really express matters to the Constitution. So, if the Muslims own that property, that private property, and they want to build a mosque there, they should have the right to do so. ... There’s a question of whether it’s too close to the 9/11 area, but it’s a few blocks away, it isn’t right there. … And there’s a huge, I think, lack of support throughout the country for Islam to build that mosque there, but that should not make a difference if they decide to do it. I’d be the first to stand up for their rights.

I can hear the cynics on the right now: "He's old school. He doesn't represent real Republicans today." But in so many ways, Hatch actually represents really old school Republicanism -- as in Abraham Lincoln.