In the spirit of pubescent smarminess we’ve come to associate with righties — a rightie blogger has decided it would be oh, so clever to open a gay bar next to the Cordoba House Islamic center in lower Manhattan. I did some googling and discovered there is already a gay bar around the corner (Remix Fridays, 24 Murray Street between Church & Broadway.) But that bar appears to be a popular lesbian bar, so maybe it doesn’t count.

The person who came up with this idea says “I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men.” Somehow, I suspect the many gay bars already in Manhattan cater to Muslim men already. Further the entire bleeping Village is only about a five- to ten-minute cab ride from the Cordoba House site. So I doubt a gay bar for men would do much business in that particular location. But, hey, if the guy wants to waste his money, who am I to disagree?

[Update: Andy Sullivan loves this idea and thinks here should be an initiative to open gay bars next to all churches, temples, mosques and synagogues that preach discrimination against homosexuals. Works for me, although in most communities you couldn’t do it because of zoning laws.]

In the who you callin’ an elitist department — William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal complains that the recent court ruling that overturned Prop 8 in California questioned the motives of Prop 8 supporters. Specifically, McGurn disputes the idea that Prop 8 supporters were motivated by bigotry.

According to McGurn, the judge said, “The evidence shows conclusively that moral and religious views form the only basis for a belief that same-sex couples are different from opposite-sex couples.” Well, yes. And McGurn provides no evidence or argument whatsoever to show there is a reason outside moral and religious views to oppose same-sex marriage. He just doesn’t like being called a bigot.

Well, dude, if the shoe fits … but what really got me tickled was the subhead on the article, which is “Attacking the motives of those who disagree with elite opinion has become all too common.” So, get this, the federal judge is part of an “elite”, but McGurn — a guy who was once a White House speech writer, a guy who has a master’s degree from Boston University, a guy who writes opinions for the bleeping Wall Street Journal — is not part of an “elite”? on what planet?

If you read the entire column — and you certainly don’t have to — you see what McGurn is doing — people who disagree with conservative opinions are, by definition, an “elite,” whereas people who hold conservative opinions are good ol’ salt-of-the-earth regular guys. Even if they are privileged, upper-income white guys who write for the Wall Street Journal.

He thereby questions the motives of people who disagree with conservative opinions — they only disagree because they are stuck-up snots. And a strong inference is that what a majority of people believe cannot be motivated by bigotry.

Um, yes it can, and often has been. Why does McGurn think it was so hard to get rid of Jim Crow?

Update: More buttinskys —

Ads opposing a planned mosque near Ground Zero should soon be seen on city buses after the MTA signed off on their controversial design today.

A lawyer for the the New Hampshire group behind the campaign called the decision “a victory not just for free speech but against political correctness and Mayor Bloomberg’s bullying.”

Mayor Bloomberg ain’t the bully in this fight. And I think if the out-of-towners don’t butt out of New York City business, New Yorkers are going to get very, very pissed.

Another update: Steve M. also points out that there’s a gay bar almost next door to the Islamic center site already. He adds,

… if you build anything culturally conservative in New York, you’re going to be surrounded by stuff that’s not at all culturally conservative. (And you can’t live here for any length of time without knowing that, so I strongly suspect that the Cordoba House people wouldn’t react to a next-door gay bar in a way that would fulfill Greg Gutfeld’s most sophomoric hopes.)

Exactly, over the past few days I’ve seen a number of suggestions of things people might place near the Islamic center in retaliation, without realizing that whatever it is, it’s probably already there. So, everyone planning to build gay bars or open a doggie day care center or sell pork sandwiches from a cart will need to compete with gay bars, doggie day care centers and pork sandwich carts already in the neighborhood. Plus straight bars, at least one strip club, and lots of churches. All already there.

Hey, it’s New York.

One more update: It’s not a gay bar, but there’s a regular bar called the Dakota Roadhouse at 43 Park Place. From a map on the roadhouse site it appears to be on the same block as the proposed Islamic center, but closer to Church Street.