THE CORDOBA HOUSE FIGHT IS OVER, AND THE GOP WON

I don't care how many Bush-era Republicans and GOP-loving pundits say that Republicans ought to back away from the Cordoba House fight -- they're not going to, and they're inevitably going to win (as I told you they would) because they've found the weakest link in the battle against wingnuttery: congressional Democrats.

How Republicans Might Drag The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Fight Into The Fall

... An open question for now is whether the row over the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" will be with us past August.

Republicans and conservative activists have made no secret of the fact that they want the issue to have legs, but that gets trickier when politicians return to Washington to actually govern. One option Republicans will have to pressure Democrats on the issue will be to force Democrats to vote on the question of whether they support the cultural center and mosque.

... With the assent of the House parliamentarian, they could introduce a motion to recommit a piece of Democratic legislation, arguing that it should include language urging that the mosque be blocked. Separately, any member can introduce a privileged resolution forcing all members to take a position on the issue. The obvious goal would be to create fodder for negative advertising ahead of the November midterms....

Preemptively surrendering in typical Democratic fashion is Harry Reid:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has now spoken out on the Muslim community center in New York -- saying that while the organizers are free to construct the project, it should be moved somewhere else.

"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else," said a statement from Reid spokesman Jim Manley....

Oh, sure, House Majority Whip James Clyburn is resisting the GOP assault:

The third-ranking Democrat in the House said Monday that the decision of whether to allow an Islamic center to be built close to the site of the 9/11 attacks "ought to be left up to the community."

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) praised President Obama for standing up for religious freedom....

But, well, Clyburn's black. In the coming days and weeks, you're going to have to look long and hard to find a white congressional Democrat with the spine to resist the usual white-Dem reaction to a ginned-up GOP wedge-issue assault, which is "Oh please oh please NASCAR voters don't kill me please please I'll do anything you want...!!!!!"

The only question is how long the GOP can drag this out before the leadership capitulates. I say bring the damn Congress back into special session, capitulate now, and get it over with, just to stop the bleeding. In this political climate, the GOP can win quickly or win slowly. There is no other possibility.