MSNBC reports:

Obama slammed, praised for backing NYC mosque
'We are deeply moved and tremendously grateful,' says mosque developer

President Barack Obama was compared favorably to America's first president and castigated as uncaring Friday after defending plans to create a mosque two blocks from New York's ground zero.

"Muslims have the right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," Obama told a White House dinner crowd celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan Friday.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has defended the 13-story, $100 million Islamic center, said Obama's remarks reminded him of George Washington.

"Two hundred and twenty years ago this week, the Father of Our Country penned his famous letter to the Jewish Community of Newport Rhode Island or, as he called them, 'the Children of the Stock of Abraham.' President Obama's words tonight evoked President Washington's own August reminder that 'all possess alike liberty,'" Bloomberg said.
But Bloomberg wasn't speaking for all New Yorkers.

Rick A. Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor and a former member of the House of Representatives, issued a statement late Friday that the president was still “not listening to New Yorkers,” The New York Times reported.

“With over 100 mosques in New York City, this is not an issue of religion, but one of safety and security,” he said.

We have people like Lazio here too:



... like these operatives handing out anti-Islamic leaflets in the run-up to next Saturday's federal election poll. However they are fortunately a fringe mob in this part of the country (beats me why they even came to Newtown). And seemingly they were too disorganised to even get themselves onto ballot paper.