Joe Scarborough, a former House Republican and host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, described Gingrich’s remark as "madness.” And conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, a former presidential candidate, said “bringing the Nazis into the argument is always absurd in American politics.” Buchanan also suggested that Gingrich was trying to attract national attention to himself for a 2012 presidential bid.



...Wilders' website touts his appearance and the advertised attendance of Gingrich as "two eagles" who together can capture the mainstream media's attention on the mosque controversy. "Then there is speculation about Gingrich making a possible 2012 run for the GOP Presidential nomination," an Aug. 6 release on the site states. "It is not lost on many that Gingrich has come out in favor of national anti-Sharia legislation."



Wilders generated controversy on Capitol Hill last year when he screened his documentary film Fitna at the invitation of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). The short film shows verses of the Koran interspersed with extreme acts of violence, including the hijacked planes flying into the World Trade Center.



The Dutch politician's outspoken criticism of Islam has generated scores of death threats over the years and he lives under 24-hour security protection. The British government prohibited him from entering the country in February 2009, a ban later overturned following an appeal by Wilders. And the politician is currently on trial on hate-speech charges in the Netherlands, where he has called the Koran a "fascist book."



"I will go to New York and say what I want there,” Wilders told Dutch media. “Nobody will stop me. No mosque at Ground Zero!”

Maxime Verhagen, the acting foreign minister and Christian Democrats' leader, has voiced fears that Wilders's speech in New York will tarnish Dutch reputations. He has also taken the unusual step of circulating confidential orders to Dutch diplomats around the world on how to answer questions about Wilders's influence in a new government and on the fallout for Muslims in the Netherlands.



With characteristic robustness, Wilders has told Verhagen to mind his own business. He clearly intends to grab attention with a tub-thumping exercise in Islamophobia in New York.

"Good feeling. Important speech. No one will stop me. No mosque at Ground Zero," he tweeted after booking a flight to New York. "Stop Islam, defend freedom" is his rallying cry.



The tensions over 9/11 and New York come as Wilders savours his growing clout at home. His Freedom party is running at 31% in the most recent opinion poll, ahead of all other contenders, and he has spent most of this week at a secret location with Verhagen and Mark Rutte, the liberals' leader, haggling over the terms for a new coalition government.



Wilders, whose party almost tripled its seats, from nine to 24, in the June election, is not joining the new cabinet. Instead, he will prop up a rightwing coalition of liberals and Christian Democrats in return for pledges of a tough new crackdown on immigration and other policy concessions. If the talks succeed, Wilders will be in the enviable position of wielding power while abjuring responsibility.



The negotiations have been going on for a fortnight and are supposed to be concluded next week. But they are said to be going badly.



A coalition backed by Wilders would command the slimmest of majorities-- 76 seats in the 150-seat second chamber or lower house. The Trouw newspaper yesterday reported at least one dissident Christian Democrat MP would not support it, making it unviable.



Verhagen is in a difficult position. While negotiating with Wilders, he is also telling his diplomats how to undermine the rightwing maverick. Verhagen faces mounting resistance within his own party to collaborating, even if only tacitly, with Wilders.



Last week German Christian Democrats joined Dutch party dissidents in calling for a boycott of Wilders.

Having lived in Holland for 4 years, I took it on myself early to warn Americans about vicious professional Islamophobe and hatemonger Geert Wilders, knowing that it would just be a matter of time before he would be adopted by the fringe elements of the American right. Predictably, Arizona terror-supporter Jon Kyl was the first to bite and he was invited to address a fascist rally in Washington last year, CPAC, where he could mingle with Ann Coulter, Michele Bachmann, Virginia Foxx, Jim DeMint and other politicians who use hate and fear as their calling cards.Now Wilders has joined forces with deranged American hatemonger (and profiteer) Pamela Geller who has invited the far right Dutch politician to address her Stop Islamization of America and Freedom Defense Initiative on-- when else-- September 11. It's disgusting that NY authorities allow hate rallies on hallowed ground. With even the most craven Republican political hacks like Newt Gingrich and Peter King, seeing which way the wind is blowing and fleeing from Geller , she's going to be stuck with a real bottom of the barrel group of speakers-- flotsam and jetsam like Bachmann and Steve King. And Wilders. Gingrich, after first bragging how he would be there, backed away when mainstream conservatives started realizing that trashing the Constitution might be a bad idea in retrospect. Gingrich offered a video greeting, which Geller greedily accepted. He's now withdrawn even that offer.So only one of the crusading eagles will be joining sociopath Geller-- and the Dutch government is, to put it mildly, embarrassed and "has launched a damage-limitation campaign to try to counter what it fears is the disastrous international impact of the Islam-bashing populist Geert Wilders."

Labels: Geert Wilders, Islamophobia, Netherlands, Newt Gingrich, Pamela Geller