For months, far right-wing conservatives have led a hateful campaign against the proposed Park 51 Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York City. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is even claiming it will be a launching pad for “Sharia law” in America. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Zabihullah, a Taliban spokesman said, by “preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor.” The, "...more mosques you stop, the more jihadis we will get.” Meanwhile, a new Newsweek poll is showing that most Republicans believe President Obama “sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world.” Only 33 percent of Republicans said the “allegation” was “probably not true,” while 38 percent said it was "probably true" and 14 percent said it was “definitely true.” Gingrich's hysterical campaign about the Park 51 community center is hurting Americans in two ways. First, he succeeded in turning a majority of Republican Americans against their own President based on a lie. Second, he's giving aid and comfort to recruiters for the very extremist in Islam whose credibility would be most diminished by the building of this community center.