Mayor Brainard Believes That Americans “Are a Smarter People Than to Blame a Radical Act of Terrorism on an Entire Religion”.

Yesterday, I wrote about my loss of respect for Sen. Richard Lugar because of his stance (or lack thereof) on the Park 51/“Ground Zero Mosque” issue. Today, I saw the following story about another Republican politician, Carmel's Mayor Jim Brainard. His views on the subject should be a shining example to all of us, especially politicians like Sen. Lugar:

While Carmel is a long way from New York and ground zero, the city, which is outside of Indianapolis, has a connection.

After 9/11, New York’s fire department was decimated by the losses at the World Trade Center. So Carmel, at its own expense, sent its senior fire department trainers to New York to help the NYFD quickly train new recruits to help keep the city safe.

The next year, New York sent a group of firefighters to Carmel to thank the city for its effort, says Mayor Brainard.

Brainard, who was involved in the decision to help New York, knows the World Trade Center site and some of the firefighters who worked in the days and weeks to try to recover victims' remains. He has no issues with the proposed Cordoba Initiative.

“This country was built on the premise of freedom of religion,” says Brainard, who was passing through New York on his way to speak at a conference in Qatar, a Middle East emirate. “We are a smarter people than to blame a radical act of terrorism on an entire religion.”

Bravo. Now that’s what I call leadership.