The mosque debate is getting hotter and uglier. Reasonable people can disagree about whether it is inappropriate and/or insensitive to build an Islamic community center and mosque 500 feet from where jihadists in the name of Islam killed almost 3,000 people on 9/11.

But reason seems to be losing.

Mosque mastermind Feisal Abdul-Rauf "told a gathering Sunday at the U.S. ambassador's residence in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain that he took heart from the dispute over the mosque, saying "the fact we are getting this kind of attention is a sign of success."

Ah yes, success! Americans at each other's throats. People are demonstrating in the streets, screaming and yelling at each other. Outrage and feelings hurt on both sides.

As Victor Davis Hanson said last week "Almost everything about the proposed Ground Zero mosque was cynically brilliant."

Bingo!