Sarah Palin Tells Dove World Outreach Center Pastor Jones to 'Stand Down' on Quran Burning

(Sept. 8) -- Building an Islamic community center near the site of the destroyed World Trade Center is a bad idea, but so is burning copies of the Quran, Sarah Palin says.

In Facebook and Twitter posts this afternoon, the former Alaska governor came out staunchly against the Dove World Outreach Center's plans to torch copies of the Muslim holy book on Sept. 11. Here's an excerpt from her Facebook post (you can read the whole thing over at Facebook or down below):

People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation -- much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

And here's the tweet, aimed directly at the stunt's organizer, Dove World Outreach Center Pastor Terry Jones:

Koran Burning Is Insensitive, Unnecessary; Pastor Jones, Please Stand Down http://is.gd/f1si7less than a minute ago via webSarah Palin
SarahPalinUSA

By condemning both the Florida-based hard-line Christian church and the proposed Park51 Islamic center at the same time, Palin (or her Facebook ghostwriter) not only connected the two big local-turned-national debates on Islam in America of the moment, but also aligned squarely with other big-time conservative icons, namely Glenn Beck and Mitt Romney, who both are anti-"ground zero mosque" and anti-Quran burning.

Palin's stand also comes just hours after Jones announced he was disregarding the pleas of countless political icons, celebrities and religious figures to cancel the Quran burning. He said earlier that he was "praying to God" to make his final decision on whether or not to proceed, and appears to have received his answer.

Still, if Jones is being widely reviled for sticking to his original plan, Palin's protest is being nearly as widely applauded around the Web, even by those who don't normally support her. Sure, her post picked up more than 11,000 Facebook "Likes" since it went up around 2 p.m. EDT, but everything she writes gets about as many virtual endorsements. More telling are the real-time reactions of Web users. Here's a sampling:

First sensible thing she's ever said: Palin slams Koran-burning 'provocation' - http://j.mp/cGkz8yless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneWill MacDiarmid
wmacdiarmid

i usually despise palin, but i totally agree RT @SarahPalinUSA Koran Burning Is Insensitive, Unnecessary; Pastor Jones, Please Stand Downless than a minute ago via webKelsey Ferencz
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