Keith Olbermann

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The "Ground Zero Mosque" is many things, but it is neither at ground zero nor is it really a mosque.

So argued Keith Olbermann during Monday night's edition of "Countdown" on MSNBC.

In a Special Comment lasting twelve minutes, the commentator ripped into the case being made by critics of the Cordoba House. The proposed Muslim community center would be located two blocks away from the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed on September 11, 2001 by Islamic extremists.

The thought of building the new facility -- which would include a two-story prayer center -- so close to the site of America's worst terrorist attack, one perpetrated by followers of Islam, has been unsettling to a wide range of public figures, from Sarah Palin to Harry Reid. But it has also inspired people like Olbermann and others who hope to encourage religious worship that doesn't resemble the extremism behind al Qaeda.

Olbermann opened his monologue by reciting from "First They Came...," a poem that many attribute to Pastor Martin Niemöller. He went on to question Newt Gingrich's grasp of history and the significance of Cordoba, Spain. And he didn't exactly stop there.