Almost sounds conspiratorial enough to be true, but I always go by the motto, "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity" (otherwise known as Hanlon's razor).
Rauf was just stupid enough to think he was fine with building that mosque 'cause of all his bona fides with all those Bushies, I'm sure.
They, in the meantime, realized the timing was perfect for a nice little wedge issue going into the midterms, and so we have - a faux controversy perfect for Faux News.
And off we go...