At the risk of stating the obvious, this tool really is an attention whore of historic, almost Levi-Johnston-esque proportions. Pretty soon he’ll be walking up to tourists holding camcorders, a Koran in one hand and a Bic in the other, yelling, “Don’t make me do it.”

My new idea for how to get him to stand down: Offer him a part in a reality show. He could run against Levi as mayor of Wasilla. Assuming that Alvin Greene declines the part first, of course.

The anti-Muslim leader of a tiny Florida church says he was lied to and is rethinking his decision to cancel burning Qurans to mark 9/11.

Pastor Terry Jones earlier Thursday had backed off his threat to burn the Quran after he said he was promised that a planned Islamic center and mosque would be moved away from New York’s ground zero. Muslim leaders denied there was such a deal.

Later outside his church he said that the imam he thought he made the deal with “clearly, clearly lied to us” about moving the mosque.

No, he wasn’t “lied to.” What incentive would al-Musri, the guy who’s been trying to get Jones to give up on this stunt, have to lie to him about the situation with the Ground Zero mosque? Lying would only piss Jones off more once he discovered that there was no deal to relocate the GZM, and it would create a PR headache for the Park51 people insofar as it forces them to reject what some will regard as a reasonable idea for compromise. It’s more likely that Jones either misunderstood the offer al-Musri was making to him — cancel the protest and the Park51 group will discuss his concerns about the GZM with him — or that Jones is the one who’s lying in order to generate some extra political cover for his stunt. See, he was “betrayed,” so now he kinda sorta has to burn the Koran, doesn’t he?

Here’s an interview with al-Musri explaining the miscommunication; a church spokesman says they’ve now “suspended,” not canceled, the protest “until we get confirmation on the info we were given today.” If you need a hard dose of sanity after all this, I recommend this new op-ed from moderate Muslim (and Navy vet) Zuhdi Jasser framing a few pointed questions for Feisal Rauf. It’s behind a reg wall, alas, but if you’re a Journal subscriber, it’s well worth your time.