Newt Gingrich has come out with this sinister explanation for the name of the proposed Cordoba House:

The proposed "Cordoba House" overlooking the World Trade Center site – where a group of jihadists killed over 3000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks - is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites. For example, most of them don’t understand that “Cordoba House” is a deliberately insulting term. It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex. In fact, every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest. It is a sign of their contempt for Americans and their confidence in our historic ignorance that they would deliberately insult us this way. Note: emphasis mine.

In 1975, just two years after the first OPEC oil embargo, Americans were the subject of another deliberate insult showing contempt for us -- the Chrysler Cordoba personal luxury coupe. On top of that, the TV spokesperson spoke of the car's "soft Corinthian leather" in an accent that hearkens back to the Andalusian Calpiphate that was based in Cordoba as late as 1000 AD. Ricardo Montalban was a Mexican who spent most of his life in the US, but NEVER sought or obtained US citizenship, adding even more suspicion that the Chrysler Cordoba was an early jihadist plot, with Montalban a one-man sleeper cell unleashed on America via the airwaves.

On top of that, the Chrysler Cordoba was a "gas guzzler," with the obvious goal of increasing fuel consumption, driving gas prices ever upward in conjunction with the OPEC embargoes, and driving the American economy off a cliff.

It all makes sense, especially given Professor Gingrich's exceptional scholarship on the matter.