If it is better to be lucky than good, Rep. Peter “When White People Do It, Then It Is Not Illegal” King is probably thanking Cthulu that the Japanese disaster distracted so much of the media from his pathetic little show-trial-lite exhibition Thursday before last. “The Collective” at Esquire on fearmongering in politics:
… Representative Peter King opened up his investigation of the “radicalization of American Islam” while dodging questions about his own outspoken support in the past for the Irish Republican Army. Desperate to get his show on the road, King split a bunch of unlikely hairs, convinced nobody with a brain, either here or in Ireland, and then dropped the gavel on what very likely is going to go down in history as the most nakedly bigoted performance by a congressional committee since the Fugitive Slave Act was under discussion. If you would like a free trip to Washington, you should declare yourself a Muslim who knows exactly what the cabdriver down the block is plotting. At which point, Peter King will fly you to D.C., put you on television, make you famous, and then perhaps take you down Capitol Hill to The Dubliner so you can sing “The Rising of the Moon” in Farsi. Act today!
Tiffany Stanley, TNR, on “the unraveling of Peter King’s hearings on radical Islam“:
Fascinatingly, the discussion broke down largely along demographic lines, pitting the Democratic members of the committee—overwhelmingly women and Hispanic, Asian, and African Americans—against the Republicans, who were overwhelmingly white and male. “I believe this hearing is discriminatory,” said Democratic Representative Laura Richardson of California. Her side was mainly focused on the efficacy of profiling or singling out Muslim Americans in the investigations. Cedric Richmond, an African American representative from Louisiana, explained, “It’s a worry for me when so many people in Congress and in this committee who have never been the victim of profiling are quick to say that profiling is a proper crime fighting tool even if it isn’t.”
Dana Milbank, at the Washington Post, discussing “Rep. King’s Red Scare“:
Peter King staged his investigation into the loyalty of Muslim Americans in an appropriate place: a hearing room once used by the House Un-American Activities Committee…
__
King and his courtiers were evidently sensitive to appearance, because many of them prefaced their accusations the way people sometimes say “some of my best friends are gay.”
__
“I have many Muslim friends,” said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.).
__
“They are our neighbors and our friends,” agreed Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.).
Let us call a spade a spade, readers, and a mucker a mucker. ‘Term of endearment‘ may be how Wikipedia heard it, but in the NORAID-enabling Irish-American enclave of my birth, a mucker was defined as someone everyone called “friend” because you certainly didn’t want him as your enemy… and he was known to divide all the world into those two categories. My fifth-grade religious teacher (a nun of the Dominican teaching order) once explained that St. Peter was a mucker, one of those guys always photographed just to the right and slightly behind the big man, or sitting third from the center in the row of chairs at the podium. A guy who, non-violence be damned, would automatically draw first blood when the opposition came to take his leader away; someone who’d never turn you over to the authorities, but who would insistently deny ever knowing you once the arrest had been made. Upon this rock: Rep. Peter King. The man who keeps the faith with our tribal past, when every extra rabbit in the neighbors’ cookpot or sheep on the village common actually did threaten to take the food out of his children’s mouth. In King’s world, it’s Us or Them, and he intends to be among the Us.
Robert Kolker, New York Magazine, on Peter King’s Muslim Problem:
… Although King has eyed runs for governor and senator in the past, the ten-term congressman doesn’t seem to have career aspirations beyond keeping his current position. While it’s unclear how King’s hearings might poll nationally, they figure to play well in his district—especially with his blue-collar base, many of whom have direct connections to 9/11—where King is facing a move to redistrict him out of a job. But politics alone don’t explain King’s motives. Something about 9/11, and the betrayal he felt from Muslims in its aftermath, seems to have triggered a fundamental shift in him. “Even today I cannot begin to describe the disappointment, anger, and outrage I felt,” King wrote in a December op-ed piece. “As I became more immersed in attempting to unravel the radical Islamic threat to our nation and our civilization, it became more and more obvious to me that the moral myopia of Long Island’s Muslim leaders and their apologists in the media was the rule—and that there were few exceptions.”
__
Even before 9/11, King took a certain pleasure in being that guy—the reality-check guy, the not politically correct guy, the everyday neighborhood guy. Now being that guy for King means being the man who remains vigilant about the threat of terrorism when others have grown complacent. So what happens when people call him a bully, an opportunist, or even a racist? How does that make him feel?
__
“Let’s not get into too much psychobabble,” King says. “There’s a war going on.”
Of course there’s a war! There’s always a war for men like Rep. King, and the only question to be answered is: Are you with us, or against us?
Citizen_X
Let this fucker hold his hearings in England.
Maude
King came into the hearing room with extra security. Ooooooh, he’s so brave.
I’ve heard King on rightie radio over the years, a local NYC station and no one could be dumber and still talk.
He has always been an attention getter.
What I do like about this hearing is that afterwards, any chat about it died a sudden death. It got him nowhere.
Jim, Once
“Mucker”. Exactly what I was taught by my Irish daddy. And taught to hold in utter contempt. The irony of this almost overwhelms me. PETER King: What. An. Asshole.
MikeJ
al Jazeera has a story up about the Freeper reaction to Saudi AF pilots training in Idaho.
soonergrunt
You (and everybody else on every liberal blog) need to always refer to him as “the IRA terrorist Peter King” or “the IRA sympathizer Peter King” or “Irish terrorist Peter King”.
If we get everybody doing it, that would be fucking epic.
Even the vast majority of the Irish catholics in the six counties didn’t like the Provos.
gnomedad
Clearly, AL, you are objectively pro-witch.
Jim, Once
@soonergrunt: I’ll take special pleasure in doing exactly this. I do have to keep in mind, however, that another asshole with the same last name represents a part of my home ground, said asshole being Steve King (R-IA). I love what Obama said about him: “He’s just always looking for attention.”
JPL
@Maude: Al Gore lied was on the news for months. King should have been mocked for at least a week. I know it’s okay if you are a repub, but gee couldn’t he have been mocked for a week.
Comrade Mary
Catholic but non-Irish, so “mucker” is a brand new word, but not a brand new concept. I’m bookmarking this, Anne Laurie. Brilliant!
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@JPL:
But you see, it’s not really a lie because Peter King is a Republican, and everyone knows for Republican, a lie is simply a truth yet to be invented.
Martin
@Jim, Once: My mom lives in Iowa, and I always confuse the two Kings. My mom called me on it once, when I was railing against something that the IRA terrorist sympathizer Peter King had done and ascribed it to Steve King, and in my defense I said ‘they’re equally stupid assholes, so forgive me for confusing them’, to which she couldn’t help but agree. And she’s a Republican.
PPOG Penguin
@soonergrunt: Co-sign, though I’d leave out the “Irish” qualifier because there are those who will think it was okay if it was for the IRA. I’d also suggest “terrorist fundraiser Peter King.”
cthulhu
First of all, it is Cthulhu with two h’s. Second of all, I consider it slander to intimate that I am, in any way, associated with Representative Peter King. That guy’s a monster.
Mike in NC
This has been the one-size-fits-all lame bullshit excuse for EVERYTHING dating back the past ten years. Move along; nothing to see here!
Mike in NC
Breaking news: corrupt politician spotted in South Carolina!
Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/03/19/2047787/ethics-staff-ard-spent-improperly.html#ixzz1H5nsgUeN
Zifnab
I think the term you’re searching for is “asshole”. Assuming when you refer to “everyday neighborhood guy” you’re talking about the guy who borrows your tool kit and won’t give it back because he’s involved in some serious business.
Dear Mr. King. Would you consider raising taxes to help cover the coast of this multi-trillion dollar vigil you’ve been waging? No? Just take the money out of my mother’s social security, my son’s Pell Grants, and any future unemployment I might require? Well then fuck you, and good day.
JPL
@Mike in NC: I’m shocked.. From the link
b-psycho
@MikeJ: Found the link to that story. It’s…interesting.
Anne Laurie
@soonergrunt: NORAID (missed the link earlier). The thing is, even his fellow
terroristsrevolutionary-supporters never fully trust a mucker — he’s the guy who’s going to end up in the centre of the cabal as long as it’s “winning”, but when the Us-vs-Them noose tightens, his former comrades get jettisoned as necessary.soonergrunt
@Anne Laurie: He’s also the fucker who’ll give up his own mother to the Paras if he has to do it to save his skin.
Guys like him end up either tooled, missing, or grand marshal of the Hibernians’ Easter parade. They don’t just middle out to a pension in some backwater, but either way, they pile up a lot of human wreckage along the way.
Anne Laurie
@Martin:
Thing is, as far as I can tell solely from their public positions, Steve King is just a dumb brute who’s not smart enough for any job more mentally taxing than shouting whatever crude talking points his “constituents” want to hear this week. (Steve, for instance, was the only vote against putting a plaque on the new Capital Visitors Center acknowledging how much of America’s Shining City was built by slaves. His rationale, insofar as he had one, ran along the lines that he was ‘tired of hearing about how bad slavery was’.) Peter King, on the other hand, is no Rhoades Scholar, but he’s smart enough to know better than his actions. Steve is trustworthy, within his considerable limits — he’s a shite-talking moron today, he was a shite-talking moron twenty years ago, and he’ll go to his grave shouting whatever verbal manure his handlers write on his flashcards. Peter, though … never turn your back on that one, not even if you think you’re on the same side, because when he cuts his losses it might be your back the knife goes in!
jenn
Thanks for the post Anne Laurie – I hadn’t realized the hearings were in the HUAC room either. Appropriate. Bastards.
And Another Thing...
I think part of Peter King’s problem is that he’s a coward, and really worried about his own skin. After the Gabby Gifford shooting IIRC he announced he was filing a bill requiring guns to be kept at least 1000 ft from congressmen & other important people.
In my experience most of the Muslim haters have a badly distorted risk assessment process and really believe it’s just a matter of time before every Muslim on earth turns terrorist and comes after them.
Thanks for the great post & mucker.
Delia
As someone who’s more of Scandinavian descent, the concept of mucker is new to me. But let me see if I’ve got the hang of it. I believe that Bill O’Reilly is a first class mucker.
Ruckus
@Anne Laurie:
Very nice summary of these two assholes.
jl
Apparently, King sensed that the hearings would be a mess for him. Or someone or someones just done sat down and had a blunt talk with him to that effect.
So, thankfully, as I understand it, King wrapped them up already.
I read someplace that King was actually surprised that his reputation would go down the crapper with the Muslim community even more if the hearings continued.
Hard to believe he is that dim, maybe it is just PR from his camp. Why would he care whether US Muslims hated him or not? Are there many in his district?
Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude
@JPL: “… mistakes were made …” Great phrase! Mistakes get made, individuals do not make them and hence have no responsibility. It’s all the mistakes’ fault, for being made.
The passive voice is a Fantastic Political Tool.
Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude
@efgoldman:
Italian descent? Or, umm, the name Goldman …? Some combination thereof?
SteveinSC
@JPL:
I guess that means Ard’s wife will return the dress and they’ll regurgitate the meals they ate and return them, as well. In other news Governor Nikki Haley was moving to defund Educational Television in South Carolina when she was side-tracked by questions about which of the income numbers she has been releasing is the correct number. Working for her mother she claimed on her income taxes $22K while when applying for a job as shill for Lexington Medical Center she claimed $120K. Others interested in her responses besides the press are expected to be the Justice Department and the IRS. Bwah ha, ha, ha.
serge
@SteveinSC…as a fellow SCer, I am well aware that a repub politician in our state can do no wrong, by statute. The more embarrassing they are to the state, the country, and the world, the better they feel about themselves. The dumber they prove themselves to be, the more popular they become.
Call it “confederate logic.” Nooki will skate right through this.
Caz
Muslim extremists pose the greatest threat to our national security over all other groups, so what is so wrong about holding a hearing to look into muslim extremism within our borders?
If our elected officials don’t take this threat seriously and look into this issue, then they are not doing their job of protecting our nation.
So I fail to see why these hearings are so objectionable to anyone.
Should we just agree that muslim extremists in our country pose not threats, and that muslims are peace-loving people that add to the diversity and productivity of our nation?
The muslim population in this country continues to grow at a fast rate, and as a group, they (at least the extremist portion thereof, which is a higher percentage of muslims as a whole than you liberals would like to admit/believe) pose a threat to the lives of Americans.
I applaud our elected officials (at least some of them) looking into this issue.
Hearings are different than bills or mandates or laws or regulations, so why not hold a hearing, let everyone be heard on the issue, and see what they come up with? What’s the harm? Are we afraid to offend muslims? Well, this political correctness crap that we put above our own national interests and secuity needs to change.
Let’s see what these hearings yield before passing judgment on how evil the hearing proponents are.
Would it be better to just ignore a growing muslim population in America, and to pretend that all muslims are peaceful and love America? It’s fact that their group contains the most dangerous group to our country, so let’s look into the extent of the danger. To do nothing would be irresponsible. If muslims are offended by these hearings, then too bad. Maybe if they would stop bombing embassies, flying planes into skyscrapers, and taking violent actions against Americans all over the world, then this hearing wouldn’d be necessary.
But when this group is present in our country and its numbers continue to grow, we need to address the danger that extremist portion of the muslim population poses to our country.
But again, I’m just a troll, so in this little isolated ivory tower that is the juicetard nation, my opinion is dismissed summarily, and problems and denied and pushed under the carpet and you all pretend the problems don’t exist.
But when the problem jumps up and bites you in the ass, your solution is to let the government fuck it up even more.
I agree these hearings are mostly a political ploy, but perhaps at least a little progress on this issue can be made, or at least some exposure of the problem can addressed.
I really don’t see why you all are so opposed to it. But then, I’m a little more in touch with reality than you juicetards are. Your pretend the little world in your head is reality, and there is a lot of reality outside this site that most Americans are interested in.
And again, I won’t be back to check on responses to my post, because they inevitably consist of insults, so I’m not gonna waste my time checking back to read them.
Troll out!
Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude
DEFCON 1! Do not respond to @Caz. He/She won’t read your response and you will only be venting into the wind. Go do something constructive with your time. Over and out.
alwhite
@Caz:
No, you are not a troll – you are a fucking idiot.
Muslims, of any kind, are not nearly as big a threat to the US as the increasing disparity on income, the reduction of good paying jobs with benefits, The draining of national treasury for pointless invasions in the Middle East and the elimination of the social safety net. Those are the things that will actually end this nation.
In fact, it was the pointless invasion of a Middle Eastern nation that lead directly to 9-11 so your small-minded, ignorant, xenophobic bullshit is wrong in every possible way.
alwhite
@Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude:
You are probably right – didn’t see your post till after mine
Svensker
Well, Caz, we’ll agree that Muslims are a horrible threat to the US of A just as Jews were to Germany. I imagine Caz would like to see the same solution applied.
Asshole.
Chris
Exactly how many of the 9/11 bombers were part of the Muslim population of our country, genius?
Suffern ACE
I lost track of these hearings. So did he find anything NEW. Proof that there is a massive program hidden within mosques to turn Muslim-Americans into suicide bombers, or did he just come up with the shit sandwhich that I figured he would.
Pseudonym
Left-wing communists pose the greatest threat to our national security over all other groups, so what is so wrong about holding a hearing to look into communists within our borders?
If our elected officials don’t take this threat seriously and look into this issue, then they are not doing their job of protecting our nation.
So I fail to see why these hearings are so objectionable to anyone.
Should we just agree that leftists in our country pose not threats, and that communists are peace-loving people that add to the diversity and productivity of our nation?
The left-wing communist population in this country continues to grow at a fast rate, and as a group, they (at least the extremist portion thereof, which is a higher percentage of leftists as a whole than you liberals would like to admit/believe) pose a threat to the lives of Americans.
I applaud our elected officials (at least some of them) looking into this issue.
Hearings are different than bills or mandates or laws or regulations, so why not hold a hearing, let everyone be heard on the issue, and see what they come up with? What’s the harm? Are we afraid to offend lefties? Well, this political correctness crap that we put above our own national interests and secuity needs to change.
Let’s see what these hearings yield before passing judgment on how evil the hearing proponents are.
Would it be better to just ignore a growing leftist population in America, and to pretend that all leftists are peaceful and love America? It’s fact that their group contains the most dangerous group to our country, so let’s look into the extent of the danger. To do nothing would be irresponsible. If leftists are offended by these hearings, then too bad. Maybe if they would stop bombing villages, driving tanks into protests, and taking violent actions against Americans all over the world, then this hearing wouldn’d be necessary.
But when this group is present in our country and its numbers continue to grow, we need to address the danger that extremist portion of the leftist population poses to our country.
But again, I’m just a troll, so in this little isolated ivory tower that is the juicetard nation, my opinion is dismissed summarily, and problems and denied and pushed under the carpet and you all pretend the problems don’t exist.
But when the problem jumps up and bites you in the ass, your solution is to let the government fuck it up even more.
I agree these hearings are mostly a political ploy, but perhaps at least a little progress on this issue can be made, or at least some exposure of the problem can addressed.
I really don’t see why you all are so opposed to it. But then, I’m a little more in touch with reality than you juicetards are. Your pretend the little world in your head is reality, and there is a lot of reality outside this site that most Americans are interested in.
And again, I won’t be back to check on responses to my post, because they inevitably consist of insults, so I’m not gonna waste my time checking back to read them.
Troll out!
dwg
To Caz:
A hearing on domestic threats would make plenty of sense. The issue is that King focused on Muslims, ignoring the fact that a) the FBI and others have stated that the plots they’ve been able to disrupt have been exposed through the cooperation of American Muslims who tipped them off and b) there are domestic terrorist groups operating that are not Muslim, but purportedly Christian and well-armed and active. By singling out a single religion, he is attempting to exploit the phobia that already exists in this country towards Muslims — just look at the list of witnesses and ask why he did not call a representative of the FBI to testify, why he did not allow a representative of CAIR to testify and defend that organization against the allegations he was making. In fact, the sheriff who did testify shot him down pretty effectively; just look at the videos.
The problem with the hearing is that it is an old tactic of guilt by association used by Sen. McCarthy and the HUAC in the 50s … red-baiting, red scares have given way to a new boogeyman, which is Islam.
Are there Islamic extremists who want to do us harm? Absolutely. Is it the greatest threat we face? That’s arguable; I’m not sure I accept that premise. There are many other threats as well–but if you demonize an entire religion based on the actions of a few extremists then you are playing right into the hands of guys like Bin Laden who claim that America is at war with Islam and not at war with terrorism. In other words–it is counterproductive.
You don’t deal with specific threats by smearing a group of people whom you are going to have to rely on to tip you off when they come across some shady characters.
It’s also bigotry to assume that the actions of a few individuals represent an entire group. We could just as easily substitute the word ‘Christian’ for Muslim in your post — see Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, the KKK — I could go on.
DKF
@dwg:
You are absolutely spot on, but I expect your trenchant point will be lost on Caz. He (she?) is self-evidently an imbecile with zero capacity for critical thought.
pseudonymous in nc
I think it’s a bit more complicated from that: from all the tales of the time, he really enjoyed being able to go to Belfast and drink pints with the IRA Army Council. He’s very big on soaking up reflected glory, whether from his preferred bunch of “freedom fighters” (in reality, a pack of mobsters operating under dubious political cover) or in bloviating about Teh Muslim Terrah. Zero moral courage.