Long Island’s Peter King is being criticized by liberals in New York for his response to DHS’s recent report on right-wing extremism. His critics want him to offer an apology for remarks viewed as insensitive or even racist:
In response to a Department of Homeland Security report about domestic right-wing extremism, King (R-Seaford) told MSNBC Friday that the department “has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police.”
For some, it was reminiscent of when King made national headlines in 2007 for saying there are “too many mosques in this country.” Friday’s comments were called “bigoted” by the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
King’s remarks might have been impolitic, but it’s hard to take criticism seriously from a group like CAIR, which devotes itself to squelching free speech rather than combating Muslim extremism (plenty more here). Further, his critics are distorting what King said in an effort to smear him. If you watch the full interview, King shows himself to be generally rather moderate. And he says nothing that he needs to apologize for:
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First, note the exchange that begins around the 1 minute mark, and which extends to around 2:20. King defends Barack Obama’s handling of the Somali pirate situation, and calls upon conservatives not to demonize the President. At the 3 minute mark, he says that Norm Coleman needs to consider ending his challenge in Minnesota. The portion of the interview that has generated ‘controversy’ doesn’t come until around 4:10. Watch the exchange and judge for yourself whether King says anything racist or offensive.
All of this is in the context of the DHS report identifying conservatives as potential terrorists. At the 6:10 mark, King even defends Obama on the matter – saying he does not believe Obama was even aware of the report. Later – at around 7:40 – we get to the quote that King’s political opponents are trying to use against him. He draws an analogy: he characterizes the sort of report DHS might have issued if it were to use the same inflammatory language about Muslims that it did about conservatives. He asserts that if DHS were to issue a report saying that we needed to beware of Mosques and Muslims, ‘there would be hell to pay.’
If King is saying that DHS couldn’t get away with saying the same things about Muslims that it says about conservatives, he’s right. The hysterical and disingenuous reaction in the media demonstrates that. And if he’s suggesting that Muslims in the United States are more likely to pose a terrorist threat than veterans, he’s obviously right. And Janet Napolitano is making a successful terrorist attack more likely when she encourages law-enforcement to direct scarce resources elsewhere.
If you watch the whole segment, King makes all the sense in the world – and he defends Obama every time his name comes up. His political opponents are attempting to manufacture a political controversy because they know that he’s probably the most dangerous candidate Republicans can field in a statewide race in New York, and they want to damage him.
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
"Situational Awareness"
Dan McLaughlin (Diary) Monday, April 20th at 7:58PM EST (link)Isn’t that another term for “profiling”?
“No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong.” – Winston Churchill
Walking on eggs
clifwest Monday, April 20th at 8:05PM EST (link)Why are the American people walking on eggs trying to please the left-wing Liberals? What magic do these people have that makes the media slither around like snakes in the grass protecting them regardless of what they say or do? So far as I am concerned, once Obama became President, he left the Democratic Party and became everyone’s President, or he should be. If he is still being led around by the nose by the Liberal power brokers, then he is the Liberals’ President and not mine. I have been a registered Democrat for fifty-four years and always a Conservative. President Bush was my President and I watched for eight tedious years while the Liberals tore him apart and the American people allowed it to happen. Not once did I ever feel that he was doing what he was doing for personal gain. Every Liberal is doing what he or she is for personal gain which is counter to what the politicians were sent to Congress to do. The Administration was elected to do what it could to preserve our heritage and Constitiion, not destroy them, but, for some reason, this is just what they seem to be doing. It turns my stomach to hear Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid speak knowing they are so consumed with themselves that they could care less about our nation and what it stands for, they just want as much of the taxpayers’ money as they can get their hands on and it’s all for our own good. The Liberals are playing the American people for fools thinking only they are the smart ones and the rest of us are cannon fodder. If I had to choose between Janet Napolitano and an American veteran, I would keep the American veteran and show Napolitano the door, any door, and drop kick her through it. The American people will wake up when the Liberals take over the internet and monitor everyone’s life and activity. Nazi Germany would be proud of them, that’s how it got started in the 1930s.
I think it's time to bring the Liberalism label
DaBoogieMan Monday, April 20th at 9:30PM EST (link)up to date. The younger generation cannot relate to Liberalism, Socialism, or Socialist. These kids have been brainwashed into having other people think for them and are made to believe equality is the only answer to life’s challenges. PC BS!
These people need to be called out for who they are. I’m not good at name calling, but I’m sure someone can think of a catchy name. Something like:
POD – Party of Death
Unholy Rollers
1% ‘ers (Actual brain % they use)
politically correct
Michael DeWeese (Diary) Monday, April 20th at 9:45PM EST (link)the death of truth in communication
Brain Dead Republican
They are hysterical and "intentionally" misleading about what Rep. King said
robmikpet (Diary) Monday, April 20th at 10:14PM EST (link)He was basically saying that if the threat of “right wing extremism” REQUIRED a report to be written to bring awareness to the threat (as Napolitano said) where is the report about the “real” threat posed by people who once lived in the US and flew airplanes into buildings. The disappearing Somali’s muslims in Mich., etc.
Or a report was issued with no evidence to back up the claims and no report was written about a real threat. He was just pointing out contradiction on a massive scale.
CAIR are a bunch of professional victims who would make it illegal to even criticize them, just Google Mark Steyn and Canadian civil rights. CAIR and the other names these types of groups go by have started doing this in other countries. Criticize them and face prosecution.
They are un-American becasue this is not how the first Amendment works.