Sometimes It's Hard To Distinguish Between Steve King And Peter King

Long Island's terrorist-supporter and racist Peter King has long been fair game here at DWT. The man practically begs for it; he's never meeting a war that he didn’t like. His deranged crusade for the terrorists he likes, and his misguided attacks on the terrorists he hates with McCarthy-esque witch trial hearings against Muslim-Americans.

But what makes King particularly repugnant is his brash, combative nature in the way he defends his asinine views. We have nothing against politicians with strong convictions but we'd like those convictions based on reality, not bigotry and ignorance. King and reality have had a very touch-and-go relationship. Check out one of his Facebook posts from earlier this week, which as of this writing has 5,008 likes and 2,336 shares. Easily the most liked and favorited post King has ever written. Take a look:

“It’s time to stop the barrage of attacks against the NYPD and show some sense of justice and perspective.

It’s also time to stop listening to Al Sharpton-- at least until he pays the judgement from the Tawana Brawley case.

The reality is that the NYPD is the best in the world and has made NYC the safest big city in America-- among other things reducing murders by 75% and preventing numerous terrorist attacks.

Most importantly, NYPD policies in the past 20 years have saved the lives of thousands of New Yorkers of all races and ethnic backgrounds and improved the quality of life in all communities and neighborhoods.

The NYPD has achieved more justice for more people than Al Sharpton could ever imagine.

Let’s not join a liberal rush to judgement.”

For those of you unfamiliar with what King is writing about, let me give you the context. On July 17, Eric Garner, a black, 350 pound man who was asthmatic, was allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes on a street corner in Staten Island. He had just broken up a street fight when a plainclothes police officer from the NYPD approached him. In violation of NYPD policy, the officer put Garner in a chokehold for what he deemed to be resisting arrest. Garner later died from the choking, and the New York City Medical Examiner last week deemed his death a homicide.

Now onto King’s post itself: he is trying to make the tragic death of Eric Garner a divisive partisan issue by labeling calls for justice a "liberal rush to judgment."

It isn’t, and it shouldn’t be. And by labeling it as such, King is guilty of the same "rush to judgment" and gross generalizations which he himself condemns. This tragedy has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. King is being intellectually dishonest at best, and at worst, appealing to the lowest common dominator and our Neanderthal instincts by playing willfully divisive identity politics for the sake of getting votes. Peter King/Steve King.

What does Al Sharpton have to do with it except as a symbol of King's reflexive racism? Or is Sharpton asthmatic too? He and his 3 decades old controversy are irrelevant to the tragedy that transpired, and King-- an expert at this-- is using him as a red herring to distract from getting to the truth and the facts.

Needless to say, this rhetoric riles up King’s dwindling base at a time when his district was just redrawn eastward to include more diverse-- Democratic-- areas, basically only giving Republicans a 1% registration advantage. Also, considering that King has faced a barrage of criticism from libertarians and principled conservatives over the past year by calling Edward Snowden a traitor and defending the national security-military-industrial complex, this was his version of a political masterstroke, throwing red meat to the base when he needed it most.

King has a habit of calling things that he disagrees with "liberal" to delegitimize them, whether it be with this, his deranged jihad against Muslim-Americans or the way he still uses Newsday as a punching bag, even after it was taken over by Cablevision and begna endorsing him and pushing a corporate agenda.

Part of King’s schtick is a Chris Christie mini-me routine-- acting all tough and macho, appearing to be man of the people. Again, a clash with reality that isn't borne out by his voting records. If you can stand to, watch the video of King in action in this made-for-YouTube clip:



From Talking Points Memo:

A video posted to the YouTube account of Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has sparked an investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service into why a videographer accompanying the New York Republican was allowed to film inside private residences against a federal policy.

Shortly after noon on Tuesday, a tweet from King's account linked to an eight minute video of a ride-along with a "fugitive task force" including U.S. marshals on Monday. It showed King, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, joining police as they broke down doors and arrested a suspected fugitive. The video carried the logo of the "Manhunters" reality TV show and featured one of its stars, marshals commander Lenny DePaul.

…Criminal defense attorney Bruce Barket, from King's home area of Long Island, N.Y., watched the unedited video, which TPM obtained from King's YouTube page before it was removed, and said it could be a problem for law enforcement, particularly since it was edited.

"It turns out maybe more often than not that the camera is not the policeman's friend, so I find it curious that agents would say, come along, witness congressman, and bring your video crew so you can observe us engaging in whatever conduct we're engaging in," Barket said. "The fact that they've edited some raises some questions about what they were doing."

He also said it's almost unheard of to have somebody of the congressman's profile tagging along with a fugitive task force.

"Somebody accompanying them is rare," Barket said. "Somebody accompanying them with a video camera is very rare."

Barket also questioned King's attire. "Why was he wearing a police coat and a badge?" he said. "I'm just searching for a legitimate reason why he'd be wearing a badge and a coat like that. If you did it, you'd be arrested for impersonating a police officer."

King's accompanying camera crew may not fit the traditional definition of "press," but a Justice Department policy written long before handheld video devices and YouTube banned media ride-alongs during search and arrest warrant raids. The 1993 DOJ policy was instituted after a cameraman tipped off a mailman who was also a Branch Davidian about the upcoming and subsequently famous raid in Waco, as Politico's Josh Gerstein wrote in 2009. The subsequent raid and siege left 76 members of the Branch Davidians and four agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) dead.

Granted, this video is an extreme example. King certainly doesn’t ride along with the marshals and film their exploits, impersonate police officers, and break down doors on a daily basis. But you wouldn't be far off if you bet that King would do this all the time if he could. Maybe he has a uniform fetish. But he definitely has a reality problem-- and an ego problem. And that ego needs to be checked come Election Day. Too bad Steve Israel has given him a free pass to reelection again this year and refuses to allow the DCCC to back Democrat Pat Maher, King's opponent.