WASHINGTON — It’s not that King’s Muslim McCarthy-esque hearings are historic or “a first.” It’s that with the foundation of King’s anti-Muslim history and statements, which include the Cordoba House, King’s agenda has been clear from the start.
As Rep. Keith Ellison hinted today, this hearing could potentially put America in more danger and inspire more suicide bombers, and in a passionately emotional statement (seen at the end of the video above), Mr. Ellison proved the insanity and prejudice of Mr. King.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee pointing out that King’s agenda aids Al Qaeda caused a clash with the chairman, but it was a point well made.
Rep. King also denied requests for members to make opening statements, including Jackson, shutting down any discourse that takes his McCarthyism on. Then King allowed a conservative Republican from Virginia to speak instead. As did King, Rep. Frank Wolf was defensive about those Muslims who were law abiding, good Americans, then went on to reveal the fishing expedition King is on, suggesting that people don’t think extremism and “homegrown terrorism” could happen in the U.S.
If this country still had leaders of courage, Rep. King would have begun his Muslim McCarthyism today without a single member of the House beside him.
In his opening statement, Islamic radicalism was intoned just before Rep. Peter King invoked the coming ten-year anniversary of 9/11. However, he never once mentioned that the men involved were from Saudi Arabia, hatching their plot partially in Germany.
McCarthyism in the face of no evidence of a specific Islamist terrorist plot is no virtue.
Cenk Yugur of the Young Turks, along with Carl Bernstein, made powerful statements on MSNBC, with Cenk rejecting the hearings and calling them un-American, which can be found here in video. Cenk saying “my family’s Muslim” drawing attention to King’s wildly prejudicial focus.
Speaking second, after King said the trouble wasn’t neo-Nazism or any other group, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi reminded him that a white man was just charged yesterday in the attempted bombing during a parade on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Kevin William Harpham, who reportedly has links to a neo-Nazi group, was arrested by FBI agents and local law enforcement Wednesday morning at his home near Addy, a community of about 1,400 people roughly 55 miles northwest of Spokane. – Seattle Times
Peter King has shamed the House of Representatives and this country.
Would Mr. King look into the radically fanatical Right who hunt doctors providing women with legal reproductive services?
Would he dare investigate militias and the over 1,000 hate groups arming because of some dread of doom dancing in their heads?
It’s also as if the domestic terrorism tragedy of Tucson didn’t happen.
Using the same tactics as McCarthy, with our representatives’ defensiveness revealing their shame, King’s witchhunt reveals the ugly American that lives in fear of their own shadow.
Rep. King’s open history of association with the I.R.A., a terrorist organization, reveals what today is really about. Unconcerned about neo-Nazis or white supremacists, even Christian radicals who hunt doctors and put women in danger, King makes it clear that Christians aren’t the same as Muslims and that we need to be on alert, watching what Muslims do.
As the Middle East discovers freedom, King can only see fear. In the shadows of what is going on in the Mideast, Rep. King’s McCarthyism reveals a horribly paranoid and bigoted turn on to a dangerous path for this country.
That it’s being allowed to happen in what is traditionally called the people’s House reveals what Republican leadership represents today. Rep. King represents the worst of America, but unfortunately has too many people behind him from the Republican Party supporting his Muslim McCarthyism, so that he can preen self-righteous duty in the face of his driving prejudice.
Taylor Marsh is a political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog, which includes updates.