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Arianna Huffington, formerly a Republican, credits her shift in political views to colleagues Al Franken and Robert Scheer. Before her change in ...
Read more about By Arianna Huffington, Tribune Media Services.
Arianna Huffington, formerly a Republican, credits her shift in political views to colleagues Al Franken and Robert Scheer. Before her change in ...
Read more about By Arianna Huffington, Tribune Media Services.
Gop Rep. Slimes Obama; John Mccain Fails Leadership Test
By Arianna Huffington, Tribune Media Services
The rank and unrepentant racism of GOP Rep. Steve King has presented
John McCain with his first test of leadership since securing the
Republican nomination. And he's failing miserably.
Faced with King's vile and imbecilic assertion that "the optics" of a Barack Obama presidency would encourage "the radical Islamists" -- and that al-Qaida "will be dancing in the streets" if Obama wins -- McCain had a spokesman tell Fox News that McCain "doesn't agree with King's comments," and offer the toothless bromide: "He intends to run a respectful race and keep it about the issues."
"Doesn't agree"? That's the strongest response he is willing to offer? Where is the unequivocal repudiation? Where is the insistence that terrorism is a real threat this country is facing and should not be toyed with for repugnant partisan attacks?
McCain's half-hearted tsk-tsking is all the more inadequate given King's defiant "I'm right" defense of his comments and his assertion that voters "should be looking at" Obama's middle name because "there is an implication that the identity that (terrorists) would infer in that name is different in the rest of the world than it is in the United States. . . . Our enemies will view this differently, and I think that's something we should be looking at."
So our enemies will see that Obama's middle name is Hussein and . . . what exactly? Hate us even more? See it as a green light for a new wave of attacks? Not only are King's ravings offensive -- they are head-scratchingly moronic. But the best McCain can do is not agree?
It's worth noting that this is not an isolated instance of King's saying despicable and idiotic things. Here is a rancid sampling of his previous claims to shame:
King said the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib amounted to little more than "hazing"; compared immigrants to "livestock" in proposing an electrified fence for the Southern border; refused to vote for an innocuous House resolution commending the Muslims on the Ramadan holiday; released a "report" baselessly claiming that undocumented immigrants have murdered more Americans than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002; praised Joe McCarthy as "a great American hero"; argued that the civilian violent death rate in Washington, D.C., is actually higher than it is in Iraq; was one of only 11 lawmakers to vote against emergency relief funds for Hurricane Katrina victims; and, after the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed, said derisively that Zarqawi was now at a place where there are 72 virgins who "probably all look like Helen Thomas."
This is the kind of inflammatory blather we have come to expect from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage. But this is a member of the United States Congress.
This speaks volumes about the grimy reality of today's Republican Party, where the lunatic fringe has become the mainstream.
We saw the same fear-mongering approach in 2004, when other congressional Republicans tried to paint a John Kerry presidency as a boon to terrorists.
Like Orrin Hatch, who claimed that the terrorists "are going to throw everything they can between now and the election to try and elect Kerry."
Or then-Speaker Denny Hastert, who said that al-Qaida would be more successful under a Kerry administration.
Rep. King has thrown an additional log on the fire: racial and religious bigotry. But straight-talking John McCain can muster no more than a once-removed "doesn't agree." This is leadership at its most pusillanimous.
When Democratic Rep. Pete Stark angrily responded to President Bush's veto of the SCHIP bill by suggesting that soldiers were being sent to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement," Republicans reacted with outrage and put forth a resolution calling for his censure -- and Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked his comments as "inappropriate."
King's comments are much, much worse than "inappropriate" -- indeed they are in a loathsome league of their own. So where is the call for King's censure -- or the condemnation from the leaders of his party?
The time has come for the public to demand more from our elected representatives, and for John McCain and the GOP hierarchy to do more -- a lot more -- than "not agree" with the un-American, hate-filled spews of Steve King.
Either Congress stands for something or it doesn't. If it does, King should be formally reprimanded. If it doesn't, nothing could more dramatically prove the need for cleaning out the congressional stables.
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Arianna Huffington's e-mail address is arianna@huffingtonpost.com.
This news arrived on: 03/13/2008
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Posted Comments:
03-14-2008 10:51
speachless wrote:
McCain and King
McCain is to old to lead this country, he is just another Bush. We think 3 trillion dollars is bad. Watch what happens if he gets in office. King needs to be removed from his office by the voters of his state, I know he would be here in my state for making comments like that. We would say loud and clear "Your Fired". I see the democrats as strong and the republicans as same o same o. Been there, done that is what the republicans stand for. The democrats stand for change and it is about time. The reason that the terrorists want the democrats in office is because they see all of America as weak, we have a republican President and we are still looked at as weak. So it does not matter to them who is in office. Look at out dollar-falling daily, oil rising daily-that is how they will hurt this country, not by an election, but by the greedy, oil rich, terrorist people in power now. You really need to read overseas news, it is so different from what we get here, here the media is just interested in Brittany Spears or anyone just like her. Who Cares? I do not. I care about our country and what we stand for in our constitution. We need to get back to the basics of life and let the rest of world handle there own problems, we have too many problems in this country that need fixing. If you do not like your Congressman/woman tell them "Your Fired" by voting them out and putting someone in who will do the job they are being paid for, not what the lobbists want them to do, but what we voted them into office to do.
03-14-2008 09:30
JK wrote:
Obama
Obama is running for persident the gloves are off. Being Black dosn't come with immunity from attack. If he wasn't Black he would not be in the lead. Is that Racism?
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