A Low Point For This Nation

Peter King is a Congressman from suburban New York. A working class guy who grew up in Queens, King is an Irishman, and a guy with strong opinions. Sometimes, King is very sane, as he was in fighting for health benefits for 9/11 First Responders. Sometimes, he's not, as he is on all things Islamic.

I try not to judge New Yorkers on their personal reactions to 9/11. I love an hour from the city, and know people who became both very hawkish, and very dovish, in their reactions to those events. I don't pretend to judge their reactions, because these events happened in their own "backyards," they're entitled to emotionally react however they want. I do expect their leaders to react like leaders though when it comes to dealing with Muslim-Americans going forward. You're a Congressman, act like one.

This is the trouble with Peter King's Congressional hearings tomorrow on the "radicalization of Islam" in America. King says 85% of Mosques are radicalized at this point. He seems to imply that a majority of Muslims are either sympathetic or indifferent to our enemies who wish to attack Americans here. He pushes the false belief that the Islamic religion, rather than nationalities, economics, and affiliations, is the chief driver of terrorism amongst people who happen to be Muslim. He singles out a particular religion as having a terrorism problem, even as white, Judeo-Christian men have recently attempted to blow up a MLK Day Parade in Spokane, Washington, and shot a Congresswoman in Arizona. Did anyone hold similar hearings about Christianity after the Timothy McVeigh bombing of the Oklahoma City building? No. King, without any facts or numbers, is seeking to stir bigotry and fear, and single out people who in many cases have nothing to do with radical Islam. This is something not seen since the days of Joe McCarthy's Witch-Hunt for communists throughout our nation.

And this "McCarthyism" will be called out today. Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) intends to call King out in his own hearing for being racist. Congressmen Dingell and Ellison will testify at the hearings about the real issues. Many in the media have called out King's past support of the IRA, a known terrorist group. This behavior is despicable.

King will have his hearing, and we'll all be worse for it. His Republican colleagues will play along, and their soundbites will appear on FOX for all the hillbillies out there who think Muslims want to attack their double-wide to see. Busy suburbanites who don't have time to read blogs like this, and much more substantive ones, will only hear the soundbites about how "radical" Islam is in America. In short, it will serve as a way to get the wrong message across. Peter King's hearings are the new McCarthyism, whether we all like it or not.