The Republican National Committee recently conducted an?online straw poll?identifying 32 candidates who could get its nomination in the 2016 presidential race. Each of the 32 has quite a questionable history, though, that contrasts with the GOP’s consistent claim of it being the ?moral? option for voters.
Philander, racism, thievery, bribery, and combinations of these and other?sins?are?found across the slate, in fact.?In this series on the 32 potential candidates (updated every other day), Liberal America will offer a quick rundown on the hypocrisy clouding each one’s ?holier than thou? claims.
Peter King
U.S. Representative from New York
If you’re not familiar with Rep. Peter T. King from Long Island, New York, don’t sweat it; even Sen. Ted Cruz recently said he never heard of the guy. Cruz was being sarcastic, though, because he and other Tea Party ?patriots? are the frequent target of attacks from King, who says that faction of the GOP is ?dangerous to the country.?
But even the Tea Party can’t hold a candle to King’s radical, far-right views, however. And that’s why all should familiarize themselves with this guy ? who’s known as ?America’s new McCarthy? ? as soon as possible. He defends the Big Brother-type surveillance conducted by the NSA, for example, claiming its recent scandals only make the need to closely monitor American citizens more evident. In 2009, he defended operation of Guantanamo, challenging President Obama’s order to shutdown the makeshift military prison, and by claiming Gitmo detainees are treated ?far better than most American prisoners in the U.S. jails and prisons I’ve inspected? and ?are treated too well,? he emphasized in an op/ed to the New York Post. King consistently attacks the First Amendment for its protection of the press, as well, and once even called for the arrest of The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, who King baselessly alleged would release names of CIA agents (which Greenwald swears he couldn’t do even if he wanted). In a rather hypocritical stance, though, for almost 40 years has he openly associated with persons in Northern Ireland whom the CIA classifies as terrorists.
Quite the xenophobe, King told Politico that ?there are too many mosques in the country,? and said to another media (if that’s what you want to call Fox News, that is) that ?80 to 85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists.? As head of the House Homeland Security Committee, in 2011 he began radicalization hearings geared towards declaring the Muslim faith to be supportive of terrorism. Other congressman criticized the venture as ?McCarthyistic,? calling it a ?witch hunt.?
And just like many career politicians, King is known for ?you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours? arrangements. For example, in August 2006 he took donation from the CEO of a company that made special manhole covers; six months later he requested federal funding for purchase of that company’s products, even though they’d been largely criticized and rejected by many cities. In 2008 he successfully got federal funding for a small defense contractor, and then immediately began receiving large donations from the company and its executives. (The same ADSI company that got the contract even gave King an award at its annual dinner that year.)
He’s already twice declared intentions to run for the GOP nomination in the 2016 race, too, claiming a chief goal would be to stifle the potential campaigns of other Republicans who he thinks don’t fall under his Big Brother mentality, including Rand Paul as well as Ted Cruz, who King has publicly referred to as ?crazy.? (See that in The Young Turks video below.)
Visit Liberal America for future updates on?the other?GOP 2016 hopefuls.
What’s your take on these?hypocritical Republicans? State your case on?Liberal America’s Facebook?page.
See previous posts on GOP 2016 hopefuls:
Kelly Ayotte??|?Haley Barbour?|??John Bolton?| ?Jeb Bush?|?Hermain Cain? |?Ben Carson?|??Chris Christie??| ?Ted Cruz??|?Mitch Daniels??| ?Newt Gingrich??| ?Nikki Haley?|?Mike Huckabee?|??Bobby Jindal?| John Kasich |
