Peter King Is Not Sorry

Partisan politics is a funny thing. Yes, critics of Rep. Peter King, the Republican spearheading congressional hearings on Muslim radicalism, are most certainly right about his past support for Irish Republican Army terrorists and their Sinn Fein front men. But isn't there something amusing about The Nation and The Guardian­—two publications not previously known for their hostility to violent Fenianism—giving King a rough time for supporting the IRA? (Mother Jones has had quite a bit to say on King's support for the IRA, though a quick look through the magazine's archives suggest that it's the first they have heard of the group).

Or how about King's Republicans apologists: Do they recall his characterization of the party's stance on organized labor as a "Southern, anti-union attitude that appeals to the mentality of hillbillies at revival meetings"? And here is King publically fretting about the militia movement: "There is no place in our society for gangs of armed wackos who threaten the government and scare the hell out of everybody." Sounds like a quote from a member of the UUP, doesn't it? And wait until Glenn Beck finds out that Gerry Adams is a socialist!

There are a few King quotes in circulation, recycled and repeated in every story about his previous support for armed republicanism (of the Irish variety), though no one has dug up a transcript of his debate with brave former IRA member-turned-supergrass Sean O'Callaghan, who King compared to Benedict Arnold (and Adams to George Washington). Nor has it been pointed out that after the IRA's famously savage 1985 attack on the Newry RUC barracks, which even they admitted was deserving of criticism, King issued a statement reaffirming his support for the terrorist group.

But it is often argued that he rethought his position on the IRA—and the morality and efficacy of murdering political opponents—after the 9/11 attacks; a line King's Republican apologists have uncritically accepted. After the gruesome 2005 murder of Robert McCartney, in which IRA knuckle draggers beat and stabbed the father of two to death in a Belfast pub, King warned those outraged by the savage attack against a "rush to be too sanctimonious." And now The Guardian writes that "the congressman dismisses attempts to draw a parallel between IRA and al-Qaida, arguing that the IRA never carried out attacks on US soil, and that his only loyalty was to the US," though curiously fails to provide a quote from King.

In other words, he's not sorry for supporting the IRA. So while his committee recounts heart-wrenching stories of victims of Islamic terrorism, I offer to loan King my copy of Lost Lives, a detailed account of how every victim of "the Troubles" died and who was responsible for their murder.

Comments

[I can help you]

Do any of you believe that King's little meeting amounts to anything other than a pointless and toothless diversion, already superseded by today's events?

[confused]

not so confused anymore

[Woodrow]

If the UK feel so strongly about the IRA being terrorists, why did they basically appease them? I will say this: unlike Islam's blaming of Christianity and the West for every thing thats went wrong with their societies since the Middle Ages, the Irish really were exploited by the British.

[prolefeed]

As someone who had Irish ancestors who likely were oppressed by the British, I say this: The IRA is despicable, and so is supporting those violent thugs.

I'll shed no tears if King gets booted out of office in two years, preferably in the primary, preferably by a large margin.

[Ted S.]

My mother is of Southern Irish descent, and the woe-is-me oppressed group mentality of Southern-Irish-Americans makes that the one group I feel bigoted against.

There's a part of me that wants to go around on St. Patrick's Day wearing a T-shirt that reads "26 [in green] + 6 [in orange] = 1 [in the Union Jack motif]", just to piss off the Southern Irish.

[dbcooper]

The yanks who think they're oppressed Irishman are the worst people in America. Just shitheads.

[Moldering Teddy]

Leave my family alone. We've suffered enough.

[PantsFan]

which member of the Bennett family are you?

[Ted S.]

My mom's only part Irish, on her mother's side. Her father's side were either Dutch or Belgian Protestant types who emigrated to New Netherlands in the 17th century.

Both of my dad's parents were born in Bavaria, so when I think of "the old country", I think of Bavaria.

[Hazel Meade]

Having heard some family legends, I am torn between the tantilizing possibility of having been related to some IRA members (primarily of the '20s and '60s variety), and ... not giving a shit.

Rebelling against British rule of Ireland should be separated from wanting to control parts of the Island that are majority protestant and want to stay parts of the UK, though.

It's totally reasonable to find the 1916-1921 IRA admirable, but hate the subsequent versions.

[Ahem]

If the UK feel so strongly about the IRA being terrorists, why did they basically appease them?

After several hundred years of killing rebellious colonial residents in the Americas, India, Africa, the Middle East, and even going to war over pointless possessions like the Falkland Islands, and finally running out the lease on Hong Kong, it did make sense to try a diplomatic approach. History says they're going to lose it eventually, so why not avoid some bloodshed? And as bad as things may have been in Ireland, they never had the stomach to be as brutal to the Irish as they were in Africa or South Asia.

It's also worth mentioning that the current map of the Middle East was mostly drawn up by the UK, and that several of the current trouble spots (Israel, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan) were under British control after WWI, not to mention prior meddling in Afghanistan and Pakistan and loads of other places.

[rather]

Both Clinton and Tony Blair both thanked King for his support during the peace accords

[Spazmo]

Use periods, asshole.

[rather]

No, OCD prick

[No Surrender]

Appease them? We beat them. Made the Provos come crawling and begging for peace. The greatest terrorist organisation in the history of the world, and we kicked their Fenian arses. At the end half the Army Council was touting for MI5 and the rest couldn't so much as scratch their balls without the RUC knowing about it. Know why Gerry Adams is now a TD in the Republic; because he knows it'll be a cold day in Hell before there's a "United Ireland". The Troubles are over, and the good guys won.

[AU H2O]

When I saw the title, I assumed that this post would concern NFL journalist Peter King, who still refuses to apologize for his horrible column.

Seriously, coffee nerdness? I hope that the entire NBC Sunday Night Football studio team is disemboweled in a fire.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And I momentarily misread it as Perry King, one half of the California private eye team from TV's Riptide. How much longer am I going to have to wait for an apology for that show? The 80's didn't need another Stephen J. Cannell paint-by-numbers vehicle.

Peter King's hearings are exactly the kind of thing the he hopes will appeal to a base that is going to vote Republican anyway.

[wylie]

I misread it as Pat King, and so was completely unsurprised at a troll being unrepentant.

[Crusader Rabbit]

I didn't misread it all. But I thought it meant Peter King is just a sorry excuse for a legislator.

[Ted S.]

Seriously, coffee nerdness? I hope that the entire NBC Sunday Night Football studio team is disemboweled in a fire.

I'd settle for Mike Floria and Theclassytonydungy.

[Rrabbit]

Peter King is a journalist? I thought he is a comedian, and for example intentionally makes absurd predictions for NFL games.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

The IRA might be terrorists, but at least they're *our* terrorists. Likewise, Mubarak might have been a dictator, but at least he was *our* dictator. American exceptionalism: "we make exceptions when our actions violate our own claimed values in order to get the things we want done."

[Hazel Meade]

So, anyway, I saw the film 'Four Lions' last night. The black comedy about a bunch of radicalized British muslims who set out to become mujahideen.

Fucking brilliant. At times, the dialouge is hard to follow cause the characters tend to talk really fast, and have thick accents. Thick, British, accents, that is. (Which makes it funnier.)

But if you can catch everything they're saying, it's pretty much non-stop hilarity.

Sample dialogue:
"You're worse than the specially trained rapists they use in Guantanamo."

[zoltan]

Seconded. That movie was hilarious and cringe-inducing (in a good way).

[cynical]

You forgot his wish to turn every Congressperson into a roving anti-bill-of-rights zone after the Giffords shooting. What an asshole.

[Notre Dame]

What's so terrible about the IRA is they did all of this stuff totally unprovoked against the pacifist British Empire which so gently colonized Ireland for centuries!

[John Bull]

British Empire which so gently colonized civilized Ireland for centuries!

FIFY

[Cytotoxic]

+1

[Spazmo]

He was being sarcastic, you know.

[affenkopf]

Coercion is coercion no matter the alleged noble motive.

[Les]

Silly me, I thought they did "all of this stuff" to lots of innocent people.

Like, um, you know, scumbag terrorists.

[dbcooper]

As I've said before in other threads, does this buffoon Peter King actually know that the IRA killed a young American in London with their Harrods bombing?

What a shithead.

[kbolino]

Real Americans never leave the United States.

[kbolino]

Meant as reply to dbcooper.

[Multi-cultural]

So much for all the soldiers overseas then heh?

[JLE]

Sinn Fein doesn't run on a platform even remotely related to the IRA's radical agenda of the 70s and hasn't for decades. It did have strong connections in the past, but it is a far different party now. They were the only ones who really argued in the Dail about bringing crooked bankers to justice, and they were also the only ones defending Ireland's interests by standing against the Lisbon Treaty (which the country made people vote *twice* on to get passed). There's no glamor to it, just politics.

Even the IRA doesn't kill people anymore; there's been a long held ceasefire. The REAL IRA (RIRA)is the more violent offshoot/paramilitary group. They're nuts. And Sinn Fein has nothing to do with them.

[Peter Bagge]

Great post, Michael.

[chrispy]

I almost have to give this guy credit for his consistency. No matter where he goes or what he does, he's always 100% lacking in principle.

[Almanian]

Peter King's a duplicitous cunt stain? FILM AT ELEVEN!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn....next.

[Just Dropping By]

"Extremism in persecution of Muslims is no vice." -- Rep. Peter King

[JT]

I wouldn't quite compare the IRA, even its violent days, to al-Qaida. They don't kill everyone. They're about the same as Hamas, though, and a good bit worse than the ever-present Muslim Brotherhood.

[Max]

The one thing you can say about you doctrinaire libertarian assholes--you are as fucking consistent as the Baltimore Catechism. Of course, so are doctrinaire assholes of all political persuasions.

[visitingfromtheleft]

I googled Michael C. Moynihan and found an alarming absence of criticism for the IRA.

Honestly, this site is really going down hill all around.

[Bill]

Peter Hitchens once pointed out the difference between the IRA and ANC - the IRA had a democratic process to work through and didn't need to use violence.

[Bill]

Not that I like citing Mr. Hitchens, but he was right on that one.
Good post.

[DHamre]

Thanks for the research, Michael. BTW - Do you have a link for the Newry statement?

One more King quote that should be in circulation, this from a 1987 NYT interview: "Mr. King insists he has never helped the I.R.A. raise gun money or "gloated" over their killings. He adds that such violence would be an accepted part of most other revolutionary movements."

Double-quotes around 'gloated' in the original, so this is presumably King's own wording.

What a thug. The interview was roughly 3-years after the Harrods and Brighton hotel bombings. It will be good to see him gone.

Link to the above: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08.....lster.html

[Multi-cultural]

He is still condeming peaceful Muslim Americans to mistreatment by the state. It is the 1960's again, where they haul in suspected communist sympathizers before the courts with no actual grounds to do so. So much for the greatest nation in the world. These extreme partisan politcs are damaging the sustainability of America.

[Montana]

Why doesn't this Peter T. King investigate the "Home Grown" radicalization of Irish Americans, who support the tradition wing of the IRA (Irish Republican Army), or Noraid (The Irish Northern Aid Committee), and being recruited by "Enemy Overseas" or worse "Enemy Overseas" the "Catholic Church ", where they radicalize the priests into raping our young American boys, what about that you hypocrite scumbag.

Peter King is a hypocrite, he supported the terrorist group IRA, who killed innocent British people, but hey I guess that was OK, right? Killing innocent people is OK, as long as they are not born is the United States, yup that sounds about right. I guess Jesus Christ would give all you extra points for that, NOT!

No, there are no dancing in the street when Catholics hear about a pedophile priest, but there has been a concerted effort to Deny, Deflect, Defend this "Enemy Overseas" the "Catholic Church ", I don't even think you could deny that fact. What would Jesus Christ, say about this so called Church, I have a few thoughts myself.