1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough

Rep. Peter King: Obama Had The ‘Moral’ Responsibility To Oppose NYC Mosque

video
» 47 comments

The last time we saw Republican New York Congressman Peter King, he was playing the Felix to Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s Oscar over aid to 9/11 relief workers. Today he visited Fox News sans sidekick to comment on President Barack Obama‘s support of the lower Manhattan Islamic community center, and while he noted that “nobody is questioning the right” to have it, he would have liked to see more sensitivity over the emotions of the 9/11 victims.

Rep. King argued that the community center was creating a “gaping wound which is being torn open again by Muslim leadership,” and while reiterating several times that the people in charge of the center do have First Amendment rights and should not be legally barred from putting it there, there was a serious gap in sensitivity between the people in charge of the center and the people who live around it or lost loved ones during the September 11th attacks:

“The responsibility here was to meet with the community, meet with the 911 families and realize the sensitivity involved and move the mosque to another location similar to what the Carmelite nuns did at Auschwitz when the Pope intervened and didn’t question the right to have the convent there, but said it was very, very insensitive to the Jews who lost so many millions of people in the Holocaust [more on that here -ed.]“

As for the President’s take, King wasn’t as lenient as the weekend Fox & Friends crew, citing that the only authority the President really has on this issue is “moral” and that he also had the “moral responsibility” to “address what this is going to do to the psyche of so many people.”

The segment from Fox News today below:

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    I might actually listen to what this douchebag had to say if he wasn’t so full of hate on every issue he has ever addressed, including the death of Michael Jackson.

    Fuck Peter King.

  • writer

    BFD accuses someone of being full of hate. LOL

  • BatBoy

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    this douchebag had to say if he wasn’t so full of hate on every issue

    A fitting self description of BFD!

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    “feelings”, “insensitivity”, “psyche”, “moral”, “emotions”, “wound”.

    When the fuck did our feelings start trumping our sacred beliefs?

  • writer

    Sure, BFD may have posted some hateful things, but they’re few and far between. LOL

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Tealiban spokesman Peter King makes an appearance to serve stupidi-tea.

  • writer

    And Bill serves the crumpets to go with it.

  • Azarkhan

    “Fuck Peter King.” BFD

    BFD has a big advantage over Mr. King. No one cares what BFD thinks about anything. Whereas Mr. King has to answer to his constituents, the majority of whom oppose the GZ Mo.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathleen-McKinley/620992945 Kathleen McKinley

    Obama was wrong on this. The owners of the Islamic center say they want to open a door for dialogue. Does anyone think that will happen here? It’s hard to have a dialogue when the voices are drowned out by disrespect. Build the Mosque. Just somewhere else.

    Here is a press release from the 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America Release Statement After Pres. Obama’s Defense of Ground Zero Mosque: http://blogs.chron.com/texassparkle/2010/08/911_families_for_a_safe_strong.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    writer said:
    And Bill serves the crumpets to go with it.

    One lump or two, writer?

  • writer

    BFD thinks?

  • writer

    Bill, crumpets don’t come in lumps.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Kathleen McKinley said:

    Here is a press release from the 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America Release Statement After Pres. Obama’s Defense of Ground Zero Mosque: http://blogs.chron.com/texassparkle/2010/08/911_families_for_a_safe_strong.html

    Aha….so it isn’t just about insensitivity after all, it’s about “safety” too.

    “Building a 15-story mosque at Ground Zero is a deliberately provocative act that will precipitate more bloodshed in the name of Allah. Those who continue to target and kill American civilians and U.S. troops will see it as a symbol of their historic progress at the site of their most bloody victory.”

    We gonna get blowed up real gud if’n we allow this here Mosque-a-doohicky.

    “And now we come to the center of the shrubbery maze” –Family Guy

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    writer said:
    Bill, crumpets don’t come in lumps.

    And we have a winner!!! Thanks for playing!! Tell him what he’s won, Jay!

  • writer

    Bill, is Jay the attendant at the ‘home’ you’re staying in?

  • http://www.pmm.nl Ron C. de Weijze

    “Not a mosque but a multicultural center”. Multiculturalism as long as there is just one culture dominating the Ground, Islam. The best way to destroy the host culture. We have had the same “offer” here in Amsterdam. The sponsors turned out to be Milli Görüş, forbidden in several countries due to connections to terrorist organizations.

  • JimBob

    I think I saw BFD at lunch today. He asked me if I wanted fries
    with my order>

  • writer

    Thanks for the foreign perspective, Ron. In case you’re unfamiliar with the American left, they endlessly mock Christianity, but when it comes to Muslims, they believe in being ‘understanding’.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    JimBob said:
    I think I saw BFD at lunch today. He asked me if I wanted fries
    with my order>

    Wow, a french fry joke on the internet.

    How clever!!!!

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    WE MUST PUT A STOP TO THIS MOSQUE OR WE ARE GONNA GET ATTACKED AGAIN!!!LOLOL!!11!!

    Typical Right-wing fear mongering asshats.

  • Azarkhan

    And Democrats – at least the ones willing to comment at all — could barely contain their frustration over Obama’s remarks Friday night, saying they would further complicate campaign efforts by candidates struggling in an anti-Democratic year, particularly moderates in conservative-leaning districts who already are 2010’s most vulnerable contenders.

    “I would prefer the president be a little more of a politician and a little less of a college professor,” former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.), who once ran the House Democratic campaign arm, wrote in POLITICO’s Arena. “While a defensible position, it will not play well in the parts of the country where Democrats need the most help.”

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41069.html#ixzz0wbucnQEY

  • writer

    See what I mean, Ron?

  • TfT

    Overnight polling on this issue must have been horrendous. Teh One is back tracking already. LOL

    What a clymer…..another vote of “present”….says one thing, hears about it, says something else claiming he never said what he originally said and the left wing media eat it right up and protect him.

  • jk76

    The harder you push against someone’s belief or position, the harder the defense is put up.

    Just dismissing and disrespecting the people against it, they get louder and more resilient. Everyone knows US law will prevail, it’s just a way to express themselves. There’s a large enough contingent of Muslims who will do anything in the world. Look at Europe’s failure in containment. Partly due to population imbalance and partly due to systemic failures. We have 300mil people and many levels of redundancies of law enforcement and judicial system. I don’t see us getting overrun. However there was one Judge who said per Sharia Law a husband can force sex on his wife, even though it’s rape currently. So anything is possible. He was overturned upon appeal.

    Yeah I went off on a tangent there. All are not good, All are not bad….more than enough are bad that we use our Armed Forces against them. Suspicion is wise. The left wingers just see another group they can get to vote for them as well as opposite their traditional foes of Christianity. Islam sees Jesus, not as the messiah, but as a prophet. So maybe not so different.

  • http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

    You can’t assume King Obama has morals , or at least the sensibilities that most people grew up with . His strange upbringing really should be explored on a psychiatrist ‘s couch , not on the world stage . His past and current associations matter . His defenders really have to twist and turn to find a way to explain him . A real workout for them . And Gibbsy could use it .

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Apostrophe jones said:
    You can’t assume King Obama has morals

    “morals” – that’s like “principles,” isn’t it? Strange to hear Peter King talking about either concept. He’s just another gutless POS Republican who’d find a way to criticize Obama even if it were an expressed opinion about paper or plastic.

  • Jelperman

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    “feelings”, “insensitivity”, “psyche”, “moral”, “emotions”, “wound”.

    When the fuck did our feelings start trumping our sacred beliefs?

    This is the same Peter King who supports the Irish Republican Army. I wonder when he’s going to try to stop a Catholic church from being built. Oh that’s right: Blowing up innocent people is OK if you’re white.

  • writer

    And being anti-semitic is okay if you’re black.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    writer said:
    And being anti-semitic is okay if you’re black.

    It is? I call bullshit. Anti-semitism is never ‘okay.’ There are stupid people of all races, stupid doesn’t discriminate.

  • writer

    So when Obama listened to Wright for twenty years and never heard anything untoward, you believed it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Whether he did or not he had the courage to respond in this manner: “I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday… The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church. They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either…. What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for, and what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I’m about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people. …[A]fter seeing Reverend Wright’s performance, I felt as if there was a complete disregard for what the American people are going through and the need for them to rally together to solve these problems. …[W]hatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed, as a consequence of this.”

    But I sense a fear in people like you, and now I recognize it as something I saw in the wonder years of the ’60s. Is that it? George Wallace supporters and their fear of change. Martin Luther King called a communist and worse. It’s becoming more clear now, writer.

  • writer

    Bill, is insulting anyone who disagrees with your politics and calling them a ‘tea bagger’ what you’re referring to by ‘bridging gaps’?

  • Latin2

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    WE MUST PUT A STOP TO THIS MOSQUE OR WE ARE GONNA GET ATTACKED AGAIN!!!LOLOL!!11!!

    Typical Right-wing fear mongering asshats.

    So are you calling the majority of the 9/11 victims “Right-wing fear mongering asshats”? You sure are a POS. The majority of the 9/11 victim families don’t want the mosque built next close to Ground Zero and Liberals are calling them names…you are despicable low lifes.

    Even close to 70% of the American public don’t want it built there. So are you saying that 70% of Americans are right-wingers? You are a just old plain POS idiot.

  • Latin2

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    WE MUST PUT A STOP TO THIS MOSQUE OR WE ARE GONNA GET ATTACKED AGAIN!!!LOLOL!!11!!

    Typical Right-wing fear mongering asshats.

    So are you calling the majority of the 9/11 victims FAMILIES “Right-wing fear mongering asshats”? You sure are a POS. The majority of the 9/11 victim families don’t want the mosque built next close to Ground Zero and Liberals are calling them names…you are despicable low lifes.

    Even close to 70% of the American public don’t want it built there. So are you saying that 70% of Americans are right-wingers? You are a just old plain POS idiot. But then again you have always been a low life piece of sh*t

  • ConLoonPatrol

    Peter King, just another right wing douche bag. They’re all a like. I remember months ago when he went on CNN and literally said (when asked what he wants Obama to do), he said Obama needs “to say the word ‘terror’ more often”.. Yes, he really said that.

  • ConLoonPatrol

    Latin2 said:
    So are you calling the majority of the 9/11 victims FAMILIES “Right-wing fear mongering asshats”? You sure are a POS. The majority of the 9/11 victim families don’t want the mosque built next close to Ground Zero and Liberals are calling them names…you are despicable low lifes. Even close to 70% of the American public don’t want it built there. So are you saying that 70% of Americans are right-wingers? You are a just old plain POS idiot. But then again you have always been a low life piece of sh*t

    Show us the proof they don’t want it there.. and saying Fox said so, doesn’t make it fact.. but either way, show us the proof “most of them don’t want it there”.

    BTW, all religions are alike – f’ked up. The Muslim nuts have as much right to a building / of worship/ community center as do the nutjob christians do.

    What about that don’t you simple-minded-wonders get?

    The ignorance is stunning.

  • Latin2

    ConLoonPatrol said:
    Show us the proof they don’t want it there.. and saying Fox said so, doesn’t make it fact.. but either way, show us the proof “most of them don’t want it there”.

    BTW, all religions are alike – f’ked up. The Muslim nuts have as much right to a building / of worship/ community center as do the nutjob christians do.

    What about that don’t you simple-minded-wonders get?

    The ignorance is stunning.

    lol…it has been all over the news…yes not also on local channels not Fox News. You are really that stupid that you have not been following the news.

    http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=65376

    Here from the Anti-Defamation Leauge;

    http://www.adl.org/PresRele/CvlRt_32/5820_32.htm

  • Jelperman

    writer said:
    So when Obama listened to Wright for twenty years and never heard anything untoward, you believed it.

    Hey asshole, feel free to show any anti-Semitic statements Wright made in church while Obama was there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    writer said:
    Bill, is insulting anyone who disagrees with your politics and calling them a ‘tea bagger’ what you’re referring to by ‘bridging gaps’?

    Writer, is changing the subject and dodging the question what you do when the question hits home?

  • uptownruler

    Conservative republicans are sure scared of a lot of things. BOO!!!!!

  • writer

    Bill, you brought up ‘bridging gaps’. All I did was ask a question about your own statement. Which you didn’t answer.

  • NORBIT

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    “feelings”, “insensitivity”, “psyche”, “moral”, “emotions”, “wound”. When the fuck did our feelings start trumping our sacred beliefs?

    ————————————————————————
    Headline: NY Judge Rules Firefighter’s Test “Unconstitutional” Beacause OUTCOMES Didn’t Meet Racial “Standards”!
    - He acknowledged there was NOTHING Bias in the questions, just the OUTCOME!

    …is that what you mean about SACRED STANDARDS?, BFD??????

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    2007: Rep. Peter King: There are “too many mosques in this country”

  • AngelPeters

    No. Obama didn’t have a “moral” obligation to oppose the mosque. He does have an obligation to up-hold the Constitution.

    That said, he should have just stayed out of it.

  • http://none pyrope

    It’s odd that of all the places to build the mosque, a site 2 blocks from ground zero was chosen, a site, mind you, where there are very few muslims working or residing. The closest potential attendees would have to travel some miles to get to it.

    And where did the money for this prime piece of realestate come from? No one seems to know! What we do know is that taxpayer dollars funded Rauf’s trip abroad so he could brag about this accomplishment.

    Someone remarked in response to an earlier piece about the GZM that choosing this location would be akin to building a German beer garden near the front gates of Auschwitz. I think that’s a fair analogy. There are certain things that simply are not de regueur, and a mosque this close to a site where 3,000 US citizens were murdered by al qaeda terrorists is one of them. So, build your mosque if you’re so inclined but build it somewhere else.

    So, Mr. -0bama has failed on BOTH counts.

    AngelPeters said:
    No. Obama didn’t have a “moral” obligation to oppose the mosque. He does have an obligation to up-hold the Constitution. That said, he should have just stayed out of it.

  • CarmanK

    President Obama is sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States. He said what a national leader needed to say. The people of faith in this country have the right to practice their religion uninhibited by government or individual prejudices. 9/11 is past tense. For 10 years they couldn’t come up with a building or monument to the 9/11 victims because the families/survivors/couldn’t agree on its suitability. The muslim community has a right to build its mosque/community center on private property wherever permitted by law. The community tried to have the mosque stopped by declaring it historical property, when that didn’t work they are trying other stall tactics. The president expressed their right. It is up to the muslim community to determine whether it is appropriate. The community has to decide if they are caving on their rights to freedom of religion and it is worth the additional dollars to move the site and redraw the plans. Or the community has to decide that they too are americans, have a superior right to freedom of religious practice and will pray daily to Allah for the victims of 9/11 . Those are the choices. The enemy takes pleasure in whatever it wishes to make evil. Whether its Jihad by the extremists in the middle east or republicans whose goal for the last 18 months is to make Obama fail to govern. Evil will find a way to demonize and destroy.

  • http://none pyrope

    “Permitted by law” is the real issue. When Bloomberg got enough shakedown money from Rauf, et al, the “law” permitted the mosque project. FOLLOW THE MONEY PEOPLE–follow the money.

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Self-Serve Advertising | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram