What Peter has wrought

Washington Times on their Inside the Beltway page for September 24th opened with this Correction:
"Due to erroneous information from Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican"

More to come!

King tries to re-write history

King simply can't tell the truth. That would be the truth that is unimpeachable. Of course he has his own version of the truth which he most whole-heartedly believes in. King was arguing with Rep. Charles Rangel about the economy on WNBC September 5th and threw out this gem to support his argument that Bush is doing good things with the economy; "Unemployment is down, lower now than what it was when Bill Clinton ran in 1996."

Now let's deconstruct this. Bill Clinton was running for re-election in 1996. He had since 1993 to work on the economy. The jobs situation placed in context demolishes King's argument. Clinton came into office with a 7.5% unemployment rate. By the time he ran for re-election in 1996, the unemployment rate was 5.4%. That would be a 2.1% DECREASE in the unemployed. By the time Clinton left office, the unemployment rate was 4%.

Now let's look at Bush's record. He inherited Clinton's 4%. By 2003, the unemployment rate was 6%. That is a 2% INCREASE. Of course King and the other Bush apologists will invoke 9/11 and say it's all the terrorists fault. That cheap excuse won't wash. Sure there were job losses after 9/11 in he airline industry and business in NYC. That does not account for a 2% increase in unemployment. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing fast and it isn't Osama bin Laden's fault. The unemployment rate has gone down this year in drips and drabs not because more people are working but because they are not applying for unemployment benefits. PLUS the Bush administration has re-classified burger flipping jobs as "manufacturing jobs." Putting the numbers in context, unemployment steadily INCREASED under Bush while it steadily DECREASED under Clinton. King tries to pull a fast one whenever the economy comes up and he should be called on his lies.

Here are the numbers:
1990 - 5.6
1991 - 6.8
1992 - 7.5
1993 - 6.9
1994 - 6.1
1995 - 5.6
1996 - 5.4
1997 - 4.9
1998 - 4.5
1999 - 4.2
2000 - 4
2001 - 4.7
2002 - 5.8
2003 - 6

Pete is Geographically Challanged

Now we all know that Peter King is rather slow-witted and quite frankly doesn't know much about the rest of the world except for Northern Ireland. So when King was on with Gabe Pressman on WNBC September 5th, King was trying to rattle off those countries who are behind Bush on his war on Iraq and kinda missed that one of his countries isn't a country. King said "Rep. KING: Was Chirac ever our friend? We have Tony Blair, we have Poland, we have the Czech Republic, we have Bavaria, we have Italy..."

We can assume King was substituting "Tony Blair" for England but the curious name here is "Bavaria." You see, "Bavaria" is a state in Germany. Sure Bavaria has a "President" but is it still a state. The "President" of Bavairia is like a governor.

King wants Bush fired!!!

Yup, according to King if you get bad information and use it, you deserve to be fired... oh wait.. only if you are Dan Rather. King was on CNN's Crossfire September 21st and had this to say:
"REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Actually, I wish Dan Rather were half the man that George Bush is.
Dan Rather is not guilty of a mistake. He's guilty of criminal negligence. For him to put that story on when both the person's widow and his son told him it was wrong, their own experts said that the documents were questionable, when they got them from such a questionable source, to put those type of documents on with that type of background to me shows incredible bias on Dan Rather's part.
And he should be ashamed of himself. As far as I'm concerned, CBS should fire him and we should find out what were Joe Lockhart and Max Cleland talking with this guy Burkett? "


King wishes Dan Rather were "half the man George Bush is"??? Bush can't even bring himself to admit he made mistakes, Dan Rather went on and admitted his mistake and apoligized for it. Bush can't even attend a single funeral of soldiers killed in Iraq and he can't even meet the bodies when they return.
Bush sent US soldiers to die and THAT is criminal negligence. Bush was told repeatedly that there were no WMD's in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein was not a threat anymore. Bush ignored Osama Bin laden and went after Hussein.

King should apply the standard he has for Rather to Bush. That would mean of course Bush should be fired.
BUT
We all know that King is a major hypocrite so when Crossfire co-host Paul Begala asked King about Bush and his war on Iraq King did his darnedest to change the subject;
"KING: Paul, OK. Paul, actually, let's get this straight.
The Senate intelligence report itself said that there was no lying at all on Iraq. If there were mistakes made, they were also made by John Kerry, who also said that he thought they had nuclear weapons. He also said that Saddam Hussein could give these weapons to terrorists.
And the facts is, in the post-9/11 world, thank God that President Bush had the guts to realize you cannot give a dictator such as Saddam Hussein the benefit of the doubt. As Joe Lieberman said, Americans will eternally grateful and proud for what we have done in Iraq."

King doesn't want to get anything "straight." Bush used intel he was told was wrong at best. And now king wants to blame John Kerry for Bush's screw-up in Iraq. How does that happen?
The fact is that Bush lied about Iraq. If he made a "mistake" then he still should live up to the standard that King set for Dan Rather and be fired.

Begala called King out and King pulled his usual spiel and changed the subject. King can't give a straight answer if his life depended on it.

King of the Flip-Flops

In 2000, King supported Bush then supported McCain then supported Bush again. When defending his support of McCain, King was very adament in his opposition to Bush. Now he loves him. What happened?
Here is King on CNN's Crossfire from Feb 21, 2000:

"... First of all, I have left Governor Bush for a number of reasons. The Bob Jones University was the final one.
But actually, going back to last year when he said that he didn't know whether Jews get into heaven during the debates -- the early debates where he showed really a lack of expertise on foreign policy, where he also said several weeks ago he looked upon the nation of Islam, which is anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and anti-white, as being an organization which espoused universal principles such as love thy neighbor.
And then finally, yes, the trip to Bob Jones University, which is anti-Catholic and is anti-black, and he went there not just as a campaign stop-in, but he commenced his campaign there, he held hands and sang songs with them. He made that be the centerpiece of his campaign and put his stamp of approval on a school which is anti- Catholic, and as a Catholic I greatly resent that, and as an American and as a Republican I really resent that being infused into the campaign."

King even goes so far as to elude that Bush is a bigot
"As for myself, I have a 100 percent Christian Coalition rating, so I am not going to support anyone who is bigoted."

When pressed by co-host Mary Matalin, King continued his attack on Bush saying,
"In fact, Mary, Governor Bush has never denounced the policies. What he says is that he doesn't agree with the policy on interracial dating, and he says that his brother has become a Catholic. That's like saying, you know, some of my best friends are Jews and some of my best friends are blacks. The fact is he had the opportunity when he was there at Bob Jones and didn't say a word in denouncing their policies at all, and as a Republican I find that offensive."

And what did King say to CNN's Carol Lin that same morning?
"... I think he was so desperate to be elected in South Carolina that he was willing to run the risk of speaking at a bigoted school. And to me, that shows a clear lack of judgment and also, quite frankly, a lack of moral compass."

So according to King, Bush's actions are "offensive," that he lacks a moral compass and is a bigot.

Wow, you would wonder how King could support Bush now.

Republican Primary

Looks like King wins again against Previdi. Hats off to Previdi for trying every two years.
Now it's off to the general election to send King back to Seaford.

Vote Blair Mathies.
You can help elect Blair by donating time and money to his campaign.

A Shout-Out!

Been busy lately but have alot to add. More on the Plame treason case and alot of King's voting record. PLUS more people get nasty letters from King.
Until we get in the groove again we just want to say "HELLO!" to the house.gov visitors.
And of course a hardy welcome to those new to Pete King Watch.
Check out our archives and if you feel liek it e-mail us and tell us what you think.