King of the Commitee

A quick reaction.. more later...

Is Peter King’s ascension to Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee a good thing?
Newsday thinks yes but the facts say"Not Really."
Since 9/11/2001 Peter King has made himself out to be tough on terrorism, Bush’s biggest New York area defender, and the one person who can bring money to the area. The only place King has succeeded is as Bush’s defender and lap dog. But unlike real lap dogs, Bush hasn’t given King any treats.
After four years and endless schmoozing with Bush, New York is still getting less than Wyoming in Homeland Security dollars. King delivered the New York firefighters union endorsement for Bush on the eve of the GOP convention last year but six firehouses in the city are still closed. If King can’t convince his fellow republicans to change funding to protect a city
that suffered the worst attack on US soil after four years, what is he going to do now?
King also does not have the temperment to serve as head of such an important commitee. From comparing John Kerry and the New York Times to terrorists to attacking constituents who do not agree with him, King has become increasingly unstable.
When it comes to terrorism, after 9/11 King tried to extricate himself from his decades long ties to the terrorist IRA. After years of fundraising and being the IRA’s main apologist in the United States, King stopped going to Ireland and recently called for the IRA to disband.
This is about 20 years too late.
When King defended DHS head Chertoff by saying he would not “second guess him” you can see where King’s true allegiance lies.
As chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, it was King’s job t0 second-guess. He didn’t do that. FEMA is under the control of the Department of Homeland Security but was left to rot as terrorism became their only concern.
King’s subcommittee and the full committee should have be more vigilant but they were not. If it had been a terrorist attack instead of a hurricane in the Gulf two weeks ago, the failure of the subcommittee would have been just as great.

Also, it looks like King is going to try to take credit for former committee chairman Rep. Chris Cox's work and legislation.