King Keeps it KLASSY

9/11 Cop Dies Just as His Son, Clinton's Guest, Faces Bush

A former New York policeman died late Tuesday in a Manhattan hospital, just as his 21-year-old son prepared to appear at the State of the Union speech to symbolize the desperate health problems of his father and other sick Sept. 11 workers...

"9/11 is not over. It didn't end in 2001. It is still affecting my father and numerous other first responders," he said. "My father is an extreme example of what can happen and what may and will happen in the future."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the site of the 2001 terror attacks, had the strongest language for Bush and the New York mayor.

"The villains are no longer the terrorists. The villains live in the White House and in Gracie Mansion," said Nadler, referring to the official home of the mayor of New York.

Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican who has signed on to the mayor's gun effort, said Nadler's comments crossed the line.

"That's the kind of rhetoric that doesn't help anybody," King said. "I agree that more should be done for 9/11 victims, but to be using language like that serves no purpose."
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I won't defend Nadler's assertion outright, though it's clear that he was speaking passionately in defense of a poised and courageous young man (let's get that kid to run for office in a few years!).

Still, Peter King is the LAST guy who should be chiding others on divisive and inflammatory rhetoric. As Peter King Watch catalogues, King is the guy who personally refutes his constituents with letters calling them "politically, intellectually and morally bankrupt", for instance. That was over Social Security, mind you. Clearly a pretty rational debate, until King flew off the cuff.

Oh, and then there was the time he went on national television and said that "Karl Rove.. should get a medal" and all those criticizing him "should be shot." Karl Rove, mind you, might still end up in jail if Patrick Fitzgerald's prosecution of Scooter Libby gets Libby to squeal and throw Rove under the bus. So, to summarize, over the top rhetoric is defensible when it comes to sleazeballs like Rove, but not when it comes to doing what's right for the heroes of September 11th..
Yeah, Peter King Logic.