Peter King discovers that he’s in a party of assholes… he’s yet to realize, however, that he’s one too

Republican Congressman Peter King’s epic rant against his party’s leadership in the House is all over the web today. People, it would seem, like seeing Republican’s awaken to the fact that it’s their party that’s the problem. And that’s what happened today, as King went to the press, irate that his party’s leaders, despite their promises, had neglected to call a vote last night on the $60 billion Hurricane Sandy aid package, which had already been passed in the Senate with bipartisan support. Calling it, “absolutely disgraceful,” King said, “turning your back on people who are starving and freezing is not a Republican value.” According to King, this, in a nutshell, explains why, “they’re becoming a minority party.” And, judging from what I’m seeing online, people across the country are eating it up, like they did when, prior to the election, Chris Christie told Romney to stay the hell out of New Jersey with his photo crews.

Here’s video of King:

It’s kind of like that Mitchell & Webb episode where the two German soldiers, after noting the skulls on their uniforms, come to the realization that they’re “the baddies.”

The thing is, up until Hurricane Sandy hit, King was just as big an asshole as the rest of them, content to pass the buck and kick the can down the road, just like everyone else in his party. But, then, the hurricane decided to hit his district. And that, apparently, changed everything. Suddenly, it would seem, his McCarthy-like Muslim witch hunts and his staunch opposition to global warming science, didn’t seem quite so important. (King has voted to bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, voted against tax incentives for alternative energy production and conservation, and voted against enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution, among other things.) Now that he has to contend with a natural disaster, it’s a different story. When it’s his constituents who are “starving and freezing,” and not those in New Orleans, it’s apparently time to drop the pandering “drill, baby, drill” bullshit for a minute, and get serious about things.

I’ve yet to hear anyone on television ask King whether, as a result of Hurricane Sandy, he regrets his votes to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions could continue to increase unchecked. While I can appreciate his anger at his fellow Republicans for not coming to the aid of the people of New York, I’d love to hear someone say, “Maybe, instead of calling hearings about mosques being built, you could have spent a little time getting educated on global climate change and its impact on weather systems.” That, I think, would be refreshing.

Now, if we could just arrange it so that a deadly hurricane hit every Republican Congressional district. Then, maybe, we could get somewhere.

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15 Comments

  1. Meta
    Posted January 2, 2013 at 11:04 pm | Permalink

    I’m not defending Boehner, but, after the mess with the fiscal cliff, I’m sure he just wanted to climb into his tanning crypt and go to sleep.

    Here’s more on the early morning confrontation.

    House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) yelled at a member of his own caucus on Tuesday night, after lawmakers from New Jersey and New York repeatedly pressed him to bring the Superstorm Sandy relief bill to the floor for a vote.

    Boehner had a heated exchange with Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), one of the members urging the House Republican leadership to bring up the Sandy legislation, according to fellow Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). The House adjourned on Tuesday night without passing the $60.4 billion Sandy relief package that the Senate approved last week.

    “I was chasing the Speaker all over the House floor last night, trying to talk to him and his staff,” King said on CNN on Wednesday morning. “He kept telling me, wait until the vote is over, wait until the fiscal cliff vote is over, everything will be taken care of. And then he was gone. He refused to meet with us. He actually yelled at Congressman LoBiondo, saying, ‘I’m not meeting with you people.'”

    LoBiondo spokesman Jason Galanes confirmed that King’s account was “accurate.”

    Read more:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/john-boehner-frank-lobiondo-sandy-aid_n_2397250.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

  2. anonymous
    Posted January 2, 2013 at 11:53 pm | Permalink

    I hated seeing this guy lauded in the press for standing up to the heartless Republicans. It’s a great story, but it’s not accurate. King might be right on this issue, but he’s a terrible member of congress, and the idea that he may change parties makes me feel sick. But, on the other hand, I’d welcome the vote.

  3. Greg Pratt
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 1:20 am | Permalink

    While I find this phenomenon fascinating and revel in watching those greedy hedge fund carpetbaggers eating their own, I simultaneously feel like a wanton voyeur. In Michigan, the Republicans, far from falling apart, control every lever of state government (not to mention many municipalities and school districts).

  4. Tammy
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 8:05 am | Permalink

    If only the Michigan Democratic Party was a good alternative.

  5. Knox
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 9:12 am | Permalink

    Lawrence O’Donnell had a good piece on this last night. According to Chris Christie, Eric Cantor wanted to bring the the vote, but Boehner stopped it. He essentially called Boehner a liar. The thought is that Boenher, as he wants to stay Speaker of the House, couldn’t bring a spending bill to the floor immediately after advocating for the fiscal cliff legislation. The anti-spending tea party contingent, it’s thought, would have revolted against him. Unfortunately, this means that the entire Hurricane Sandy aid bill will have to start all over again in the Senate at the start of the next term.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/#50349754

  6. Knox
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 9:13 am | Permalink

    Also, this is some perverse pleasure in watching them begin to eat their own, isn’t there?

  7. Dennis
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 9:20 am | Permalink

    Wasn’t Snyder supposed to be a good alternative?

  8. anon
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 9:21 am | Permalink

    if you’re an idiot, i suppose.

  9. anonymous
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 9:39 am | Permalink

    If Boehner is forced out as Speaker, who will the Republicans put forward?

  10. Elliott
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 9:52 am | Permalink

    Someone online compared King to FOX’s Megyn Kelly, who used to call women “entitled” for expecting maternity leave, but then suddenly changed her tune once she got pregnant, and started criticizing the U.S. for not having mandatory maternity leave. The thing that defines Republicans is lack of empathy. They don’t feel anything unless it happens to them directly.

  11. Eel
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 10:10 am | Permalink

    Video of a Republican feeling empathy for the first time.

    http://i.imgur.com/4L6Fe.gif

  12. Dirtgrain
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 12:06 pm | Permalink

    And King backtracks.

  13. Posted January 3, 2013 at 12:19 pm | Permalink

    Elliott hits the nail on the head–these people have no concept of anything outside themselves. They think “everyone” should be super rich like they are and if they are not super rich, then it is because they are just “lazy” or “entitled”. They ignore things like race, gender, disability and the lot.

    By the way, I read that the Violence Against Women Act was not reauthorized. I’m not sure of the immediate consequences of this but the very idea that it was rejected because it went “too far”* disgusts me.

    *Expanded protection for Native American women, immigrant and LGBT

  14. Mr. X
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 2:28 pm | Permalink

    Looks like King got his nose slapped.

  15. Meta
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 4:13 pm | Permalink

    According to Greg Sargent at the Washington Post, Republicans, while they didn’t want to deal with Sandy aid this session, still found the time, energy and resources to keep Defense of Marriage alive.

    It’s emerged that House Republicans have decided to continue to spend taxpayer funds defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court. GOP lawmakers gave the green light to this idea in a private meeting last night, and it is expected to pass the House as part of a rules package when it is voted on today.

    The optics of this move are intriguing. DOMA has already been found unconstitutional by lower courts. The House GOP has already spent over $1.5 million paying outside counsel to defend this law, and while the amount it will ultimately spend on this means little in the larger fiscal scheme of things, it comes just after House Republicans took a beating for failing to vote on aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy.

    “They found the time to appropriate extra money to defend discrimination, but they didn’t find the time or money to push the hurricane relief bill through,” prominent gay advocate Richard Socarides told me today.

    Read more:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/03/tea-party-republicans-favor-spending-taxpayer-money-on-anti-gay-discrimination/

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