September 1, 2014

Right wing flamethrower Rep. Peter King found another issue than his choice of suit to go after President Obama for on this Sunday's Face the Nation, and joined the ranks of Erick Erickson and Ann Coulter who have been out there heaping praise on foreign leaders and wishing we had them here to lead us in the United States rather than President Obama.

Here's how King started out his interview this Sunday when Face the Nation host Major Garrett asked him about British Prime Minister David Cameron's presser this Friday.

GARRETT: Congressman King, I want to play for you something that British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday about the threat to the U.K. and possibly other Western nations. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What we're facing in Iraq now with ISIL is a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before. People are rightly concerned about so-called foreign fighters who have traveled from Britain to Syria and Iraq, taken part in terrorist acts, and now come back to threaten our security here at home. And the scale of this threat is growing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Congressman King, based on what you know, what can you tell our audience about the likelihood of an ISIS or ISIL attack on the United States? Is that really the leading threat we have to face here, or is it more something that the Europeans, specifically the British, have to be concerned with?

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: No, Major, I would say that we have to face it as much as the British do.

While there's more Brits in Syria than there are Americans, the fact is all of those Brits -- it could be 500, as David Cameron said and there's also thousands of others from other European nations who have gone to Syria -- they all have European passports and they can all come to the United States.

In addition to that, we have over 100 Americans that are there and a number of Canadians who can come back to the United States. And as we have been seen in the past, the United States is always the main target of these terrorist organizations. So, no, we are very concerned about this.

And I would say, I wish our president were showing the same leadership that David Cameron showed. What is President Obama waiting for? I agree with Adam Smith that we have to have coalitions and we have to try to get other forces on our side.

But it was a year ago this all started. I remember being at the White House with Denis McDonough talking about the importance of air attacks in Syria. And he had allies lined up, and then the president pulled the rug out and those allies are going to be very hard now to get back into a coalition.

Also, meeting with Vice President Biden in the White House trying to get support to groups in the Free Syrian Army. Virtually nothing has been done on that. We can't wait forever. And the longer we do wait, the stronger ISIS becomes, more people amassing it, and more America and Britain become at risk.

I'm wondering just what "leadership" Cameron has shown, other than upping their terrorist threat level warnings and scaring the hell out of their citizens there about the possibility of a terrorist attack?

A little later in the interview King added this bit of revisionist history to his criticisms of the president:

And, again, Adam talks about and the president talks about setting up this coalition. They started a year ago, and they can't put it together. How long do we wait? The longer we wait, the more dangerous ISIS becomes. And my main criticism of last year was the president lined up these allies for the bombing attacks, he drew the red line, and then he pulled the rug out without telling those allies.

And now they don't trust the president. And that's why you are going to find a reluctance for other countries, for instance, other Arab states to get involved with us in a coalition.

If memory serves, it was the Congress and not President Obama who "pulled the rug" on air strikes in Syria. These GOP members of Congress are more than happy to scream to the hills that President Obama isn't "leading" when it comes to our foreign policy, but none of them seem to be willing to stick their own necks out there and vote to authorize him to use military force either. It's so much easier just throwing stones from the sidelines.

If King's got a problem with that, maybe he should be talking to his cohorts in the House and the Senate. Don't hold your breath on that to happen any time soon.

As to the timing of King and the rest of the Republicans who took to the airways this Sunday to attack how President Obama is handling the chaos in the Middle East, as Evan McMurry at Mediaite pointed out this Sunday, the bobble head shows and the talking heads that appeared on them couldn't be bothered to discuss the fact that U.S. targeted air strikes in Iraq did help to liberate an Iraqi town from ISIS this weekend.

It seems any good news of what's being done to confront the group that might be working isn't worthy of any air time if you've got people with an agenda who would rather get their talking points on the air first.

And if you haven't read Booman's post on the Saudis actually having the gall to fearmonger over the possibility of ISIS attacking us here in the United States given the fact that they've played a huge part in helping to create this monster they now want us to help to control, you can do so here: With Allies Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

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