Newsday contacted him to see if he had any second thoughts, and he was unrepentant:

"The bottom line is, he’s a pervert," King said. "He was endangering young children and all these people who say he's a great hero would never let their children or grandchildren near him."

Let's stipulate a couple of things: First, we don't disagree with the sentiment that the media ridiculously over-cover celebrity deaths like Jackson's. Our objection, though, is about the absurdities of the cult of celebrity, and not whether or not Jackson deserved the adulation.

(And it must be pointed out that the adulation heaped upon Jackson is largely the product of the free-enterprise system that Republicans like King vehemently defend at every nook and cranny -- except that belonging to a black man.)

Second, a lot people's recent distaste for Jackson does indeed revolve around the question of his bizarre relationships with children, and we wouldn't minimize those issues either insofar as there is any factual truth in them (nor, for that matter, have they been ignored in the media coverage).

But someone should point a couple of things out to King:

-- Jackson in fact was cleared of all charges relating to his supposed molestation of children. So there is no factual ground for claiming that he was a "pervert" or a "pedophile".

-- It's a fine thing to honor the men and women who perform the many tasks of public service he mentions. But you never honor these people by tearing other people down -- rather the opposite. Vilification of celebrities does nothing to glorify society's unrecognized heroes, and indeed is counter to the very reasons we honor them -- which is to recognize and appreciate the contributions of all hard-working Americans. Including even those who happen to be celebrities.

Finally, speaking of morally degraded people ... one wonders where Pete King's outrage was when it came to the people who created the Bush torture regime. Talk about skewed priorities.

I'm sure that King will be shocked to learn that Jackson fans are now organizing to fund his defeat at the polls.