Thursday, March 10, 2011

Fact-checking Rep. Peter King: Misremembering His Own Words

The GOP alarmists and witch hunters are out there—looking for terrorists or, more correctly, anyone who they think looks like one.

We have no beef with finding actual terrorists, of course, since terrorists are, by definition, our enemies. They wish to do us harm and we should stop them before they do.

But we shouldn't conduct a witch hunt, nor should we demonize everyone who looks somehow suspicious. Rep. Peter King, a New York congressman, is holding hearings this week that, if not well handled, could turn into a search for scapegoats, implicating the innocent, not just the guilty.

We hope that doesn't happen. So far, from what we have read, the hearings have been civil and responsible.

Meanwhile, Rep. King is revising his previous statements, including one that attacked (surprise!) our Islamic friends and neighbors, claiming that there are too many mosques in the U.S.

Now King says he never said that. But he did. The full story is here.

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