Rep. King Stands by Prediction That Obama Presidency Would Be Welcomed by Terrorists
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa Republican congressman on Monday defended his prediction that terrorists would celebrate if Democrat Barack Obama were elected president, despite a rebuke from aides to John McCain, the GOP’s apparent presidential nominee.
“(Obama will) certainly be viewed as a savior for them,” Rep. Steve King told The Associated Press. “That’s why you will see them supporting him, encouraging him.”
King said his offices have been bombarded with calls — positive and negative — since he said Friday that Al Qaeda “would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they would declare victory in this war on terror.”
King cited Obama’s pledge to pull U.S. troops from Iraq, his father’s Muslim roots in Kenya and his middle name, Hussein, which King said has a meaning to terrorists.
Asked about the remarks as he campaigned in Mississippi, Obama said, “I think that Mr. King has it backwards. The fact that the continuation of a presence in Iraq as Senator McCain has suggested is exactly what, I think, will fan the flames of anti-American sentiment and make it more difficult for us to create a long-term and sustainable peace in the world.
“But I have to say that Mr. King and individuals like him thrive on offensive or controversial statements as a way to get in the papers, so I don’t take it too seriously. I would hope Senator McCain would want to distance himself from that kind of inflammatory and offensive remarks,” Obama said.
Aides to McCain also disavowed King’s comments.
“John McCain rejects the type of politics that degrades our civics … and obviously that extends to Congressman King’s statement,” spokesman Brian Rogers told The Associated Press.
Last month, McCain also denounced his introduction in Cincinnati by talk-show host Bill Cunningham, who referred to Obama three times as “Barack Hussein Obama.”
Obama supporters have claimed such tactics are being used to imply that he is a Muslim.
The Illinois senator, born in Hawaii to a white Kansas woman and a Kenyan man, is a Christian and has said he has little connection to the Islamic religion, though he acknowledges spending part of his childhood in largely Muslim Indonesia.
It might not be McCain’s politics, but it is still the truth.
The recently defeated PM of Australia, John Howard made a similar argument in early 2007. Obama would be by far the softest President in the history of the Union and his policies that entertain talking to Holocaust denier Ahmenijad and Castro and Kim Jong Ill are fatally flawed. Go Hillary.
dont you mean “by terrorists”?
Yes i agree 100 percent a home grown Obama-or is that o-bomb us.I’m so sad America has let the man Husaiun go this far, His lips have the color in them,and when he was raised muslum as a boy well they shows on the news 6 yearr old already say death to america,.Oh yes he says hes christian well alquida says hes of God to and know he is not.
in a world that cannot face reality, rep. king cannot say what he said. i think what rep. king said has gone unsaid in a lot, and i mean a lot, of minds. i fear it to be the truth in the minds of the radicals who call themselves muslims who are not truly muslim. the hijackers of islam , i think, will feel they have won the war if obama is elected. it is up to sen. obama to show that they will not have won if he is elected by striking hearty blows at them. what i fear is that he will not strike hearty blows and will in fact say let us sit and talk. talk to those who wish us dead, and talk to them while they smile and plan their next hearty blow on the innocent.
Typical liberals… try to censor an honest discussion with political correctness. King is 100% correct. And liberals like Obama want to tell you what you can and cannot talk about. Folks you’d better speak out and start getting used to the idea that anything going against left-wing idealism is going to be slandered and claimed to be bigoted. The left can’t live in a world where ideas are judged on merit because conservatism always wins in an intellectual debate.
I cannot believe that the American public could ignore the fact that this man has obviously had ties to the Muslim world. Can they so quickly forget 9/11? I am only a conservative, middle aged, law abiding citizen but it looks like his history is far too suspicious to push aside as unimportant. We do have many problems and we surely need changes, but not all change is for the better. I hope my fellow Americans will wake up and realize we need leaders that “Love America” and are proud of what our forefathers fought to give us.
OBAMA I AGREED IS A NICE MAN BUT I FEAR THE TERRORISTS.THEY WILL DEFINITELY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIM,AND SEE IT AS A VICTORY FOR THEM.
I hope he reads this……What a jerk……….This is why we have a do nothing congress and hes one of them
I agree 100% with U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa remark that terrorists would celebrate if Democrat Barack Obama were elected president so his middle name does matter even in the U.S.A. that’s why the news media left & right has refuse for the most part not to mention his middle name Hussein. The following I did not write, I found it on the internet & its well said: Barack Obama didn’t choose his middle name so change it. Perhaps we need a new rule. Call it the Barack Hussein Obama rule. No liberal politician can be called by their middle name or middle initial. No more Martin Luther King–just Martin King from now on. No more John F. Kennedy–just John Kennedy. No more Hillary Rodham Clinton–just Hillary Clinton. No more Harry S Truman–just Harry Truman. No more FDR, LBJ, JFK, or RFK. Of course we’ll still have Republicans like Richard Milhous Nixon to kick around with the Barack Hussein Obama rule. At a time when America is at war with Islamic radicals, many of whom have Arab Muslim names, Americans are being bludgeoned with the hammer of political correctness to not take into account the name and background of a potential president of the United States who just happens to have an Arab Muslim name. The double standard of tolerating the use of ‘George Felix Allen’ while denouncing the use of ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ would be laughable if the fate of our nation weren’t at stake.