Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has developed a reputation for making unusual recommendations, but Politico reports today on the Republican congressman’s most over-the-top suggestion ever.
Rep. Peter King has a suggestion for the White House in dealing with the latest developments in Ferguson — invite Officer Darren Wilson over.“I think it would be very helpful if President Obama went and met with the police officer, or invited him to the White House and said, ‘You’ve gone through four months of smear and slander, and the least we can do is tell you that it’s unfortunate that it happened and thank you for doing your job,’” the New York Republican told Fox Business on Tuesday.
I found this extremely hard to believe, but there really is a video of King making these exact comments.
In the same interview, the New York Republican complained about President Obama’s comments last night. King said he’d hoped the president would have said “one good word about Officer Wilson, who has gone through all this.”
Just so we’re clear, King didn’t seem to be kidding.
Indeed, the Long Island lawmaker has done a remarkable job in recent months, offering his unique perspective on a whole range of issues:
* In October, King suggested the public should no longer trust public-health officials about Ebola, adding that this may be “a mutated form” of the virus that’s airborne.
* In September, King told a national television audience that ISIS militants “attempted to attack Fort Knox” in 2011, an incident that never actually happened.
* In August, King was incensed by Obama wearing a tan suit. “There’s no way any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday,” he said at the time.
And now the GOP congressman sees Darren Wilson as a victim, whom the president should help comfort.
Here’s the video from this morning’s Fox Business appearance, as posted to YouTube by King’s own office:
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."