Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

ZAHN: Our "Top Story" coverage moves now to the controversy here in Washington over one key congressman's claims about Muslims in this country.

Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has said that the vast majority of mosques here in the U.S. are controlled by Muslim extremists. And that's only the beginning of the charges he's making, charges that are causing a lot of outrage.

Jason Carroll has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the holy month of Ramadan, and this is the image Muslims here say truly reflects who they are: law-abiding, peaceful people, not, as their own congressman claimed in a recent campaign letter, part of an Islamic threat that could cause another 9/11.

And New York Republican Peter King has also said, according to law enforcement sources he spoke with, 85 percent of mosques in the United States, including this one, are run by extremists.

FAROQUE KHAN, MOSQUE MEMBER: Where is this 85 percent? Who did the study? On what basis? What questions were asked? And how did he come up with this number?

CARROLL: Several members of the mosque agreed to speak to us about the claim.

KHAN: It's very painful to have a senior politic to make those statements, without really having any direct interaction with the community.

ERIC BYASERIC, MOSQUE MEMBER: You have extremists in basically any community, any -- any belief system. So what? You deal with them accordingly.

CARROLL: A federal law enforcement official agrees that there are some extremists in American mosques, but dismisses the validity of 85 percent, saying it was much too high.

[snip]

NIHAD AWAD, NATIONAL DIRECTOR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: It's very disturbing to see a member of the United States Congress exploit the anti-Muslim prejudice and fear within the society just to get a few more votes and some money.

So Peter King lies about the number of Muslim Americans who are extremists, and causes hurt to the Muslim American community as a result.

So what does King have to say for himself?

REP. PETER KING (R-NY), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: . . . . My basis for the 85 percent was Sheikh Kabbani, who's one of the leading Muslims in this country, back in the year 2000, said that he thought at least 80 percent of the mosques were taken over by extremist leaders, by radical Muslims.

Ah hah -- so Peter King cherry picks one six year old comment by a single person and uses that to make a sweeping conclusion at odds with the conclusions of the FBI.  With Cherry picking skills like that, Peter King should have worked for Douglas Feith on the office of Special Plans!

The people of New York's Third District deserve a representative who doesn't lie about minority groups.  Fortunately, this year, King has a Democratic opponent more than qualified to kick him out of office.

The DCCC has just added NY-03 to its list of emerging races that it plans to fund and support.  This competitiveness, which stunned those who are used to watching King sleepwalk to victory, is no doubt due to the impressive skills of the Democratic challenger, Dave Mejias.    As the Wall Street Journal recently reported:

Peter King, long considered safe, [was] recently added to nonpartisan analyst Stuart Rothenberg's watch list partly due to the credibility of his Democratic challenger, state legislator Dave Mejias.

Let's kick this asshole, Peter King, out of office.  Contribute to Dave Mejias's Actblue fund today, and help bring Dave one step closer to victory.