Calm Down, Peter King: You're Not a Senator

Rep. Peter King of New York responded this morning about as honestly as one can to the common courtesy question, “How are you?” posed by the I-Man.

“I’m not well,” said King, a Republican. “First of all, I don’t like getting up this early. And you kept me waiting almost ten minutes. I had to listen to Bernard on the phone; he’s a nice guy, but my time is valuable.”

In fact, depending on Imus’s behavior from here on out, this could be the last time King agrees to come on the show. “It’s up to you to prove yourself,” he told Imus.

He also told Imus that the approximately 50 percent of people polled who now think health care passage over the weekend was a good idea are caught up in the euphoria.

“I think it is unpopular with the American people, but Republicans, we have to not just pile it on, not just say we’re going to repeal it, not just tear it apart,” he said. “We have to, I think, be constructive.”

They also have to avoid demonizing President Obama, as they did in the aftermath of President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky in 1998. “We ended up losing seats,” King said of that episode.

He reluctantly admitted that the bill addresses important issues like taking care of people with preexisting conditions and assuring that those who most need health insurance will get it. Yet he believes these goals could have been achieved within the current system.

“That’s the point we have to make,” he said “This is a part of an overall agenda by the Obama administration to move the country in a much more liberal direction. That’s an honest debate we can have. I think we’re going to win that debate.”

Imus complimented King’s rational attitude, only to be insulted in return. “Maybe it’s just by comparison with you, I sound reasonable,” he told Imus. Ouch!

King was not willing to be similarly harsh on his fellow Congressman Bart Stupak, the pro-life Democrat who refused until the last minute to vote for the health care bill because he believed it would use federal dollars to pay for abortions.

“He was the one who made it the moral issue of the whole debate,” said King, a fellow pro-lifer who is disappointed in Stupak. He was unwilling to go so far as to say Stupak was bribed for his vote, and claimed the only time he voted for a bill he didn’t like was to ensure support for New York in the wake of 9/11.

Besides, “There are very few people I’m willing to attack personally,” he told Imus. “You’re one of them.”

Based on today’s proceedings, King remained undecided about whether he’ll appear on the program next time he’s invited, saying, “It’s not money in the bank.”
We’ll be waiting with bated breath.

-Julie Kanfer