Now this is a story that fits perfectly in our bizarre category. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) previously said that al Qaida would “be dancing in the streets” if Barack Obama were elected president “because of his middle name.” Now, he is again drawing criticism after reportedly calling it “bizarre” that Obama will use his middle name — Hussein — in his taking of the oath. He has asked whether the name has become a “double-standard” on who and when it can be used.
In an interview with Politico, King took back his prior statement about Obama and said “he was wrong about the whole terrorist street dancing routine.” However, he reportedly said that it is “bizarre” that he would use it during the inauguration.
The reason appears to be that King has been refraining from using the middle name after his controversy during the election. If he and others have refrained, he found it “bizarre” and “a double-standard” for Obama to use his own middle name: “Is that reserved just for him, not his critics?” King was presumably referring to the fact that Republicans who use the middle name have been criticized as playing to the “Obama is a Muslim” attacks and trying to paint Obama as a non-American. Speakers who have used the middle name on the campaign trial were generally highlighted in the media. This led Time Magazine to run a story entitled Why Is Obama’s Middle Name Taboo?”
It is a tradition for the full name of a president to be used in the taking of the oath.
Now before people jump on King again, he could insist that he was referring to the original meaning of bizarre, which is derived from the Spanish adjective bizarro: “the Spanish adjective bizarro comes from the Italian bizzarro (meaning singular). It’s mainly used in Spanish with the meanings of brave, chivalrous, generous, and splendid.”
There, he was calling Obama “brave, chivalrous, generous, and splendid.” What is the problem with that?
For the story, click here.Steve king
So, Rep. King finds it “bizarre” and evidence of a double standard that the president-elect will be sworn in as Barack Hussein Obama after his political opponents were criticized during the campaign for invoking his middle name. What is truly bizarre is that Rep. King professes not to understand the difference between identifying someone by his full name and using someone’s name in an effort to appeal to racial, ethnic or religious prejudice. The truth, of course, is that Rep. King does understand the difference. His venomous and absurd ethnic comments have frequently embarrassed Iowans. Fortunately, most of us are far less troubled by Pres. Obama being sworn in by his full name than we are by Rep. King having been sworn in at all.
i agree sally.
I’m sure that when his mother gave him this name, she knew darn well that a evil dictator would appear with the same name!!
One may as well as say that those named Timothy are evil (Timothy McVeigh)
Or even Charles, let’s not forget Charles Manson, either!
The only name I find offense with is the name Adolf Hitler, given to a child by his idiot parents. Why did they not just stick with Adolf? Those folks were trying to create a problem in that situation.
Big Fella,
I am beginning to think that King and Bachmann are more than just xenophobes. They are neocon wannabees who haven’t noticed that the country has rejected their ideas and their lies.
Somehow, I don’t think this knucklehead Representative King had the same definition in mind as you, Mr. Turley, he seems more of a student of Ann Coulter. You know the Coulter school of thought don’t you, where no one with an IQ above 79 is admitted and all students receive a Master of Xenophobia degree. It’s the same institution that Lou Dobbs relies upon as the basis of his xenophobic view of immigration issues.
King is just another of the altogether too many rightwinger lunatic Stooges returned to the House by the dependable Dupes, airheads, and rednecks so dedicated to the Fox Newstwister Channel and its scoundrels. With so many of these elected creatures from which to choose as the worst, King nonetheless easily fits in among the top contenders. A couple of prize dimbulbs come to mind: Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry who are apparently the pride of North Carolinians. We can expect more of the same bilge from this rancid crowd in the 111th Congress. The only difference is that mercifully there are fewer of them.
OMG, it’s not like his middle name is Milhous, or Poindexter, or Dubya, for goodness’ sake. Anyway, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…”
Happy New Year from one who’s sane.
The bizarre part is people like King who think of Hussein as something to be ashamed of, and they cannot understand that normal/rational people don’t automatically cower in fear when we hear the name.
I saw part of the dress rehearsal for the inauguration on CSPAN a couple of days ago and the stand-in MC introduced Obama’s stand-in as Barack H. Obama, he didn’t actually say Obama’s middle name.
It’s interesting that King and his ilk insisted on using Obama’s middle name during the campaign, apparently in the hopes of getting the voters to believe that he was Muslim and that Muslims are evil. It obviously didn’t work.
Now that Obama is about to be sworn in they see their plan backfiring. A President that got a clear majority of the popular vote using his Muslim-sounding middle name can serve to show that people with Muslim-sounding names are not evil and are part of mainstream America. Of course, that doesn’t fit into the script that all Muslims are out to destroy both America and Christianity so they decide to throw a fit.
Just another sad example of someone who thinks he’s living in the 18th century trying to prove that he’s still relevant.
I guess when you have an award winning blog site, the trolls take special aim at you. I think someone smarter than I should design troll avoidance software. Much like spam killing software the troll avoidance software would send the trolls and their nonsensical and neocon supporting drivel into the internet ashcan.
This Rep.King, along with Rep.Michelle Bachmann are the worst congressmen in Washington. They are nothing but George W. Bush neophytes who will do and say anything at anytime. The truth is never a concern of these two. I don’t understand how these kind of radical right wing maniacs can be elected by Iowans and Minnesotans.
Obama is a bimbo.
Weapons Horde in Gazan Mosque 13 Jan. 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zd55Zhj5gQ&eurl=http://www.powerlineblog.com/
Amid all the international criticism of Israel’s fighting tactics in Gaza these past few days, from the hysterical, from the supercilious chiding about disproportionate response to the vicious Nazi comparisons, one prominent aspect has curiously escaped marked comment.
Israel is bombing mosques in Gaza. Six of them and counting.
Why the silence over the mosque bombings? because the Islamists know they’ve been found out.
As a citizen of a democracy won from a monarchy,I am now publicly calling on Representative King to change his last name to something more acceptable and descriptive. How about Peter Dunce?