Spitzer's courageous move is sparking the predictable xenophobic backlash—and predictably leading the charge is Rep. Peter King (R-LI), the ranking member on the House Committee on Homeland Security, who told the New York Post Sept. 22: "I strongly disagree with giving state-authorized IDs to illegal immigrants. More importantly, this proposal raises serious homeland-security concerns."

This is, of course, the same enlightened individual who recently said there are "too many mosques" in the United States—a comment not disavowed by Rudolph Giuliani, for whom he serves as a campaign adviser. (AP, Sept. 20)

Here's the original Sept. 19 post on Politico.com that started the controversy:

New York Rep. Peter King, a prominent House Republican, said there are “too many mosques in this country” in a recent interview with Politico.

“There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam,” King said. “We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them.”

King is the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. And as an outspoken advocate of strong anti-terror measures, he has been unafraid to ruffle some feathers in his drive to protect the homeland.

When asked to clarify his statement, King did not revise his answer, saying “I think there has been a lack of full cooperation from too many people in the Muslim community.” The interview was for a profile of the committee, as part of Politico’s Committee Insider Series.

Earlier, King had said in an interview with radio and television host Sean Hannity that 85 percent of the mosques in this country are controlled by “extremist leadership,” a comment that prompted strong condemnations from many religious organizations and from the Democratic National Committee.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, the congressman said: “The quote was taken entirely out of context by Politico. My position in this interview, as it has been for many years, is that too many mosques in this country do not cooperate with law enforcement. Unfortunately, Politico was incapable of making this distinction.”

UPDATE 2: After Congressman King said his comment was taken out of context, Politico posted a fuller video so readers can decide.

OK, we did, and we say the quote reveals king as an unabashed freedom-hater.

See our last post on Islamophobia.

Those bandit and scoundrel republicans are dividing our society with scare tactics. They are trying to make our country a hatemonger country. We welcome immigrants and their contribution to our society. The Americans who claim not to have jobs and complaining are the lazy scum of our society; we are hard working proud Americans who are not afraid to help the poor and make our society a welcoming society. Governor Eliot Spitzer is a real American whom our forefathers should be proud of. I pray to God he prevails, in which he already did. For those of you, hateful dirt(s), go join the KKK, live in a trailer somewhere in the South in remote swaps, marry your closest, and do yourself a favor; don’t pollute our welcoming state and our country with your hate speeches. After all is it not a republican who was preying on young boy interns, and the other who took his family value straight to the rest room looking for perverts at least that was told. We are God fearing good and clean Americans, not thieves and perverts. Spitzer is right, let the poor dream as well.

Thank you, may God bless Spitzer and our country; may God give your hateful heart the scent of worship and care. And when I say worship is not worshipping the hateful rep., the overweight and ugly Congressman James Sensenbrenner, whose cholesterol level still out scores his ego and hatred. Why don’t he focus on his health and eating habits rather tan scaring Americans with his exaggerated fear tactics and back room politics and poisons bills, he might as well go work for groups like the K.K.K. We are a welcoming nation; we feed the poor; we pray to God; we love and respect our family, neighbors and God’s creatures. Why don’t we listen to star citizens such as the priests who are telling us to be kind, why do we follow a no good liar republican politician? It simply beats logic away.

We have criminals in this country boldly going where no criminals have gone before. Right out there in front of the Main Stream Media.

It is long over due that we report these acts of aiding and abetting. It could just be the trigger that the police need to act.

Many police departments, sheriffs departments, prosecuting attorneys and other law enforcement agency’s can now be contacted online.

Many in law enforcement feel the same as we do about this illegal invasion.

Federal Immigration and Nationality Act
Section 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii)

"Any person who . . . encourages or induces an alien to . . . reside . . . knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such . . . residence is . . . in violation of law, shall be punished as provided . . . for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs . . . fined under title 18 . . . imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both."
Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A):
A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he:
* assists an alien s/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or
* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or
* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.