GOP's Peter King flips out on the New York Times

The New York Republican congressman accuses the Times' editorial board of being "apologists for terrorists"

Published January 2, 2014 9:10PM (EST)

Peter King               (AP/Manuel Balce Cenata)
Peter King (AP/Manuel Balce Cenata)

GOP Rep. Peter King read the New York Times' Thursday editorial calling for Edward Snowden to be granted clemency. He did not care for it.

Appearing on Fox News on Thursday afternoon, King went on something of a tirade, calling Snowden a "traitor" and accusing the New York Times of being a "blame America first rag" that acts as an apologist for terrorists. (King himself has a complicated relationship with political terrorism.)

"Their editorial today and their whole pattern over the last several years, they’ve really made themselves a blame America first rag as far as I’m concerned and why we exalt the New York Times is beyond me," King said. "They go out of their way to be apologists for terrorists and go after those in law enforcement and military who are trying to win this war."

After calling the Times a "disgrace," the New York Republican also said the paper's editorial board cared more about "the rights of terrorists' appeasers" than America itself. "They don't care about lives being lost," King insisted. "They have this narrow, liberal, left-wing ideological point of view." King then called on the American people "to stand up and reject the New York Times and expose them for the rag that they are."

Watch the highlights of King's rant below, via Politico:


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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