Weiner v. King: Another Round

Anthony Weiner is running for Mayor of New York with a complete and conspicuous lack of support from former New York delegation colleagues.

To be sure, some of Weiner’s House colleagues privately call him a camera-chasing legislative lightweight whose penchant for showing up unannounced in their districts and seeking credit for their bills still rankles.

“I personally would be disgusted beyond measure if he became our mayor,” said one city Democrat backing another mayoral candidate.

But on the record, Weiner’s Democratic foes remain mostly silent. “There is no mileage” in trashing a fellow Dem, one member said.

That leaves Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, as Weiner’s leading congressional critic. A week into Weiner’s campaign, King and Weiner are already into their second terrorism-related spat.

King on Thursday said Weiner “never showed any interest” in combating terrorism while in Congress.

King's comments came after Weiner on Wednesday called controversial Muslim radicalization hearings King held while House Homeland Security Chairman “shameful.”

“Anthony is desperate to make news, desperate to pander,” King said in an interview.

The feud stems at least in part from a 2010 incident in which Weiner famously screamed at King on the House floor for raising a procedural concern about a bill to aid 9/11 first responders, even though King was the bill’s leading GOP sponsor.

Weiner cites the confrontation as example of his passionate fighting for New Yorkers. That is too much for King, who said Weiner’s “outburst” harmed efforts to find GOP votes to pass the bill and came after years of effort on measure that Weiner had no part in.

Weiner “wasn’t familiar with the issue,” King said.

On Thursday, King called Weiner similarly uniformed about terrorism.

He “lacks any knowledge or experience dealing with it,” said King, who has also chaired the House Intelligence Committee. He noted he has access to classified intelligence showing New York City remains "the number one target in the country."

Calling his hearings “on target" King challenged Weiner to cite “one example” of a part of the hearings “that was biased or prejudiced or unfair.” (Weiner was not in Congress for some of them.)

King also asked if Weiner was suggesting plans to reduce the scope of the NYPD’s 1,000 officer anti-terror unit, by far the largest municipal unit in the U.S.

“Terrorism is a real issue,” King said. “It is not made for one of Anthony Weiner’s sideshows.”

Pete King Quote of the Day

"I never knew Anthony Weiner to have any expertise or qualifications on terrorism whatsoever unless he's been studying that in his apartment in the last two years."