Rep. Peter King's, R-N.Y., forthcoming hearings on the supposed radicalization of American Muslims may end up being slightly less hysterical than they sounded when he proposed the idea.
King is a loudmouthed creep who frequently says bigoted things about American Muslims, but he looks like he's actually treading carefully when it comes to his hearings. To the dismay of some of his ideological peers, who were hoping their feverish imaginings about the American Muslim menace would be lent credence by the House of Representatives, King has declined to call some of the more extreme anti-Islam cranks to testify, and he has invited the participation of Muslim congressman Keith Ellison.
While it'd be a mistake to expect too much in the way of seriousness from the hearings, he made news yesterday by hiring respected journalist James Gordon Meek, formerly of the New York Daily News, to act as an investigator for the House Homeland Security Committee. Meek actually knows his stuff, and isn't a bomb-throwing activist: