In which I am embarrassed for everybody

Pace Elizabeth, I fear there remains a veritable cornucopia of reasons to be cynical. Via Politico, I submit Exhibit A in the ongoing quest for the World's Biggest Jackass, Iowa's own Rep. Steven King (R -- but I think that's about become clear):

Apologize? Not so much.

But Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who last March predicted Al Qaida would be “dancing in the streets” if Barack Obama were elected president, now concedes that the dynamic has merely “shifted” on the terrorist front.

“They have made statements against Obama,” King acknowledged to Politico. “This thing has shifted and now I think Obama’s position of immediate withdrawal [from the war zone] has changed.”

Shortly after making his comments last year, King took his bluster to Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera:

“[I]f I am wrong, Geraldo, and we elect Obama to the presidency and he declares defeat, if they don't dance in the streets, I will come and apologize to you and everybody in America. But I'm saying, I'm right.”

[snip]

After telling the Associated Press last year that Obama’s middle name was among the reasons Islamic terrorists would rejoice over his election, King says he’s since been careful to avoid using it. Thus he found Obama’s decision to allow it be mentioned on the steps of the Capitol “bizarre” and “a double-standard.”

“Is that reserved just for him, not his critics?” King asked.

The congressman says he doubts Obama’s sincerity when he explained that he chose to use his middle name so as to be historically consistent with past inaugurations, when America has heard the full names of its presidents echo from the inaugural stand.

Oh, Rep. King. What an amazing intellect you possess. Let me make things simple for you, so you can return to other matters, like whether pinning your mittens to your suit will help you avoid losing them.

When you used Obama's middle name (Hussein, for those of you just tuning in -- I hope you've been enjoying your time in a cave on Mars) in an effort to link him with terrorists and to imply (with all the subtlety of a nine-iron) that a vote for Obama was a vote for Al Qaida, you were being an inflammatory gasbag.

Obama, on the other hand, is using his middle name during his inauguration because it is his middle name. He gets to use it when he takes the oath of office because people tend to use their full names in such circumstances, including the other guys that have been elected president.

So, it is not a double standard when people criticize you for linking a United States Senator with America's sworn enemies, but allow said Senator to use his full name when he takes the oath of office. That you do not acknowledge this means you are either a deeply, deeply cynical man yourself, or you are too stupid to be trusted to cross the street safely. In either case, you're a disgrace to the Congress (though you're hardly alone in that, sadly). Which, come to think of it, is why you're talking to Geraldo in the first place.