Dems betray the NYPD
By MICHAEL GOODWINNew York Post
May 13, 2012
It’s called the salami tactic for good reason. You slice your rival one way, then another, trying to cut him into little, defenseless pieces. Once the province of dictators and generals, the divide-and-conquer ploy is now being used by the Democratic Party against the New York Police Department and Commissioner Ray Kelly.
From Washington to City Hall, and all the clubhouses in between, the knives are out. One group slashes the NYPD over its stop-and-frisk strategy, accusing it of racial profiling.
Another goes after its antiterror unit, accusing it of spying on and profiling Muslims.
To hear the mob, you’d never know the NYPD has driven crime to historic lows and kept the city safe from another terrorist attack.
Instead, its accusers — all Democrats — paint it as an army of jackbooted thugs trampling civil rights. They have no facts, only prejudices. And maybe the goal of preventing Kelly from running for mayor.
Consider the load of bull dumped on the floor of Congress by New Jersey Rep. Russ Holt. Already demanding a federal probe of the NYPD, Holt introduced an amendment to a funding bill to deprive it of federal dollars.
Citing The Associated Press campaign against the department, Holt accused the police of “sloppiness” and of waging a “surreptitious, uncoordinated and unprofessional approach to counterterrorism prevention within the American Muslim community.”
It was a scurrilous attack, and might have passed without debate because the amendment itself doesn’t single out the NYPD. Only during his floor speech did Holt name his target.
Alerted by Mayor Bloomberg’s office, Long Island Republican Pete King rallied opponents and took to the floor to defend the police.
“We should be here tonight giving the NYPD a medal,” said King, head of the Homeland Security panel. “We sit here, 10 1/2 years after September 11, and the most effective law enforcement, counterterrorism unit in the country is being attacked?”
He dismissed the claims of profiling, saying, in typical straight talk, “If you’re looking for an Islamic terrorist, you don’t go to Ben’s Kosher Deli. When they were looking for the Italian mob, they didn’t go to an Irish bar.”
Thankfully, the measure was defeated by 232-193. But get this: Of the 11 Democrats from the five boroughs, 10 voted for it, and one didn’t vote. Democratic party leaders all voted for the measure.
This is no ordinary partisan hatchet job. This is an attempt to defund the police in ways that would leave the city more vulnerable. And it comes from the very people New Yorkers send to Washington to represent them.
Remember the Democrats: Nadler, Maloney, Velazquez, Serrano, Rangel, Ackerman, Towns, Clark, Engel and Crowley — they are wrong about public safety. Meeks didn’t vote.
Mark these names too: Republicans Michael Grimm of Staten Island and Bob Turner of Brooklyn/Queens stood with Pete King and the NYPD. Bless them.