MSNBC - Transcript

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH REP. PETER KING (R-NY)
SUBJECT: CAROLINE KENNEDY INTERVIEWER: CONTESSA BREWER

MS. BREWER: We know that Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from consideration. We're expecting word this morning either from Kennedy herself or from Governor Paterson about why she withdrew herself from consideration for New York Senate seat. It happened officially after midnight last night, that's when she released a statement saying that she removed her name from consideration because of personal reasons, but her two-month bid was, well, it was rocky at best.

The critics questioned whether she was qualified for the seat. They questioned whether she really wanted the seat.

One of those critics was New York Republican Congressman Peter King, joins us now.

What's your reaction to the news that she's withdrawing her name from consideration?

REP. KING: Contessa, this looks more and more like the gang that can't shoot straight. I was absolutely startled by it. I, obviously, have been planning for the last several months to run against Caroline Kennedy and I wanted to run against her. I never saw a rationale for her candidacy. The fact is that it had gone this far. My understanding is that the governor was very close to selecting her and then this last-minute withdrawal literally in the middle of the night, to me, you know, raises a lot of questions.

I think we should know why she dropped out and what the governor's thinking was, I mean, David Paterson is a good friend of mine, but so far, this whole process just makes no sense at all and we're talking about a very important seat and one of the most important states in the country and we're going without representation and its just really making it look like a circus. The position deserves more than that.

MS. BREWER: In her statement, she only described her reasoning as personal as if there are any other kind of reasons to have, but that being said, her cousin said today on "Morning Joe," look, she was incredibly shaken by the seizure that her uncle, Senator Kennedy had at the inaugural luncheon, but Congressman King, what about going back to the initial criticism that, perhaps, she wasn't really hungry enough? Perhaps it was her family that was pushing her into this, saying, you know, it's time for you to take over the role the Kennedy's have always had in government?

REP. KING: Well, you know, if that's the case, that really is the underlying problem with her candidacy. She never had to work for anything. She didn't know how to go out and get the job done, and here she was being handed something on a silver platter and she still couldn't handle it.

Now, as far as what happened to Ted Kennedy, I'm not going to go into what her motives are, but the fact is, we've known since last May that Senator Kennedy has a brain tumor and it's a very, very serious illness and he does seem to have recovered from his seizure the other day.

MS. BREWER: Yeah.

REP. KING: It's hard for me to believe that would have caused her to drop out. I think one of the reasons she wanted to run in the first place was to make sure there was a Kennedy in the Senate.

MS. BREWER: Let's talk about Governor Paterson and the position this puts him in. He said that he -- yesterday, he indicated he had come to some sort of personal decision; he was going to think about it for a couple of days before making the announcement. It appears that his office was somewhat startled by this because, yesterday, a spokesperson last night, a spokesperson told reporters it was just a rumor and then called back those reporters to say, don't publish that just yet.

Does it put the governor in an awkward position or no?

REP. KING: He definitely reversed himself within a matter of minutes. It does put David Paterson in a very awkward position and it raises questions about the whole issues of what's going on here, again, this is dysfunctional government at its worst. This is not that difficult of a decision. You have two months to pick one person and, you know, this isn't a war, this isn't a depression or a recession. This isn't a financial crisis. It's picking someone and you know all the characters involved.

MS. BREWER: Yeah.

REP. KING: Listen, David Paterson is a great guy, but this has not been handled right.

MS. BREWER: All right. Well, we'll wait and see what the governor has to say about who will actually fill the Senate seat, but it appears it will not be Caroline Kennedy.

Congressman King, good to see you. Thanks.

REP. KING: Thank you, Contessa. Thank you.

END.

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