Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), who has been highly critical of the Occupy Wall Street movement, had his strongest words to date Wednesday for the protesters, calling them “losers” who “live in dirt.”
Speaking on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop,” King was asked if, as a representative from New York, he didn’t have an obligation to listen to his constituents there.
“First of all, you try to listen to them and they make almost no sense,” King said. “These are people who were living in dirt, these were people who are involved in drugs, there was violence, there was rape, these were a small number of people — you could probably get more people at a Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on a Sunday than you got in Zuccotti Park.
“I mean, what is their position? They’re mad because people are making money, or are they mad that there’s no jobs in this country? All of us believe that, we’re trying to find a way to do it. You don’t do it by living in dirt, you don’t do it by carrying out rapes, you don’t do it by yelling out anti-American slogans.”
On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) gave the order for police to clear Zuccotti Park and barred protesters from returning to the site with tents and tarps. The park has reopened for demonstrations, but protesters will not be allowed to camp out there.
King said the protesters add nothing to the country’s political conversation.
“They say they’re frustrated — life is full of frustrations, you know,” he said. “They should go see a psychiatrist if they’re that frustrated, let’s talk about concrete proposals. ... They’re angry people who are losers who are on the outside and screaming. If they want to get involved, go into the system, get involved with concrete proposals — how do they achieve anything by living in dirt for two months?”
