Alex Massie Alex Massie

Did Obama Ask Peter King to be his Ambassador to Ireland?

Peter King, America’s worst Congressman, is back in the news and just as loathsome as ever. No surprise there. This, however, is news to me and wholly surprising:

After Obama was elected president, King got a call from Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chief of staff. “President-elect Obama would like you to be ambassador to Ireland,” said Emanuel, according to King’s recollection of the conversation.

King said he thought hard about it over a long weekend, fantasizing about hosting his Irish relatives at the ambassador’s 62-acre estate inside Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where the Irish president also lives. But King declined the offer.

“I just felt I would be defending foreign policy I didn’t agree with,” said King, “and to be sitting there with a bunch of Europeans spouting anti-American stuff, I would have a hard time.”

Can this really be true? We only seem to have King’s word for it so perhaps he’s exaggerrating matters.

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