Ken the Red Weighs In on Congestion

The NY Times opens up its Op-Ed today to the wisdom of "Ken the Red" Livingston, the communist mayor of London. Now we normally resist the need to resort to ad hominen attacks, but for Livingston we're happy to make an exception. To put it simply, the man has exhibited such abhorrent views on so many of the most crucial issues of the day that, in our minds, he has forfeited the right to be taken seriously on any issue; And certainly not on any issue that involves business impacts.

This is the same man who has defended the most anti-Semitic and vile Islamic clergy, literally genuflecting to their hateful philosophy. When the London bombers murdered his constituents he effectively justified such terrorism on the grounds that the terrorists were "oppressed" by the people they murdered. He then went on to basically blame, not the bombers themselves, but the Israelis who had, "done horrendous things which border on crimes against humanity in the way in which they have indiscriminately slaughtered men, woman and children on the West Bank and Gaza for decades (See Londonistan by Melanie Phillips).

Livingston has also embraced the Muslim Brotherhood-literally so. As Philips reports, "Livingston publicly embraced Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Brotherhood's spiritual leader who has not only endorsed the use of human bombs against Iraq and Israel but has denounced the 'incomparable and overt' iniquity of the Jews and called for Jews and other infidels to be killed." The fact that this vile sheikh loathes gays, women and "infidels" doesn't seem to bother Ken in the least.When Livingston was confronted for his support of this clerical fascist he accused the sheik's opponents of being part of a "Mossad plot."

Livingston' irrationality and obscene politics is not of recent vintage. At the funeral of the old Stalinist Gerry Healy, the head of the Workers Revolutionary Party in England (and a rapist to boot), Livingston praised Healy-who at the time was fronting for Saddam and was on the payroll of the Baath Party-and blamed the collapse of the WRP on M15 (sound familiar?).

Livingston is, however, supposed to be the voice of reason on congestion pricing? Quite frankly, when someone is so politically unhinged it is useful for others to exercise extreme caution in taking anything they say seriously. In fact, it would have been useful-even if out of character, for the Times to mention just how irrational Ken the Red is on so many issues-as a caution and service to its readers. But that might have been construed as "Red-Baiting," which of course is out-of-bounds even if the person in question is "Ken the Red."