Rep. Peter King Compares North Korean Government to ‘Organized Crime Family’

Below you can find some of the notable comments made Sunday on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” Political roundtable guests included former Newark Mayor Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; ABC News political analyst and special correspondent Matthew Dowd; ABC News senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny; and editor and publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel. Our special religion and politics roundtable included writer and religious scholar Reza Aslan; Rev. Calvin Butts, Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York; author and atheist Susan Jacoby; Dr. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Sojourners president Rev. Jim Wallis, author of “On God’s Side.”

ABC

King describes North Korean government as ‘organized crime family’

KING: As far as I see, this is not even government. It’s more like an organized crime family running a territory. They are brutal, he is brutal, his father was brutal, his grandfather was brutal. I don’t see any purpose at all in [direct talks with North Korea] at all. It would demoralize our allies in Asia, certainly in South Korea, and it would — to me — serve no constructive purpose whatsoever.

Vanden Heuvel on gay marriage: ‘justice delayed is justice denied’

VANDEN HEUVEL: “Justice delayed is justice denied. But I think that the Supreme Court is lagging so far behind now that marriage equality has won in this country… It is moving in states, it is moving politically. And I think you’ve seen, perhaps, the most rapid mass evolution on an issue, among our politicos as well. They know where the future of this country is. It is also a qualifier to win a next generation.”

So I think whatever happens in the court, and it may well be that Kennedy’s — Justice Kennedy’s consuming affection for state rights does lead to overruling DOMA, I think we are going to see a social, moral, and political paradigm shift that is extraordinary.

King supports President Obama’s position on guns

KING: Let me say, I support the president’s position on guns. So I’ll say that. Having said that, it’s going to be very difficult to get very meaningful legislation through the congress, because despite what [Mayor Booker] was saying… is that you get a majority of Americans who don’t seem to want this type of legislation. And I support it. So I’m — I am again, supporting legislation on gun trafficking, on background checks, assault weapons, all of that. But I just don’t see the intensity building up.

Vanden Heuvel states ‘the Republican Party is a values challenged party’

VANDEN HEUVEL:  If they don’t go along with immigration.  I mean, as you head into 2014, the Republican Party is a values challenged party.  They have big problems on immigration, on same-sex marriage, on gun reform, commonsense gun reform.  So I think this is going to be a test case

Land thinks immigration reform ‘needs to be done’

LAND: “Immigration reform is tearing the social fabric of the country. It needs to be done. The lack of doing it is causing havoc that will be difficult to repair in the social fabric of the country. And there is a way to do it, and a way to do it that’s fair, and a way to do it that will heal the country.”

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Sarah Palin Compares Obama to Bernie Madoff, Sips From a Big Gulp and Jokes About Her (Gun) ‘Rack’

(ABC News)

Sarah Palin served up a generous helping of conservative red meat today, comparing President Obama to white-collar criminal Bernie Madoff, mocking New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his support of a jumbo soda ban and criticizing the GOP’s post-election attempt at “putting a fresh coat of rhetorical paint on our party” rather than focusing on “restoring the trust of the American people.”

On the final day of the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington, D.C., Palin delivered one of the most well-received speeches of a weekend that has featured such Republican luminaries as  Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. Pausing numerous times for standing ovations, she reserved particular vitriol for President Obama.

“He is considered a good politician,” the former vice presidential nominee said, referring to Obama, “which is like saying Bernie Madoff was a good salesmen. The difference being, the president is using our money.”

She exhorted him to “step away from the teleprompter and do your job.”

Dressed in a zippered black jacket, an American flag cuff, and a gold Star of David necklace, Palin lit up the room. It was a stark contrast to Romney’s address on Friday when he did not even mention the president. But her barbs were not only aimed at Obama. She broadened her criticism to include the “permanent political class” who are in “permanent campaign mode.”

“Never before have our challenges been so big and our leaders so small,” Palin said.

The former Alaska governor, whose level of influence within the Republican Party is a matter of some debate now that she no longer holds public office, declined to run for president last year and decided against renewing her contract as a political commentator on Fox News, said she brought a message from the “heartland of America,” which was simply this: “Things are bad out here.”

During her remarks, which lasted more than 26 minutes  – more time that many other prominent speakers were allotted at the three-day gathering of thousands of conservative leaders and activists — she displayed the same renegade sensibility that won her the admiration of so many Republicans when she emerged from relative obscurity (a “hockey mom from Wasilla,” as she referred to herself today) to become Sen. John McCain’s running mate in 2008.

“Now is the time to furlough the consultants,” she said, echoing a commonly-heard refrain at this weekend’s conference. “If we truly know what we believe we do not need professionals to tell us.”

And on Saturday she waded in to one of the country’s most intractable policy debates: gun control.

“Background checks? Yeah, I guess to learn more about a person’s thinking and associations and intentions. More background checks?” she said. “Dandy idea, Mr. President — should have started with yours.”

Palin also delivered a series of memorable one-liners:

On gun ownership: “You should have seen what Todd got me for Christmas. Well, It wasn’t that exciting. It was a metal rack, case for hunting rifles to put on the back of a four-wheeler. Then though, I had to get something for him to put in the gun case, right. So, this go around, he’s got the rifle, I got the rack.”

On Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s large soda ban: Palin held up a Big Gulp, sipped from a straw and said, “Bloomberg is not around, our big gulps are safe. We’re cool. Shoot, it’s just pop with low-cal ice-cubes in it.”

On the current state of politics in Washington: “We don’t have leadership coming out of Washington, we have reality television.”

On young conservatives: “My only piece of advice to our young college Republicans is you’ve got to be thinking Sam Adams, not drinking Sam Adams. And that’s just a joke.  I don’t want to know hear from the CEO of some brewery accusing me of being an anti beer-ite.”

On freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who introduced her: “We need more Americans like Ted Cruz. Coming from Texas, Ted Cruz comes to town, chews barbed wire, and spits out rust.”

On Obama administration transparency: “Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever. Barack Obama, you lie.”

ABC’s Arlette Saenz contributed reporting.