Following the execution-style ambush on a city police officer, Philadelphia's mayor Jim Kenney didn't win any respect points with his ridiculous comments at a news conference last Friday.

It proved how foolish one can look in trying to deflect obvious facts while wearing the blinders of politics and political correctness.During the briefing with reporters, Police Commissioner Richard Ross described last Thursday's attack on officer Jesse Hartnett as an attempted assassination.Police video shows Edward Archer, the 30-year-old gunman, getting up next to the car, reaching through the driver's-side window and firing at least 11 shots at Hartnett.Despite being seriously wounded in the arm, the officer somehow found the strength to get out of his car, chase Archer and return fire, wounding his attacker in the buttocks. Archer was soon apprehended by other officers.Hartnett's arm injuries will require multiple surgeries. He deserves praise for his bravery but neither the mayor or the White House have commented on the officer's heroism.At the news conference, Ross said the gunman didn't appear to be a stupid person, just an extremely violent one, and that his only aim was to kill an officer.After his arrest in the shooting, Archer pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, making this an act of terrorism.Capt. James Clark said Archer told investigators: "I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State, and that's why I did what I did."Even Archer's mother called him a devout Muslim. Investigators were checking into his reported travels to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and to Egypt in 2012.After the police informed reporters on Archer's confession of shooting the officer, invoking Allah and his pledge to the Islamic State, Mayor Kenney stepped up to the microphone and, contrary to what the police commissioner just told listeners, said that the shooting "has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith." He simply called Archer "a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers."Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, stated that in his view, the Philadelphia gunman appeared to be taking orders from ISIS in Syria.He said with the high volume of Internet activity coming out of Raqqa, Syria, into this country every day - some 200,000 tweets per day - the message is clear: Radical Islamists have vowed to kill military, attack military installations, and kill police officers.Kenney's comments immediately following the police report on Archer's own confession, had many of us wondering what planet the mayor is living on.It's been reported that while running for office, Kenney often reached out to the Muslim community for support. Last July, he signed a "pledge to combat bigotry" at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society.The pledge was created by the Arab American Institute, an anti-Israel organization that seeks to promote Arab politicians for higher office. In signing the pledge, Kenney agreed to combat criticism of Islam, and to "speak out" against "Islamophobia."The Philadelphia mayor's comments last Friday weakened his credibility.Any mayor who would alienate his police force for the sake of political correctness or to score political points doesn't deserve respect.The people elected to lead our cities must realize that we are in a war against radical Islam and that our police officers have been targeted and are therefore on the front lines.The failure of the mayor of our nation's fifth largest city to man up and call this attack for what it is - an assassination attempt by a self-proclaimed Islamic jihadist - shows a pathetic lack of leadership.By JIM ZBICK |

tneditor@tnonline.com