King Stays in DC for Drilling Protest

King Stays in DC for Drilling Protest

Steve King is one of two dozen Republican U.S. House members staying in Washington during the AUgust recess to demand a vote on offshore drilling.

King spoke Monday on a darkened House floor, next to a giant photo of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with the words “I am trying to save the planet” underneath.

King said Pelosi has decided that “saving the planet is worth more than saving the Homo sapiens.”

The Republican protest is continuing without lights, microphones, or C-SPAN cameras. Those are all under the control of the Speaker, and Pelosi says "an offshore drilling vote would "mislead the American people as to thinking it's going to reduce the price at the pump."

King, of course, disagrees. "We're asking for a vote on the floor of Congress, a recorded vote, so the people of America can determine what their member of Congress stands for: more or less energy, higher or lower prices."

“It can’t hurt; it may help,” a senior GOP aide told The Politico on the condition of anonymity. “It’s great for the base, and we needed to do something for them.”

Iowa's other House members are back home, meeting with constituents and getting in a little campaigning. Republican Tom Latham spent his Monday at town meetings in Greene, Franklin and Hancock counties. He's also protesting inaction by the Democratic leadership -- but his beef is not about offshore drilling. "I voted against adjournment because it is wrong for Congress to leave without fulfilling what is a solemn promise to help Iowans and others in the Midwest waiting for flood relief," he said in a press release.

Democrat Dave Loebsack, meanwhile, spent the first days of his "vacation" in one-on-one meetings with constituents who were flooded out of their homes.

King Rallies Troops In 2nd District

King Rallies Troops In 2nd District

“Nobody wonders where I stand,” Congressman Steve King told 2nd Congressional District Republicans Saturday, making a detour out of his own 5th District to rally the eastern Iowa GOP troops at their district convention in Iowa City.

In a brief Iowa Independent interview, King stood behind the rhetorical style that’s earned him scorn from liberals and Worst Person In The World “honors” from the media, but solid support from Republican activists.

“I just tell the truth, and I’m waiting for somebody to stand up and say ‘I have a different number, I have a different statistic,’” he said. “But they don’t. They just want to call names. So when you get to that point you’ve already won the debate.”

King, whose high profile endorsement of Fred Thompson failed to give the former Tennessee senator much traction in the January caucuses, now says he’s fully behind the party’s certain nominee, John McCain. “There are some folks who have a ways to go yet, but it’s coming, because they understand the rationale,” he told Iowa Independent.

“With John McCain we can rebuild the Reagan coalition and become a governing coalition again,” he told delegates.

King strongly defended McCain’s position on the Iraq war and attacked the Democrats. “You cannot tell people you support the troops if you do not support their mission there,” he said. “Those things are linked together.

Iowa Republican Party chair Stewart Iverson echoed King’s thoughts on the war. “We all want to see this brought to and end as quickly as possible,” Iverson told delegates. “The difference is, we want to win.”

Supreme Court appointments are one of the critical issues to Republican activists, and King told delegates the next president may appoint two to four justices that may be able to overturn Roe v. Wade. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the model for Obama or Hillary,” he said. “Many of us have worked a lifetime to get here, and if we go backward in this presidential race, we can write this off for my lifetime.”

Despite his support for McCain, King still acknowledged some disappointment that “we aren’t going to elect a president who supports the Fair Tax.” The flat, consumption based tax was a centerpiece of the Mike Huckabee campaign, and support from the Fair Tax group was credited with helping Huckabee to the second-place finish in the August 2007 straw poll that started him on the road to his caucus victory.

Next weekend’s Democratic conventions are likely to draw heavy attention from state and even national media. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama delegates, and some John Edwards diehards, will face off to elect the state’s first actual national delegates. But Republicans don’t elect national delegates until June, their nomination fight is settled, and the press table was pretty lonely except for the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s James Lynch and myself.

The speeches by King and other party leaders were the highlight of a convention otherwise taken up by election of party officers and platform debate. “I’ll be happy as long as someone throws in eminent domain and property rights” in the platform, said state representative Jeff Kaufmann of Wilton, who has focused on the issue during his two House terms. While he didn’t endorse anyone during the caucuses, Kaufmann says he’s firmly behind McCain. “In my heart, I think he’s the only candidate who gives us a chance and reaches out to independents,” he said.

One of those independents is Hani Elkadi of Iowa City. Elkadi used to be active in the Democrats, but left the party “because of Bill Clinton, to be honest.” He said he is still undecided about many state and federal races, but “that’s the best thing about being an independent.”

One new face at the GOP convention was Clyde Cleveland of Fairfield, the 2002 Libertarian candidate for governor. Cleveland moved to the GOP to support Ron Paul. “We have to turn this country around now,” he said. “We don’t have time to build a third party.”

Cleveland is less than pleased with McCain. “He has an F minus with gun owners. It’s hard for a Goldwater Republican like me, who grew up a constitutionalist, to support him. Is he a lesser of three evils? Sure,” Cleveland said, comparing McCain to Obama and Clinton. “We just have to do the best we can do now.”

Other former supporters of other Republicans are more positive. “I’ve got real hope for McCain,” said state senator Jim Hahn of Muscatine, who was an early Mitt Romney supporter. “He’s got some good attributes.”

Red Watson of Fairfield echoed the sentiment that McCain was the best of the three remaining major candidates, but was more enthusiastic than Cleveland. “McCain believes that life begins at conception,” he said.

Congressional candidate Lee Harder said he is hopeful that McCain “may be more conservative as a president than he was as a senator.”

Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey acknowledged 2006 was a tough year for Iowa Republicans in his speech. Northey himself was one of the party’s few bright spots; he took over the agriculture job while his party lost the state house and senate and two congressional seats. “This is built one election at a time,” he said.

As a former state legislator, King says he still keeps a close eye on state issues. He said the Democratic trifecta of governor, house and senate has given Republicans “banner issues for our statehouse candidates to run on,” singling out Renee Schulte of Cedar Rapids, who is running against Democratic freshman Art Staed.

Linn County Republican chair Jim Conklin said, “the party is still growing, though not as fast as I want.” He said the party is coming together after the caucus season, unlike the other party.

“I hope Hillary and Obama keep helping McCain get elected,” he said.

---

Aside: Steve King’s one-liner when faced with a liberal blogger in a raspberry beret was fully in character: “If I need somebody to go get me a bottle of French wine, can you do that?” My response, of course: “Oui, oui.”

Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara

Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara

Un juez de la corte de districto del condado de Polk ha ordenado a secretaria de Iowa del estado Michael Mauro parar el usar de idiomas con excepción de inglés en las formas de registro del votante del funcionario de estado.

Juzgue Douglas Staskal gobernada en el favor de ESTADOS UNIDOS Rep. Steve King, republicano de Iowa, que demandó a funcionarios de estado el año pasado, afirmando ellos violaban la ley de lengua inglesa del estado. Él trajo el juego contra Gov. Chet Culver, que sirvió previamente mientras que secretaria del estado, y Mauro, afirmando ellos había puesto formas de votación ilegales en la secretaria del sitio del Web del estado.

Steve King Wins Honor

Steve King Wins Coveted Worst Person Honor



In a rare loss for Billo Reilley, who generally wins the award three times a week, Steve King just got to hear Keith Olbermann pronounce him today's Worst.... Person.... IN THE WOOORLD! for his remarks on Barack Obama's middle name. Steve's stuff starts at 1:20 in the clip; Olberman had fun blaming King for events on noverliste Spephen King's books.

My boys love that part of the show, mostly for the way Keith stretched out "Worst.... Person.... IN THE WOOORLD!"

Steve King Thinks Christmas Is Important

Steve King Thinks Christmas Is Important
...but not enough to vote.

Alternet reports that Iowa's Own Steve King recently introduced legislation recognizing the "importance of Christmas and the Christian faith," despite previously opposing resolutions recognizing the Muslim celebration of Ramadan and the Hindu Diwali. The measure passed 372 to 9, but that wasn't enough for King, who went on Fox News (naturally) to attack the nine naysaying Democrats, calling them "secularists" who want to "eradicate Christ from Christmas."

We're a Christian nation founded on Christian principles, and we're coming up to Christmastime. ... It's time we stood up and said so, and said to the rest of America, Be who you are and be confident. And let's worship Christ and let's celebrate Christmas for the right reasons.

King asked how the nine no votes "can vote yes on Ramadan, yes on the Indian religions, and no on Christianity, when the foundation of this nation and our American culture is Christian."

The really funny part? King himself missed the vote. He was one of 40 who didn't vote, including GOP presidential candidates Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter. Ten more members voted "present."

One of the nine no's, Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, said, "All someone has to do is visit a shopping mall, turn on the radio or TV or look at the Christmas trees sitting on the front lawns of the White House and the United States Capitol to realize that no such assault (on Christianity) is underway."

Steve King Makes An Ass Of Himself Yet Again

Steve King Makes An Ass Of Himself Yet Again

Steve King ♥ Tom Tancredo?

Steve King ♥ Tom Tancredo?


Cyclone Conservative reports that email is moving on the right-o-sphere re this O. Kay article:

Iowa Congressman Steve King shares the same views on immigration reform as the most-recent entrant in the Republican presidential race, but King says he's not ready to endorse Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's candidacy.

"I certainly encouraged Tom to run. I had, essentially, a heart-to-heart talk with him this past week and encouraged him," King says. "I want to facilitate everything I can in Iowa so that his voice is well-heard here." King and Tancredo both oppose amnesty for the illegal immigrants living in the U.S. today and instead they advocate construction of a fence along the southern border of the U.S. and stricter enforcement of immigration rules.

CyCons seems to be buying into my theory that Tancredo is the man to watch:

When I did door knocking and phone calling before the election mostly on behalf of Tom Latham and Jim Nussle/Bob Vander Plaats, I was really struck by how often people asked what their stances were on immigration and whether they were going to do anything about the illegal immigration problem.

Some might argue that Tancredo is only running to push this issue more prominently into the national debate, but I am convinced that if Tancredo, a pretty articulate fellow, can run a Tommy Thompson style campaign, he could begin moving up the polls as quickly as anyone.

Iowa conservatives tend to love their conservative congressman from Kiron and its hard not to see where they wouldn't show the same sort of love for the conservative King clone from Colorado.

I hate to say I'm in complete agreement with CyCons but I am. Although we probably have very different feelings about it.

Republican Idiocy and Futility Two-Fer

Republican Idiocy and Futility Two-Fer

Federal Edition: Krazy King kontinues his obsession with the way people talk.

A drive to make English the nation's official language once again has kicked off in Congress, spearheaded by Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa.

"Language is the bonding agent. It's the glue that holds us together."

The English-language bill draws intense opposition from groups that advocate on behalf of immigrants, who contend that English is not under attack and that a law is unneeded. What's necessary, they say, is more federal support for overcrowded adult education classes teaching English to immigrants.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., has expressed hesitation about an English-language law.

State Edition: Not satisfied with opposing Fair Share, Mary Lundby and the Senate GOP wants to actively insult labor.

They’ve introduced a bill to declare May 1 as Iowa’s Right To Work Day to remember the passage of Iowa’s anti-labor “Right To Work” Act.

Hat tip to Iowa Progress on this. May Day is Labour Day in most civilized countries of the world.

News bulletin, Republicans: You lost the last election. Actively insulting new Americans and working people may shore up your shrinking base, but it's no way to work your way to a majority. Divide no longer means conquer.

Steve King TODAVÍA no quisiera que usted votara

Steve King TODAVÍA no quisiera que usted votara

Steve King appears to be adjusting to life in the Washington minority by tending to matters back home. Of course, he's doing it with his usual wrecking ball charm, working the base by suing Chet Culver and Mike Mauro.

"This is a non issue," Anderson said, "and Representative King is well aware that Attorney General Miller said Culver followed the letter of the law."

The Iowa Attorney General's advice to two Secretaries of State that non-English voter registration forms are just perfectly okee-dokee isn't enough to stop King on his mission to personally alienate an entire generation of Hispanic Iowans from the Republican Party.

Hmmm... uh, keep talking, Steve. Yeah.

Meanwhile, the trifecta legislature can make all this moot by repealing English Only. Then King can go back to ranting about the border fence. You know, the one about which Republican nominee-designate John McCain said "I think the fence is least effective. But I'll build the goddamned fence if they want it."

Esos republicanos locos...

Steve King: Mexican Murderers Are Gonna Getcha

Steve King: Mexican Murderers Are Gonna Getcha

The Carpetbagger Report reports the latest Steve King Howler:

Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens. That’s 21,900 since Sept. 11, 2001.

Now, as a rule, immigrants to enter the United States illegally are loath to commit crimes — they know that the quickest way to deportation is to get arrested. But let’s put that aside and consider the merit of King’s apparent belief that there’s a rash of homicidal immigrants rampaging through the country.

As this elected member of Congress sees it, there are 12 murders a day committed by illegal immigrants. He’s not talking about car accidents; King is specifically referring to literal murder. He admits that there’s no actual data from law enforcement sources on this, but King insists his report is accurate.

Captain’s Quarters, a very conservative blog that generally supports the Republican line on immigration, took a good look at King’s numbers and wasn’t impressed:

Asinine hardly begins to describe this report. Conservative decry junk science; bad statistics are just as bad. It took me all of 10 minutes to check this data, something that Rep. King apparently couldn't bother to have his staff do, and a standard fact check that WND declined to perform. It seems that some people will believe almost anything as long as it can be used to demonize illegal aliens. They just know it, because some other groups have anecdotal evidence of it.

The regular ol’ scare tactics haven’t been as effective as the right had hoped, so King and his like-minded allies have had to ratchet things up a bit by effectively telling the nation, “Support the far-right on immigration reform — or some Mexican guy might kill you.”

I'm a bit of an extremist in the other direction on immigration - I think any human being should be able to move to any country at any time, or else we should end the hypocrisy and tear down the Statue of Liberty with its "huddled masses" rhetoric that we don't really believe anyway.

Or maybe I'm not such an extremist:

Four out of five youngsters believe people should be able to live in any country they choose, a BBC global survey of 15 to 17-year-olds suggests...

I accept that folks may disagree with me about this, though too often the reasons are intentional or unintentional racism. I keep coming back to my theory that people are paranoid and uncomfortable when they hear someone in front of them in the Wal-Mart line speaking Spanish and they conclude "Those Meskins are talking about me!" You've got a right to your opinion, but it needs to be bnbacked up with FACTS, and King's bigotry is bad enough without flat-out lies.

---

The Leach valedictory is getting close to the point of overkill. No more link love till he actually does something. Hey, old media: how about some coverage of the guy we actually elected? Or even, for the sake of variety, a shot of Jim Nussle's empty Capitol Hill office? Notice how quiet Nussle has been? What lobbying job is HE gonna take?

---

Briefly noted:

State 29 made not one but TWO gratuitious Oasis references last week. They must have spent bucketloads on the helicoptors for that video.

I actually gave up on my Packers yesterday when they were down 31-0. Had a brief flurry of hope after the onside kick, but that was quickly dashed. And the %$^&$ Bears clinched.

Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara

Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara

Rep. Steve King el miércoles exigieron que la secretaria de Iowa del estado Chet Culver quite la información de votación en idiomas con excepción de inglés de la secretaria del sitio del Web del funcionario de estado.

"Ley de Iowa requiere claramente que todos los materiales de votación estén impresos en inglés," escribió a King, republicano, a Culver, el candidato democrático para el gobernador.

Culver encendió detrás que era una "tentativa desesperada" por Jones intentar y excepto la campaña de Nussle, y que la ley permite el uso de otras idiomas de garantizar las derechas de los votantes.

Los republicanos no quisieran que usted votara, los demócratas desean ayudarle a votar.

(En inglés)

Even the Brits are Laughing At Steve King

Even the Brits are Laughing At Steve King

From the Guardian:

Voters in Iowa have on offer the Republican Steve King. He wants to keep out illegal immigrants by constructing a 700-mile wall along the border with Mexico. Better still, he built his own model of this 'Tortilla Curtain' out of cardboard and wire which he demonstrated to Congress in Blue Peter fashion. That is outdone in the crazy stakes by the Texan Republican Sam Johnson who offered personally to fly an F-15 to nuke Syria. Afterwards, he said he was: 'Kinda joking.' Don't you love the 'kinda'.

But in the end a cautionary, comparative note:

The story of this election is one of Republican collapse rather than any great enthusiasm for the Democrats. They don't have a clear message delivered by a popular and plausible leader. It is in the nature of the American system that the executive can speak with a single voice - that of the President - while the opposition talks in a cacophony of tongues.

A senior member of the Clinton cabinet put it to me like this: 'The Democrats don't have one spokesman. They have 10 spokesmen.' There is no such thing as the Shadow President. If ever there was a country in need of a leader of the opposition, it is the United States today.

Part of the different dynamics of our system. In America, parties choose the new leader then go immediately into the general election. In the UK, they have the equivalent of the primary season right AFTER the general election. You lose, you resign, the party chooses its new leader, then the new leader, in theory, has four to five years to make her or his case. Something to be said for doing it that way?



Meanwhile Steve King gives the Brits more material, spending Saturday hangin' with the neo-Know-Nothings, the Minutemen. (No, not the D. Boon Minutemen.)

---

Talking Points Memo notes:

Normally at this phase of the cycle you're triaging races, pulling the plug on ones that didn't pan out and focusing money on races where wins still seem possible. But the playing field only seems to be expanding. In every cycle there are bunch of campaigns out there yammering on about how they're really in a winnable race and that they could win if only this or that party committee realize how close they and give them some money. This time, though, some of them, and possibly a lot of them, are going to be right.

---

More Clinton coverage: DI and Iowa Politics.

Loebsack-Leach debate tonight...

On The Schmitt List: Steve King - Will the embarrassment ever stop?

On The Schmitt List: Steve King - Will the embarrassment ever stop?

I got back to town late on the heels of the Register's big King story, but the Council Bluffs Nonpariel, Iowa's most oddly named paper, finds the Kind of All Media's response to Foley-gate wanting:

Our own Congressman Steve King once again proved to be an embarrassment to southwest Iowa when his comments implied he didn't think the issue was all that important.

King's first comment was, 'It got launched in the media.'

It had to be launched by the media because the Republican leadership clearly was attempting to cover up the entire affair.

King then added, 'I thought it might be a 48-hour story.'

Why would anyone - with an open-minded approach - consider a U.S. congressman's disgusting behavior toward a teenage boy to be anything but extremely serious?

Clearly, King, like Hastert, is more concerned about Republican power than he is about the moral behavior of a fellow Congressman or the filthy and demeaning suffering teenage boys had to endure.

Nonpareil: \non-puh-REL\, adjective:
1. Having no equal; peerless.

noun:
1. Something of unequaled excellence; a peerless thing or person.

Kinda presumptuous, but unique in the world of journalism. Or maybe they mean

2. A flat disk of chocolate covered with beads of colored sugar.

Ooo! Sprinkles!

None of which explains the origins of the newspaper's name. Western Iowa readers, please enlighten me.

Stupid Steve King Quote of the Day

Stupid Steve King Quote of the Day

From Political Wire via The Hill:

'We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not kill somebody, but it would be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time.'

- Rep. Steve King (R-IA), quoted by The Hill, equating the containment of immigrants to that of livestock.

Video here.

Isn't there some country we can send Steve King back to?

Isn't there some country we can send Steve King back to?

Or can we at least ship him off to Nebraska?

Rep. Steve King of Iowa has written a blistering broadside against the planned National Day Without Immigrants. He sent out a column to newspapers in his congressional district that dubs the May 1 event 'Nothing Gringo Day' and 'Bite The Hand That Feeds You Day.'"

" What would that May 1st look like without illegal immigration? There would be no one to smuggle across our southern border the heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines that plague the United States, reducing the U.S. supply of meth that day by 80 percent. The lives of 12 U.S. citizens would be saved who otherwise die a violent death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day. Another 13 Americans would survive who are otherwise killed each day by uninsured drunk driving illegals. Our hospital emergency rooms would not be flooded with everything from gunshot wounds, to anchor babies, to imported diseases to hangnails, giving American citizens the day off from standing in line behind illegals. Eight American children would not suffer the horror as a victim of a sex crime."

And for some weird reason he says:

The threatened boycott fails to conjure the image of a Norwegian refusing to buy his May 1 lutefisk at the corner Fareway.

Uff Da! Doesn't he know Syttende Mai is the 17th of May?

It's hopeless, but just on principle here's King's opponents Bob Chambers for Congress and Joyce Schulte.

Somebody Please Primary Steve King

Somebody Please Primary Steve King

Yes, I know it's too late for 2006. But please, some Republican, gear up for `08. This man is an embarrassment.

"Have we lost our minds?" asked King, quoting a sign that he said he saw during televised protest marches in Los Angeles. The sign was held by a man with an American flag, surrounded by demonstrators carrying Mexican flags. "That struck me as the question we haven't been asking Â? have we lost our minds?" King said.

King and about a dozen other Republicans who back tougher enforcement of laws said at a press conference that they won't accept a guest-worker program, which they regard as 'amnesty,' adding that they intend to send a signal to GOP leadership. An immigration bill approved by the Senate would be negotiated in a conference committee with the House.

Anybody that votes for an amnesty bill deserves to be branded with a scarlet letter 'A' for amnesty and they need to pay for it at the ballot box in November,' King said."

MoveOn.org to Run War-Related Ad in Rep. King's District Monday

MoveOn.org to Run War-Related Ad in Rep. King's District Monday

MoveOn.org will air a stark television ad that chides GOP members of Congress for, in MoveOn's words, "failing to provide a specific plan" for bringing home U.S. troops from Iraq.



Beginning Monday, the ad will run in the districts of Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Geoff Davis (R-KY), Jack Kingston (R-GA), Steve King (R-IA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ)... and, of course, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH).

Some of these make sense. But Steve King? In the Unwinnable Iowa 5th? Why bother? The only good thing one can say about IA-05 is it makes the other four districts at least theoretically winnable. (It would help if we had a CANDIDATE in the 4th, though.) I can't figure the strategy here, unless the strategy is "make MoveOn feel good by bashing a particularly noxious House member."

Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina

Stupidest Hurricane Katrina Quotes



A good roundup of idiocy, largely GOP in nature but the media makes a few appearances.



Also, speaking of GOP stupidity, Steve King offers his thoughts on his NO vote to disaster aid.