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Aficionados of The Crazy have long long enjoyed the antics of Rep. Steve King of Iowa. He’s probably best known for assuming the mantle of Chief Congressional Nativist from his close friend Tom Tancredo when the Coloradan abandoned his House district in 2008. The other two pols with whom he has been especially close are Michele Bachmann and Jim DeMint (the latter paid him the honor of including him as a panelist in his famous 2011 Labor Day Inquisition of the GOP presidential field).
For all his zealotry, King has a reputation in Iowa as a pretty savvy politician. He did not, for example, endorse the presidential bids of either Tancredo (in 2008) or Bachmann (in 2012), knowing that joining either suicide mission would have diminished him in the eyes of his constituents, who like all Iowans pay a lot of attention to presidential nominating contests.
But I gotta say, King seems to be losing it a bit lately, even by his standards. Last week he made news by publicly opposing a congressional effort to ban dog-fighting. To be clear, King isn’t putting himself a bit to the right of Michael Vick on this subject because of “constitutional conservative” objections to a violation of states’ rights; he earlier sponsored a farm bill amendment aimed at preempting state and local animal cruelty laws. He just doesn’t much care about critters.
King has also recently made it clear that his only problems with birtherism are strictly tactical:
We went down into the Library of Congress and we found a microfiche there of two newspapers in Hawaii each of which had published the birth of Barack Obama. It would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of Barack Obama being born in Hawaii and get that into our public libraries and that microfiche they keep of all the newspapers published. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some other explanations on how they might’ve announced that by telegram from Kenya. The list goes on. But drilling into that now, even if we could get a definitive answer and even if it turned out that Barack Obama was conclusively not born in America, I don’t think we could get that case sold between now and November.
Yeah, tracking down fifty-year-old telegrams from Kenya takes some time, all right.
King’s always been like this, but he’s picked a bad year to exhibit his fully resplendent wingnuttery. He’s facing by far his toughest general election challenge, in a new (if pretty strongly Republican-leaning) district, and against former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack, whose husband happens to be Secretary of Agriculture.
Vilsack, who’s probably as well-known in the district as King, and enjoys considerable personal popularity, has managed to achieve fundraising parity, despite King’s solid identity as a national Tea Party and Christian Right hero. The Cook Political Report rates the race as “Lean R,” and Iowa is not looking nearly as pro-Democratic as it was in 2008. Still, if anyone is capable of keeping this contest competitive, it’s King, who just can’t keep his more outlandish thoughts to himself.
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c u n d gulag on August 01, 2012 2:04 PM:
The House of Representative has long been an annex for Bellevue - on the Potomac.
But King, Bachmann, West, Gohmert, and some other loons, are making me think that a few years ago, insane asylums had a "catch and release" program going for crazy politician.
Yes, Rep. King - if you're a teenage psychopath/sociopath, there's nothing wrong with dog or rooster fighting; or sticking firecrackers up frogs asses to see how high they can jump before they're vaporized.
But most people, won't admit to that - even if they get some sort of a secret thrill out of it.
If they like it, the find some other psychopath who's willing to stage the battles, bet on them, and get their jollies watching animals tear each other part trying to survive.
Survival of the fittest, Rep. King?
You're not fit to be chopped-up and served as last meals to the animals that are forced to battle for their lives.
And their lives are worth saving.
Yours?
Not so much...
And I don't even want to talk about the hateful sociopaths who are their constituents.
Rational, sane, empathetic people would never even think of voting for you. No matter how much "bacon" you brought back to the district.
And Lord know what that poor pig went through for you to bring back it's bacon.
We also know your stance on how poor animals should be treated before they're killed so we can eat them.
I only wish there was a God who made you go through what they go through for all of eternity.
c u n d gulag on August 01, 2012 2:08 PM:
OMG - I totally DIDN'T mean for this to come out the way I wrote it:
"Yes, Rep. King - if you're a teenage psychopath/sociopath, there's nothing wrong with dog or rooster fighting; or sticking firecrackers up frogs asses to see how high they can jump before they're vaporized."
I forgot to add, "Yes, in your own warped minds!"
And that eventually, those warped minds will take that cruelty and extend it to humans, so OF COURSE THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT!
Oooops!!!
EDIT PLEASE!!!
greennotGreen on August 01, 2012 2:51 PM:
First, Mr. Gulag, I thought what you wrote was clear.
Second, is Iowa in such deep denial of reality that the parched state with its crops shriveling in the fields leans toward a party that denies the reality of global warming? I'm afraid the answer is "yes", but deniers should realize that ignoring a threat doesn't make it go away.
DAY on August 01, 2012 3:06 PM:
"not born in America, "
McCain was "not born in America"
but, I digress: Gulag- wander over to Benen's new digs; you get a full 3 minutes to edit yours posts! Plus, they give out Green Stars for comments like yours- although I already have so many, you'll never Ketchup.
(all that, and no Craptcha!)
Peter C on August 01, 2012 3:29 PM:
That's good news about Christie Vilsack! She sounds like exactly the sort of candidate we should run against loons like King.
lou on August 01, 2012 3:38 PM:
The thing that drives me crazy about statements like that: Back in those days, people didn't pay for announcements or submit themselves. A reporter from each newspaper either stopped by the hospitals to pick up the lists or called each hospital and had a nurse read them aloud.
TCinLA on August 01, 2012 4:22 PM:
In all the years I have been alive, I have never been lied to, robbed, assaulted, defrauded, or treated in any way less than honorably by any animal I have ever met.
I can't say that about the humans.