None of King蘑菇视频 Horses
Steven Arnold King has a knack for saying the wrong things.
The eight-term Republican congressman from Western Iowa is in hot water again.
Steve King creepily thinks that rape and incest are somehow keys to life on planet Earth.
That statement requires further exploration.
I’ll do my best to unravel it.
Admittedly, I may fail in that regard.
Rep. King was speaking at something called the Westside Conservative Club last week when he offered his opposition to all abortions – even under circumstances when a woman is victimized by rape or incest.
It’s there that King took his argument into some mighty bizarre territory.
“What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?” he said as if he hadn’t really touched on something that defies, well, decency and logic.
Sensing that he’d struck a verbal homerun, King went even further.
“Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of a product of that,” he added, not really understanding that those people in the room with those microphones, those cameras, and those pencils and pads would be chasing him for further comment after his speech.
Rep. King, usually good for a juicy soundbite, beat a hasty retreat to his car, as soon as he could.
Soon, word got out that King had declared that we’re all the products of rape and/or incest – and even his fellow Republicans responded with horror.
Liz Cheney is the House Republican Conference Chairwoman from Wyoming (and former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s daughter).
She was beside herself with indignation – “Today’s comments by @RepSteveKingIA are appalling and bizarre. As I’ve said before, it’s time for him to go. The people of Iowa’s 4th congressional district deserve better,” she tweeted.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, usually seen defending the constant flow of intemperate remarks of President Trump, was called into action to offer his opinion about King’s latest foolishness.
“Earlier in this Congress, there are things that Steve King said that I do not believe the party of Lincoln would stand for. And as a United Conference, we actually removed Steve King from his committees inside Congress, and I think this just continues to show why that action was taken,” McCarthy said on Fox News.
King might have gained some increased notoriety for his exotic take on our supposed rapist, incestuous ancestors, but he’s better known as one of the more racially insensitive Republicans in the U.S. Congress.
When he lost those committee assignments, it was after he’d given an interview back in January, where he wondered, out loud, why the terms “white nationalist,” and “white supremacy” had become offensive.
Back then, even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that King should find “another line of work.”
Republicans have to fight the persistent charge that racists find safe haven within their ranks.
King, to many Democrats, is Exhibit “A.”
In March of 2008, he proclaimed that if Barack Obama would become president, al-Qaeda “would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11.”
In those days, of course, Republicans weren’t quite so quick to chide King for that kind of talk.
Probably because many of them shared King’s view of Obama.
But nowadays, his provocative language is no longer welcome.
Now, though, he probably couldn’t get away with comparing immigrants to hunting dogs, as he did in May of 2012.
He might even avoid claiming that only people from European (white) countries contributed to the betterment of mankind. “Where did any other subgroup of people contribute to civilization?” he asked in July of 2016 – the same month he was spotted with a Confederate flag on his desk.
All of this makes King something of an untouchable.
Except, perhaps to Donald Trump, who just might embrace him and his words.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.