"he succeeded at shifting the immigration debate"

September 29, 2014 8:59 AM

The Method To Steve King's Madness
"Sahil Kapur takes a look at how rank and file congressman Steve King (R-IA) came to call the shots on one of the most important issues of the modern era [immigration]."
posted by davidstandaford (10 comments total)

"He knows what he's doing when he's stirring the pot. And he likes that."

Sure, ignore the trolls - they're just trying to get a rise out of people, and it's not like they can actually do anything.

Unless we keep electing them.
posted by rtha at 9:05 AM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

I guess it's easy to "call shots" when you're playing on life's lowest difficulty setting.

We need a device that can transmogrify white men into queer minority women for a week now more than ever.
posted by Talez at 9:30 AM on September 29, 2014 [5 favorites]

Talez, I think you just wrote an elevator pitch for the next Adam Sandler movie.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:34 AM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

"Since King came to Congress, his most over-the-top rhetorical outbursts include comparing immigrants to dogs, calling illegal immigration a "slow-motion terrorist attack" on the United States, claiming Al Qaeda would be "dancing in the streets" if Barack Obama was elected president, and declaring that racial profiling wasn't an issue in Ferguson, Mo., because protesters were from a single "continental origin." (King even skipped the wedding of his middle son, Mick, to cast a vote against Obamacare in November 2009.)

Comments like these infuriate Democrats and embarrass Republican leaders, but they endear King to his base. "For the media to make him sound like this screwball nutcase from Iowa who just embarrasses people for no reason — well if he's just embarrassing people how come he's served so many terms?" says Witzke, the King constituent."

He's a nativist who appeals to racists and trades on racial anxieties. A huge proportion of the GOP base is composed of bigots of every stripe: homophobes, racists, misogynists, you name it. Some politicians try to appeal to the best in us. He's the other kind. What's sad is that he is not paying any political price for it. One can only hope that the GOP will be branded as the party of hate, and voted into irrelevance. I keep thinking that by moving relentlessly toward the right, they'll at some point be out of step with the majority of voters. So far, I've been amazed at how long it's taking to reach that point.
posted by VikingSword at 9:37 AM on September 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

Talez, I think you just wrote an elevator pitch for the next Adam Sandler movie.

Actually, that's kinda sorta of the plot to Sandler's upcoming The Cobbler. And it's truly horrible.

As for Rep. King, he's basically the living caricature of the Establishment White Guy who's the antagonist in so many Sandler movies except his lines are scripted for maximum impact for the Fox News audience.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:45 AM on September 29, 2014

Not to be confused with Peter King, who is also an asshole, not to be confused with Peter King, who is also an asshole.

Steve King might be the assholiest though.

I am honestly often confused by which one of these royal assholes are being referred to in articles
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:46 AM on September 29, 2014

To me the phrase 'doesn't have a racist bone in his body' usually says to me 'please give this racist a pass, i like him.'

So no, you're a racist, Rep. King, and you should be disqualified from public office for your overt displays of it.

Additionally, Mr. King, you need a few lessons on economics from your brethren who worship our corporate overlords, as immigrants are good for their bottom line.
posted by Fuka at 10:16 AM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

I thought Iowa had this right-wing crap under control when we kicked Governor Brandstad out of office in 1999. But now people have forgotten what a horrible governor he was. Now he's back in office and determined to make up for years of Democratic control. I mean literally he is tearing down every Democratic liberal program within his power to destroy, from Medicaid to voting rights. And he has made an environment where the Tea Party can use the Iowa GOP as a base to deploy their crazy candidates. So King says Brandstad drew him into politics. Now we have Joanie Ernst pulling ahead of incumbent Democrat Bruce Braley. It is sickening what these people are doing to this country, let alone our state and local politics.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:24 AM on September 29, 2014

The more rural the district, the better this kind of race-baiting shit works. The urban areas of Iowa can't stand this guy.
posted by TrialByMedia at 11:53 AM on September 29, 2014

As obnoxious as they are, people of King's sort being the face of opposition to Obama's policy on immigration is a calculated ploy by the thoroughly bipartisan coalition of large-scale importers of legal and illegal labor to make sure that as few people as possible engage in critical thought on the subject.

People prone to bigotry get to indulge their bigotry instead of careful evaluation of where and how immigrants can contribute to societal wealth.

People who don't like bigotry default to giving McDonalds unlimited amnesty and Facebook unlimited H1-Bs, whether or not that's good for them, or the nation.
posted by MattD at 4:42 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]