Here is what Iowa Rep. Steve King (R) had to say about immigrants and America yesterday. #NoMames, Rep. King. Basically, the logic is this: hey, I know how to pick the best dogs and I want to pick the friskiest dog out there. That is what our immigration policy should be like. Let's get rid of those lazy dogs, because we are Americans. By the way, King has always been one of those elected officials (yes, people vote for him) who makes it a point to perpetuate the image of those "damn illegals" on the floor of Congress.
Speaking in Pocahontas, Iowa on Monday, May 21, Steve King compared immigrants to dogs. King holds town hall in Pocahontas Location: 607 13th Street North, Pocahontas IA
Transcript: King: …You put out a beacon like the Statue of Liberty and who comes here? The most vigorous from every country that has donated legal immigrants to America. The cream of the crop. We've always had bird dogs around our place in our family there's a black lab and white lab a yellow lab, and my brother has a chocolate lab. Well you go in and you look at a litter of pups, and you watch them. You watch how they play — they run around a little bit — and what do you want? You want a good bird dog, and you want one that's gonna be aggressive? Pick the one that's the friskiest, the one that's in games the most — not the one that's over there sleeping in the corner. You want a pet to sit on the couch, pick the one that's sleeping in the corner. That's — so, you get the pick of the litter, you got yourself a pretty good bird dog. We got the pick of every donor civilization on the planet because it's hard to get here, you had to be inspired to come. We got the vigor from the planet to come to America. Whichever generation it was, and then we taught our children that same thing.
King's Democratic challenger, Christie Vilsack, according to Salon.com, was quick to issue a statement about King's dog breeding analogy:
“If we’re going to have a real discussion on immigration, we should start by acknowledging that immigrants are human beings. Iowans are taught in their community, in their church, and at the dinner table to respect each other, not to compare people to dogs. People expect a serious discussion between candidates and that’s what we’re committed to.”
Other groups pounced on King's comments. Here are just a few, as reported by the New York Daily News:
King’s critics pounced on him, with the Democratic National Committee saying in e-mails that King “compared immigrants to dogs,” The Hill newspaper reported.
Matt Sinovic, executive director of the liberal-leaning Progress Iowa, called King’s words “offensive.” “Immigrants, working class, LGBT, women, seniors, we’re all just part of the dog pound to him,” he told the Des Moines Register.
As for King? This is what his spokesperson said:
A King spokesman, however, said the congressman was sticking to his theme of “restoring our American dream.”
“What Congressman King was alluding to is the fact that the failed policies of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi — many of which are policies that Christie Vilsack supports — have led our country into massive amounts of debt, record unemployment and we are simply mortgaging our children and grandchildren’s futures,” said spokesman Jimmy Centers, according to The Register.
Yeah, right.
