4:05 PM EDIT: We almost missed this one. The “compliments” to immigrants just don’t stop when it comes to Steve King. Here’s another winner from him, according to Alan Colmes:
…just a few days earlier, King gave an interview to Newsmax in which he claimed that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are “130-pound” drug runners with “calves the size of cantaloupes.”
“For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another hundred out there who they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’ve been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” King said.
On a Univision appearance with Jorge Ramos this weekend, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) repeated the idea that his 2012 comment comparing immigrants to dogs was “complimentary,” and refused to apologize even when Ramos told him “many people would find that offensive and racist.” (Watch the full video at ABC Univision.)
Last year, King was at a town hall meeting when he told constituents that the US should only pick the best immigrants, the way one chooses the “pick of the litter.”
King told the crowd that he’s owned a lot of bird dogs over the years and said:
You want a good bird dog? You want one that’s going to be aggressive? Pick the one that’s the friskiest … not the one that’s over there sleeping in the corner.
In the wake of the following controversy, King doubled-down and said that his comparison between immigrants and dogs was “a compliment.”
King has had a whole history of comparing immigrants to animals and other decidedly non-complimentary things. He once drew a parallel between immigrants and cattle, bringing a model of the US border fence to the House floor and suggesting that it be electrified–not with the kind of current that would kill somebody, “but it would simply be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time.”
And last month, via Twitter, King compared DREAMers peacefully protesting his amendment to deport them to “illegal aliens” who he said “have just invaded my DC office.” Were those also “compliments”?
Somehow, King’s style of handing out “compliments” hasn’t been working out too well for his Party and its relationship with Latino voters. But, as of now, King appears to be setting the GOP’s immigration agenda.
