Democrats and other proponents of immigration reform caught another lucky break over the weekend: Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) appeared on “Meet the Press” yesterday, and just kept talking. If the progressive goal is to see reform opponents discredit themselves on the national stage, the right-wing Iowan has become the left’s most reliable ally.
Indeed, who do you think was happier to see King on the air, the DNC or the RNC?
[T]he Iowa Republican was asked to a respond to a his remarks that “for everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
King said his statements were accurate and have been misconstrued. “My numbers have not been debunked. I said valedictorians compared to people who would be legalized under the act that are drug smugglers coming across the border. My characterization was exclusively to drug smugglers,” King said.
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Host David Gregory said the remark had been debunked in that it was impossible to know how many valedictorians or drug smugglers would be involved in the DREAM Act.
Republican strategist Ana Navarro, a Latina who worked on the McCain/Palin campaign, responded that King “should go get himself some therapy for his melon fixation,” adding, “I think he’s a mediocre congressman who’s got no legislative record, and the only time he makes national press is when he comes out and says something offensive about the undocumented or Hispanics.”
King jumped back in to question whether Navarro “understands the language.”
The questions for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the House GOP leadership are straightforward: which side of this intra-party dispute do you intend to help? Will congressional Republicans give Steve King a victory over immigration reform or not?
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