Rep. Steve King: The ‘best vote’ I ever cast in Congress was opposing Katrina relief.
Rep. Steve King: The ‘best vote’ I ever cast in Congress was opposing Katrina relief.
In a new interview with The Hill, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) reveals his proudest moment as a lawmaker:
THE HILL: What vote would you like to redo?
KING: I don’t really go back and re-live that sort of thing. Some of the big votes that I’ve thought about, some of the jury’s still out. And at this point, maybe I’d answer that question another way, probably the singular vote that stands out that went against the grain, and it turns out to be the best vote that I cast, was my “no” vote to the $51.5 billion to [Hurricane] Katrina. That probably was my best vote. But as far as doing something different again, I don’t know.
King was one of just 11 members of Congress to vote against the $52 billion aid package. (It passed unanimously in the Senate.) Media Matters Action Network’s Matt Finkelstein writes, “Katrina killed 1,464 in Louisiana alone and uprooted the lives of countless others all over the gulf region. Yet, King says this was his ‘best’ moment in Congress. Not fighting for ‘conservative principles’ like smaller government, lower taxes, or a strong national defense — no, he’s most proud of opposing relief for victims of a catastrophe.”
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I heard hardware stores are short on shovels. No wonder! The deep holes that so many of these nutjobs are digging for themselves! Hello 2010 :)
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:04 pmAnother compassionate conservative.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmThis guy needs a backhole to dig this fast.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmJust a coincidence that many of the dead and displaced were African-American. This neanderthal POS is a true republic scumbag.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmKing: Because giving aid to those poor, black animals in Louisiana just wouldn’t be the compassionate type of thing the party of God would ever do.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:06 pmAnd this isn’t even the most loathsome thing King has said. In the past year.
He’s a bigot, proud and true.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:06 pmWow, he is most proud of being in the top 2.5% of racist, right-wing fanatics. I wonder if his mother is proud of him?
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 pmWhat good is our country’s wealth if we don’t use it to improve our citizens’ lives and relieve them from tragedy?
Compassionate conservative? No, a comepissonthem conservative.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pmIowa, pound for pound, seem to have the craziest congressmen in the country and that isn’t any easy feat
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pmWow, these guys have lost it. Why didn’t he just use the n word to describe NO, as in n-town.
Their racism is becoming blatant.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pmAlso, Lord knows, it NEVER floods in Iowa, does it?
What a scumbag.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pmI wonder if King will congratulate anyone who votes against disaster relief aid to Iowa farmers?
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm“I’d have to say the one real bright spot was when I ran over that lady’s dog in my rental car on the way to a fundraiser in Fort Dodge. My only real regret? -that I didn’t stop and take a picture of it.”
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pmWell, he didn’t want to help those black people,” they were poor anyway, so it worked out fine for them”.
He’s a racist, so of course he voted no.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pmI’m sure his mother is very proud of him. What a jerk!!!
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pmWhy does King hate Americans? Looking at the numbers, Katrina killed nearly half as many Americans as the 9/11 terrorists and yet King is proud that denied these Americans assistance from the Government. It doesn’t get any creepier than that. Shame on King.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pmHey, they were mostly coloreds…
What’s the big deal?
King’s a ‘white’ guy from a really “white” state? There was nothing in the bill for HIS constituents…
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:14 pmIowa, pound for pound, seem to have the craziest congressmen in the country and that isn’t any easy feat
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
tou forget oklahomophobia
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmHitting the dog-whistle hard.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmI’d like to counter Mr. King! I hope that your home burns to the ground. While I hope his family gets out safely, I’d like to see that look on his face that the Katrina victims had on theirs.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmAnother Repug reveals his true colors! Health Care and Relief after a trumatic event a no-no. I’m sure his constituents are real proud. Unless they watch Faux News, then they will never hear of it.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:17 pmGO HERE and remind him of what he said:
http://steveking.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm
…phone and fax contacts for his offices are at the bottom of the email form…
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmI was going to say that at least he didn’t lie….but then I saw the last quote in the article:
“I love the people in this country. If you treat them good, they’ll treat you well.”
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pm9.
I dont buy that, Fester. Braley, Loesback, and Boswell collectively outweigh Latham and King. And I think Harkin has a few lbs on Grassley.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmEven more than voting for invading Iraq?
Wow. This guy is so eager to LOOK racist, he makes Glenn Beck look like a bleeding heart.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:21 pmwiley says:
Hitting the dog-whistle hard.
I think he just blew his liver out through the end-piece…
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:22 pmTo add to my previous post at #1, King is an asswipe.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pmThis repugniscum voted against helping his fellow citizens and he boasts about it — sick. pathetic.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pmI should not be so disgusted or surprised — there are no levels too low for them.
****
have we run out of trolls?
:|
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pmRep. Steve King = Pure Evil
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pmUncle Fester Lurks says:
King: Because giving aid to those poor, black animals in Louisiana just wouldn’t be the compassionate type of thing the party of God would ever do.
Now, now, Uncle Fester, remember your Genesis: Black folks are the descendants of Ham, the poor schnook who walked in on Noah early one morning, when Noah was drunk and passed out.
For that crime, Ham was cursed to serve his two brothers for all eternity. And everybody KNOWS which brother founded which race…
Read your Bible, and you’ll find the evidence of the gifts of slavery, murder, incest and plenty of other Republican values.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pmEvery one of his constituents should be asked: “Is King the one you want speaking and deciding for you?” If so, then it says a lot about you, and sadly, what is happening in religion loving America.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pmI’m sure God was listening to how proud Rep. King is of how he watched thousands of Americans ask for help. Yes I’m sure he’s proud of his vote to give Iraq 1 Trillion dollars as they were told they never have to pay it back. As Iowa is a farming area I’m sure those who work the fields might have something to say. Just think the people of Iowa were the first to vote for President Obama and Rep. King has clearly admitted he is rooted in racism and hate against minorities and the poor. Nothing like putting yourself out there for all the see.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:28 pmHow can trolls defend this??? Thousands dead and a city in ruin. But don’t worry, they will come up with something to defend the defensless.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:31 pmHeckuva job Dooshy
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:31 pmI wonder if anyone puts it to him in such a succint way? Would he change his statement in light of such perspective?
Campaign ads should include this statement when he runs again.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmWhat an evil, twisted bastard.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pmS.KING:
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm“And I regret thatI was not allowed to wear my white cone-shaped hood when I voted”.
What a vile little racist pig.
Lest we forget:
The Bush flooding of New Orleans: an unnatural disaster.
To the Editor: (published in the Berkeley Daily Planet newspaper in September 2005)
“We don’t care, we don’t care” was the chant of pro-war, pro-Bush hecklers across the street from the Camp Casey peace vigil in Crawford, Texas in late August, 2005. This “we don’t care” chant pretty much sums up the attitude of the Bush Syndicate (B. S.) towards the rest of us in America. Actually, Bush, Cheney and the rest of this idiotic neoconical government believes that the only true function of the federal government is to create private money-making opportunities for themselves, their friends, and their corporate contributors. Any activity other than waging aggressive war to steal and colonize other countries’ natural resources falls into the category of “we don’t care.”
The Bush flood of New Orleans happened after the massive Hurricane Katrina had passed the city. It was both predictable and preventable. The Bush flood and the slow-as-molasses-in-January Bush response to it has ripped off the facade of the inept Bush Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subsidiary, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The upper echelons of both of these massive federal bureaucracies have been staffed by incompetent and uncaring Bush buddies, cronies, hacks, frat brothers, former roommates, horse attorneys, contributors and other miscellaneous nincompoops. In making his appointments to the executive management of DHS and FEMA, Bush gave little if any thought to their actual qualifications in the field of emergency management.
Over the last several years, Bush and the GOP-controlled House and Senate have poured over one hundred billion tax dollars into “Homeland Security.” What did we get as the federal response to Hurricane Katrina? We got homeland stupidity. After the massive flooding of New Orleans, which initially covered about eighty percent of the city, thousands of residents were herded to the Superdome where they denied water, food, medicine, bedding, toilet facilities and police protection for several long days, meanwhile the Bush gang partied and carried on with their “business as usual” and “let them eat cake” imperial attitudes. George strummed his guitar, raised campaign funds, cut cake with Senator McCain, while Connie Rice did her Imelda Marcos imitation, shopping for expensive shoes in New York City before going to a Broadway play, while Cheney went on vacation, first fishing in Wyoming and then mansion shopping in Maryland, and Rumsfeld went to a professional ball game.
In the first several days of the flooding of New Orleans cable news reporters had to point out the severity of the suffering of thousands of people in the Superdome to the heads of FEMA and DHS. These two had apparently followed the lead of the ever-clueless Bush by not watching the unfolding disaster being revealed on television.
The searing images of human suffering that were shown on television in the first several days after the flooding of New Orleans showed thousands of poor people herded into the Louisiana Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center without any water, any food, any medicines, any toilet facilities, any bedding or any police protection.
The conduct of the inept corrupt Bush regime in this unnatural disaster (the Bush flood and the slow spastic Bush response of flood relief) is nothing short of criminal. Since the illegitimate Bush regime came to power in January 2001, they have allowed and encouraged massive developments in the natural low-lying wetlands around New Orleans. The presence of these wetlands traditionally helped to protect New Orleans from the storm surges which accompany hurricanes.
The first actions of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina and Flood Bush struck New Orleans was to try to stop almost all of the volunteer, state and federal help from coming into the disaster area. FEMA blocked volunteer help from WalMart, the Coast Guard, the Red Cross, AMTRAK, hundreds of airboats from Florida, the City of Chicago emergency teams, Loudoun County (Virginia) sheriffs, the Nevada police, the New Mexico National Guard, fire-fighting planes from the U. S. Forest Service and even the U. S. Bataan, a hospital ship stationed in the Gulf of Mexico. FEMA also stopped or ignored offers of help from foreign countries including Canada, Cuba and Venezuela, over twenty European counties and Asian countries including Iran and India.
One supposes that volunteer help and aid undercuts the Bush Syndicates system of private corporations making bags of money off of the Bush war on Iraq and the Bush expedited flooding of New Orleans.
It is troubling to see many no-bid federal contracts being given to large corporations for reconstruction along the Gulf Coast. The terms of “no-bid contracts” mean that the corporations get to charge their profits as a percentage of costs incurred, so there is no incentive to be thrifty; in fact, it is the opposite, the more money that the corporate contractor spends on construction, the higher their corporate profits. Add to this the fact that Bush just signed an executive order that suspended the traditional requirement that federal contractors must pay labor the prevailing wages, instead the federal contractors can now pay workers as little as minimum wage. So the folks who are the poorest, get kicked again by Bush. He kicks ‘em again when they’re down.
New Orleans should be rebuilt on a cooperative local basis. Habitat for Humanity should be the model used for the reconstruction of the many flood-damaged homes in New Orleans. As many physically-able local residents as possible should be quickly trained and employed in the reconstruction of their neighborhoods. All of the poor renters in New Orleans whose houses suffered flooding should be given title to their new homes and the land beneath them, after the landlords have been properly compensated for the pre-flood fair-market value of their properties. We owe these people a lot as some compensation for the years of neglect that they have suffered at our hands.
Yours truly,
James K. Sayre
11 September 2005
O/T: the Daily Kos has a great article on how things would be if the private health insurance companies ran our Post Office, called “That Stamp will cost you #23,000, Pal” by Hunter.
Cheers.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:36 pmWell, he was ‘Right’ about something; Iowa is now the ‘Gay Marriage Mecca’ of the World.
Oh, wait! He was even wrong about that…
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 pmFunny headline I came accross while researching King:
“Rep. Steve King Introduces Legislation to Aid Small Business Owners Hurt by Flood”
Of course this legislation was for IOWANs after flooding in July 2008.
Link:
http://www.house.gov/list/press/ia05_king/King_Introdeces_Legislation_to_Aid_Small_Business_Owners_Hurt_By_Flood.html
My favorite part of his proposal:
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm“I owned and operated my own construction business for 28 years, before coming to Congress. During the Floods of ‘93, all four of my major projects were simultaneously under water. I know first hand the challenges small business owners face in recovering from natural disasters. My legislation would put small business owners on the same footing as flooded home owners, so that FEMA can help them get back on their feet,” said King.
Why would King want to point out his compassionless vote?
Empathy is seen as a weakness in the Republican Party of Greed.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:42 pmIt’s hard to rationalize why someone would say something that stupid – that is just plain crazy – even for a repug
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:42 pmCaption:
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm‘No, it’s this much shorter than my pen, but about the same width’.
.
Q U E S T I O N:
How cold must a heart be to brag about NOT reaching out to the needy?
.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 pmToo bad the Feds helped out Des Moines when it floode a number of years ago.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pmCueing b-cup as to why this scum isn’t a bigot.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pmIt’s getting harder and harder not to say theres a lot of bigotry in the rethug camp.
tony adn lido
King: “I love the WHITE people in this country. If you treat them good, they’ll treat you well.”
Fixed.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:01 pmHow about we cut off all of Iowa’s federal funding for crop support, tornado relief, flood relief etc… perhaps that would make this stupid Rupuglican think twice.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:09 pmSetting aside the callous disregard of human life, King is also saying that the best vote he ever cast is one that overwhelmingly failed. It’s not like he prevented the aid bill. Not like he came even close. So he’s not only a failure as a human being, but also as an effective representative.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:11 pmSCUMBAG, Racist Piece of SHIT Rep. King.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:16 pmRemember what feces-for cranial- stuffing Steve King said about how “illegal aliens kill THOUSANDS a YEAR- 4,700 + drunk driving accidents” in the U.S., and 28% of prison inmates are illegal alien gang members.
What a moron.
What moronic voters sat this turd?
AND, I’ll bet King will regale you w/o asking, about what a Good Christian ™ he is.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 pmI believe in karma, and this guy is in for it!
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 pmI don`t know what is more egregious the no vote or the fact that it`s his proudest moment.Is this guy even human?Oh, I forgot he is a RE-PUKE.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pmRep. Steve King: The ‘best vote’ I ever cast in Congress
My question to King: Did the demise of the black population,a demise 3 times higher than actually reported, take care of some of that pent up hate and anxiety you have against folks with more pigmentation in their skin than you?
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:28 pmmuzz: “It’s hard to rationalize why someone would say something that stupid – that is just plain crazy – even for a repug”
A sociopath doesn’t necessarily recognize it when his own thoughts or statements are what many would call “inhuman.” This is because a sociopath has none of what most people call “conscience.”
Rep. Steve King appears to be a sociopath and that makes sense. The modern conservative movement appeals to sociopaths.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:33 pmOf course, the chances of a hurricaine hitting Iowa are quite remote for the time being. So this is a rather safe statement for the Iowa congress critter.
But did he for one second consider the effects of tornadoes in Iowa ? the amount of govt subsidy to corn in Iowa ? the flooding in Iowa about a year ago ?
I’m sure he voted against all these too. Right ?
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pmDoin’ a heckuva job, Kingie!
/snark
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:22 pmI wonder if that bottom feeder King would be willing to cast a vote against farm subsidies that his homestaters in Iowa cash in on. Steve should think about proposing that the corn based ethanol program gets jettisoned as a cost saver. He’s got to be among to 5 worst persons in Congress. He’s got serious competition but somehow he manages to sink lower than the typical GOP wing nut.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:24 pmJust call him what he is … a Nazi. He’s probably proud of that, too.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:57 pmGood for King.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:53 pmIf his constituents elect him again, then you can chalk it up to the death of Christian charity.
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:10 pmAnd Republicans can’t figure out why they have virtually no support in minority voting groups? The democrats must be delighted every time a moron like this opens his mouth to change feet.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:10 pm(39) Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre…great post.
The flooded city of New Orleans was the equivalent of ground zero in New York City on 9/11…with top Bush administration officials politicizing both.
But I want to focus on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans.
Your post lists numerous examples of BushCo blocking disaster relief from reaching U.S. citizens suffering and dying in New Orleans. BushCo did this deliberately.
When word reached the Bush White House (via the DHS command center) that New Orleans had flooded, two things passed through the minds of top Bush officials: 1) how could they turn this to their, and other Republican’s, political and financial advantage and, in keeping with the first goal, 2) how could they use the disaster in an attack against Democrats.
Thus, as buildings and houses in New Orleans were going underwater and U.S. citizens were drowning or dying in nursing homes and hospitals, a smear campaign was begun against some of the top Democrats in Louisiana, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. This was a coordinated right-wing smear job, with right-wing media pundits spreading the lies.
I remember the first right-wing lie I heard on the day New Orleans drowned: Gov. Blanco hadn’t officially requested federal emergency disaster relief before Hurricane Katrina hit. (I checked this out that night. The Bush White House website had the documents on-line showing that Gov. Blanco had formally requested federal assistance forty-eight hours before Katrina made landfall. In fact, just as FEMA disaster coordinators were sent to neighboring Mississippi and Alabama before Katrina hit to coordinate federal emergency disaster relief efforts in those Gulf Coast states similarly in Katrina’s path, on was sent to Baton Rouge to setup a FEMA command center.
Early last year, former Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco said that, on the day New Orleans drowned, she was at the FEMA command center in Baton Rouge working frantically with the FEMA disaster coordinator, trying to save lives in New Orleans…when the phones rang off the walls. Reporters from all over were trying to reach her to get her response to what proved to be a right-wing lie, that she hadn’t formally asked for federal assistance before Katrina hit, which must have made the FEMA disaster coordinators alongside her laugh if had answered one of these right-wing smear campaign calls.
But let’s get back to the Bush White House deliberately withholding federal emergency disaster relief from New Orleans so that their deliberate smear campaign against Louisiana Democrats would work that much better, especially since the primary claim being made against Louisiana Democrats was how “incompetent” they all were.
The day after the FEMA command center was inundated with calls, I read a blog post (by a displaced New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter?) who was at the FEMA command center in Baton Rouge, watching and listening. The reporter posted that they’d heard the FEMA disaster coordinator there complaining about his federal disaster relief efforts being blocked, with either his orders being countermanded or the disaster relief supplies and personnel he was trying to get into New Orleans being redirected elsewhere.
So, Mr. Sayre, the pattern is quite apparent. What BushCo did was deliberate…and U.S. citizens died.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:42 pmconservative guy says:
Good for King.
Try harder.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 amwizard2000 says:
…so that their deliberate smear campaign against Louisiana Democrats would work that much better, especially since the primary claim being made against Louisiana Democrats was how “incompetent” they all were.
Well that little plan sure backfired. Nobody remembers any smears today; everybody remembers that the Bush Administration was completely incompetent at least, criminally negligent at best.
But your narrative does make sense in the “everything must be politicized” Bush White House. These are the people who explicitly stated that they didn’t “do” policy, and that all decisions went through their political advisors.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 amThe Right always stand up for nothing. You can not claim to see the Light while blocking out the Sun. saç ekimi
September 28th, 2009 at 11:26 amThank you for your sharing.!
September 29th, 2009 at 6:15 am