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Immigrants’ Rights

Steve King Attacks Critics' 'Unrestrained, Undisciplined, Divisive Remarks,' Says They're Dooming Nation to Failure

Rep. Steve King has taken plenty of heat from both the left and the right over the past few days for his assertion that for every valedictorian DREAMer there are “another hundred” who “weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’ve been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert(link is external).”

Faced with criticism from House Speaker John Boehner(link is external) and other fellow Republicans(link is external), King has refused to back down, saying “it’s not something that I’m making up(link is external),” and that his comments were “objective(link is external)” and “might be the best informed in the entire U.S. Congres(link is external)s.” He wrapped up his case(link is external) on the House floor yesterday, declaring that his critics would cause the downfall of the United States and of Western Civilization.

In an interview(link is external) with Iowa talk radio host Simon Conway on Wednesday, King offered a similar tirade, accusing his critics of making “unrestrained, undisciplined, divisive remarks” and warning that if his opponents are allowed to have their way “this nation will eventually fail because we’ll completely lose our objectivity and we’ll be driven by our emotions instead of our reason.”

If we can’t discuss objective truth among people that are elected representatives in the United States Congress, if it has to turn personal, if they have to make these kind of remarks, these unrestrained, undisciplined, divisive remarks, at first I’d say, how  could they have listened to the tape that you’ve run and come to such a conclusion? But second is, if there’s no objective discussion, if we can’t bring up the other side of the coin, then this nation will eventually fail because we’ll completely lose our objectivity and we’ll be driven by our emotions instead of our reason.