Rep. Steve King Loses House Committee Assignments Over 'White Supremacy' Comments

Rep. Steve King of Iowa

Rep. Steve King of Iowa (R) has lost his House committee assignments as a result of his recent comments about

From The New York Times:

House Republican leaders removed Representative Steve King of Iowa from the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees on Monday night as party officials scrambled to appear tough on racism and contain damage from comments Mr. King made to The New York Times questioning why white supremacy is considered offensive.

The punishment came on a day when Mr. King was denounced by an array of Republican leaders, though not President Trump. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested Mr. King find “another line of work” and Senator Mitt Romney said he should quit. And the House Republicans, in an attempt to be proactive, stripped him of the committee seats in the face of multiple Democratic resolutions to censure Mr. King that are being introduced this week.

Those measures would force Republicans to take a stand on the House Democratic majority’s attempt to publicly reprimand one of their own.

Mr. King, who has been an ally of President Trump on the border wall and other issues, has a long history of making racist remarks and insults about immigrants, but has not drawn rebukes from Republican leaders until recently.

Tonight, Rep. Steve King was stripped of all his committee assignments for his embrace of white supremacy.

He will not serve on a single committee for the next 2 years of the 116th Congress.

Committee assignments are powerful. Members spend years working for their desired spot. https://t.co/WLkH2os8Pw

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 15, 2019

This AM, Kevin McCarthy stopped short of calling on Steve King to resign, as did Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley. "That's up to Steve King," McCarthy said.

Liz Cheney, however, said she agrees with McConnell: "I think he should find another line of work."

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 15, 2019

Steve King's larger argument is basically I've said similar things before and nobody did anything....which....isn't...totally....wrong https://t.co/qigCaks8ky

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) January 15, 2019

Steve King: "I Want To Promote The 'Natural' Family"

Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa, appearing on CNN's New Day, told anchor Chris Cuomo that he wants to support the "natural family."

The response was to a question as to whether Donald Trump's child care plan would protect LGBT families. When Cuomo asked what King meant by "natural family," King replied, "A man and a woman hopefully joined together in holy matrimony (emphasis on "holy") blessed by God with children."

Cuomo didn't stop there. Cuomo mentioned the social research that shows children in same-sex families do just as well or better as those in heterosexual familes, King demurred.

"I think I'd need to look a little further into some of that research. You know we got down in the global warming argument and found out there was another side to that equation, too."

It went on from there. Truly knuckle dragging stuff here.

Kudos to Cuomo and CNN for not letting King slide his backwards world view past the viewers.

This is what you get with Trump and his ilk.

.@SteveKingIA on whether Trump's child care plan will protect LGBT families: "I want to promote the natural family" https://t.co/IvyUHZ0x83

— New Day (@NewDay) September 14, 2016

Stephen Colbert's "All-Inclusive Wedding Cake Toppers"

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert went after the still-lingering crazies who think they will turn back the clock on marriage equality last night.

"Folks, gay marriage is still a controversial issue in this country, despite the fact that it's not..."

“I think everyone should love whoever they want.

“So, I was miffed when Kentucky County Clerk and forehead magnate Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But I also felt bad for her when that judge sent her to jail and even worse when she was sentenced to send an afternoon with Mike Huckabee. It’s cruel and unusual,” he joked.

With that in mind, Colbert introduced his own line of "all-inclusive wedding cake toppers."

Rep. Steve King: Same-Sex Marriage Will Throw US Into "Endless Trauma" Like Slavery

Rep. Steve King, speaking to Glenn Beck, says a SCOTUS ruling in favor of marriage equality will "throw this country into an endless trauma" similar to the issue of slavery.

Via Right Wing Watch:

"Dred Scott back in 1857, the court thought that they were going to solve the slavery question by telling Congress that they couldn't free the slaves and telling the county that slaves could never be citizens," King said. "They made that decision and that helped move us towards a civil war ... Then in 1866, there was a civil rights act; that wasn't enough to get the job done. There was the Thirteenth Amendment that freed the slaves. The Fourteenth Amendment that guaranteed them full citizenship and then we still were a hundred years before we got the Civil Rights Act."

"If all of that to eliminate slavery, do they really think that they can do what they're going to do to marriage, with one decision of the Supreme Court and society is going to accept that?" he asked. "Society is in for a long battle."

He goes on to say the "public" will not accept a decision making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. However, poll after poll shows support for marriage equality is up to 61% across the US.

So, King is merely taking his own opinions and offering them as facts. False facts.

Watch below:

Rep. Steve King Wants To Strip Out Article III of US Constitution

Iowa Congressman Steve King has filed legislation, the “Restrain the Judges on Marriage Act,” with the aim of stripping federal courts of the ability to interpret the Constitution in cases of marriage equality.

King’s bill would strip away Article III of the Constitution, which gives federal courts the jurisdiction to hear or decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of, or the validity under the Constitution of, any type of marriage, reports The Hill.

The bill would also prohibit federal funds from being used for any litigation in, or enforcement of any order or judgment by, any federal court.

“For too long, federal courts have overstepped their constitutionally limited duty to interpret the Constitution.” King said in a news release. “Rather, federal courts have perverted the Constitution to make law and create constitutional rights to things such as privacy, birth control, and abortion. These Unenumerated, so-called constitutionally-protected rights were not envisioned by our Founding Fathers.”

King said his bill would stop the courts from “destroying traditional marriage.”

I'm not sure, but I don't think a bill in Congress would have the jurisdictional "weight" to "strip out" Article III of the Constitution.

Stephen Colbert asks gays to send proof of "self-professed behavior" to Rep. Steve King's office

Yesterday, I wrote about Rep. Steve King talking on the veto of Arizona's SB1062 and the fact that he felt we don't need protections for LGBT folks.

In discussing the issue of discrimination of gays and lesbians, he referred to homosexuality as "self-professed behavior" which in his eyes was difficult to prove. King further alluded that perhaps gays aren't gay at all.

From Mediaite:

This past weekend, King told local TV station WHO-TV that these “self-professed” gays could just as easily be straight people “setting up a case” against a business that tries to discriminate them. Colbert recounted that familiar scenario in which someone pretends to come to their family, then pretends to fall in love, then pretends to get engaged, just so they can sue their potential florist at the last minute.

“As Steve King knows, even if gays do exist, it’s nearly impossible to prove it,” Colbert said. That’s why he’s asking gays from around the country to “send photos and/or videos to Steve King, proving that you are gay.” He went ahead and provided to address on screen to make it that much easier for everyone.

“Be sure to label your envelope campaign contributions, so you know that he’ll read it,” Colbert added.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

Rep. Steve King: We shouldn't have legal protections for 'self-professed' behaviors

I love that Rep. Steve King isn't even sure what groups are covered in the "Civil Rights section of the code."

"Special rights for SELF-PROFESSED BEHAVIOR?" King means the gays here, I assume.

And then there's the moment at 1:36 when King says "How do you know who to discriminate against?"

Umm, the answer would be "No one."

Finally, isn't religion "self-professed behavior?" You aren't born to a specific faith - Christian, Jewish, Muslim...

And people change faith all the time.

Things that make you go "hmm..."

(via Right Wing Watch)

Rep. Steve King says he's "never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape"

Rep. Steve King, one of the most staunchly conservative members of the House, was one of the few Republicans who did not strongly condemn Rep. Todd Akin Monday for his remarks regarding pregnancy and rape. King also signaled why — he might agree with parts of Akin’s assertion.

King told an Iowa reporter he’s never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest.

“Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way,” King told KMEG-TV Monday, “and I’d be open to discussion about that subject matter.”

A 1996 review by the Guttmacher Institute found “at least half of all babies born to minor women are fathered by adult men.”

In a statement made later in the day, King's office 'clarified' King's statement:

“What he was saying was, he personally does not know a girl who was raped,” Brittany Lesser, a spokesperson for King said. “He never says, ‘I’ve never heard of that.’ There’s a fine line between ‘I’ve never heard of that’ and ‘I don’t know personally anybody who’s been raped. There’s a difference. There is a difference.”

(Source)