Speaking in Pocahontas, Iowa on Monday, May 21, U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) compared immigrants to dogs.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) compared immigrants to dogs yesterday at a town hall meeting, saying the U.S. should choose immigrants like choosing the "pick of the litter."
King, a longtime opponent of amnesty for illegal immigrants, told constituents in Pocahontas, Iowa, that "we've always had bird dogs around our place."
"You want a good bird dog, and you want one that's gonna be aggressive?" King said. "Pick the one that's the friskiest, the one that's in games the most, not the one that's over there sleeping in the corner."
“If you want a pet to sleep on the couch, get the one that’s sleeping in the corner,” he continued. "You get the pick of the litter and you got yourself a pretty good bird dog."
"Well, we've got the pick of every donor civilization on the planet,” King went on. “We’ve got the vigor from the planet to come to America."
King's effort to dehumanize immigrants isn't exactly new. In 2006, he compared immigrants to livestock while making the case for an electrified fence along the Southern border.
Ironically, King endorsed fellow Republican Mitt Romney for president just five days before making these insidious remarks. Romney, of course, has been widely criticized for transporting his family's pet dog, Seamus, on the roof of a car for 12 hours during a family vacation in 1983.
The video was captured by American Bridge 21st Century and first reported by Salon.
King is running for a sixth term against former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack, the wife of former Governor and current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Ed will have more to say about this tonight on The Ed Show at 8p/11pET on MSNBC!
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The header on this says it all. THE GOP COMPARE IMMIGRANTS TO DOGS ! For all Latinos and immigrants to our shores this is beyond disgusting. There would not be United States of America if immigrants had not came to these shores. This type of talk speaks volumes of The GOP and Tea Party. In another time decades ago a little man with mustache and a hatred for Jews compared them to vermin and rats. The GOP are despicable and are not the fabric of this nation. Romney would lead the army of GOP and Tea Party to destroy and throw all immigrants out of this country. They have declared an all out war on every damn thing in America it makes me sick !!! The Chinese have came to our shores a major purchase is AMC theaters, this is major people. We worry about the money influencing our elections what if its Communist. Seems like the GOP own this and the destruction of this nation rest at there feet ! We know who to thank when we are not free anymore !
Romney would lead the army of GOP and Tea Party to destroy and throw all immigrants out of this country.
That's not quite right, now is it? We just want the ones that swim over here out the door. But, you knew that already didn't you? Nice try with your typical phoney outrage.
He' has always been an ass and if my instincts are correct he will continue as such.
This guy is such a joke.
This man is not only scary, he is very dangerous. He is dangerous to a nation, built on the backs of immigrants. Last I checked, unless you are Native American you are from immigrants. He is dangerous to everyone who doesn't fit his "acceptable immigrant" ideology. Comparing HUMAN BEINGS to dogs or livestock, seems very reminiscent to a certain evil being named HITLER, or any communist dictator, or slave owning whites in our very own country. If Romney had any backbone, any credibility, any humanity at all, he would DENOUNCE in the strongest of terms any such talk. But, yet he remains, as usual, silent. Scared of alienating the radical right, at the expense of alienating everyone else. He has no credibility, he has no original thought, he's the stepford candidate.
(Beep) Attention fake outrage detected.
He's making an analogy he is not saying immigrants are subhuman someone reading what was said and actually trying to understand it more than attack it can see that. Should we not want the best possible people to be in america over the not so valuable for our society? Don't we want the intelligent and ambitious folks like the lazy fools just as if one was choosing a pet? Guess not, then didn't know we want the best was a controversial statement.
Seems like a complement there not an insult
Hmm, interesting. Making an analogy comparing human beings to dogs and livestock is an appropriate analogy? Yes, all the immigrants who have come here were only allowed in, after completing a questionnaire as to what they brought to the table? NOT! Most immigrants came here, broke, illiterate, only being able to offer their blood, sweat and tears...carrying a dream, if not for themselves, then for their children to enjoy the fruit of their labor, to get a decent education, to live a better life. A compliment? Yeah riiiiiight.
Cynical - I agree with you 100%, everyone needs to relax - this story is simply for shock value and drum up an emotional response.
But while we are the subject - did anyone hear about the white person in South Carolina beating an effigy of public official who is also a minority?
Cynical
I think every American is valueble. You want only the viable and inteligent? I guess that says it all. That is the right wing idiology. Defund education. That really makes for "intellignet" people doesn't it? You prefer to pick and choose who is or isn't "entitled"? Typical Robme mentallity.
I think every American is valueble.
Wrongo again!!!!!!
And why should we expect anything differant from you. You place no value on human life. Only money. You who calls our troops murderers. Shows how much you have inside. One empty shell of a human. If you are.
Okay Larry
Tell me what value an 18 yo unemployable crack whore with 3 kids has.
Jerry, according to you, you just described every lady. That's what you've called 4 that I know of. Is there a reason you hate womwn so much? And reguardless, they are people and have value as people. But then, you can't put a $$$ value on them so to you, they're worthless. ALL people have value just because they are people. You can't put a $$$ value on everything even though that's all you worship.
If that's the point he wanted to say. He should have said it like that and not use animal analogies. But I'm glad he did. It shows his true self and that people should be aware on how this dangerous this person thinks. When you dehumanize a group of people, it makes you think you can do anything to them. Let me add, in Rwanda the HUTU called the Tutsi cockroaches before the genocide. So "people to animal" analogies are very bad idea. I think he just wanted to feed into his ego that he is a more superior being than new arrived immigrants. But it gives the crazies out there a different message.
Jerry, according to you, you just described every lady
Nope Just the ones from CO and S Korea.
Uhh yeah genius why wouldn't want the best people to come to this country. Remember is not talking about Americans he's about prospective immigrants. Do you really mean to tell me you'd prefer to have a bunch of people who are criminals from say south America(or where ever pick a place) over say a doctor from some other place? America benefits when the best get to come which newsflash is how our immigration system is supposed to work. Do you think they just let everyone in after they apply guess what they don't if you're say a convicted murderer or something you're not have as good a chance as someone who is not? Do we want the idiots and the duplicitous?
If he'd made an analogy to insult here that would be different but that is clearly not the core of what he was trying to say. I give him the benefit of the doubt as I do to all others and assume he is not racist to see otherwise this is hardly proof.
All people don't have the same value to our society that's why we deported immigrants found guilty of serious crimes, we don't want those people here to hurt other americans. Deal with it.
and larry before you make a foolish assumption as to what I think on education try spelling everything correctly first. IDEOLOGY. How dare you imply I support defunding education where the F*** did you get that from? Not something I have or ever will support you presumptuous a$$hole
Not if we want to help the country. So there is nothing controversial about saying we'd ideally like to have the smartest most capable people in the world to come to our country and become americans.
Entitled. No I prefer to pick who is or is not coming into this country based on the theory that when we pick the best we get the best results.
Your missing the point. Its the analogy of comparing immigrants with dogs that is the issue that needs to be scrutinized.
No CBB you don't get it he never said they were like dogs. Open your ears and mind. Clearly he was using selecting a pet is in some similiar to what our immigration policy should be. If you were trying to understand instead of just towing the party line you'd see that King is speaking off the cuff and that the core of this is getting the best people.
You can't take a fifteen second statement as the whole truth
maybe steve king didn't technically compare immigrants to dogs, but his analogy could have been more thoughtful.
the fact that it wasn't is true to form for conservatives.
i am especially disturbed by the comments above that imply that immigrants may "infect" the "pure" american citizen.
this is a recurring theme with the republican party. how often do we (and the immigrants) have to hear them described in such negative, dehumanizing ways?
all of us immigrated to this land, and then STOLE it from the indians, but repubs conveniently forget that while they pontiticate about how inhuman the immigrants are (else why use the dog analogy?).
another problem the repubs have is they PREACH OUTLOUD how evil immigrants are, but they LOVE to have them come across the border because they LOVE cheap labor (ask mitt romney). this is hypocritical when they turn around, then, and accuse the immigrants of STEALING american jobs.
steve king's "comparison" of immigrants to dogs is just another way to portray them as inhuman, as subhuman. constantly, conservatives refer to them in deragotory ways, and in the process of dehumanization, they are violating human rights in many ways.
the dream act, a repub idea, is now no longer acceptable because the president wants to pass it. however, the repubs are sticking to their pledge, the promise they made to each other to say "no" to everything President Obama wants.
repubs are awfully "big" on following what they think is law, but we see how fickle they are, because as soon as President Obama wants to make a repub idea, law, that is not in keeping with even their own ideas, but mostly their promise to each other to demonize President Obama.
if i were an immigrant, i don't think i would like steve king's analogy.
CC- That's what I was saying. The analogy of picking immigrants is similar to picking your pet dog is whats insulting and condescending. Get your head straight!!! Shame on you for supporting his statement!!!!
I cannot believe Mitt is so close in the polls. What is WRONG with Americans? When in the last 30 years has the US ever been off the GOP in control?
Either the polls are wrong or that misinformation is winning.
This is a real reach if even that!!!
Guess when the unemployment rate has been over 8% for the past 3 1/2 years, and the over 40 million Americans on food stamps, the over 12 million Americans out of work.
Not much else to talk about, so lets twist what some dude is saying to deflect from the awful job obama and the democrats have been doing the past 3 1/2 years now.
http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/22/11814613-gop-lawmaker-dehumanizes-immigrants-by-comparing-them-to-dogs?threadId=3425070&commentId=66251524#c66251524
kudos to Thankful Mom for showing the facts and blowing the crap out of the statement by 'stupidita' blaming Obama for Bush-induced destruction.....how thin the memories of some of these Fox News watching mentally challenged 'souls'. And then the other presumed brilliant spelling 'ace'.....feel superior to those who don't have a hang of the lingo yet??Yes, you....eugeniepatstheduck. Where did you learn to hate so much? Got a phrase for people like that.......acephalic anal orifice........
Steve King needs to be replaced and his comments are always far right.
I'm ashamed to say that jerk is from Iowa. It's unbelievable how many followers this idiot has in the state. I pray for the day when Iowa goes blue and gets that moron out of office. Eewww! He makes me sick!
As usual you left wing nuts slant things with lies and at best half truths, Conservatives are NOT against immigration, however the illegal aliens are what true Americans are against..This scourge of blood sucking criminals have to be rounded up and deported...GO JOE keep up the great fight against this blight and incompetent administration..ROMNEY in 2012.....
And how many "blood sucking criminals" do you know? How many are illegal imigrants?
What an asinine illierate piece of c*ap daring to make or compare people to dogs. One of many asinine remarks coming from the republican party and it will not stop because they have no respect or shame as humans. Makes you wonder how much more filth do they have in their cesspool.
cynicalcitizen- so is that why the repubs are pushing to weed out, oppress, suppress or harass all Americans or any person not to republican standards?
good point.
Because that's what they choose to do and there's a number of reasons behind that however that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Unless you can find fault with the theory that when we allow the best people to immigrate to America we have a greater likelyhood of getting the best results perhaps you should cease typing
It might help if this guy gets his brain neutered. But then again what the hell do I care what this imbecile thinks, it's the submissive and kiss-a-- people that become offended when someone like him make such derogatory remarks.
The Republican zealots who so dearly call themselves the “Religious Right” interpret this verse of the Bible, Matthew 15:27, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” as their basis for their “trickle down” economic policy. The Middle, Poor and other classes are the dogs and Masters are the “rich, corporates and powerful”. He spoke exactly what the Repugnats preach.
Don Carns Jr
Beans Cove Pa.
Wow. What an hysterical bunch here. King was clearly using the analogy to suggest that Americans are descendents of folks who are tenacious in that they came to a new country to start a completely new life. An innocent enough comment that you demonize. You are no better than the ultra-hysterical right wing that you condemn. Ed Show and MSNBC is no better than Fox News.
Wow. What an hysterical bunch here. Did you actually listen to King's comment or just what Ed told you to hear? He was clearly using the analogy to suggest that Americans are descendants of folks who are tenacious in nature in that they came to a new country to start a completely new life. An innocent enough comment that you demonize. You are no better than the ultra-hysterical right that you condemn. Ed Show and MSNBC is no better than Fox News. Grow up people and stop hating! Most of you are adults and should not be so egotistical!
Congessman King needs to be compared to a fat Norway rat eating our country's seed corn along with the rest of his right winged vermin in the Republican party. These fat Norway rats are busy giving the biggest rats at the top, more tax cuts while blocking further investment in our country so our civilization can grow and compete in the future. Republican Norway rats grow fat eating more tax cuts despite our country having a huge budget deficit of $1.4 trillion caused by their right winged policies.
The right wing Norway rats in America are against the Dream Act. What decent thinking person would be against the Dream Act? The Dream Act would allow children of undocumented workers who have grown up in America a fast track towards American citizenship. These children have spent their entire lives in America. They could join the military or go to college and get their citizenship. Many of these kids know not a single person in their country of birth nor can speak the language of their country of birth. These kids are America's children. But when you are a fat conservative Norway rat that eats your children's seed corn you, don't give a rat's tail about your country either. What is a poor Republican rodent to do?
"Well, we've got the pick of every donor civilization on the planet,” King went on. “We’ve got the vigor from the planet to come to America."
This fellow doesn't seem to realize that people are not lining up to get into this country unless where they are now is worse, and there aren't that many countries left that are. At the same time, we have Americans who are emigrating to Europe and Australasia for a better life. Canada and India have former American residents. Our retirees are flowing over the borders to the south. The U.S. is no longer the magnet that it was, and we can't cherry pick immigrants anymore.
My ancestors arrived on these shores, (Hawai'i) as "immigrants", for sure they were not "dogs". I assume King's ancestors arrived on the continental United States some time ago, and I suppose Mr. King would not say they were "dogs". However; in these times of political turmoil, one would characterize "Mr. King" as a "SON OF A BITCH".
Ed, Afraid you got it wrong again. He did not compare immigrants to dogs, he compared immigration policy to selecting a bird dog, big difference. If you substitute the dog selection analogy with selecting an automobile, I doubt you would say he called immigrants a car. The bottom line is which is a better immigration policy for the US, one that the US controls and grants access to those that will benefit our society or one that has no controls and grants access to say less than productive people. Our jails and prisons are filled with criminal illegal immigrants. Reform is not needed, enforcement is of existing laws is required.
Slack, If he was referring to Mexicans as the dog sleeping in the corner, why would he endorse an Immigration Policy that establishes a legal path for Mexican immigration. He was comparing Immigration Policy that selects those that will benefit the United States vice a policy that doesn't. Our current policy, if enforced would grant access to Mexicans and the citizens from other countries. The problem is the Government simply doesn't enforce the existing laws, yet another example of a Government too big to succeed.
Lets apply the car analogy. When you buy a car do you seek a newer car in good running condition with nice paint or the one on the back of the lot with extensive body damage and a bad transmission? We have no control over Illegal Immigrants, many are criminals and many suffer TB and other contagious disease. Why would any one support a policy that leaves the US with no control over who enters the country and who does not.