King: 'I want to provoke debate'
By Bret Hayworth, Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, October 23, 2006
Although three people have come forward to challenge him, saying he's not delivering on key western Iowa needs, two-term Congressman Steve King said the people in Iowa's 5th District are better off under his tenure.
Republican King contended the people living in the district's 286 towns "are in better shape than they were five years ago when I first started to campaign for this job. The level of optimism is far higher. If you just go through the main streets, the buildings are in better shape, the communities are in better shape. Some of the buildings have been demolished, yes, and some of the communities are still shrinking, but you are seeing people that are investing in the future, and starting up companies and employing people and building new buildings."
He said renewable fuels like ethanol "have been a fantastic foundation" for growth in western Iowa. King noted the first bill he introduced dealt with creating a tax credit for biodiesel and extending the tax credit for ethanol. He said there will be 14 ethanol plants within the 5th District by 2007, making it No. 2 nationally among congressional districts.
When factoring in biodiesel and wind energy, King said, "we are easily the lead renewable fuel congressional district in America."
King was proud to vote for the tax cuts proposed by President Bush. "I don't think there is a legitimate economic argument against the tax cuts being extraordinarily successful in keeping our economy rolling," he stated.
King said what he has done is "helping people help themselves, building the climate so that they can be successful themselves, with their own initiative. And that's the best thing we can do -- when people are taking care of themselves."
He also has angered a number of western Iowans for voicing numerous controversial comments.
King said his "wife probably has a long list that she'd like to present," but he couldn't recall a statement made in the public sphere that he'd take back. Said King, "The debate was worth it in all the controversies, because it caused people to think and talk."
"People who meet me" don't find him "divisive," the congressman said, but acknowledged "critics describe me as provocative. That is probably a fair term."
Regarding calling the ill treatment of Abu Grahib prisoners by U.S. personnel in Iraq as hazing in 2004, King said, "I looked (hazing) up in the dictionary. I put it out there as bait for debate. I did that as premeditated as it could possibly be."
King said what the U.S. soldiers did "wasn't barbaric, and in fact it wasn't brutal," and added that "we had a high school down here that had worse things going on in their wrestling team hazing their freshmen."
In another controversy, in 2005 King said 1950s Communist hunter Joseph McCarthy, who received widespread rebuke, was a "hero." King predicted that after an upcoming book sheds more light on McCarthy, the hero description "will be resolved in my favor."
King said his priority issues for another two-year term would be more funding to expand U.S. 20 to four lanes in western Iowa and for dredging Storm Lake to a greater depth, to "preserve marriage" by limiting it only to a man and a woman and "finding a way to move the global war on terror forward."
King takes credit for pushing "a colossal national debate" on immigration, citing his Aug. 22, 2005, hosting of two forums on the topic in Des Moines and Council Bluffs. He said his proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border was criticized as "a fringe issue," but after "astonishing movement in the political center," both chambers within 13 months authorized funding for a wall.
King said the United States can't continue to assimilate so many immigrants, and said there should be an annual limit of about 500,000. King said it is a mistake to give preference to immigrants from NAFTA/CAFTA-connected nations, which includes Latin America.
Said King, "What we have now is essentially an open door to the lower-skilled, lower-educated people -- it will take them three generations before they are really assimilated. And if you bring somebody that has got language skills and education and some capital, then as soon as they learn their area code and their zip code and get a cell phone, they are assimilated. That's a simple process, and they aren't going to disrupt this country socially, they are gonna be assimilated immediately into society and contribute."
King hopes to go back for a fourth visit to Iraq in early 2007.
"I don't think we are losing ground there, from a security perspective," he said, and added the infighting among groups does not amount to a civil war. King said he was "utterly opposed" to setting a pullout date for U.S. troops, but said Iraqis must start to provide more of their own security.
He said one thing that would spur Iraq toward a better future would be to reopen the nation's oil fields, and then deliver checks to Iraqis from the oil sales.
Said King, "They would all have a vested interest and it would pull them all together. Then when somebody perpetrated some violence in their community, on the streets or blew up an oil pipeline, the whole country of Iraq would rise up against them... There is a lot of oil to be developed and once that cash flow starts, I think they can start pulling together."
Republican King contended the people living in the district's 286 towns "are in better shape than they were five years ago when I first started to campaign for this job. The level of optimism is far higher. If you just go through the main streets, the buildings are in better shape, the communities are in better shape. Some of the buildings have been demolished, yes, and some of the communities are still shrinking, but you are seeing people that are investing in the future, and starting up companies and employing people and building new buildings."
He said renewable fuels like ethanol "have been a fantastic foundation" for growth in western Iowa. King noted the first bill he introduced dealt with creating a tax credit for biodiesel and extending the tax credit for ethanol. He said there will be 14 ethanol plants within the 5th District by 2007, making it No. 2 nationally among congressional districts.
When factoring in biodiesel and wind energy, King said, "we are easily the lead renewable fuel congressional district in America."
King was proud to vote for the tax cuts proposed by President Bush. "I don't think there is a legitimate economic argument against the tax cuts being extraordinarily successful in keeping our economy rolling," he stated.
King said what he has done is "helping people help themselves, building the climate so that they can be successful themselves, with their own initiative. And that's the best thing we can do -- when people are taking care of themselves."
He also has angered a number of western Iowans for voicing numerous controversial comments.
King said his "wife probably has a long list that she'd like to present," but he couldn't recall a statement made in the public sphere that he'd take back. Said King, "The debate was worth it in all the controversies, because it caused people to think and talk."
"People who meet me" don't find him "divisive," the congressman said, but acknowledged "critics describe me as provocative. That is probably a fair term."
Regarding calling the ill treatment of Abu Grahib prisoners by U.S. personnel in Iraq as hazing in 2004, King said, "I looked (hazing) up in the dictionary. I put it out there as bait for debate. I did that as premeditated as it could possibly be."
King said what the U.S. soldiers did "wasn't barbaric, and in fact it wasn't brutal," and added that "we had a high school down here that had worse things going on in their wrestling team hazing their freshmen."
In another controversy, in 2005 King said 1950s Communist hunter Joseph McCarthy, who received widespread rebuke, was a "hero." King predicted that after an upcoming book sheds more light on McCarthy, the hero description "will be resolved in my favor."
King said his priority issues for another two-year term would be more funding to expand U.S. 20 to four lanes in western Iowa and for dredging Storm Lake to a greater depth, to "preserve marriage" by limiting it only to a man and a woman and "finding a way to move the global war on terror forward."
King takes credit for pushing "a colossal national debate" on immigration, citing his Aug. 22, 2005, hosting of two forums on the topic in Des Moines and Council Bluffs. He said his proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border was criticized as "a fringe issue," but after "astonishing movement in the political center," both chambers within 13 months authorized funding for a wall.
King said the United States can't continue to assimilate so many immigrants, and said there should be an annual limit of about 500,000. King said it is a mistake to give preference to immigrants from NAFTA/CAFTA-connected nations, which includes Latin America.
Said King, "What we have now is essentially an open door to the lower-skilled, lower-educated people -- it will take them three generations before they are really assimilated. And if you bring somebody that has got language skills and education and some capital, then as soon as they learn their area code and their zip code and get a cell phone, they are assimilated. That's a simple process, and they aren't going to disrupt this country socially, they are gonna be assimilated immediately into society and contribute."
King hopes to go back for a fourth visit to Iraq in early 2007.
"I don't think we are losing ground there, from a security perspective," he said, and added the infighting among groups does not amount to a civil war. King said he was "utterly opposed" to setting a pullout date for U.S. troops, but said Iraqis must start to provide more of their own security.
He said one thing that would spur Iraq toward a better future would be to reopen the nation's oil fields, and then deliver checks to Iraqis from the oil sales.
Said King, "They would all have a vested interest and it would pull them all together. Then when somebody perpetrated some violence in their community, on the streets or blew up an oil pipeline, the whole country of Iraq would rise up against them... There is a lot of oil to be developed and once that cash flow starts, I think they can start pulling together."
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John Lohse wrote on Oct 24, 2006 8:48 PM:
DB wrote on Oct 23, 2006 5:30 PM:
Jeremy wrote on Oct 23, 2006 8:59 AM: