Posted on 11/23/2014 12:42:14 PM PST by iowamark
Im pretty sure that Iowa Congressman Steve King thought that his detractors would give it a rest for a while after he defeated his Democrat opponent by 24 points earlier this month. Yet once again headlines like, Stay away from Steve King, have been published this week. This time its not the liberals who are ranting and raving about King, its nameless Republican insiders and a conservative blogger from the Washington Post.
On Tuesday, King announced that he is partnering with Citizens United to put on a 2016 presidential forum in Des Moines on January 24th called the Iowa Freedom Summit. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum have already confirmed their attendance. Others will likely join the roster of 2016 hopefuls in the coming weeks.
Des Moines Register political reporter Jennifer Jacobs wrote an article about how King is using the conference to make himself a presidential kingmaker in Iowa. I had a national reporter call me to ask whether King is really a presidential kingmaker. It was clear in our conversation that the reporter had talked to some Republican insiders who had a plenty of disparaging words to say about King. On Wednesday, Jacobs told WHO Radio that Republican insiders had stated to her that Republican presidential candidates should avoid Kings January event.
If all of that wasnt bad enough, the Washington Posts conservative blogger, Jennifer Rubin, wrote a column titled, Stay away from Steve King, 2016 contenders. Rubin bases her entire article off of Jacobs piece. The only problem is she didnt actually read it in its entirety. Its also apparent that she doesnt know squat about King.
Rubin wrote, It would be a grave error for these or other Republicans to attend or to seek the stamp of approval from King, whose language and views on illegal immigrants have been so noxious as to draw rebukes from his own party.
A grave error? Come on. King isnt doing anything he hasnt done in any other presidential cycle. For years the media and Democrats alike have misconstrued a handful if things that King has said about illegal immigration in an effort to make him appear as anti-immigrant.
Furthermore, Kings been the way he is ever since he was elected to congress in 2002. That didnt stop Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson from seeking his endorsement in advance of the 2008 caucuses. For all the talk this week that King is attempting to overexert his influence, have they forgotten that he didnt endorse anyone in 2012?
King endorsed Fred Thompson in 2008. It was a decision he had narrowed down to Thompson and Romney. In 2008, he also didnt endorse a personal friend who was running for president in Tom Tancredo. What was Tancredos main issue in the race? Thats right, illegal immigration. King also didnt endorse another personal friend and colleague, Michele Bachmann, who ran for president in 2012. If anything, that seems to indicate that King has a very pragmatic streak in him when it comes to presidential politics.
What Rubin doesnt understand is that King is more concerned about the issues than he is the personalities that are seeking the Republican nomination. Is illegal immigration Kings top issue? It absolutely is. But what is every political article in American about today? What is on the front page of every newspaper? Thats right. Immigration, and President Obamas plan to circumvent congress. If you hadnt noticed, Republicans are united in their opposition to what the President is doing.
Had Rubin attended Kings 2012 Conservative Principles Conference, I think she might have a different tune. The candidates who attend know they are speaking to a conservative audience, but its not like they have to get their crazy on in they are going to attend the event. Haley Barbour spoke at the 2012 event. It was a similar speech that he had given elsewhere.
Rubin concluded her article by writing, Hopefully the candidates will reconsider going and instead, choose to attend events hosted by the many mainstream conservative organizations that populate Iowa. They have their pick of pro-family, pro-life, pro-farmer and pro-business groups, so they need not attend an anti-immigrants shindig. By empowering King, they would only harm their party and their own bona fides with nontraditional GOP voters. They should stay away. Period.
Lets see. You know who pro-family, pro-life, pro-farmer and pro-business? Thats right, Steve King.
Im also sick and tired of these gutless Republican insiders who feel its necessary to throw King under the bus whenever it benefits them. To my knowledge, King has never done anything like that to them.
Its clear to understand what is going on here. These insiders are hooked up with a presidential candidate, and they dont want to have anything to do with King. Its also obvious that the candidate that these insiders are going to be working for is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. How do I know? Because Jeb Bush doesnt have anything going on in this state.
Whats sad is that Christie and King have a good relationship. In fact, in the past three years, Christie has headlined three fundraisers for King. The relationship between the two actually started when Christie was brought before the a congressional committee.
These insiders should be ashamed of themselves. If you dont want your candidate to attend a King event, simply dont go. You do your candidate a disservice when you pull this crap. Its time from them to grow up, and if I was Christie, I might look elsewhere for political advice.
Go, Steve, GO!!
Another attack, from the Quad City Times editorial board:
http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/an-invitation-for-disaster/article_c6f5b455-eb34-5fe2-94c8-4085c65303b8.html
“An invitation for disaster”
a fake conservative blogger from the Washington Post.
This kind of calls into question King's Conservative Credential.
This time its not the liberals who are ranting and raving about King, its nameless Republican insiders and a conservative blogger from the Washington Post... Jennifer Rubin, wrote a column titled, Stay away from Steve King, 2016 contenders. Rubin bases her entire article off of Jacobs piece...Why does anyone ever go along with the identification of Rubin as a conservative?
You kinda get the feeling that most of the Republican “insiders” and “consultants” who are quoted in the MSM voted for Barack Obama.
Iowa Freedom Summitt, January 24:
http://www.iowafreedomsummit.com/
“Senator Ted Cruz
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Senator Mike Lee
Senator Rick Santorum
Ambassador John Bolton
Congressman Marsha Blackburn
Carly Fiorina
We will be announcing more speakers in the coming weeks! Please stay tuned for updates.”
Fred Cap, Rick sweater, Sarah heels and now?
Ah yes, the race for 2016 begins in earnest. One or two people on your partial list could be considered serious presidential candidates.
Why does anyone ever go along with the identification of Rubin as a conservative?
I agree.
The fact that the author believes Jennifer Rubin is a Conservative is so absurd it makes me question almost everything else he wrote in his essay.
I could support about half the people on your list.
But, realistically, no one on that list could win a national election.
Well, I don’t know enough about Mike Lee to make that statement, so I’ll have to learn more about him and decide how well he might hold up against relentless attacks from the news media.
Insiders?! How about “insliders”?
This may not have to do with Christie so much as Karl Rove. This has Karl’s kind of stink on it.
Steve King’s twin brother Tom Tancredo is going to target Christie.
I thought Rubin said King was a nobody.
Rubin complained in one article that Steve King gets too much tv time and people like her don’t.
Buried in Politicos story is that top Republican House leaders, including Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), Aaron Schock (Ill.) and Dan Webster (Fla.), are out talking up immigration reform. In the two last paragraphs of an article playing up Kings role, Politico lets on:
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