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15th January 2019, 05:01 PM | #361 |
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Would you lend more credence to the report if King was previously on record defending the term "white nationalist"? video here
It's just a few seconds long, but I don't think we're missing much context. I trust that you won't use his weasel words as a rebuttal. |
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15th January 2019, 05:10 PM | #362 |
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Oh, wow.
"I have no idea what that phrase means, but it wasn't a derogatory term a year or two ago." No wonder stormfront celebrates him as one of their own. |
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15th January 2019, 06:33 PM | #363 |
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Well, if anyone is sufficiently oblivious that they would make the remark that was attributed to him, it would be Steve King. He's not the brightest bulb in the set. Is it conceivable that he did not realize that the term "white supremacist" has always been a bad thing, at least since the end of legally mandated segregation? Given who we are talking about, it's possible.
However, it doesn't have the ring of truth to me. It's awkward phrasing. "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization...." What? Those three things, in the same list? Who would put them there? Before he made his own comment on the subject, I also looked at his second sentence. He sat through classes...…. on what? White supremacy? Are there people who would say that the advance of western civilization is proof of the superiority of the white race? Well......yeah. Are they elected to congress these days? That's a tougher question. They certainly are not if they admit that's how they think. Was he not aware that saying such a thing would ignite this firestorm? Does he have so little self control that he couldn't stop himself? It's possible, but there just seems something fishy. My "fishy" feeling was amped way up when I saw lots and lots of articles that quoted those two sentences, and zero articles that quoted the sentence before it. Why not? When people write articles, they pick and choose the quotes that make their point the best. If the sentence before it had made the racism even more obvious, they would have used it. They had the column space. Maybe the sentence before it was inconsequential, but I'd still like to hear what it was. Any time I hear such a bizarre statement as the one attributed to him, I wonder what the context was. In this case, I'm even going one step farther. I'm not suggesting that the quote was out of context. I'm suggesting that the quote was just plain wrong. I'm suggesting that if you were to read the sentence before the quote, it would not actually be a sentence, but only a sentence fragment. Even a transcript of the interview, not necessarily the audio, would probably reveal that. Who can say? I cannot feel sorry for him, because all of the things he said before that have created an atmosphere where that quote seems plausible. If that quote were attributed to most politicians, Republican or Democrat, people would be saying that something wasn't right. With King, people don't find it too difficult to believe. Nevertheless, I would like to see the entire quote, preferably with audio. |
15th January 2019, 06:45 PM | #364 |
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I"LL DEFEND HIM!! I AM BLOVIATOR MAN!
King is an unfortunate, mentally impaired man whose supporters are entirely responsible for having thrust him into public office, to the detriment of the poor man's best interest, his supporters' best interest, and the country's best interest. These turds didn't give a rat's ass how much damage they've done to poor Mr. King or anyone else. They just wanted to have fun. Cuz girlie-men just wanna have fun. |
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15th January 2019, 06:54 PM | #365 |
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Ed Brayton has described him as "the dumbest man in Congress not named Louie Gohmert". And Gohmert as "the dumbest man in Congress not named Steve King".
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15th January 2019, 06:58 PM | #366 |
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15th January 2019, 07:00 PM | #367 |
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Or maybe he's of average intelligence and cultural education, and he just regularly sounds stupid, because he's lying and he's not great at it.
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15th January 2019, 07:13 PM | #368 |
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Once again, King has made no demand for the audio to be released. If it was taken out of context and/or the preceding sentence would reveal the true context, why not demand it be released? It reminds me of Trump saying his taxes would show that he's a billionaire but refusing to release them.
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15th January 2019, 08:18 PM | #369 |
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It strains credulity to attribute this to obliviousness. He was called out on this 10 short weeks ago, by a significant Republican no less, and it was reported in the national news.
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16th January 2019, 05:49 AM | #370 |
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16th January 2019, 06:09 AM | #371 |
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That's just the thing. It really does strain credulity to attribute it to obliviousness. How could anyone possibly be that stupid? Well, if he isn't, what are we left with? Maybe he really wants people to know that he really is a white supremacist? If so, his previous denunciations of racism and his subsequent calling of white supremacy "evil" are....what? Carefully contrived machinations to keep people off guard? If he was not oblivious to what he was saying at the time, he surely must have been oblivious to what the reaction would be. Surely he didn't expect demands for his resignation, from Republicans. Surely he didn't expect to be stripped of his committee assignments. And yet, this reaction was entirely predictable. It is perhaps more severe than I would have expected, but at the very least I would have expected strong condemnation, even from Republicans. So we are left with a mass of contradictions. Either he is an incredible buffoon who has learned nothing from previous interactions, or he was trying some bizarre public relations ploy to advance racism, while denouncing it, making loud, bombastic condemnations, while sending out dog whistles to make sure people know that he thinks it's really ok. Or, there's another possibility. He never said it in the first place. The simplest explanation is that he really is that stupid, even though for that to be true he would have to be so stupid as to "strain credulity". Usually, that simple explanation is the one I would go with, strained credulity and all. He just seems pretty clueless. However, the fact that we aren't seeing the sentence before the one that is quoted endlessly makes me doubt. We'll have to see how it plays out. Either way, he's pretty much toast as a politician. He can get two more years of a nice salary, with very few obligations and no need to worry about re-election, and a nice pension. He'll do a whole lot better than people who deserve a whole lot more. |
16th January 2019, 06:20 AM | #372 |
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Steve King says addresses the lack of a tape, and what he says the tape would show, if we could listen to it.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/...on-bts-vpx.cnn |
16th January 2019, 06:31 AM | #373 |
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Wether or not he was quoted out of context this time does not remove all the other times he has promoted white supremacy through words and actions. Steve King is probably the one US congress-man one can point to and say "He's a racist" and it won't be endlessly denied by "conservatives".
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16th January 2019, 06:40 AM | #374 |
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16th January 2019, 07:49 AM | #375 |
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"He can't be that bad because nobody could possibly be so stupid as to be that openly bad" is the excuse we're landing on?
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16th January 2019, 07:56 AM | #376 |
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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16th January 2019, 08:05 AM | #377 |
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16th January 2019, 08:10 AM | #378 |
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It's called lying. He's not very good at it, so it's nowhere near a carefully contrived machination. It's just him going "I'm not a racist! I think racism's evil!"
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16th January 2019, 08:13 AM | #379 |
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16th January 2019, 08:27 AM | #380 |
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16th January 2019, 10:27 AM | #381 |
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16th January 2019, 10:58 AM | #382 |
... and your little dog too.
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16th January 2019, 11:02 AM | #383 |
... and your little dog too.
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16th January 2019, 12:32 PM | #384 | |||
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Yep this shows how hard it is to know if Steve King really is a racist. |
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16th January 2019, 12:50 PM | #385 |
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Originally Posted by johnny karate
From the Weekly Standard article:
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16th January 2019, 02:08 PM | #386 |
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16th January 2019, 02:34 PM | #387 |
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Still not seeing why this should be major.
THis was known for years, and as Bobby Rush pointed out, they refused to censure King. More importantly, they refused to kick him out - although given the current GOP president, that's somewhat understandable. When your party's lead by a dimwitted and obviously corrupt white supremacist, it makes such a condemnation difficult, I guess. Still, I think it's worth pushing for. |
16th January 2019, 06:35 PM | #388 |
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16th January 2019, 07:48 PM | #389 |
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So, it would be fair to wonder why I care about this issue at all, and with some reluctance, I will address that. I do so with reluctance because this is not supposed to be about me, or about any individual. I have put forward a position that I think best explains the odd nature of the quote. It shouldn't matter what I think about any subject or what motivates me. The point should stand or fall, or be undetermined, regardless. However, some curiosity about the personal feelings associated with a position are understandable. While I fear that addressing it will actually escalate the personalization, I'll provide some insight.
Is it because I care about Steve King, or am concerned that he might be treated unfairly? Hell, no. Is it because I care about Republicans in general? No. What about politicians in general? That's getting a bit warmer. In part, it's just a puzzlement to me. I like trying to get to the bottom of things. I've spent a lot of time in threads on things that are not very important just because it piqued my curiosity. That quote just sounded odd, and the circumstances deepened my suspicion. Can I find out more about it and see if I have detected something that other people have missed? I like obscure information and puzzling things out, but I must admit that that, all by itself, probably would not make me enter a thread. There is a phenomenon in our society that disturbs me, and this event is an example of that phenomenon. It's "gotcha journalism". It's the tendency to make a big deal out of a single statement or event, and act like it's the all important center of attention for the fifteen minutes until the next event takes over. Someone makes a remark and suddenly, regardless of the significance of the remark, the pitchfork carriers are out in force. He must be fired, as a teacher, as a weatherman, as a congressman. He landed a spacecraft on a comet? Well, yeah, but look at the shirt! I've participated in a lot of threads of that form over the years, almost always on the side of "It's not that big of a deal." Because of the nature of the complaints, that usually means I am taking the side of conservatives. Liberals are more likely to make that sort of complaint than conservatives are, but whether it's Rosanne Barr or The Dixie Chicks, I think they ought to be left alone. It's not that big of a deal. This case isn't exactly like some of those other cases, because Steve King really is a congressman, and because of that, his views really matter. So, evidence of racism is something that ought to be brought to the attention of voters, and that includes "voters" in his caucus at the House of Representatives, who choose committee assignments and other roles. They pick from among themselves who will represent their party in certain positions, and what they say in public matters, so it's perfectly fair for them to say that they won't put Rep. King in any position at all. They can even call for him to step down if they wish. He was legally elected, so he gets to stay if he wants to, but that doesn't mean his fellow congressmen can't voice an opinion on what they want him to do. Still, I worry about the idea that one statement is all that big of a deal. In King's case, this "one statement" is actually the most recent in a long line of statements, but I just worry that the "gotcha" tendencies can be way overblown. At the very least, when criticizing someone who has made an unfortunate comment, whether that was the only comment ever made, or whether he has long history like Steve King, we should be sure that we are at least accurate, and are not misrepresenting them as we assemble at the gates with the torches and pitchforks. In this case, I'm not absolutely certain that's the case. I'd just like to see what else was said during the interview. |
16th January 2019, 07:50 PM | #390 |
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Pointing out that someone has said a racist thing is not a "gotcha."
I'm pulling out all the stops trying to come up with a non-icky reason you've decided to defend this guy to this level and the well is starting go dry. |
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16th January 2019, 08:04 PM | #391 |
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16th January 2019, 08:19 PM | #392 |
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OMG, I first wasn't paying attention and thought it was Mumbles posting this and not Meadmaker. I was so confused for a second when I got to that last
sentence in that 2 sentence paragraph at the end! I wondered for a second if he was engaging in uncharacteristic parody! LOL! |
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16th January 2019, 08:23 PM | #393 |
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Sure. The fact that he has lied in the past isn't a point in his favor. On the other hand, I formed my opinion of the quote before I ever read a denial by King, so it wasn't really a factor for me, originally.
I'm glad you brought up one thing. Really, my comments in this thread really have a lot more to do with the New York Times than they do with Steve King. |
16th January 2019, 08:23 PM | #394 |
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In the video of him talking about the quote to congress, he says he himself doesn't remember what he said, and the description of what he thought he said is just kind of racist blabbering, along the lines of this blabber-style:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/polit...ntv/index.html
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16th January 2019, 08:25 PM | #395 |
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nm
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16th January 2019, 08:28 PM | #396 |
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17th January 2019, 04:45 AM | #397 |
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18th January 2019, 09:37 AM | #398 |
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Thanks for posting this. I have a similar reluctance to judge, especially when statements like these fit with my confirmation bias, and I know that the confirmation bias filter at the NYT hasn't been historically effective.
I also play devil's advocate at times more to test my own skepticism than anything else. |
18th January 2019, 10:00 AM | #399 |
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23rd January 2019, 06:18 PM | #400 |
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