It's good to be king ... of the crazy wingnuts

Congressman Steve King's refusal to discuss the possibility of a debate with Matt Campbell, the Democratic challenger for the Iowa 5th District seat, has led to the latest in a long series of his provocative attention-grabbing comments. On Aug. 30, Campbell crashed one of King's town hall meetings and confronted him for not responding to requests to set up a debate. King's response was that Campbell has "not earned" the right to debate him. Read the story and see the Sioux City Journal's video here: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/article_e06e0331-9a54-5694-a247-d0e91f7e7cc3.html. That tops a string of statements spanning his political career which have garnered a disproportionate amount of attention for their breadth of arrogance, naivete and partisianship. Some examples, you say? There was his 2004 response to Iraqi prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ia05_king/pr_040513.html; his 2006 contention that Washington D.C. is more dangerous than the Iraqi warzone: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/13/king-dc-safer/; and finally his more recent statements that President Obama is a Marxist: http://iowaindependent.com/41306/king-obama-is-a-marxist-who-is-in-violation-of-his-oath-of-office and that he has a "default mechanism" favoring blacks over whites: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/article_57612e6c-7899-11df-add6-001cc4c03286.html. Cumulatively, these show King to be a crazy wingnut. And we think he has earned that lifetime achievement award! Here's a 2006 story where King offers some insight into his own provocativeness: http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/article_ee6bf08a-38e5-5df5-a1b7-2ca3b8b82d25.html. Campbell may not get his debate with King and we'll have to wait until Nov. 2 to see who has "earned" the votes of most 5th District residents.