‘Pick Of The Litter’: Rep. Steve King Compares Immigrants to…Bird Dogs
- Posted on May 22, 2012 at 10:53pm by
Jason Howerton
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U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, speaks during a rally to build a fence along the U.S./Mexican border near Palominas, Ariz. on Saturday, May 27, 2006.
During a town hall meeting on Monday, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, likened American “legal” immigration to the process of selecting a “good bird dog.”
“You want a good bird dog? You want one that’s going to be aggressive? Pick the one that’s the friskiest, the one that’s engaged the most and not the one that’s over there sleeping in the corner,” King said, referencing the Labradors he has at his home.
“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,” he added. “It’s hard to get here, they had to be inspired to come — we’ve got the vigor from the planet to come to America.”
The point seemed to be that the U.S. historically has attracted the “pick of the litter,” the very best immigrants with the drive to succeed in America.
While his comments may have been good intentioned, the metaphor is sure to infuriate liberal groups and civil rights activists who argue the GOP wants to disenfranchise illegal immigrants. The liberal research group American Bridge was able to capture King’s comments on tape:
King‘s Democratic opponent in this fall’s election, Christie Vilsack, took the opportunity to dog King and released a statement in response to his comments.
“If we’re going to have a real discussion on immigration, we should start by acknowledging that immigrants are human beings,” the Vilsack campaign said in a statement.
“Iowans are taught in their community, in their church, and at the dinner table to respect each other, not to compare people to dogs. People expect a serious discussion between candidates and that’s what we’re committed to.”
King is an outspoken critic of illegal immigration and President Obama’s border policy and has been known in the past to make controversial statements on the subject. Some have blasted him for a 2011 defense of Arizona’s immigration law where he referenced “shoes” as an “indicator” police use in determining whether someone is suspicious:
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Comments (54)
spikebu
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:36amI thought is was a damn good analogy.
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 5:53amWait till the liberal MSM spins it. The‘ll make it sound like he’s calling immigrants dogs.
Report Post »see.pee.aye
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 9:14amBlue eyes, they already have. Saw it on another news site.
Report Post »huufarted
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:38pmarf arf !
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:08amW4ell Steve, you may be right about “we’ve got the vigor from the planet to come to America” or they may just be comin’ for all that good welfare. and goodies.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:46amThis is what we have been putting up with. It is not a drive to succeed as much as it is to change us to their image. They seem to believe we are supposed to assimilate ourselves into their culture. They need to realize they are guests until they become citizens and if they do not like it here, just go back where they come from. We owe them nothing except safe passage to the plane, train or bus.
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 6:30amI think it used to be that we attracted the best, the strongest, those with a will to succeed that couldn’t in their own country. Now we attract those who want welfare, food stamps, to be able to claim all their anchor babies and get taxes back that they didn’t even pay in, and claim their relatives in Mexico. I think that’s the difference between parenting I see here in Texas. If I see someone controlling their children, making them behave, I assume they’re here legally. If I see a woman with 8 kids and the oldest is in charge so the woman can talk with the other lady there and they both ignore all the kids and let them run wild, sticking dirty fingers in the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral, etc., then I suspect they aren’t here legally. If you break one law, what makes people think they won’t break others?
Report Post »2Fedup
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 10:39amThe best and brightest r the LEGAL immigrants who recognize their former countries r inferior politically and economically and choose to give their allengiance to the usa and work hard to b a good citizn and raise productive american children. The illegals dont embrace america, dont giv up old allegiances, and just want to exploit the americans who r dumb enough to allow it.
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:05amIt may be hard to get here, but once here , free money for life.Who wouldnt come.
Report Post »Obamujahadeen
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:17am“While his comments may have been good intentioned, the metaphor is sure to infuriate liberal groups and civil rights activists who argue the GOP wants to disenfranchise illegal immigrants
THEY SHOULD BE DISENFRANCHISED, THEY DON’T COUNT. If they‘re here illegally they don’t have a say in anything as far as I’m concerned, they’re fugitives from justice, thieves, burglars and nothing less. I treat them about the same as I would someone who breaks into my house minus the AR 15 clip they’d get should they choose to pick my crib or anyone I know or love.
NOTHING BUT CRIMINALS. They don‘t count and if they’re anywhere near a voting booth they should be arrested and charged with trespassing and attempted voter fraud if on their way in, or just voter fraud if on the way out, and then driven to the nearest border and dumped there with a compass, a bottle of water and a burrito.
Report Post »2Fedup
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 10:49amI agree minus the compass,watr, n burrito. We have no moral responsibility to to protect the feelings of foreign criminals. Either way, America is fubared by the end of the 21st century unless we spend the next 20 years DRASTICALLY changing our entire political and social culture. A couple years ago california put buoys in their waterway to prevent illegals from drowning for if they got tired n the fast wter on their way over!
Report Post »jabatten
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:10amWhat a joke…..the teacher will probably get invited to the Whitehouse to have a beer with Ubama and the kid!
Report Post »woodsmd
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 1:52amHe’s right in many ways. Though chance and opportunity play a big part too.
Report Post »sillyfreshness
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 1:25amF illegal aliens. They have no business being here to begin with. Look at California. They are almost bankrupt due to their political correctness and letting in illegal aliens to sponge off the government payroll. You wait, illegals keep flooding into the Southwest and eventually they will break away from the US and go back to Mexico. They will become a majority of the population and then succeed. Liberalism is the root of most problems that has ever existed. Rome did the same thing. They let in all these outside tribes into Rome until they ended up taking it over. The US is finished. The upcoming economic collapse will be the final nail in the coffin. Just remember how this all happened as you’re sitting at your campfire scrounging up food trying to survive. Bolshevism. Bolshevism that demanded illegal aliens be allowed to flood into the US. Bolshevism that demanded you take care of those illegal aliens by letting them go on welfare. Bolshevism that demanded a one world government economically tied together. Bolshevism that demanded political correctness be the law of the land. Thank Bolshevism for all your troubles.
Report Post »spikebu
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:07amAs one in the Southwest, I agree. I know the majority in my state feel the same. Why is it the minority rules? I don’t get it. We vote more. The DOJ just keeps taking us to court. Check out what is going on in Tombstone with the water. I want our County Sheriff’s to grow some, and tell the Feds to leave. They can. County Sheriff has power in his or her county, Feds have none over him or her. County Sheriff can arrest federal employees. County Sheriff has way more power than any Fed in his or her county. Support your local Sheriff! Educate them on their powers. Make them exercise them.
Report Post »Diane TX
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 1:23amRep King WASN’T comparing Immigrants to dogs. He was talking about motivation, natural drive and ambition. I supposed saying that the creme always rises to the top would be a racist statement to the group think, dumb-downed, left.
Report Post »Constructionist
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:08amThe left is all about tolerance. ‘Creme always rises’ is clear cut case of lactose intolerance.
Report Post »lassiegirldawn
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:50amSorry people, illegals do vote, Florida found fifty eight thousand dead people still on the voting registers. Why do you think they are pandering to the Mexicans so much.
Report Post »wordweaver
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:39amSo if he had said “hardworking gardener” or “industrious fruit-picker”, would that have been better? You see, the whole point of a metaphor is to let something completely different represent another thing or situation. Holy cow, the things people light off on these days… no sense of humor or a poetic turn of phrase.
Report Post »USAOneNationUnderGod
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:33amHis comment, out of context, does seem a little “out there”, but sounds like he’s trying to compliment all American citizens by saying that we are or are descendents of the brightest and best in the world.
Report Post »sillyfreshness
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 1:46amYou are right. In fact I saw a show on History a few years back about a lost book Hitler wrote. In that book, Hitler said the US was full of the best European descendents because they had the fortitude to leave Europe when times were bad to look for a better life. So they were pioneers in his eyes. He felt the US was full of superior European descendents, which, believe it or not, was reason for him to plan to go to war with the US. Personally, I wouldn’t attack a country if they were “superior” but Hitler planned to attack the US to prevent the US from getting too powerful. So there is some truth to what King said. Now, however, you have (illegal) aliens coming here to get freebies like welfare. We are getting sponges and leaches coming here to raid the coffers. They really are raiders, not “immigrants” like the Bolsheviks want us to believe. Look at countries like Australia and see how strict their immigration is. If you aren’t skilled, you aren’t wanted there. That’s how we should be. Only skilled workers be allowed in. Oh well, it’s too late. Political correctness and liberalism (Bolshevism) has destroyed this country. We are on our last legs before the big fall. We will be a 3rd world country before you know it.
Report Post »Jerry Frey
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:31amThe “Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965” was intended to bring people who had skills the country needed. instead, it opened the flood gates for anyone who wanted to come and could qualify – anchor babies.
Report Post »Sutter Buttes
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:05amYou say the following:
“…the metaphor is sure to infuriate liberal groups and civil rights activists who argue the GOP wants to disenfranchise illegal immigrants.”
Ignorant, ignorant, ignorant… Illegal aliens do not have the right to vote in our elections, so they cannot be “disenfranchised.”
Report Post »rede911
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:36amExactly, those persons not enfranchised cannot be disenfranchised. Non-citizens are not allowed to vote. But that won’t stop them from repeating this line over and over again. There is a segment of the country who will buy it and it is this growing dumbed down segment that poses the greatest threat to our freedom and survival as a nation.
Rep. King clearly did not mean offense by his comments. In his own way, he was paying tribute to those imigrants who built this nation. They truly were the greatest of all the nations gathered here to build the greatest nation on the earth.
Are You Ready? http://www.BigRedE.com
Report Post »HotFixIt
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:51pmI sure wish some would get those chips off their shoulders and get a life. So he chose something he was familiar with to make a point. Personally, I would take it as a compliment to be called “the pick of the litter”. I am a dog owner and LOVE my dogs as do a majority of Americans!
Report Post »Winedude
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:25amI LOVE my dog. It’s ignorant rectal pores like Steve King that I find reprehensible.
Report Post »phrogdriver
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:42pmLook – It was mildly offensive.
As offensive as “let’s spread the wealth around”?
No. Not by a long shot.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:18pmJoseph Biden said then Sen. Barack Obama is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” …
Anybody remember that? Yet Barry and the Dems embrace his racist remark…The Dems love double standards…..To be compared to a Dog is a good thing…I still respond favorably to the term Teufel Hunden….
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:17pmIf we had a comprehensive immigration policy and protected our borders as we should we could choose who came into this country instead of letting the diseased, poor, drug smuggling, non english speaking, dirty crummy welfare sucking people that sneak over….They are lie the Chihuahuas that wont stop yapping and crapping on your carpets….
Report Post »CatB
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:43pmYou had me up until the Chihuahua part .. people are mistaken .. I have had 3 .. not yappy but great watch dogs .. and easily housebroken.
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:16pm“…the GOP wants to disenfranchise illegal immigrants.”
Sending them packing is a better idea….
Report Post »Watchingtheweasels
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 5:43amIllegal immigrants have no “franchise” to take away according to our constitution, despite the liberal left’s hearfelt desire to give them one anyway. As the son of one of these “best and brightest” legal immigrants, I find nothing offensive about King’s comments. Though I do wonder if the progressive Christie Vilsack believes that anyone who isn’t white is too stupid to understand the metaphor he was using.
Look, the biblical position on immigration is clear: “your people shall be my people, and your God, mine.” It isn’t “you shall speak my language, give me welfare, and accomodate my god and his sharia.”
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:16pmHas anyone heard of blue people?Me thinks they may have had to much exposure to the left.We will all be blue in the face before the left figures out that they are wrong and completely uneducated to the facts.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:11pmWealth attacts the poor… builds up Cities & Nations… which allows Democrats to Tax & promise Social/Economic Equality…
Report Post »right
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:05pmIt’s not an insult to be compared to a dog, but it could be insulting to the dogs.
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:33pmIsn’t dog one of the items the President has a taste for?
Report Post »Perro Malo!
biffo
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:03pmWhy do we give a crap what liberal groups and civil rights activists think about anything? These are the people who are destroying this great country. King made a good point. We are being destroyed by this runt of the litter, socialist government. Time for the alpha dogs to take control.
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:03pmSounds the way hunters, and farmers speak here. No big deal. Whining Vilsack is just doing what he often does and trying to make more people seem like victims. Maybe Vilsack should listen to BSNBC for just a few minutes.
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 7:54am“Maybe Vilsack should listen to BSNBC for just a few minutes.”
All good little Dem politicians are watching “BSNBC”… especially the “Morning Blow Show” first thing to get themselves going. It‘s where they get the day’s talking points so the can attempt to “lean forward” because by the end the day they are usually two steps backwards along with BSNBC.
This should be NBC/MSNBC’s motto: “Leaning Forward” for President “Forward” = “Rear, MARCH”! Lol.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 11:59amMore than once, I have heard a senior executive, who is an avid hunter, describe a high performing employee as “that dog can hunt”. That is a good thing.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:02pmTwo words…….TERM LIMITS
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:12pmAnd first to go…..Pelosi
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:55pmNo Pensions!
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 12:13amMake it just like my job with DoD. You have to follow the rules, fly coach, you are given perdiem, and you have to be accountable for your actions. In other words, like normal people. Oh, wait, we are talking about the ruling class, never mind, silly me, ethics are for kids.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:02pmHey, if you think that’s offensive, try picking a good bird dog, it’s hard, and sometimes, that dog just doesn’t hunt.
Seriously, look at other countries policies. Australia will only let you in the country if you have at least proof that you have 6 months of money to support yourself, you cannot get any public assistance for the first year, and you have to have a skill the country needs. Otherwise, keep your happy butt in whatever country you are in, or just sneak across the US border.
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