Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, is calling on Barack Obama’s aunt to testify before a congressional panel to address “the public perception that favoritism played a role in the grant of asylum” to her. The Iowa Republican is also garnering headlines for his statements on the G. Gordon Liddy Show Monday morning that the president “has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race – on the side that favors the black person.”
First on Obama’s aunt, from CBS News:
King writes that “[i]n order to better determine whether favoritism played a role – especially because Ms. [Zeituni Onyango] had been earlier turned down for asylum and ordered deported in 2004 before her nephew became president – the Subcommittee needs to hear from Ms. Onyango herself.”
Onyango, the half-sister of Obama’s father, moved from Kenya to the United States in 2000. She applied for asylum in 2002, citing violence in her native country. After it was discovered she was in the country illegally in 2008, she testified before the U.S. Immigration Court in Boston, where she said she would face undue attention and perhaps danger in Kenya because of her relationship to President Obama. She was granted asylum.
Now on to King’s theory that Obama “favorts the black person.” During a discussion of immigration reform, King said he is offended by both Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who is also black.
“When you look at this administration, I’m offended by Eric Holder and the president also, their posture. It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race,” said King. “And I don’t know what the basis of that is but I’m not a coward when it comes to that and I’m happy to talk about these things and I think we should. But the president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race – on the side that favors the black person.”
As the website PoliticalCorrection.org points out, King misquoted Holder. He actually said, “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards. Though race related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”
Moreover, conservatives are wholly obsessed with the idea that Obama — not the racist-sign-wielding nativists who swarm to Tea Party gatherings — has a race problem. …
… With no legislative achievements to his name, King appears to have decided that appealing to the right-wing fringe is his ticket to political survival. His career in Congress is defined by incendiary, distasteful, often ridiculous comments such as the one he made this morning.
D.C.-based news site Politico said Monday they have tried to get clarification from King about his remarks but have been unable to reach him for comment.
Follow Jason Hancock on Twitter
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter