Steve King, Republican Congressman: Al-Qaida Will Be "Dancing In The Streets" If "Hussein" Obama Wins

***UPDATED 3/11***

King said Monday that Obama would be viewed as a "savior" for terrorists:

An Iowa Republican congressman on Monday defended his prediction that terrorists would celebrate if Democrat Barack Obama were elected president, despite a rebuke from aides to John McCain, the GOP's apparent presidential nominee.

"(Obama will) certainly be viewed as a savior for them," Rep. Steve King told The Associated Press. "That's why you will see them supporting him, encouraging him."

EARLIER: King refused to back down from his comments in an interview with Fox News Channel host Geraldo Rivera:

"I reject [McCain's] disavowal and I reject the Democrat web pages that call me the names that they have," King said. "I'd ask them to point to the quote that I have said that offends them. And if I am wrong, Geraldo, and we elect Obama to the presidency and he declares defeat, if they don't dance in the streets, I will come and apologize to you and everybody in America. But I'm saying, I'm right."

ORIGINAL REPORT: From the AP:

An Iowa Republican congressman said Friday that terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" if Democratic candidate Barack Obama were to win the presidency.

Rep. Steve King based his prediction on Obama's pledge to pull troops out of Iraq, his Kenyan heritage and his middle name, Hussein.

"The radical Islamists, the al-Qaida ... would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they would declare victory in this war on terror," King said in an interview with the Daily Reporter in Spencer.

King said his comments were not meant to demean Obama but to warn how an Obama presidency would look to the world.

"His middle name does matter," King said. "It matters because they read a meaning into that."

Keep reading

More Of King's Comments from the Spencer Daily Reporter:

"There are implications that have to do with who he is and the position that he's taken. If he were strong on national defense and said 'I'm going to go over there and we're going to fight and we're going to win, we'll come home with a victory,' that's different. But that's not what he said. They will be dancing in the streets if he's elected president. That has a chilling aspect on how difficult it will be to ever win this Global War on Terror."
Keep reading

Watch the interview:

Listen to the full interview here

Read more about Steve King here

Past Statements By King:

***In a statement issued by his Congressional office following the release of photos depicting prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, King referred to the maltreatment of prisoners at the infamous Baghdad prison as "what amounts to hazing."

***In June 2006, on the floor of the House of Representatives, King said that his family would be safer in Iraq than Washington D.C.:

Well I by now have a feel for the rhythm of this place called Washington, D.C., and my wife lives here with me, and I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, she's at far greater risk being a civilian in Washington, D.C. than an average civilian in Iraq.

***After the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, King said:

"There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at," King said about al-Zarqawi, in a recording transcribed by Radio Iowa. "And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."

***King has called former Sen. Joseph McCarthy, "a great American hero."

***King said immigrants trying to cross the border from Mexico should be treated like livestock:

I also say we need to do a few other things on top of that wall, and one of them being to put a little bit of wire on top here to provide a disincentive for people to climb over the top or put a ladder there. We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not kill somebody, but it would simply be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time.

Comments

[leftbehind2000]

11:07 PM on 03/11/2008

Well, this is great news! If they are dancing in the streets, then they will make excellent targets. And extremely easy to find as well.

Of course, assclowns like King and his ilk evidently have no interest in actually rooting out al-Qaida. Too easy to use the specter of these terrorists to breed fear.

Once Obama is President, perhaps this approach will change.

[Mike169]

03:43 PM on 03/11/2008

A Republican was standing on the bank of a river when he saw another Republican walking down the other bank, The first Republican yells over to the walking republican "How do I get to the other side?!" The walking Republican stops and looks at the first Republican and says "You're on the other side!"

[AC500]

02:49 PM on 03/11/2008

Steve King seeks to ensure that it is the lowest common denominator that will pick the next President so people like him and the Bush's and Clinton's and McCain's of this world can continue to lord it over the people, circumvent the will of the people, manipulate the people, use the government to fulfill personal vendettas and ambition. Obama offers the hope of re-establishing a government of the people, by the people, for the people. To succeed, however, people like Steve King in government will have to go. Obama is offering the people a chance to take back THEIR government and their country. With people finally awake, they must clean the senate and congress of the same old fossils and hate mongers and obstructionists that grid lock movement and progress to fulfilling the will of the people. What a chance the country has to start anew. If the lowest common denominator of the people ... fear ... is what chooses the next President, this incredible opportunity for something new, something real, something wholesome ... will be lost.

[zendem1]

02:47 PM on 03/11/2008

Why hasn't Grandma Botox denounced King for this kind of talk? Not one word from the spineless democrats in Congress about this. And this is why the Repigs do this kind of stuff: because they know they can.

[Tankan]

02:43 PM on 03/11/2008

Even a dyed in the wool racist wouldn't believe this fearmongering bigot!

The world is watching, America!

[LITU]

02:26 PM on 03/11/2008

Don't blame King for his outrageous comments. Look who he represents!

Iowa doesn't represent the middle of America anymore. It's become the midriff bulge.

(Am I the only one who finds this new format depressingly inefficient? Takes a month of Sundays for the comments to appear, and by then the essence of the dialogue is lost. Perhaps that's the plan.)

[glesslib]

01:58 PM on 03/11/2008

And I was sure that I had the worst U.S. Representative of all, Todd Akin, R.-MO. He says nothing, does nothing but rubberstamp Bush and is a boring right-wing neocon.

This guy makes him look progressive. I would hate to have to live with the people of his district who thought he was just what they want to represent them and their views.

[KUjHwk]

12:59 PM on 03/11/2008

I am at a loss for words how someone this ignorant and uneducated (high school education only) has a seat in the U.S. Congress. So much hatred this man has; I wonder if there's any self-hatred going on, Larry-Craig style....or perhaps someone should do a geneology trace on him - bet he's got some Arab or Black relatives in there somewhere. His high level of hatred raises great suspicion.

[kappa08]

01:48 PM on 03/11/2008

Not me...This has been happening for some time now. There is a level of McCarthyism in this nation that is Orwellian at best. All I can say is "liberal" or not. Keep your guns close.

[gypsy508]

01:55 PM on 03/11/2008

He's just the perfect and willing hatchet man for the Republicans.

[bilmardre]

12:46 PM on 03/11/2008

I think it is true that this election will bring out the best of America, and the worst of America.

[chappelforpres]

12:43 PM on 03/11/2008

No matter how idiots like King spin it, the axiom will hold true;
"You can't make chicken salad out of chickenshit".

[EspritDeVoltaire]

12:28 PM on 03/11/2008

What I find really frightening is that a man as ignorant as King can be elected to Congress. Iowans should cover their faces in shame.

[lobear00]

12:25 PM on 03/11/2008

Mr. King should be looking at his own party, the enabler's of Terror. Mr. Bush stated" he does'nt worry about Mr. Bin Laden, Nor does he know where he is. Mr. Bin Laden is Bushes " Ace in the hole.
As long as Bush doesn't worry about him, Bush can keep playing the Terror card every time Congress doesn't give him what he wants.
Mr. King it is your party of Neocon Republicans in the Congress who are trashing the Constituton by your blind ignorance. Mr. King , People in this country are losing ,Jobs, Homes, and all you Republicans worry about is your Corporate friends and there welfare.

[simplify]

12:11 PM on 03/11/2008

Somebody please put the straight jacket back on Rep. King. He's crazy......

McCain sends people like King out to do his dirty work and then acts all apologetic later. How lame is that.

[kikomnipotent]

12:08 PM on 03/11/2008

Fathers McCarthy , Nixon, & their minions would be proud of this relic. They knew the power of words. Exactly the kind of dinosaur mentality we need to get out of D.C. Who votes for these pricks anyway? Come on Iowa, wake up.

[jeersforfears]

11:49 AM on 03/11/2008

Of course the Islamo Fascists will celebrate if Obama become the US president. He has already expressed his willingness to negotiate with them without preconditions, and of course he's said he wants to immediately withdraw US troops from Iraq. It would be like some flaky Left wing appeals court overturnig a murder conviction because the police didn't give the killer a handkerchief when he cried during his confession.