Congressman Steve King Tells Inaccurate Story Of Outing Vegetarians In House Hearing

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has a long history of eyebrow-raising statements. In 2012 alone, King recommended that gays keep their identities secret at work, called detention for immigrants a "holiday" and compared janitors in House office buildings to the East German secret police for installing energy-efficient lightbulbs.

At a town hall meeting on Tuesday, King added to the list, recounting a House Agricultural Committee hearing in which he claimed to have outed the carefully hidden vegetarianism of the people testifying.

"PETA was there and one other animal activist group. So we just asked them, under oath, 'are you a vegetarian?' And they confessed they were vegetarians, all of them. Well, there they are with an agenda for our diets," said King in a speech captured on video by ThinkProgress.

But unfortunately for King, the story of his vegetarian inquisition was most likely false. After reviewing the transcripts from a hearing on May 8, 2007 that appears to be the event King referenced, ThinkProgress wrote that "there were no witnesses from PETA. King did not ask anyone “are you a vegetarian?” In fact, it was another member -- Steve Kagen (D-WI) -- who asked the Humane Society witness to say he was a vegetarian."

King later joked about vegetarianism at the hearing, saying that he followed a vegetarian diet by eating "concentrated, recycled, enhanced vegetables in the form of meat.”

Watch video of the town hall below:

Comments

[GODSWILLFIRST]

05:30 PM on 08/03/2012

http://www.care2.com/causes/gop-rep-steve-king-defends-dog-fighting.html

This guy's unbelievable!

[Juli3]

03:24 PM on 08/02/2012

Show of hands !
Who would like to see King as Romney's running mate?
I mean now that Trump in no longer on the short list, darn it!
Personally, I'm holding out for Ted Nugent : )

[manderso]

11:48 AM on 05/16/2012

Drive by Sioux City which King represents, you'll have all the smell you can handle. Breathe deep, it's the wonderful slaughter house of Iowa.

[ahlahla]

05:39 PM on 02/07/2013

And the Democrats control the board of supervisors up there.

[EJavaM07]

10:19 PM on 04/08/2012

Mr. King:

As the rest of us now know, we can in no way fix stupid.

[chris6678]

08:23 AM on 04/06/2012

"King later joked about vegetarianism at the hearing, saying that he followed a vegetarian diet by eating "concentrated, recycled, enhanced vegetables in the form of meat.”

Ha! This guy's obviously nuts like so many in politics, but since we have to put up with him (shame on you, Iowa's 5th district), at least he's mildly amusing.

[Susan Anderson Lamb]

08:22 AM on 04/06/2012

Mr. King idan idiot!

[akrazyrunner]

08:16 AM on 04/06/2012

Is anyone surprised that someone named Steven King would tell fictitious stories?

[Candace8383]

08:21 AM on 04/06/2012

if only he was as good at it and NOT an elected official ..

[sharin]

08:02 AM on 04/06/2012

as a vegetarian for 30+ years, raised two kids (non-vegetarian) and married to a meat eater, it is simply ridiculous to stereotype vegetarians as trying to foster our eating habits on others.

[Candace8383]

08:26 AM on 04/06/2012

Its not that hes trying to say He doesnt think that mostly because he doesnt think at all They are in a constant unrelenting search for "the other" The boogie man . If they don't keep feeding red meat (figuratively and ...well i guess literally too ) to the base the base quickly loses interest Its the gays are out to destroy our country the blacks are taking all the money from your pocket the illegals the Muslims these guys have more enemies than friends what a sad sad way to live no wonder their all so angry all the time

[pakaal]

07:35 AM on 04/06/2012

So in addition to everything else, he's a liar. In a sense it's the least of his misguided beliefs and actions.

[we-r-stardust]

07:14 AM on 04/06/2012

Lettuce all try and get along...and give peas a chance .......;-)

[MaryK2924]

06:25 AM on 04/06/2012

This guy is such a dope, good comedy relief though.

[bitterindependent]

06:12 AM on 04/06/2012

so Ms. Obama gets attacked for suggesting that we should eat healthier, yet this guy openly wants to impose his dietary opinions on others????

[BRAINS4USA]

06:09 AM on 04/06/2012

keep going King - bury yourself in nonsense....we already know your election reward....

[bitterindependent]

06:05 AM on 04/06/2012

most vegetarians are proud of their diet soooo.........how are they confessing to anything?

[LaoShur]

03:21 AM on 04/06/2012

"Well, there they are with an agenda for our diets," said King in a speech..."

What sort of demented, psychotic maniac would force someone to eat vegetables?!!
Oh....yeah, I forgot....sorry mom, no offense, I love ya!!!