Rep. Steve King did not apologize for saying earlier this month that President Barack Obama "favors the black person," and now another GOP Congressman has come out in support of the controversial remarks.
Virgil Goode, the former GOP Congressman from the fifth district of Virginia, wrote in an article in Front Page magazine: " What Rep. King said has considerable merit. Leaving aside President Obama siding with black Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates over white police officer James Crowley without knowing the facts or his close association with the anti-white pastor Jeremiah Wright, Obama's record as a Senator and President gives credence to the concerns raised by Rep. King."
Goode scolded members of the Democratic and GOP parties alike for backing away from what he termed a conversation about race.
"Shortly after assuming his position, Attorney General Eric Holder called America a 'nation of cowards' because we were too afraid to speak about race," said Goode. "My former colleague Congressman Steve King (R-IA) recently tried to initiate a discussion, and the Democrats and politically correct Republicans are castigating him."
King claims that he was quoted out of context after his appearance on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show, arguing that right after he said Obama "favors the black person," he added: "in the case of Professor Gates and Officer Crowley. That was a case where he knew nothing about it, threw himself into it, and concluded that the cop had operated on a race bias or a racist basis and then he ended up having to have a beer summit because of that."
King has also commented on Obama's response to the Arizona immigration law, which Obama has denounced as promoting racial profiling. King said Obama looked at the law "presuming that it would bring about race bias when it says exactly the opposite -- that it is prohibited under the statute... The president of the United States is dividing us down the line of race... and making arguments that are patently false, at least in terms of Arizona."
Colorado State Representative and Congressional candidate Cory Gardner -- along with the Tea Party of Northern Colorado -- canceled a joint fundraiser with King after reading about the Congressman's remarks.
Still King is standing behind his claims and has accused Gardner of caving at the first sign of friction, arguing the state representative from Colorado secretly agreed with his controversial comments.
Goode's article in Front Page magazine represents the first formal, high-profile support for King's remarks. Goode, the former Congressman who represented Virginia's fifth district in Congress for six terms but narrowly lost his seat to Tom Perriello in the 2008 elections, is still active in politics and will support State Sen. Robert Hurt in his race against Perriello this fall.
Watch King drive home his point on the House floor: