Yesterday in an interview with Iowa Congressman Steve King to discuss the “Iowa Freedom Summit,” a multi-candidate forum for presidential hopefuls, King claimed that Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin called him a “racist” to a member of his staff during a phone exchange earlier in the day.
Breitbart News had forwarded King’s office a copy of a Rubin column from yesterday morning with a request for comment. Clearly Rubin, who perhaps ironically calls her Post column “Right Turn,” has an agenda when it comes to King. This is her attack from yesterday: “Stay away from Steve King, 2016 contenders“.
Initially, Breitbart News considered chalking it up to perhaps an overly emotional exchange between a would be journalist who’s had too much coffee and a loyal staffer defending their boss; however, Rubin has doubled down today and her inability to use proper grammar supports an additional claim made by Rep. King’s staff in yesterday’s exchange with Breitbart News.
An(sic) King aide called irate, saying it was a “lie” and that I must remove a statement “calling Rep. King anti-immigrant.” Rep. King’s staff needs to read more closely. The post stated, “King’s infamous comments are indicative of a tiny segment of the GOP that is not only anti-illegal immigration but anti-immigrant.” (Emphasis added.) Goodness knows what is in his heart, but Rep. King’s comments can be judged on their own and do unfortunately serve the purpose of those who are hostile to immigration.
Contrary to Rubin’s claims of an “irate” staffer, Breitbart News’ contemporaneous conversations with said staffer found them calm and somewhat humorously detailing their interaction with a “flustered Rubin who could barely speak and seemed incoherent.” If nothing else,that account jibes with the Rubin of today struggling to use proper English in her actual column.
“We call journalists all the time if we feel we need to set the record straight, or seek correction,” said the staffer, seemingly amazed at being greeted with vitriol from the Post’s columnist, who was described as yelling and pronouncing Rep. King both “racist” and “hateful” during the exchange.
The bone of contention would go directly to an issue pointed out by Representative King in our direct discussions with him yesterday. “People conflate immigrant with illegal immigrant,” said King. “I am not anti-immigrant. I am anti-illegal immigrant.” King’s position is that what he wants to see is adherence to existing American law, regardless of race, creed or color.
As best we can tell, Jennifer Rubin had no interest in having a reasonable discussion with what we can only describe as a pleasant, if not jovial. and helpful member of Rep King’s communications staff yesterday morning. Apparently, that would be the same Hill staffer a grammatically-challenged King-obsessed Rubin took to the Post again today to malign as “irate.”
An(sic) King aide called irate, saying it was a “lie” and that I must remove a statement “calling Rep. King anti-immigrant.”
Perhaps the Post newsroom should consider switching to decaf, at least when Rubin’s in the building … assuming she’s allowed in, of course. After all, one can never be too careful with high-strung people given the fractious nature of American politics on both sides of the aisle these days.
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