Losing 399-1 might change the opinion of some people, but not to pig-headed individuals like Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa.
I blogged earlier about Rep. King’s absurd vote and Think Progress updates on King’s rationale as he tries to spin his idiotic “no” vote.
Here is what King said as he went into damage-control mode:
KING: I would just add that there were about 645,000 slaves that were brought to the United States. And I’m with Martin Luther King, Jr. on this. His documents, his speeches – I’ve read most of them. And I agree with almost every word that came out of him. Slavery was abhorrent, but it was also a fact of life in those centuries where it existed.
And of the 645,000 Africans that were brought here to be forcibly put into slavery in the United States, there were over 600,000 people that gave their lives in the Civil War to put an end to slavery. And I don’t see the monument to that in the Congressional Visitor Center, and I think it’s important that we have a balanced depiction of history.
Here, briefly, is how Think Progress, responded:
The Capitol Visitor Center is simply trying to recognize the work of those who built the Capitol. But King is apparently concerned that slaves are being unduly recognized while Union soldiers who fought for their emancipation are not getting any credit. He simply needs to open his eyes and look around Washington, DC. If he steps right outside the Capitol, he’ll see the Ulysses S. Grant memorial, a monument that commemorates the former general of the Union Army.
This guy is ridiculous.
Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/09/king-slave-labor-vote/
