Last week, Joseph Stack crashed his plane in a federal building and killed one person in the process. First, his daughter called him a "hero" regardless of the life that her father destroyed. Now it's Steve King's turn to come up another stupid and insensitive statement. In fact, Steve King is asking Conservatives to "Implode" IRS Office to protest "Big Government"
According to TPM, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told a crowd at CPAC on Saturday that he could "empathize" with the suicide bomber who last week attacked an IRS office in Austin, and encouraged his listeners to "implode" other IRS offices, according to a witness.
The comment wasn't actually recorded but according to TPM, a staffer for Media Matters, who heard the comments, confirmed that Steve King said those words.
During the question and answer session, the Media Matters staffer asked King to clarify his comment, reminding him of his sworn duty to protect the American people from all sworn enemies, foreign and domestic. In response, said the staffer, King gave a long and convoluted answer about having been personally audited by the IRS, and ended
by saying he intended to hold a fundraiser to help people "implode" their local IRS office.
We all know that Steve King is an idiot but if true, King reaches a new low.
UPDATE thanks to Vita Brevis
Transcript via Think Progress
TP: Do you think this attack, this terrorist attack, was motivated at all by a lot of the anti-tax rhetoric that’s popular in America right now?
KING: I think if we’d abolished the IRS back when I first advocated it, he wouldn’t have a target for his airplane. And I’m still for abolishing the IRS, I’ve been for it for thirty years and I’m for a national sales tax. [...] It’s sad the incident in Texas happened, but by the same token, it’s an agency that is unnecessary and when the day comes when that is over and we abolish the IRS, it’s going to be a happy day for America.
TP: So some of his grievances were legitimate?
KING: I don’t know if his grievances were legitimate, I’ve read part of the material. I can tell you I’ve been audited by the IRS and I’ve had the sense of ‘why is the IRS in my kitchen.’ Why do they have their thumb in the middle of my back. ... It is intrusive and we can do a better job without them entirely.