Rep. Steve King Firm on Multicultural Groups Position

Christie Vilsack's campaign said her opponent for the 4^th District, Iowa Congressman Steve King, R-Kiron, isn't fit to represent Iowa because he has continued to criticize multicultural groups and did so again this week in a meeting with the Ames Tribune's editorial board.

King made headlines earlier this year after stating that he felt ISU's multicultural groups were made up of people who feel sorry for themselves, and he didn't seem to back away from those comments during an editorial board meeting with the Ames Tribune on Wednesday.

The Ames Tribune reported, that King said his views on multiculturalism were positive initially, but they’ve changed.

“The more I engaged in the political arena, the more I saw that victimology was being used as a tool within multiculturalism,” King said. “When you seek to convince people that they are victims, then they don’t take responsibility for their own destiny.”

When the Tribune asked King what evidence he had for that belief King said:

“I’m an adult human being with a lot of life experience. What this conversation is moving toward is ‘name one, name some’ and then they will get indignant, and then they will be the victim of this conversation, and it will start all over again.”

Vilsack's campaign stated: “Congressman King continues to criticize students and groups at Iowa State University and has once again proven that he isn’t capable of being a constructive representative for the people in the 4^th District.”

When the Ames Patch asked King's campaign about the comment earlier this year, Jimmy Centers, a campaign spokesman, said:

"The Congressman believes when presented with a challenge in life we should look at it as an opportunity to triumph."