Miscellaneous Debris #1003 & 1004
Jul. 27th, 2013 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23As RAGBRAI comes to an end, I thought it was worth noting that Lance Armstrong made the ride.
Armstrong has ridden along with the thousands of RAGBRAI riders at least four times, but this is his first public appearance since his Oprah appearance and admission to guilt in January.
The RAGBRAI event organizers said Armstrong would always be welcome, but when they were making those comments six months ago, it was almost as silly to consider as the Drake Relays announcing Oscar "Blade Runner" Pistorius was not going to be there (he would have been, but that whole arrest thing came up).
Of course, Armstrong's accusation wasn't that serious in the universal scope of things, but it feels like we should give him some credit to getting back out to the people. All the reports I saw said things went well with Lance, even though he admitted they might not; then again people tend to be friendlier when face-to-face as opposed to when they are hiding behind the internets.
- - -
I don't tend to have much of a concept of how well west Iowan congressman Steve King is known across the country. His wacky statements are in Zeb Colter territory, which has made him a regular on the likes of Olbermann and Rachel Maddow for years- but I don't know if he is anywhere as known as people like Michelle Bachmann who have had national ambitions.
King has had so many quotes, it's hard to pick one, but the one about terrorists dancing in the streets when Obama got elected is probably his "Stairway to Heaven". I mentioned him a few times in the last month as he compared letting a select group of immigrants in as going to the dog pound and picking the best dogs; and freaking out on twitter as Mexican-American activists came to his Congressional office.
Like any artist moving into their late period, King put out a jewel this week- his "You Better You Bet" if you will, and here it is- King talking of illegal aliens:
For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another hundred out there who weigh a hundred and thirty pounds—and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling seventy-five pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act.
Now, anybody could make a Tancredo-style comment about immigration, but King is Steinbeckian or Faulknerian in his prose.
It's King being King and he's virtually unbeatable in West Iowa, but this grabbed a bit more attention than some of his other statements.
Which means he's getting what you might expect: some strong verbal punishment from John Boehner and Iowa's Republican governor.
Oh, and cantaloupes delivered to this office.
Armstrong has ridden along with the thousands of RAGBRAI riders at least four times, but this is his first public appearance since his Oprah appearance and admission to guilt in January.
The RAGBRAI event organizers said Armstrong would always be welcome, but when they were making those comments six months ago, it was almost as silly to consider as the Drake Relays announcing Oscar "Blade Runner" Pistorius was not going to be there (he would have been, but that whole arrest thing came up).
Of course, Armstrong's accusation wasn't that serious in the universal scope of things, but it feels like we should give him some credit to getting back out to the people. All the reports I saw said things went well with Lance, even though he admitted they might not; then again people tend to be friendlier when face-to-face as opposed to when they are hiding behind the internets.
- - -
I don't tend to have much of a concept of how well west Iowan congressman Steve King is known across the country. His wacky statements are in Zeb Colter territory, which has made him a regular on the likes of Olbermann and Rachel Maddow for years- but I don't know if he is anywhere as known as people like Michelle Bachmann who have had national ambitions.
King has had so many quotes, it's hard to pick one, but the one about terrorists dancing in the streets when Obama got elected is probably his "Stairway to Heaven". I mentioned him a few times in the last month as he compared letting a select group of immigrants in as going to the dog pound and picking the best dogs; and freaking out on twitter as Mexican-American activists came to his Congressional office.
Like any artist moving into their late period, King put out a jewel this week- his "You Better You Bet" if you will, and here it is- King talking of illegal aliens:
For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another hundred out there who weigh a hundred and thirty pounds—and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling seventy-five pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act.
Now, anybody could make a Tancredo-style comment about immigration, but King is Steinbeckian or Faulknerian in his prose.
It's King being King and he's virtually unbeatable in West Iowa, but this grabbed a bit more attention than some of his other statements.
Which means he's getting what you might expect: some strong verbal punishment from John Boehner and Iowa's Republican governor.
Oh, and cantaloupes delivered to this office.
