U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Kiron) in National Review, today:

If I was going to put a label on the president’s statements, I’d have to get my thesaurus. He and the Democrats have already used up the terms demagogue and un-American.

King, on March 22, 2003, according to an Associated Press story on a pro-Iraq War, pro-soldiers rally:

Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa said all Americans – even the ones opposing the war – need to stand behind the troops now that the war is underway, and that some protesters have been displaying “un-American values.”


Actually, going and looking for previous uses of the phrase “un-American” is almost a pointless exercise; there are plenty of ways of casting one’s political foes as working against America’s interests or outside of her traditions, and they were employed many times from 2001 to 2009. But King is unusually egregious here.

David Weigel covers the conservative movement for the Washington Independent, a Center for Independent Media site.