It didn't generate much attention, but over the weekend, Mitt Romney had a private meeting in Virginia with radical TV preacher Pat Robertson. This strikes me as the sort of encounter that warrants some follow-up -- why did the Republican presidential hopeful agree to chat with a fringe figure who, among other thing, blamed the 9/11 attacks on Americans?
Just as interesting, though, was Romney's encounter with Rep. Steve King (R) in Iowa on Friday afternoon, which also seemed to get lost in the shuffle.
The Democratic National Committee put together this clip after Romney, unprompted, declared, "I'm looking here at Steve King. He needs to be your congressman again. I want him as my partner in Washington!"
Is that so.
By most reasonable measures, King is one of Congress' more outlandish members. Zack Beauchamp pulled together some of the right-wing lawmaker's greatest hits, but really, it's hard to even know where to start with a politician as shocking as King is. Perhaps most important is King virulent opposition to immigration -- he's referred to immigrants as cattle who should be subjected to an electrified fence. (Romney should, right about now, give up on that 38% goal as it relates to Latino voters.)
This is the same King, incidentally, who boasted a month ago that he'll have "a strong voice ... in the West Wing and sometimes in the Oval Office of the White House" if both he and Romney/Ryan win in November.
And now Romney expects to "partner" with King once he's president. I suppose the obvious question is, what exactly will Romney and King partner on if both are elected?