GOP Congressman Calls Hispanic Teens "Drug Mules".

Since getting their asses handed to them last November, the GOP has talked a good talk about "expanding the tent" being "more inclusive" and "reaching out to minority communities". Well, actually they haven't. They merely said they would during their post-election autopsy, but have gone right back to being the jerks they are.

No GOP politician typified said jerkdom more than Iowa Congressman Steve King, a guy who is the DC incarnation of Rush Limbaugh. Never one to hold his tongue when it comes to talking about minorities, King delivered a racial insult of legendary proportions last week. And wouldn't you know it, House Leader John Boehner is speaking up to finally throw King under the proverbial bus, albeit an entire week after the fact.

House Republican leaders are denouncing one of their own for remarks made last week that disparaged most illegal immigrants as drug smugglers. The comments by Rep. Steve King (Iowa) came as the GOP is trying to improve its image and political prospects among the fast-growing Latino community.

King, one of the House’s most vocal opponents of immigration reform, told the conservative Web site Newsmax that for every young illegal immigrant who becomes a valedictorian, “there’s another 100 out there that — they weigh 130 pounds, and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”

Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) condemned King on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Rep. Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho), who was born in Puerto Rico, called King’s remarks, made last Thursday, “irresponsible and reprehensible.”

“What he said was out of touch with the conference. There’s nobody in the conference who would say such a thing, and I hope that he, if he thought about it, he wouldn’t say such a thing again,” added Labrador, who spent months working with seven House colleagues on a comprehensive immigration reform bill before dropping out of the stalled effort last month.

King’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But in an appearance on Radio Iowa on Tuesday evening, King stood by his remarks, saying his description of some immigrants as “drug mules” came from talking with Border Patrol agents.

He said that if immigration reform proponents “choose to characterize this about valedictorians, I gave them a different image that we need to be thinking about, because we just simply can’t be passing legislation looking only at one component of what would be millions of people.”

Wowzers. Not only did King not apologize, he basically doubled down. But thanks for telling us all about the astronimical calves of Hispanic teens, Steve. Cool story, bro. Sure, it might offend the millions of kids who work hard in school, and just might make these kids lifetime Democrats by default, but hey, the comparatively miniscule number who might actually be drug mules need to be grabbed by their grapefruit.. err, cantaloupe sized calves and thrown back over the border.[1] Amirite?

And that, my friends, is why the GOP is on a fast track to becoming totally irrelevant.

I've long contended that if the party's leadership merely stood up and publicly denounced some of its less savory members when they say stupid sh*t like this, it would help project the sense that such opinions aren't welcome. In retrospect, that was silly. Reality is, the party needs to quit promoting and helping get people who say ignorant sh*t like this elected in the first place. Still, kudos to Boehner for doing what decent human beings do when in roles of leadership.

Question: Is there anything the GOP can do to reach out to minorities when people like Steve King are in policy crafting positions?

[1] BTW, if you think the quote on the photo above is just some silly internet meme, you're wrong. Yes, an elected official actually said that.