Steve King Schedules Iowa Hate Fest For 2016 Candidates

2 drivers of the GOP racist agenda: Steve King and Steve Scalise

With all the talk about GOP Whip Steve Scalise's consorting with neo-Nazis and KKK racists, you'd think Republican presidential contenders would be careful about addressing meetings called by the David Duke figures among them. And yet, in three weeks, the architect of the racist Republican Know Nothing agenda towards Hispanic and Asian immigrants, Steve King (R-IA) has a public meeting of candidates to discuss how to deport immigrants, the so-called the Iowa Freedom Summit, a meeting which will be addressed by right-wing extremists Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Ben Carson, as well as purported mainstreamer Chris Christie and Republican clown Donald Trump. Only former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is polling way ahead of the rest of the pack, has announced he'll be passing on the racist conclave.

Late last year Bush said that he couldn't fit the January 24 hate-fest into his schedule, although he stopped short of denouncing King or his racist agenda. The late December CNN poll confirmed Jeb Bush as the clear front runner among Republican voters. The key question was "I'm going to read a list of people who may be running in the Republican primaries for president in 2016. After I read all the names, please tell me which of those candidates you would be most likely to support for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, or if you would support someone else. Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, Rob Portman, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, or Scott Walker." The result:

• Bush- 23%
• Christie- 13%
• Carson- 7%
• Huckabee- 6%
• Paul- 6%
• Rubio- 5%
• Ryan- 5%
• Cruz- 4%
• Jindal- 4%
• Perry- 4%
• Walker- 4%
• Kasich- 3%
• Santorum- 2%
• Pence- 0%
• Portman- 0%

The poll also measured Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters' attitudes towards Bush's immigration stands with two pointed questions:

• "Jeb Bush has supported plans that would allow some illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. rather than being deported " to which 32% said that made them more likely to support him, 35% said it would make them less likely to support him and 32% said it made no difference.

• "Jeb Bush has described illegal immigration as an "act of love" showing that illegal immigrants are concerned about their families" to which 20% said that made them more likely to support him, 42% said it would make them less likely to support him and 38% said it made no difference.

Among all the Republicans, Bush came closest to beating Democratric front-runner Hillary Clinton-- although not close enough. Ending 2014 Clinton beat every Republican candidate but substantial margins:

• Clinton/Bush- 54-41%
• Clinton/Ryan- 56-41%
• Clinton/Christie- 56-39%
• Clinton/Cruz- 60-35%
• Clinton/Huckabee- 59-38%
• Clinton/Paul- 58-38%
• Clinton/Carson- 56-35%

The end-of-the-year media scandal over House Whip Steve Scalise's relationship with David Duke's neo-Nazi racist group in Louisiana is likely to harden numbers, turning off some Republicans and confirming others in their own racist attitudes. As the special election to replace disgraced GOP felon Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm takes shape, for example, the emerging front runner is Dan Donovan, the D.A. who was unable to win an indictment against a New York City police officer in the strangulation death of Eric Garner, a black Staten Island man selling loose cigarettes. Republican racists-- the party base in Staten Island no less so than in Mississsippi or Louisiana-- is drawn it Donovan precisely because he didn't get the indictment. The racial turmoil and divisiveness in New York City ever since serves to remind voters about America's ugly racist past and how prevalent it still is among many Republicans.