Stephen Colbert in Congress (1/9): Zoe Lofgren, Steve King (2010)

[shockwave68516]

"The Eskimos" really?...they are the Inuit. Get it right congress.

[xESOTERlC]

I'd like to see Steve King as blithely make such ignorant statements about "hard work" if he'd not come up in a posh, sheltered environment.

[xESOTERlC]

Wow.. Steve King is an idiot @ comment about eskimos and no fruit/vegetables.. but then, he's most likely a fundamentalist christian and has no understanding of evolution/adaptation

[ParanoidMenehune]

King says we should spend less time watching comedy central and focus on real hard labor jobs like crab fisherman. Looks like someone should spend less time watching Deadliest Catch and realize that migrant workers do work we wont do and get next to nothing in return.

[iampleasant]

what is an 'unreal' american??

[olebra1393]

If this guy can only think of plumbing as a horrible job we must do then it makes sense why he's in congress.

[aneroph]

Really...you couldn't cut down the video so we don't have to see 2 minutes of total crap with all the old idiots sitting around talking amongst themselves? Come on people. Stop being lazy.

[AndersAalborg]

@aneroph Really... you couldn't scrub to the part of the video you were interested in? Come on. Stop whining.

[c0p13dn4m3]

@aneroph Some people are actually interested in the whole of it. And you call them lazy. Joke of the day.

[bluchismoon]

@aneroph dude, the film archive doesn't edit the videos, it shows all the footage from the moment the camera starts rolling to the moment it stops.

[victorcharlie121]

@10:40

It's not insulting to me. As a memeber of the armed forces, I understand that most Americans do avoid hard work. It's just what happens when you live in the "greatest country," and all the heroes you see in the various forms of media earn millions of dollars with nary a callous on their hands. When I get out of the service, you'd best believe I'm going to find the highest paying job I can, with the least amount of effort required. It's just how our society is.

[3rw42]

@victorcharlie121 Mr. King really has no clue - farms are closing due to lack of labor - restricting immigration (illegal or legal) is just going to shut down more - not magically lead to Americans taking those jobs.

It seems like he ignored the lady who spoke first who seemed much more knowledgeable -her comments weren't partisan, she acknowledged the complexity- his comments were partisan and added nothing.

[miggitymikeable]

Stephen winks at the guy next to him @3:51

[GENERIC9utube5ID]

$8.00 more per year????? Where the hell does this pompous prick get his numbers??

[azziplover1]

steve king is the king of fools major fail on the eskimo joke

[outy50000]

So, boring, holy balls.

[pckid17]

Just going to point out, that "eskimos", which are actually called "Inuit", have bodies that metabolize fat differently than other races. We could not survive off their diet.

[nvieira100]

Steve King is a completely unplugged asshole. So, Americans want to do hard labour do they? So, why aren't their asses out on the farm fields. He compares that to plumbers? Has he ANY IDEA how much a plumber makes? Of course not, because he's one of those "sitting behind a desk" bum he so enthusiastically disparages. What a complete bum fuck cunt.

[fuggsakes]

RON PAUL 2012 RON PAUL 2012 RON PAUL 2012 RON PAUL 2012

[GyDvTm001]

@fuggsakes better him than the rest of the republican candidates.

[fuggsakes]

@GyDvTm001 Ron Paul would fix America if he gets elected.

[astrophysicist16]

@fuggsakes YES!!! RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!!!! 2012

[sweetwater1115]

Steve King is a joke. Eskimos? Really dude? Ok, so Colbert was right, just stop eating fruits and vegetables. And yea, nice reference to real jobs and sitting behind desks, prick. Stop being a hypocrite, at least Colbert reads his material. IOWA VOTE HIM OUT I'm tired of clowns like that.

Ron Paul 2012

[Lucentia3]

I can't believe steve king just started his little monolouge with the idea that food security isn't an issue - just look at the eskimos. uhm... what??

[Djvivi15]

Was that a joke i heard from Rep. Steve King?!

That was the lamest comment i have ever heard.

I wish i had a 3D monitor so i could virtually slap him.

[Gabriel2993]

The press taking pictures like a pack of animals

[Monkor002]

@Gabriel2993 I didn't know animals were able to take pictures.

[HiLover9]

lol, as soon as Steve King starts talking you just know he's an asshat; was barely paying attention, couldn't see the R, just heard an arrogant nasty piece of business start talking

[sperrico87]

The problem is that no Americans are willing to do the work? Well then unemployment must not be all that bad.

Abolish the minimum wage, and hire any Americans that are willing to work in the fields for $4 or $5 an hour. You can't complain you don't have a job if you don't want any jobs that are readily available.

[putzthewondersloth]

@sperrico87 I must be missing something here.

I understand the argument that if people are despirate for a job, they should be willing to do anything even if the evidence shows to the contrary.

However, did you say that if Americans won't work in the fields for the current minimum wage of $7.25, they will work in the fields for $5.00? Could you please clarify?

[sperrico87]

@putzthewondersloth Well, in the sense that people who are college educated, statiscally speaking, they would rather not work at all than work in a field. But many of those same people have likely never faced starvation or dehydration. The law of human instinct cannot be erased by politicians. The minimum wage is an artificial mandate, one that has played a large part in rising commodity prices. Without a minimum wage, prices would be a lot lower, and there would be a far less unemployment.

[putzthewondersloth]

@sperrico87 Being of the college educated myself, I can't argue with your first point.

However, I have always considered humans to be communal animals. We, by nature, care for each other, prevent each other from starving, from dying. It's why we form communities in the first place.

On your third point, you are factually correct, but I couldn't disagree with you more. Without the minimum wage, many people would be subject to horrible poverty.  They would essentially be a slave class.

[sperrico87]

@putzthewondersloth But if the government forces industries to pay an artificially high wage, no matter the good intentions, all it does is lead to chaos. The company forced to pay out higher wages won't simply absorb the loss. They will pass the cost on to the consumer, which includes their own minimum wage employees. So, it all backfires. They might make more, but they also pay more, so where is the benefit? $5/hr with no taxes or inflation is a lot more wealth than $7.25 with the opposite.

[putzthewondersloth]

@sperrico87 Chaos seems a bit harsh of a word. Will it lead to inflation, maybe. But if we take history as an example, gradual inflation at worst. But I'm sure you'd agree with me that the inflation rate is affected by many factors, minimum wage being only one of them. My point here being that inflation will rise eventually which means the amount of money needed to survive rises as well and that is the whole reason for the minimum wage: to keep people from dying from poverty.

[sperrico87]

@putzthewondersloth Inflation, without any gov't interference --by which I mean; no wage or price controls, and no central bank to increase the money supply-- would be near zero. Not at zero, but near zero. The problem is that there is nothing behind our paper system. It's lost 98% of it's purchasing power since 1913. So the inflation and the devaluation of our currency is exacerbating the problem. So, I agree, with our current system, because it's such a mess, we can't lower the minimum wage.

[molomix]

she practicly said "they do manual labor 'cause they're stupid"

[dainamiku]

"avoid jobs that require sitting behind a desk thats so hypocrital what is he doing right now? sitting behind a big desk

[Habegger23]

That includes the marines?! well my minds blown...

[Jmozi]

I never even heard of the campaign until Colbert addressed it.

[mandabunny1]

Wait, Lofgren didn't make the opening statement?

[Asmusei]

Terrorist attack through our food supply?!? Jesus, this is just puppeteer work.

[WickeDFate4]

Two thirds of the people of the world don't understand major potions of reality. This is why we need governments. Even if less than half of the people in government understand reality, they are elected by us, and they have access to more information than the people who vote for them. The average person might know that many of their beliefs are wrong, but they will still vote for the person who claims to agree with them the most.

[freakylocz14]

Whore! I'm ashamed of my hometown for electing her.

[eblair12]

Zoe Lofgren / communist

[Eveonthehill]

Wow, Steve King is a genuine puppet. I haven't seen that kind of accusatory, insulting rhetoric and misdirection since the class president campaigns in Jr High school. What a putz.

[PepperGeorge]

steve king is freaking crazy to say all that stuff, i was laughing through his whole speech; and his face shows that even he himself doesn't believe what he says... funny

[TheAtomicist42]

@ Douchebag, Steve King: How did the eskimos get along without fruit and vegetables? Well, for one, with severe nutritional deficiencies that shortened their lives significantly.

Also, jesus fucking christ- how the FUCK do you get from the issue at hand to "our brave soldiers?" That's just a ploy to misdirect attention and arouse an emotional response, oh wait he's an Rtard isn't he? Par for the course!

I also loved how he brought up Chavez. Wait, didn't the GOP REMOVE him from texas textbooks?

[USAPATRIOT4LYFE]

Thank you, Steve King, for giving us an over-used, completely cliche stereotype to demonstrate how Americans do some of the hardest jobs out there. God knows that you don't sit behind a desk. Maybe you can represent the eskimo district so you won't have to worry about the farming problem that you apparently don't understand. Dickweed.

[maroonoasis]

wow, there's a c-span 3?

[Waterboy109]

@maroonoasis That makes 3 more c-spans than needed

[KOGR11]

hey did anyone hear the smirk at the "national security.." part?

[MrLinolinares]

Americans will out work anyone. Ya... right.

[maroonoasis]

@MrLinolinares lol that's so bullshit

[TheAtomicist42]

@MrLinolinares See the quote was doctored. "Americans will out(source our) work (to) anyone (who will increase our profit margin by half a percent)."