Rep. King and his Washington lobbyist friends at Americans For Prosperity on Thursday held an “astroturf” or fake-grassroots meeting at the capitol. Republican Party activists joined with health insurance company employees and corporate donors to stop the extension of decent health care to 47 million Americans without it. King said these protesters are different from the “non-working Americans” who protested President George W. Bush.

People’s pocket books are only so deep and they can only take so many days off work. These are the working Americans that are coming out to protest now. That’s a new thing. We’ve seen a lot of non-working Americans protest when George Bush was president, but these are people who have to leave their jobs or their businesses or their families and come to their communities or come to Washington, DC.

Iowans are right to be disgusted by King’s false, mean-spirited, divisive rhetoric.

The truth is more Iowans had jobs before George Bush and his Wall Street friends got their hands on the American economy. King would do well to stop focusing his career on blocking the President’s agenda and get on a plane bound for Sioux City or Council Bluffs, where he will discover many Iowans hurting and unemployed. But, King has no plan for them, only insults.

Don’t expect an apology. That’s not a part of King’s skillset.