Iowa Democrats charge Republican Congressman Steve King has inappropriate "political content" on his taxpayer-funded website. At issue is a transcript of King’s comments about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that’s posted on the website. In March, King suggested terrorists would celebrate if Obama’s elected president.

King says he won’t remove the comments from his taxpayer-funded website unless he’s proven wrong. "Let’s just say if Obama’s elected president and our enemies, al Qaida and the terrorists, are not dancing in the streets after he has declared defeat already then I will apologize to America and the world for poor judgment," King says. "But I would ask those people who are in the public arena that are my critics to step up and make the same oath that if I am right that they will apologize to me publicly."

Democrats say King is asking taxpayers to foot the bill for his "hateful commentary on the 2008 presidential election." Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign manager issued a statement asking Republicans to quit using such "overheated rhetoric and personal attacks on our opponents." But King refuses to back down and King also blames the media for "misquoting" him.

"And usually it’s my critics that, actually I will say that they intentionally misinterpret my words and then they will sometimes misquote me and I will not allege that that’s intentionally, but when that happens I have an obligation to inform the American people with the facts and that is why I personally typed that transcript out from an audio tape and posted it on my website so the American people could see the truth," King says. "It’s there. The truth’s going to stay on my website." A transcript of King’s remarks on KICD in Spencer, as well as the audio, were posted on Radio Iowa’s website three days before King posted a transcript on his congressional site.

During a weekend interview on KJAN in Atlantic, King discussed the controversy and suggested no Democrat would fight the war on terror as effectively as a Republican president would. King was especially critical of Hillary Clinton’s recent comments to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "When Hillary Clinton said it requires the ‘willful suspension of disbelief’ in order to accept General Petraeus’ presentation, I know General Petraeus. I’ve known him for years. He’s the most impressive military man I’ve met," King says. "…You have to accept him as having the highest level of knowledge and integrity." 

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