King organizing protest outside capitol

Congressman Steve King (R-Kiron, Iowa) is helping to organize the protestors who’ve converged in Washington, D.C. to protest the health care bill.  I spoke with King this morning, at about 9:30 eastern.

“I’m looking out at already, oh, it’s at least hundreds of people now and we are two and a half hours ahead of the event that is scheduled here and they will be deploying across ‘The Hill’ to go talk to their members of congress and plead with them to vote ‘no’ on this bill.

The crowd is just really colorful and you’ll see a lot of American flags out there, the yellow ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flags and homemade signs.

This is the movement that began perhaps months and months ago. It started, I think, with the 9/12 Project group and came in on April 15 and then throughout the summer.  They have been put together because of the town hall meetings and because of this health care bill that is like the last straw for conservatives in America.”

King offered this as when I asked for his “closing argument” as the House prepares to vote on the health care reform package tomorrow (Sunday): “This isn’t about policy.  This is about politics and it’s about the destiny of America.”

King is speaking at today’s rally.  “And I’ve had to do a few things to get this thing to work,” King said. “I’ll likely be behind the podium and arrange people…so the right image goes out and the American people are energized and they have faith that their voice can be heard by members of congress.”