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News & ArtsMonday, March 28, 2011
Politics The Problem With Iowa
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 10:02 AM
Pig-manure lagoons and social conservatives pig-manure-huffing lunatics:
The lead-off contest for its next presidential nomination—an event that has played a vital role in winnowing GOP fields since 1980—will be utterly dominated by voters with ravenous appetites for attacks on gays, Muslims, President Obama's "otherness" and godless liberalism in general.
No wonder Politico reports that Michele Bachmann was the big winner at Saturday night's conference, where she drew loud cheers for declaring, "We’ve been told we need a truce on social issues and I would highly disagree with that because social conservatism is fiscal conservatism" (even if the a straw poll at the event was won by Herman Cain, who is now pledging to appoint a Muslim-free cabinet, the better to prevent creeping Sharia).
And no wonder some pundits are seriously discussing the possibility that Bachmann might win next winter's caucuses.
Amazingly conservative voters in Iowa used to be a bulwark against the worst impulses of the GOP's rightwing. As Steve Kornacki points out in his piece in Salon: in 1980 Iowa GOP caucus voters picked George H. W. Bush over St. Ronald Reagan. This year they're likely to go for Bachman or Santorum or Huckabee—that is, for a deranged, Sharia-fearing, assfucking-obessing social conservative with no chance in a general election.
So there's a problem with Iowa. But it looks like it's a problem for them.
1
So now that Sarah Palin's potential Presidential run as "officially" dead (even though it was stillborn from the get go) everyone is getting worked up about Bachman as if she's got a shot. Well guess what? She doesn't have a fucking chance either. Not even close to a chance of having a chance.
This is my least favorite part of the election cycle made only worse by the 24 hour news cycle. This never ending supply of speculation that serves to do nothing but sell Michelle Bachman's books in the future. Free commercials for her bullshit batshit insanity. And evil eyes.
Good god those eyes...
This is my least favorite part of the election cycle made only worse by the 24 hour news cycle. This never ending supply of speculation that serves to do nothing but sell Michelle Bachman's books in the future. Free commercials for her bullshit batshit insanity. And evil eyes.
Good god those eyes...
4
Dan, Dan, Dan, this is wholely _good_ for the country. If Iowa picks somebody who has a chance, then Iowa has this inordinate power over the country, and we get corn subsidies out the wazoo. If Iowans persist in picking nut-jobs, no real candidate will feel a need to pander to them, and we won't have the insanity of all-corn-syrup e'erthing, and corn ethanol fuel that's worse than oil.
7
I plan on changing my affiliation to republican for the primaries here in jersey so I can vote for the bat-shit craziest of them all. I hope its Bachmann or Palin.
8
It raises the bigger question... why can't the GOP field a sensible candidate? Has the GOP become so fractured to the crazies that they can't come up with anyone even close to a moderate?
The ones to watch out for are Huckabee and Gingrich... they know how to hide their crazy.
Of course there is a part of me that so wants Bachman to be in the race.... then I sober to the thought she could become an accidental president! I never say that somebody can't be elected after suffering through 8 years of Bush.
The ones to watch out for are Huckabee and Gingrich... they know how to hide their crazy.
Of course there is a part of me that so wants Bachman to be in the race.... then I sober to the thought she could become an accidental president! I never say that somebody can't be elected after suffering through 8 years of Bush.
11
Frankly, I wished a conservative / republican like Ted Olsen (the conservative lawyer in the Prop 8 trial that has stated "true conservatives WOULD be for marriage of same-sex couples - it's a conservative ideology") would run for the republican Presidential ticket.
At least by being on the campaign tour, he could talk some sense into these backwater douches that want to take us back 200 years.
Plus, it would help to divide the party, which would be a good thing.
At least by being on the campaign tour, he could talk some sense into these backwater douches that want to take us back 200 years.
Plus, it would help to divide the party, which would be a good thing.
12
Do conservatives ever make appeals across the fence towards the more liberally minded? What matters the free market of ideas when the market is rather several and distinct.
13
Why aren't liberals and progressives so bold in their chest-thumping peacockery? Certainly if they truly believe the policies they have are legitimately good for the country, then they should be able to be strong about their convictions, right?
14
In Canada, an election campaign just started. The election will be held on May 2. That's six weeks. But then, Canada has a parliamentary form of government. Also, Canadians for the most part have IQs much higher than their waist size...
16
thats the fucking problem. fiscal conservative is fine, its debatable, it may even be right, but social conservatism is fucking soggy dog shit
17
@13, they are perfectly strong in their convictions. It just doesn't come across as so "bold" and "chest-thumping" when you espouse a sane, moderate, centrist policy. Whereas if you say you're going to put a stop to Sharia in the USA, that comes across as bold and chest-thumping even if you say it in a soft voice.
18
This is not the Iowa that I lived in for the first twelve years of my life.
I wonder why they don't use that pig shit to produce methane-generated electricity....
I wonder why they don't use that pig shit to produce methane-generated electricity....
20
The GOP presidential run being dominated by a bunch of obvious anti-everything-ophobics is music to Obama's ears. Dems got off their asses in droves to prevent one from getting elected in 2008. Even voters disillusioned with Obama might get worried enough to turn their gaze away from their reality TV and vote. The biggest worry would be a sensible-on-the-outside GOP candidate that the Democrats couldn't portray as a threat.
21
"No wonder Politico reports that Michele Bachmann was the big winner at Saturday night's conference, where she drew loud cheers for declaring, "We’ve been told we need a truce on social issues and I would highly disagree with that because social conservatism is fiscal conservatism" (even if the a straw poll at the event was won by Herman Cain, who is now pledging to appoint a Muslim-free cabinet, the better to prevent creeping Sharia)."
What evidence is there of this "creeping Sharia"? Is there any law in the country -- federal, state, or local -- that is based on Sharia law? Ironically, quite a lot of Sharia law would make many evangelical Christians very happy indeed.
What evidence is there of this "creeping Sharia"? Is there any law in the country -- federal, state, or local -- that is based on Sharia law? Ironically, quite a lot of Sharia law would make many evangelical Christians very happy indeed.
22
Indeed, so-insecure-we've-constitutionally-mandated-that-we-go-first Iowa isn't going to remain chief of the nominating process if it can't actually pick winners. If Iowa Republicans want to go for people who end up with no shot of winning again and again more people will develop "skip Iowa" strats for the nominations. If you want to be the bell-weather you have go WITH the country more often than not...a lot more.
23
@21 there was a story about some family courts in the UK maybe using sharia law. Which is a stupid idea, granted.
But then this somehow that got translated by the conservative talk radio and various loony state representatives as an impending invasion of sharia law in the US.
But then this somehow that got translated by the conservative talk radio and various loony state representatives as an impending invasion of sharia law in the US.
24
Remember, the yahoos are a large fraction of Iowa Republicans, not all Iowans. The state's Democrats went for Obama in 2008 (which appeared bold and progressive at the time), and gay marriage is still legal in Iowa. Given that Iowa is a swing state in Presidential elections, and that the caucus system favors passionate partisanship much more than a primary system, the wacko voters being lamented and sneered at represent at most 15 - 20% of the state's voting age population.
That is significant, yes, but most states in the union have a similar percentage of the electorate that qualifies as wackadoodle far-right.
That is significant, yes, but most states in the union have a similar percentage of the electorate that qualifies as wackadoodle far-right.
25
@22 I think your wrong. Iowa GOP has been bad at picking winners for a while, but the media and the candidates still treat Iowa like it matters. So the media will still cover Iowa and the Iowa GOP caucus (which btw is a secret ballot vote, not sure why they even caucus) will continue to be irrelevant. So if you consider Iowa to be a "chief of nomination" now, it will continue to be the chief.
I think the media gets confused because Iowa does actually matter for the Democratic nomination. But as Savage documents, one result of the two parties moving away from being regional and becoming the ideologically sorted parties we have today is that the Iowa GOP is far more concerned with social issues then the national GOP.
I think the media gets confused because Iowa does actually matter for the Democratic nomination. But as Savage documents, one result of the two parties moving away from being regional and becoming the ideologically sorted parties we have today is that the Iowa GOP is far more concerned with social issues then the national GOP.
26
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Herman Cain, who is now pledging to appoint a Muslim-free cabinet, the better to prevent creeping ShariaThis must be that no religious test for office we keep hearing so much about.
Michele Bachmann was the big winner at Saturday night's conference, where she drew loud cheers34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
27
I, too, am a fan of the Republicans selecting batshit-crazy candidates for national general elections. I'd be a much bigger fan if we could get some Democrat candidates who reject the neo-Liberal model of economics/governance, but if my options are between two Free Market cultists, one of whom wants Christian law and one of whom wants a secular state, I'll take the one with fewer baseless beliefs.
@26: Yeah, that first quote promises unconstitutional behavior; then again, the Republicans haven't been huge fans of the US Constitution for a while now.
@26: Yeah, that first quote promises unconstitutional behavior; then again, the Republicans haven't been huge fans of the US Constitution for a while now.
28
ah, Dan, she has no chance in the Rep. caucuse in Iowa. Everyone knows she is a crazy bitch. The one to look out for is that crazy, plastic, cult member Mormon, Romney, or that crazy, fat headed Baptist minister, Huckabee. You are giving crazyeyes too much cred. At least Iowa has a strong constitution that can't be changed on a dime, like California. So, any change is tough. Which is good if you are gay and want to get married.
29
The fact that Herman Cain won the straw poll actually concerns me. He knows how to organize a campaign, he's been working on the ground in IA for some time now, and he could take a big enough percentage of the caucus vote there to be a factor. He's very smart, has a terrific business resume at a time when people are concerned about fiscal problems, and manages not to sound totally crazy even when he's defending some pretty crazy ideas.
I'd be surprised if someone like Daniels, Christie, Perry, or Thune doesn't jump in later and try to be the "sane" candidate against this whole field. Whether they could win the primary, though... wow. The right has gone SO far right now.
I'd be surprised if someone like Daniels, Christie, Perry, or Thune doesn't jump in later and try to be the "sane" candidate against this whole field. Whether they could win the primary, though... wow. The right has gone SO far right now.
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