Iowa

Well, the pages of the Huffington Post are filled with Iowa; will Paul prevail, will Willard win, will  Santorum rise?  I haven’t had such an eventful day that I have much else to write about, so I suppose I will take this opportunity for some final words on the matter.

Is this heaven? No, its Iowa.

First off, the good news is that after tomorrow, Iowa will quickly slide into political obscurity for the next 4 years.  Like Christmas with it’s sappy movies, we can just be relieved that it is over.

The bad news is that this is just the beginning.  There are 49 states to go, plus a few territories.

I am not changing any of my predictions: Paul wins, Romney support collapses under the strain.  Nobody backs out of the race, because why would they bother?

But I’d like to take this space, and this moment in history, to clear up some misconceptions about the State of Iowa, my home state.  I am proud, fwiw, that the first caucuses are held there, and there is a value to the caucus system.  The first votes are cast by people who have given things a bit  of thought, and conversation.  Sort of like a jury.

But also, and mainly, I would like to point out that not all Iowans are guns ‘n’ Jesus Republicans.  Maybe even less than half.  You’re hearing about them because only the Republicans have a race this year, and the G ‘n’ J gang do form a considerable section of Satan’s Earthly Lobby.

When a reporter interviews a “likely Republican caucus goer” you know he’s interviewing a Republican, and it should come as no surprise that Iowa Republicans are as short-sighted, vicious, heartless, irrational, greedy, xenophobic and racist as their counterparts in South Carolina or Oklahoma.

Iowa’s a pretty nice place.  Pretty quiet.  Pretty friendly.  Pretty clean, compared to a lot of places.  Pretty, in its own way.

And there are just as many Democrats as Republicans.

And those who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about politics outnumber them both put together.