What He Learned from the Iowa Cauc

[Adam's Apple]

What We Learned From The Iowa Caucuses
By John Ziegler
January 4, 2008

That all the old rules of Presidential politics no longer apply.

That strong and real opposition to illegal immigration is not as important to Republicans in Iowa as we were told.

That even some liberals really can’t stand Hillary Clinton.

That Oprah’s endorsement is more powerful to Democrats than Bill Clinton’s.

That far too many Evangelical Christians are irrational in their voting preferences.

That Mitt Romney’s religion makes him unelectable.

That Fred Thompson would have to get photographed coming out of a limo with no underwear on to get any mainstream media coverage.

That we are now somehow in a situation where we are looking to the people of South Carolina to restore some sanity to the race.

That John Edwards is still able to fool a lot of poor people into thinking that he cares about them and Hillary Clinton is thankful as hell that he is still in the race to split the “totally wacky” vote.

That so how the pro-amnesty, anti-tax cut, anti-free speech John McCain is now the best hope for “conservatives” to stop Mike Huckabee.

for full article:
http://www.johnziegler.com/editorial.php?e=218

 

[jillian]

Gee.. let's look at that opinion piece...

first, it has no credibility because the guy is clearly so far to the right he doesn't know what middle is since he thinks the "wacky vote" is who went for Obama and Edwards. Indies went for Obama as did some cross-overs. And a lot of middle class people see Edwards as someone who has their interests at heart and won't continue the same pro-corporatist anti-middle class policies of the last 7 years. It also teaches that voters don't believe in inevitablity of a presidential nominee and Hillary will have to earn it if she wants it.

Second, we aren't taught that the voters in Iowa don't find "illegal immigration" very important, what we've learned is that 60 percent of the voters who showed up at the Iowa caucases identified themselves as evangelical christians and they want a religious test for who gets into the white house... in opposition to the constitutional restriction on that. What does that tell us? That we'd better all pray that they marginalize themselves and their vote never has meaning again.

Thus, this invalidates the hypothesis that Romney is unelectable --- answer... only by the evangelicals. Normal people couldn't care less what he believes in. It's his flip-flopping and saying whatever he thinks he needs to say that turns people off to him. If he maintained the same policies that he did when he was elected in the very blue Massachusetts, he might well have been electable.

That Fred Thompson is a blip and his supporters only want another TV president who makes cute, pithy cowboy-ish statements.

That, thankfully, many Iowans value a man who doesn't believe in torture and has at least some ethics over people who have no understanding of what torture is and does to our troops and our standing in the world.

And what's the last thing Iowa teaches us? That a dem will be elected president come November, 2008 all other things remaining equal.

Gee, I think my assessment makes way more sense than his.

 

[DeadCanDance]

We learned that Democrats, broadly speaking, are thrilled with their choices, and immensely enthusiastic about supporting them.

We learned that the only two GOP candidates that inspire a loyal and enthusiastic following, are a theocratic preacher (Huckabee) and an extremist pseudo libertarian (Paul). GOP voters are dejected and morose about the rest of their choices. I can barely ever recall seeing or hearing from an enthusiastic Romney, Guilliani, or Thompson supporter

 

[ScreamingEagle]

I think we learned that voters of both parties are looking for someone other than the usual Washington insiders. It seems that no problems are ever resolved in Washington and times are ripe for a populist approach. Both Obama and Huckabee are new to the scene and both are great speakers, giving the impressions of being brand new leaders for hope and change…exactly what remains to be seen, and only if they can pull it off.

If Huckabee ever wound up as the candidate I believe we would see the heathen SPs of this country really bare their fangs. I can already hear the gnashing.

Obama, with his worldly background and almost blank slate, is probably the ideal candidate for the new world order types. I can already hear the idiot cheering crowds.

 

[MasterChief]

Help me out here. Who many times has the Iowa caucuses picked a national candidate? I recall when Bill Clinton was running and being home at the time, no matter how much I argued that Democrats could not ignore the Southern states, they picked Tom Harkin.

 

[Adam's Apple]

Gee.. let's look at that opinion piece...

first, it has no credibility because the guy is clearly so far to the right he doesn't know what middle is since he thinks the "wacky vote" is who went for Obama and Edwards.

He's a libertarian - the quarrelsome type.

 

[Angel Heart]

Help me out here. Who many times has the Iowa caucuses picked a national candidate? I recall when Bill Clinton was running and being home at the time, no matter how much I argued that Democrats could not ignore the Southern states, they picked Tom Harkin.

Jimmy Carter was the only one to win Iowa and win the big job at the end.

 

[jillian]

He's a libertarian - the quarrelsome type.

His call, I guess.

I still think my analysis was better.

 

[DeadCanDance]

Jimmy Carter was the only one to win Iowa and win the big job at the end.

That's not what he asked. He asked what Iowa's record was in picking the national candidate:

Originally Posted by MasterChief
Help me out here. Who many times has the Iowa caucuses picked a national candidate?

According to wiki, Iowa picks the national candidate the majority of the time.

And as for your assertion, its wrong. Bush won Iowa in 2000.

 

[Annie]

That's not what he asked. He asked what Iowa's record was in picking the national candidate:

Originally Posted by MasterChief
Help me out here. Who many times has the Iowa caucuses picked a national candidate?

According to wiki, Iowa picks the national candidate the majority of the time.

And as for your assertion, its wrong. Bush won Iowa in 2000.

Gore won Iowa in 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ElectoralCollege2000-Large.png