Conservaderpers believe there really is no "economy," just a totally free market made up of individuals of greater or lesser work ethic, with those of greater ethic always rewarded by sky-buddy.

/eventually
//farkheads

FTFA Jonathan Gabhart, a 21-year-old college student from Spencer, Iowa, is leaning toward voting for Ron Paul because of the Texas lawmaker's unpolished speaking style - a "high-pitched, squirrelly voice," as he put it. "He seems like a real person because of his eccentricities."

I weep for our future.

/then again - our present blows as well

G.I.G.O. --- the perfect explanation for the state of the Republican Party these days.

"This is why we can't have nice things."


"What is Iowa?"

Jonathan Gabhart, is leaning toward voting for Ron Paul because of the Texas lawmaker's unpolished speaking style - a "high-pitched, squirrelly voice," as he put it. "He seems like a real person because of his eccentricities."

I bet he watches a lot of reality TV

Conservative Iowa voters may not be the brightest bulbs in the pack??? Color me shocked.

Pincy: Conservative Iowa voters may not be the brightest bulbs in the pack??? Color me shocked.

It is the economy? Iowa voter; nuh uh, its the gheys.

Iowa "Republican" voters, please. Don't lump them in with the rest of us Iowans who mind our own business.

Bagelox-99: Conservaderpers believe there really is no "economy," just a totally free market made up of individuals of greater or lesser work ethic, with those of greater ethic always rewarded by sky-buddy.

/eventually
//farkheads

Hah . . . what?

/notsureifserious

The vast majority of Republicans (and crazies) live in western Iowa. And there are some serious crazies out there.

The eastern part of the state is solid Democrat and got Obama the nomination.

NuttierThanEver: This is why we need to stop allow two of the smallest states in the Union have such a large role early in the process. If the candidates could focus on the major population centers for the primaries we could ignore alot of the mouth breathers and their agendas that aren't generalizable to the majority of Americans.

Or if we did away with the winner takes all electoral system.

They were hard-pressed to recall details of the candidates' plans to reduce taxes, create jobs and shrink the government.

Probably because none of them offered any details.

Link (new window)

Really good article on Iowa and how they turn a blind eye to their problems and how pointing that out can get you in a world of trouble

All those people in the article should be locked up for their own safety.

Fart_Machine: Probably because none of them offered any details.

They would all be lies anyways. The only things you need to know about a politician is whether they A) believe in God and support the Christian morals that serve as the foundation of our nation, and B) whether they will shrink the government here while simultaneously growing our Military. Nothing else matters.

This isn't just an Iowa thing. This is an Americans are to stupid to vote thing.

Several of our past presidents got elected purely by style and charisma. Not the policies they talked about.

Our elected officials suck balls. We voted for them, we suck balls to.

We are too stupid to elect the candidate that actually wants to work for the people. We vote for the guy that the media tells us is the most popular and which one holds up the shiniest object.

Not that I want to defend any of the mouth-breathing idiots around here, but Iowa's economy wasn't hit nearly as bad as most places. We still have quite a bit of new commercial and residential construction, a few businesses have opened new locations here in the past few years, etc. No surprise that the economy isn't going to be a huge issue in this state.

Which means the candidates can feel free to run on their policies of "setting social progress back 25-75 years." Small-town Iowans love that garbage.

I've heard no proposals from anyone in the Republican Primary that would improve the economy. Mostly flat tax junk that would hurt it instead.

I was listening to NPR yesterday and they had audio of a Q&A in Iowa....I think it was Romney. Some yokel gets up and asks if he can get "in God we trust" back in this country. Said his kids couldn't celebrate Christmas because "in God we trust" was gone from this country. I cannot believe the level of stupidity in Iowa. If this is what Iowa primary voters care about we're screwed.

Humean_Nature: FTFA: Eva Dunn, 60, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, has no patience for Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah. Her objection: his demeanor in the debates.

"He comes across as a preacher, and I just want to take his hands and tie them behind his back because he's always pleading," she said.

"Holier-than-thou," Ms. Dunn added.

There are no words. The only candidate who would have a hope of actually governing and hasn't said anything catastrophically stupid in any of the debates....and he's not your guy because he talks with his hands? You people are going to get exactly the candidate you deserve.

also HUNTSMAN is the holier-tha-thou candidate? Even as Bachmann's husband makes money from the government to tell gays to pray it away? Perry saying it's terrible gays can be open in the military? Santorum is Santorum? Newt Gingrich makes himself to be the defender of civilization and Christianity while being the biggest cheater out there? Ron Paul believes the states have the right to enforce a theocracy? Mitt Romney is willing to say the religious bullshiat when he's in Iowa.

Of all those candidates Huntsman the moderate, the guy who lets his adopted daughter continue the Hindu religion of her birth, is the holier-than-thou type? Does Lt. Col. Dunn just need an outwardly anti-gay candidate? A hypocritical candidate that make the Lt. Col feel not so bad for her sins?

People are stupid. Republicans are even more stupid. I don't even want to wrap my brain around Iowan Republican stupid.

Headline could have just said "Republican voters are idiots" and left it at that.

monoski: Link (new window)

Really good article on Iowa and how they turn a blind eye to their problems and how pointing that out can get you in a world of trouble

It's good if you've never actually lived here and base your opinions about the state on the preconceived notions of rankled pundits.

The rant about Iowans only buying dogs for hunting is pretty funny though. I know I wondered when that pampered rescue dog that came to the office last week was going to start earnin' his keep.

/lives in urban Iowa, which is much different politically than rural Iowa, natch

/Idiots like the people in this article come from every state; you'd find something else to grumble about if other states were first in the process

By virtually all accounts, the 2012 presidential race was to hinge on a restless electorate's overriding worry, the troubled American economy.

But now it won't be because we talked to 36 people out of the several million likely voters and some of them said they consider personality to be a factor in their choice of candidate.

It's not news it's... just not news.

/wtf Journalism?

Iowa has been declared irrelevant. Link (new window)

One of my co-workers, just today mind you, stated he was going to vote for Donald Trump because "he's rich and he's run a business". I informed him that Trump technically isn't in the running currently and his response was "oh, he's not?" I told him Trump might run as an independent, but that hasn't been decided yet. To which he responded "well I hope he does".

I was going to ask him what he though of Trumps policies, but I realized that this guy hasn't been paying any attention at all so it really doesn't matter to him what the person's policies are that they are voting for.

I'm fairly certain there are a large number of Americans like this who vote based purely on name recognition and nothing else.

watson.t.hamster: Bagelox-99: Conservaderpers believe there really is no "economy," just a totally free market made up of individuals of greater or lesser work ethic, with those of greater ethic always rewarded by sky-buddy.

/eventually
//farkheads

Hah . . . what?

/notsureifserious

Don't trouble your teeny rodent brain about it. Have a run on the wheel. Drink some water. Pee in the shavings.

Eddie Adams from Torrance: DamnYankees: I literally would not want to have a beer with any of these candidates. Not a one.

None of them drink beer that isn't brewed with malt roasted over failed health-care reform legislation.

hillbillypharmacist: Are you telling me that a social animal will continue to use their naturally occuring social proclivities to pick their candidate, as opposed to a thorough and objective analysis of policy positions?

I refuse to believe that.

Newt is a loathsome person, even by Republican standards. He has crackpot ideas, even by Republican standards. There is no foreseeable reason he should even mentioned in the top 3, and yet he is.

clkeagle: Iowa's economy wasn't hit nearly as bad as most places

There's a reason for that.

Britney Spear's Speculum: clkeagle: Iowa's economy wasn't hit nearly as bad as most places

There's a reason for that.

Because apart from a bunch of insurance companies and a few manufacturing plants headquartered here, it's on organ donor status?

I've been trying to find a job that doesn't involve flipping burgers for six months...

Of course I bring this up after half-heartedly defending the state just a few minutes ago.

/Stockholm syndrome?