News from Iowa
- Thread starter Dave
- Start date
It seems from the chart that Ron Paul's position on foreign policy would be enough to attact independents and democrats into potentially participating in the straw poll.
The war in Iraq, relations with other countries, national security and the nation's long term debt (partly caused by our reckless foreign policies) are 3 of the top 4 issues on the democrat side, with health care and economy rounding out top 5.
On the Republican side it is war in Iraq, terrorism, national security in the top 5, with faith and values and immigration rounding it out.
If nearly 60% Iowa Repubs are in opposition to the war, I reiterate my early suggestion that RP's stance on the war and on immigration be his primary message in Iowa. Surely there is a tech savvy person who can pare down some of the various videos on RP into a concise DVD to touch on these issues that can be passed out (or mailed) prior to the straw poll?
Bradley in DC
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His opposition to abortion plays well with Republican caucus voters who would want someone with a consistent record on the issue (unlike Rudy McRomney).
Brandybuck
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Remind me again what the Rudy McRomney stance on abortion is again. What is amnesty or invasion?
Dave
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S.O.S! Barely 10 weeks to Ames Straw Poll!
It's barely 10 weeks to the August 11 GOP Straw Poll in Ames and Ron Paul has no Iowa organization yet. Most other campaigns have entire teams on the ground in Iowa dedicated to this one event.
40,000 people attended this event last time (1999). 600 journalists were on hand from over 250 organizations. You can't really skip this event. There will be a poll that day and someone will win. 3 men will finish in the top 3. Someone will finish last. This will all be newsworthy.
Can we possibly hope to compete in this circus on the same playing field as everyone else (see my 2nd post in this thread)? I'm not sure if the best strategy is to try to keep up with the Joneses given time and personnel constraints. Besides, is decadently spending money on frivolous pomp really in the style of Dr. Paul and his supporters?
Maybe we need an anti-establishment yet positive idea to really set the Paul movement apart from the rest of the field. Maybe if 20,000 Paul followers could converge in the parking lot from all over the nation this would attract some real attention. Maybe if everyone wore matching neon green t-shirts instead of the tired U.S. Flag apparel. Or hospital scrubs ("paging Dr. Paul")...Maybe if everyone went Brown Baggin' for Dr. Paul and literally brought their lunch in a paper bag to contrast with the other candidates' bacchanalian spreads. These are just my silly random thoughts but you get the idea. Rather than try to beat the others at their own game, we need some creative-type people to find us a way to buck the system and do something really special and head-turning.
Of course, little of this matters if the poll still results in Dr. Paul being far back in the field. Iowans must be turned out in droves to vote for Ron Paul.
We desperately need a strategy for this event (I don't know HQ's thoughts here) and we're running out of time and have no organization. Any thoughts?
It's barely 10 weeks to the August 11 GOP Straw Poll in Ames and Ron Paul has no Iowa organization yet. Most other campaigns have entire teams on the ground in Iowa dedicated to this one event.
40,000 people attended this event last time (1999). 600 journalists were on hand from over 250 organizations. You can't really skip this event. There will be a poll that day and someone will win. 3 men will finish in the top 3. Someone will finish last. This will all be newsworthy.
Can we possibly hope to compete in this circus on the same playing field as everyone else (see my 2nd post in this thread)? I'm not sure if the best strategy is to try to keep up with the Joneses given time and personnel constraints. Besides, is decadently spending money on frivolous pomp really in the style of Dr. Paul and his supporters?
Maybe we need an anti-establishment yet positive idea to really set the Paul movement apart from the rest of the field. Maybe if 20,000 Paul followers could converge in the parking lot from all over the nation this would attract some real attention. Maybe if everyone wore matching neon green t-shirts instead of the tired U.S. Flag apparel. Or hospital scrubs ("paging Dr. Paul")...Maybe if everyone went Brown Baggin' for Dr. Paul and literally brought their lunch in a paper bag to contrast with the other candidates' bacchanalian spreads. These are just my silly random thoughts but you get the idea. Rather than try to beat the others at their own game, we need some creative-type people to find us a way to buck the system and do something really special and head-turning.
Of course, little of this matters if the poll still results in Dr. Paul being far back in the field. Iowans must be turned out in droves to vote for Ron Paul.
We desperately need a strategy for this event (I don't know HQ's thoughts here) and we're running out of time and have no organization. Any thoughts?
Bradley in DC
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I love the scrubs idea. I understand it's been a tactic in the past for a campaign to differentiate themselves in some way.
Friends,
The movement to advance the candidacy of Ron Paul is well beyond the tipping point. This is truly a peoples movement consisting of a broad-spectrum of the citizenry. There is no turning back. Iowa is the tip of the spear! We are looking to rally hundreds and hundreds of volunteers into the great state of Iowa, beginning early-mid June on into December, when we believe the Iowa Caucus will be conducted. The important Iowa Straw Poll, conducted in Ames, Iowa, on August 11th is the first show of organizational strength amongst the campaigns.
We are now kindly but urgently requesting those Ron Paul supporters who live in the great state of Iowa, as well as those who live in the states that border Iowa within reasonable driving distance, including Omaha, Ne., to kindly inform if they have extra bedroom(s) to house Ron Paul volunteers, beginning early/mid June 07 thru at least December. Please inquire within your contact base of friends and allied groups, such as your local Libertarian Party, churches, etc, who would be able to inquire within their groups about opening up they're homes to incoming Iowa volunteers from across our great country.
So take stock of your own personal situation. Think very seriously about taking your vacation time on the campaign trail advancing the Ron Paul candidacy for president in Iowa. Rest assured, you are needed in Iowa, this cannot be over emphasized. Those that cannot volunteer in Iowa, naturally you will advance the Ron Paul candidacy where you are. So everyone, insure your hooked up to your local meetup group and outreach for Ron Paul.
Pay very close attention to this forum and your meetup group for future announcements regarding the movements advance into Iowa.
Those with spare bedrooms willing to house volunteers please relay name, address, and contact phone numbers to Austin, Tx Meetup-Iowa Support Coordinators [email protected] and Paul Davis (sifu).
Please cc to: [email protected]
Come be on the ground in Iowa this summer and fall and lets defy the pundits and make history. The future depends on you!
The movement to advance the candidacy of Ron Paul is well beyond the tipping point. This is truly a peoples movement consisting of a broad-spectrum of the citizenry. There is no turning back. Iowa is the tip of the spear! We are looking to rally hundreds and hundreds of volunteers into the great state of Iowa, beginning early-mid June on into December, when we believe the Iowa Caucus will be conducted. The important Iowa Straw Poll, conducted in Ames, Iowa, on August 11th is the first show of organizational strength amongst the campaigns.
We are now kindly but urgently requesting those Ron Paul supporters who live in the great state of Iowa, as well as those who live in the states that border Iowa within reasonable driving distance, including Omaha, Ne., to kindly inform if they have extra bedroom(s) to house Ron Paul volunteers, beginning early/mid June 07 thru at least December. Please inquire within your contact base of friends and allied groups, such as your local Libertarian Party, churches, etc, who would be able to inquire within their groups about opening up they're homes to incoming Iowa volunteers from across our great country.
So take stock of your own personal situation. Think very seriously about taking your vacation time on the campaign trail advancing the Ron Paul candidacy for president in Iowa. Rest assured, you are needed in Iowa, this cannot be over emphasized. Those that cannot volunteer in Iowa, naturally you will advance the Ron Paul candidacy where you are. So everyone, insure your hooked up to your local meetup group and outreach for Ron Paul.
Pay very close attention to this forum and your meetup group for future announcements regarding the movements advance into Iowa.
Those with spare bedrooms willing to house volunteers please relay name, address, and contact phone numbers to Austin, Tx Meetup-Iowa Support Coordinators [email protected] and Paul Davis (sifu).
Please cc to: [email protected]
Come be on the ground in Iowa this summer and fall and lets defy the pundits and make history. The future depends on you!
Hello,
I just found the forum yesterday. I read a spectacular editorial in the Billings, Montana newspaper (http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/27/opinion/letters/30-paul.txt). I wonder if editorials would be a good low cost way to get the word out.
We could certainly highlight the fact that Dr. Paul would like to leave Iraq immediately. That, along with his philosophy of international and national non-intervention would be music to midwesterner's ears, I would think.
Perhaps it would be better for an Iowan to send the letter in, but I'll be happy to draft something as a starting point.
Please forgive me if this has been suggested before or already done!
Jen
---- We're taking our country back. ---
lonestarguy
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Jen, Welcome to this forum. If you haven't already, join your local Ron Paul meetup group. To find your group go to http://ronpaul.meetup.com/
Thank you for the link to the article, updated below.
Letter writing to newspapers is an excellent way to influence other citizens to vote for Ron Paul. Jen, also, stay close to this forum, become familiar with all it's sections for ideas about how to advance the Ron Paul Movement in your area.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/27/opinion/letters/30-paul.txt
lonestarguy
Thank you for the link to the article, updated below.
Letter writing to newspapers is an excellent way to influence other citizens to vote for Ron Paul. Jen, also, stay close to this forum, become familiar with all it's sections for ideas about how to advance the Ron Paul Movement in your area.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/27/opinion/letters/30-paul.txt
lonestarguy
Thank you, Lone Star Guy,
I'm currently in Japan, and will be for another month, but will return to the US in June or July and will dedicate as much of my life as I can to getting this man into the White House.
Thanks for the info, and I'll keep close contact.
Jen
I'm currently in Japan, and will be for another month, but will return to the US in June or July and will dedicate as much of my life as I can to getting this man into the White House.
Thanks for the info, and I'll keep close contact.
Jen
Sojourner
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I like the scrubs idea also. I don't think that it matters all that much if the scrubs are matching, scrubs are easily identifiable no matter the color or pattern. If people could wear whatever color or pattern of scrubs, it would seem like there would be all that many more scrubs seen, rather than limited to those who were able to obtain a particular color of scrubs.
It would also make a strong presentation that those in the medical fields support Ron Paul if the colors and patterns of the scrubs were across the spectrum.
JMO
Last edited:
Are you going to go and ask him something?
ARealConservative
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"ya Mitt. I lived much of my life in missouri - you sure the garden of eden is really in that state?"
oh - serous questions only - sorry.
"Mitt - Why did Brigham Young kill all those innocent people? Was it blowback or something?"
LABIX
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Your posts and points have all be right on the nail head Dave.
But I would like to add just a few additions to put this in perspective for everyone.
40,000 to 50,000 is the expected turnout for August 2007.
And only double this, 100,000 is expected for the actual caucus 5 months later.
This is not a futile exercise. Far from it. Liz Dole, Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, and other big names of their day in 2000 all dropped OUT and were never on the ballot in 2008, after disappointing showings at the fall straw poll.
The same will happen to the bottom 3 to 5 candidates in 60 days.
Look at the list of a dozen hopefuls. In less than 90 days, a few weeks following the August straw poll, that list will be in single digits.
And Dr Paul needs to, in your exact words, exceed the expectations. He cannot be last or even in the bottom three and still be credible. His fund raising will take a huge hit.
But if he jumps into that 7th spot, or higher? If he gets the "ticket out" to the next round, then he is suddenly for real.
He cannot afford the other side effect of a low placement in the straw poll. The debates that follow may include guidelines that in order to be allowed in, you had to have X% showing.
They have kept candidates out in the past who failed to perform.
This is the first real test and I thank you for taking the time to present the facts and to impart just how seriously this event needs to be taken.
Kind regards.
Hello All,
I found this really interesting article from someone who was just in Iowa - it's as though the people there are just waiting to hear our message!
url: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/29/213138/152
GOP in Trouble: My Personal Iowa Experience
by thereisnospoon
Tue May 29, 2007 at 07:57:04 PM PDT
Allow me to begin this personal story by stating the way I earn my daily bread: I'm a focus group moderator by trade, one of those oft-vilified creatures in politics and corporate advertising who talks to regular people, finds out how they feel about specific issues, and relays that information to my clients to help them craft better messaging.
So you can imagine my delight at being invited by my better half to visit her relatives over Memorial Day weekend in rural Iowa, the heart of the "heartland" and home to the famed Iowa caucuses. The entire trip provided me the opportunity to use my moderating skills and probing techniques on the farmers, teachers, service employees and other denizens of this conservative bellwether state. What I discovered there should strike terror into the heart of any Republican operative--especially one working for a candidate supportive of Bush's policies in Iraq.
thereisnospoon's diary :: ::
The people I spent my time with were by and large, with a few pleasant and notable exceptions, your archetypical rural Midwest Republicans: generous, proudly self-sufficient, kindhearted people who often wear their religion on their sleeve, carry with them deep racial prejudice born of decades of Republican rhetoric and lack of contact with "the other", and deeply distrust government involvement. One of the houses I visited at length even sported a Ronald Reagan calendar facing a George W. Bush calendar, with an outsize W'04 re-election sticker plastered on the inside walls to overshadow them.
Even here, however, the tide has turned against the GOP to a strong degree--and against Bush to an even stronger one. My conversations, when they turned to politics, always eased into the subject gradually--but when they did, there was palpable discontent in the air. These are people who are extremely upset: upset at the incursions of big agriculture companies into the marketplace that used to be dominated by small farmers; upset at the lack of economic and social incentives for their children to remain in their hometowns or even within the state; upset at the amount of out-of-control government spending and huge national and trade deficits; deeply upset at the lack of enforcement of immigration laws; upset at the abandonment of the farming and industrial economies in favor of those that support the passing of money from one person to another without physical goods in trade; and upset, above all, at the pointless and hopeless occupation of Iraq. And while all of these issues may not be enough to drive many of them to vote for Democrats, more than a few are thoroughly disenchanted with the Republican party that they admit has been directly responsible for these negative repercussions.
It is also important to note that the demographic trends I observed strongly favor the progressive side: by a hard and fast rule, the oldest generation (75-100 years old among these resilient Norwegian descendants) was by far the most conservative; the next generation was fairly evenly divided with a slight conservative orientation; the next (somewhere between 25-40) leaned decidedly progressive; and the few young adults present were unanimously liberal.
But there was one conversation that struck me more than any other, truly encapsulating the heart of my Iowa experience and opening a window onto the sordid reality facing the modern Republican Party of Bush:
In the middle of my dinner at a restaurant near Des Moines, I arose from my chair to get a closer look at the television at the bar. Or should I say the televisions plural, as one was situated in an ill-lit and out-of-the-way corner, while the other stood prominently on display at the center of the bar. The television-in-exile was set to Fox News, its anchors yammering mindlessly about Lindsay Lohan's recent DUI arrest; the favored location was set to CNN's Situation Room, where the primary subject under discussion was that of Iraq. It was around this latter that three restaurant employees and one patron (all Caucasians) were seated, intently watching the report and murmuring to one another with the quiet earnestness of communal resignation and disappointment.
I strolled up to the bar and approached nearer to the television--and to the far more interesting words it was obscuring from its denizens. When one of the employees turned to offer me a drink in the down-to-earth, friendly manner only a down-home Midwestern bartender can, I pointed instead to the television and indicated that I had sidled over for the news, rather than a drink. It was at that moment that another employee, a handsome, weary-looking woman in her late thirties with a heavy golden crucifix around her neck exclaimed, "What a damn waste!"
"The war?" I asked. Everyone at the bar nodded. It turned out that the occupation of Iraq was deeply personal for several of them: one, an attractive young woman in her mid-twenties with the demure earnestness of the reserved regular church-goer, had a cousin currently serving in Iraq as part of the first battalion to ever go there from Iowa under W's regime. He was supposed to be home by now, but his tour of duty had been extended through July. I wished for his speedy and safe return in July; her response was heartbreaking. "IF he gets home then; I don't know if he'll ever make it home, alive or not." Another had a cousin who had died from an IED in a poorly armored humvee. The third employee's patron's son reportedly had a friend whose head was horribly disfigured in another IED blast, and was now struggling to survive through the paltry graces of the post-Walter Reed Veterans' Administration. I asked the woman whose cousin was on his extended tour how he felt. She responded with a sigh, "Just like the rest of his unit. He was totally gung-ho when he first went in, but now he's 180 degrees the other direction. He says there's no reason to be there anymore, and he just wants to come home." It was painfully reminiscent of a New York Times article that came to similar conclusions when interviewing Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division.
The original woman bearing the cross continued, "They're only there for oil, you know."
"Really!" I said. I explained that I talked to people for a living and had never been to Iowa before, and that I was deeply interested in what they had to say for my own education. "That's good," said the patron, a gruff man in his fifties. "Nobody else ever listens to us. Certainly not the people in Washington."
I asked the first woman why she thought it was an oil-driven war (I didn't use the Occupation frame--I was then involved in the discovery of opinions, rather than their creation), and when she had begun to feel that way. Her answer was at once surprsing and deeply revealing: "A few years after it started, when everything was clearly going downhill. Bush and those boys never changed anything about what they were doing there, even when it obviously wasn't working. And we're still there when everybody knows we got no business there. What else are we supposed to think? What other reason could there be?"
I asked in turn each of the others when they had soured on the war; they would only answer after I had assured them that I felt the same revulsion to Bush's foreign policy as did they. Each and every one said that their discontent had begun two or three years back. Said the patron, "Like she said, we've got no business there. These people have been fighting one another since the beginning of time..." "Since Adam and Eve, almost," chipped in the third employee, whose vague grasp of even Biblically-inspired history did not diminish her moral judgment of Bush's Iraqi trail of tears. "It's not our job to civilize them and make them stop fighting, even if we could. It's pointless and ridiculous. We just need to bring our boys home." Although these good, God-fearing people could not bring themselves to take responsibility for what the government they helped elect had wrought on the Iraqi people, they still knew a skunk when they saw one.
It turned out, however, that their greatest concern was not even for the soldiers still stationed there, but for those already home and those soon to be home. "How many more billions are we going to have to spend on the medical care for the ones do make it home wounded? It's just never going to stop," said one. The patron told the tale of his son's friend's difficulties (the one currently with half a head) in procuring veteran's benefits or employment after being released from a California hospital. Said another, "We remember how many people suffered after coming home from Vietnam. This is just going to be so much worse."
Then came the Democrats' turn in the spotlight--though it was a far more favorable gaze than I had anticipated. The young woman mentioned that the Democrats had just given Bush more money; I affirmed that they had, and asked how they felt about that. Interestingly, each one responded with a slight variation on the original woman's response: "I don't know. They didn't have a choice, I guess. That's all the bargaining power they have when it comes to dealing with the President." I don't know if this attitude holds true for most of America's heartland, but if it is, it is at once deeply comforting and highly dismaying. On the one hand, it demonstrates that Pelosi's and Reid's gamble has paid off, and the public still considers this to be Bush's occupation opposed by the Democrats; on the other, it shows an alarming lack of understanding of Legislative's ability to act as a coequal branch to that of the Executive.
It was here that our little group was broken up by the arrival of other patrons to occupy two of the restaurant staff, and the call of nature upon the original patron. My last question--and most instructive--was for the young woman who remained.
"What," I asked, "is your most important issue right now when it comes to a candidate?" "The war," she said without a moment's hesitation.
Looking down at the wedding ring on this young woman's finger and the small crucifix she bore on a chain round her neck, I ventured further: "Let's say it's 2008, and you have the choice between a Republican who supports Bush's mission in Iraq, and a Democrat who you disagree with on important moral issues. What do you think you'll do?"
Her answer should make Republicans nationwide tremble with the terror that only the swift and inevitable recognition of an approaching boulder of karma can bring.
"You know, it's tough. Usually I vote on moral issues--and so does my family. You can tell someone's character from the stand they take on those things. But at the same time, I think we've seen that no matter what you believe in morally, it doesn't really matter very much to what happens in the country. My family has talked a lot about this. We really need people who are going to make the right decisions, no matter what they believe personally. So I'd still definitely have to say I would vote for the person who says they'll stop the war."
There's trouble brewing in River City, Iowa. Big, big trouble. And that starts with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "B" and that stands for Bush. Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin...
Cross-posted at MLW and There Is No Blog
I found this really interesting article from someone who was just in Iowa - it's as though the people there are just waiting to hear our message!
url: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/29/213138/152
GOP in Trouble: My Personal Iowa Experience
by thereisnospoon
Tue May 29, 2007 at 07:57:04 PM PDT
Allow me to begin this personal story by stating the way I earn my daily bread: I'm a focus group moderator by trade, one of those oft-vilified creatures in politics and corporate advertising who talks to regular people, finds out how they feel about specific issues, and relays that information to my clients to help them craft better messaging.
So you can imagine my delight at being invited by my better half to visit her relatives over Memorial Day weekend in rural Iowa, the heart of the "heartland" and home to the famed Iowa caucuses. The entire trip provided me the opportunity to use my moderating skills and probing techniques on the farmers, teachers, service employees and other denizens of this conservative bellwether state. What I discovered there should strike terror into the heart of any Republican operative--especially one working for a candidate supportive of Bush's policies in Iraq.
thereisnospoon's diary :: ::
The people I spent my time with were by and large, with a few pleasant and notable exceptions, your archetypical rural Midwest Republicans: generous, proudly self-sufficient, kindhearted people who often wear their religion on their sleeve, carry with them deep racial prejudice born of decades of Republican rhetoric and lack of contact with "the other", and deeply distrust government involvement. One of the houses I visited at length even sported a Ronald Reagan calendar facing a George W. Bush calendar, with an outsize W'04 re-election sticker plastered on the inside walls to overshadow them.
Even here, however, the tide has turned against the GOP to a strong degree--and against Bush to an even stronger one. My conversations, when they turned to politics, always eased into the subject gradually--but when they did, there was palpable discontent in the air. These are people who are extremely upset: upset at the incursions of big agriculture companies into the marketplace that used to be dominated by small farmers; upset at the lack of economic and social incentives for their children to remain in their hometowns or even within the state; upset at the amount of out-of-control government spending and huge national and trade deficits; deeply upset at the lack of enforcement of immigration laws; upset at the abandonment of the farming and industrial economies in favor of those that support the passing of money from one person to another without physical goods in trade; and upset, above all, at the pointless and hopeless occupation of Iraq. And while all of these issues may not be enough to drive many of them to vote for Democrats, more than a few are thoroughly disenchanted with the Republican party that they admit has been directly responsible for these negative repercussions.
It is also important to note that the demographic trends I observed strongly favor the progressive side: by a hard and fast rule, the oldest generation (75-100 years old among these resilient Norwegian descendants) was by far the most conservative; the next generation was fairly evenly divided with a slight conservative orientation; the next (somewhere between 25-40) leaned decidedly progressive; and the few young adults present were unanimously liberal.
But there was one conversation that struck me more than any other, truly encapsulating the heart of my Iowa experience and opening a window onto the sordid reality facing the modern Republican Party of Bush:
In the middle of my dinner at a restaurant near Des Moines, I arose from my chair to get a closer look at the television at the bar. Or should I say the televisions plural, as one was situated in an ill-lit and out-of-the-way corner, while the other stood prominently on display at the center of the bar. The television-in-exile was set to Fox News, its anchors yammering mindlessly about Lindsay Lohan's recent DUI arrest; the favored location was set to CNN's Situation Room, where the primary subject under discussion was that of Iraq. It was around this latter that three restaurant employees and one patron (all Caucasians) were seated, intently watching the report and murmuring to one another with the quiet earnestness of communal resignation and disappointment.
I strolled up to the bar and approached nearer to the television--and to the far more interesting words it was obscuring from its denizens. When one of the employees turned to offer me a drink in the down-to-earth, friendly manner only a down-home Midwestern bartender can, I pointed instead to the television and indicated that I had sidled over for the news, rather than a drink. It was at that moment that another employee, a handsome, weary-looking woman in her late thirties with a heavy golden crucifix around her neck exclaimed, "What a damn waste!"
"The war?" I asked. Everyone at the bar nodded. It turned out that the occupation of Iraq was deeply personal for several of them: one, an attractive young woman in her mid-twenties with the demure earnestness of the reserved regular church-goer, had a cousin currently serving in Iraq as part of the first battalion to ever go there from Iowa under W's regime. He was supposed to be home by now, but his tour of duty had been extended through July. I wished for his speedy and safe return in July; her response was heartbreaking. "IF he gets home then; I don't know if he'll ever make it home, alive or not." Another had a cousin who had died from an IED in a poorly armored humvee. The third employee's patron's son reportedly had a friend whose head was horribly disfigured in another IED blast, and was now struggling to survive through the paltry graces of the post-Walter Reed Veterans' Administration. I asked the woman whose cousin was on his extended tour how he felt. She responded with a sigh, "Just like the rest of his unit. He was totally gung-ho when he first went in, but now he's 180 degrees the other direction. He says there's no reason to be there anymore, and he just wants to come home." It was painfully reminiscent of a New York Times article that came to similar conclusions when interviewing Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division.
The original woman bearing the cross continued, "They're only there for oil, you know."
"Really!" I said. I explained that I talked to people for a living and had never been to Iowa before, and that I was deeply interested in what they had to say for my own education. "That's good," said the patron, a gruff man in his fifties. "Nobody else ever listens to us. Certainly not the people in Washington."
I asked the first woman why she thought it was an oil-driven war (I didn't use the Occupation frame--I was then involved in the discovery of opinions, rather than their creation), and when she had begun to feel that way. Her answer was at once surprsing and deeply revealing: "A few years after it started, when everything was clearly going downhill. Bush and those boys never changed anything about what they were doing there, even when it obviously wasn't working. And we're still there when everybody knows we got no business there. What else are we supposed to think? What other reason could there be?"
I asked in turn each of the others when they had soured on the war; they would only answer after I had assured them that I felt the same revulsion to Bush's foreign policy as did they. Each and every one said that their discontent had begun two or three years back. Said the patron, "Like she said, we've got no business there. These people have been fighting one another since the beginning of time..." "Since Adam and Eve, almost," chipped in the third employee, whose vague grasp of even Biblically-inspired history did not diminish her moral judgment of Bush's Iraqi trail of tears. "It's not our job to civilize them and make them stop fighting, even if we could. It's pointless and ridiculous. We just need to bring our boys home." Although these good, God-fearing people could not bring themselves to take responsibility for what the government they helped elect had wrought on the Iraqi people, they still knew a skunk when they saw one.
It turned out, however, that their greatest concern was not even for the soldiers still stationed there, but for those already home and those soon to be home. "How many more billions are we going to have to spend on the medical care for the ones do make it home wounded? It's just never going to stop," said one. The patron told the tale of his son's friend's difficulties (the one currently with half a head) in procuring veteran's benefits or employment after being released from a California hospital. Said another, "We remember how many people suffered after coming home from Vietnam. This is just going to be so much worse."
Then came the Democrats' turn in the spotlight--though it was a far more favorable gaze than I had anticipated. The young woman mentioned that the Democrats had just given Bush more money; I affirmed that they had, and asked how they felt about that. Interestingly, each one responded with a slight variation on the original woman's response: "I don't know. They didn't have a choice, I guess. That's all the bargaining power they have when it comes to dealing with the President." I don't know if this attitude holds true for most of America's heartland, but if it is, it is at once deeply comforting and highly dismaying. On the one hand, it demonstrates that Pelosi's and Reid's gamble has paid off, and the public still considers this to be Bush's occupation opposed by the Democrats; on the other, it shows an alarming lack of understanding of Legislative's ability to act as a coequal branch to that of the Executive.
It was here that our little group was broken up by the arrival of other patrons to occupy two of the restaurant staff, and the call of nature upon the original patron. My last question--and most instructive--was for the young woman who remained.
"What," I asked, "is your most important issue right now when it comes to a candidate?" "The war," she said without a moment's hesitation.
Looking down at the wedding ring on this young woman's finger and the small crucifix she bore on a chain round her neck, I ventured further: "Let's say it's 2008, and you have the choice between a Republican who supports Bush's mission in Iraq, and a Democrat who you disagree with on important moral issues. What do you think you'll do?"
Her answer should make Republicans nationwide tremble with the terror that only the swift and inevitable recognition of an approaching boulder of karma can bring.
"You know, it's tough. Usually I vote on moral issues--and so does my family. You can tell someone's character from the stand they take on those things. But at the same time, I think we've seen that no matter what you believe in morally, it doesn't really matter very much to what happens in the country. My family has talked a lot about this. We really need people who are going to make the right decisions, no matter what they believe personally. So I'd still definitely have to say I would vote for the person who says they'll stop the war."
There's trouble brewing in River City, Iowa. Big, big trouble. And that starts with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "B" and that stands for Bush. Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin...
Cross-posted at MLW and There Is No Blog
ARealConservative
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Bradley in DC
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Ouch! I'm glad you're on our side!
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