Adrift in Iowa: Tired Rituals in Tough Times
By FRANK BRUNI
NYT
Ames, Iowa
WAS it a debate or a horticultural seminar? The eight Republicans who gathered on a stage in this fecund state last week spoke of the federal government as if it were some monstrous plant, each of them essentially promising to come at it with shears sharper than any rival would wield. Their mantra was cut, cut, cut.
Tim Pawlenty made it clear that homeowners might have a new, inexpensive gardener at their disposal. If they could find a crop of specific entitlement-reform plans anywhere in Obamaland, he said, “I’ll come to your house and mow your lawn.”
It was a cute bit. Problem was, I’d heard it before, two days earlier, when he appeared briefly at a coffee shop in the town of Sully, his campaign Winnebago zooming in, his campaign Winnebago zooming out. Then again, I’d already heard most of what Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney said at the debate, too. The moderator, Bret Baier, had implored everyone “to put aside the talking points” and “polished lines,” but that was like asking aardvarks to go easy on the ants. A species can’t be denied its subsistence diet.
In advance of Saturday’s straw poll here, Republican presidential hopefuls descended on Iowa, traveled its breadth, paid homage to the butter cow at the state fair and provided the most concentrated glimpse of campaign 2012 to date.
(More here.)
NYT
Ames, Iowa
WAS it a debate or a horticultural seminar? The eight Republicans who gathered on a stage in this fecund state last week spoke of the federal government as if it were some monstrous plant, each of them essentially promising to come at it with shears sharper than any rival would wield. Their mantra was cut, cut, cut.
Tim Pawlenty made it clear that homeowners might have a new, inexpensive gardener at their disposal. If they could find a crop of specific entitlement-reform plans anywhere in Obamaland, he said, “I’ll come to your house and mow your lawn.”
It was a cute bit. Problem was, I’d heard it before, two days earlier, when he appeared briefly at a coffee shop in the town of Sully, his campaign Winnebago zooming in, his campaign Winnebago zooming out. Then again, I’d already heard most of what Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney said at the debate, too. The moderator, Bret Baier, had implored everyone “to put aside the talking points” and “polished lines,” but that was like asking aardvarks to go easy on the ants. A species can’t be denied its subsistence diet.
In advance of Saturday’s straw poll here, Republican presidential hopefuls descended on Iowa, traveled its breadth, paid homage to the butter cow at the state fair and provided the most concentrated glimpse of campaign 2012 to date.
(More here.)
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