Well that was fun. But now that the Iowa caucuses are over, can someone remind why we were supposed to care? Iowa is wholly unrepresentative state that comprises less than 1% of the country’s voters. The run-up to the caucuses allowed almost every clown in the circus to play the center ring for a while. And this nonsense got blanket coverage from all three national cable news networks as if the results actually mattered.
Rick Santorum will get a few days of press for having been the last clown in line, but he will never be the Republican nominee. Michele Bachmann gave a non-concession speech wherein the woman who has been in political office for ten years said that she was not a politician. We got to see Rick Perry calling himself a great man, in the words of a supporter whose letter he read aloud. He also took the stage in Iowa to thank all of his supporters from 30 other states. And Newt Gingrich expressed his appreciation for all of the Iowans he met whom he said were all positive. He must have forgotten this guy.
So we move on to New Hampshire. But before we go, one Iowan wants to make sure that you have not gotten the wrong impression of the state over the past few months of almost exclusively Republican media.
I saw this guy on TRMS last night. It was hilarious and probably more representative of Iowans than the bunch on display tonight.
It was like the Y2K hysteria thing all over again: months of obsessive prattle, followed by a serious and sober realization that maybe the national media is leading us around by our noses, or more exactly, is leading us around by our television-staring eyes.
I expect it from Fox, it is after all their reason for existing (insert the actual French expression here), but why The New York Times?
Everyday the NYT had something or other about Iowa on their front page, often at the top… why?
It would have made just as much sense if they had daily reported about who Californians thought should be the 2012 Republican nominee, or what they think about it in Brooklyn or Queens.
And so what do we have to look forward to next, a months-long media obsession with what New Hampshirlies think?
That’s what Fox will prattle on about for sure, but as for The New York Times, they should maybe keep us informed about what’s important and about what’s right down the street from them…
Talk about Wall Street.