DID THE IOWA CAUCUSES MEAN ANYTHING!

But, are the Iowa Caucuses much ado about nothing?

In 1976, Gerald Ford defeated Ronald Reagan before being defeated by Jimmy Carter in the General Election. Ford Was not elected Vice President, he had been appointed by President Nixon after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in light of a scandal that implicated him in receiving illegal bribes as Governor of Maryland, imagine that!

In 1980, Ronald Reagan lost Iowa a second time, this time to George “Read My Lips” H.W. Bush. Reagan lost Iowa but went on to defeat Jimmy Carter with 489 electoral votes to 49. Turns out, Iowa was not much of a predictor of things to come.

Last time the 99 counties in Iowa Caucused, Rick “Who” Santorum was pronounced winner and before that, “Big Government” Huckabee floated to the top.

In 2004, George W. Bush was unopposed after winning in 2000 with 41% over Steve Forbes (31%), Alan Keyes (14%), Gary Bauer (9%), John McCain (5%), and Orrin Hatch (1%). The Iowa residents did figure out John McCain, the Hanoi Songbird who made at least 32 anti American propaganda broadcasts for the Viet Cong and reportedly designed the air defense system for Hanoi.

Most Americans still think McCain was tortured when all of his injuries were caused by his low altitude ejection. In fact, McCain was treated like royalty and received treatment at the best hospital in Hanoi where NO OTHER POW EVER received treatment. The top POW, Colonel Ted Guy was preparing charges against McCain when Nixon pardoned him. Other POWs, who did not collaborate with the enemy, sought to bring these things to light until they died with little or no success. John McCain received preferential treatment as the son of the Four Star Admiral who commanded the Pacific Fleet. Kudos to the good people of Iowa for figuring this out.

Here is a quote from VETERANS TODAY: “If our news media can go thru a presidential election hiding all of this from the American people, nearly putting someone like this in office, what else are they capable of? What else have they done? What else are they hiding?

Vietnam veterans are requesting that the records of the debriefing of all POWS be made public. Those who were heroes need real recognition and shouldn’t have to hide behind a presidential pardon they never needed or wanted.

Those who betrayed their country, some to sit in public office, on corporate boards or to travel around the country basking in glory and pointing fingers at others need to get the homecoming they earned. We spent the last 35 years honoring ALL the POWs while 58,000 dead and another 200,000 plus dying were neglected and abused, denied jobs, denied medical care and hated by their fellow Americans.”
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In 1988 Bob Dole won Iowa with Pat Robertson second and George H.W. Bush, the eventual winner, coming in third 18 points behind Dole.

In 1992, George “Read My Lips” H. W. Bush was unopposed before handing the keys to the White House to Billy “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” Clinton. Billy Clinton more than doubled the electoral votes received by Bush 370 to 168. The popular vote looked like this: Clinton 44,909,806, Bush 39,104,550 and Ross Perot 19,743,821. In a two way race, it is not hard to figure out who would have won with either Bush or Perot versus Clinton. Clinton didn’t exactly WOW the Iowa Democrats who picked Tom Harkin by 76% in ‘92. Clinton finished fourth like this: “Uncommitted” (12%), Paul Tsongas (4%), Bill Clinton (3%).

There is a lot of criticism against the Iowa Caucuses, especially the Democratic version. Democratic caucus participants must publicly state their opinion and vote, leading to natural problems such as peer pressure from neighbors and embarrassment over who his or her preferred candidate might be. This is a tactic Democrats want to use to taint Union elections. On the other hand, Republicans use the Secret Ballot in Iowa. Another criticism involves the amount of participants’ time these events consume. Participants are often required to listen to long ranting speeches from local political leaders.

An Iowa caucus can last around two hours, preventing people who must work, who are sick, or who must take care of their children from casting their vote. ABSENTEE VOTING IS ALSO BARRED, SO ACTIVE-DUTY IOWAN SOLDIERS LOSE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE, AS DO LOCALLY-REGISTERED COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO LEAVE THE STATE DURING WINTER HOLIDAYS. The final criticism is the complexity of the rules in terms of how one’s vote counts, as it is not a simple popular vote.

Iowa is a great state with great people but do the Iowa Caucus results actually reflect the will of those people?

Another factor in Iowa is The Des Moines Register, the largest daily Iowa newspaper with a circulation of 85,000. The Register called for Donald Trump to drop out of the race and, like most liberal media, has hit Trump with one barrage after another. So much so that Trump barred the Register from a campaign event; they showed up anyway.

 

By now people are wondering what just happend in Iowa?  The Democrats claim the final tally was 50% to 50% with the guy who dropped out getting 1%.  Gee, that’s 101%.  Then there is the coin flipping to decide who gets the undecided vote.  Seems like, defying all the odds, Hillary won six of six coin tosses.  I defy YOU to flip a coin six times and get it right 100% of the time.

Without a secret ballot, the Iowa results mean nothing to me.  With a secret ballot where nobody knows who you voted for, a fair election is possible.  That’s why unions hate private ballots because they cannot intimidate and threaten members.  Bosses can’t tell employees to caucus with them or else.

So Iowa is history but some candidates have a bad taste in their mouths.

 

Tags: Armed Forces, Brian Williams, Bush, Chris Wallace, Clinton, Des Moines Register, Donald Trump, Hanoi, huckabee, Iowa, McCain, Megyn Kelly, Reagan, Santorum, Tom Harkin, Trump, Wolf Blitzer