And who the hell cares what they think in Iowa?
 

They couldn't write better fiction then what we have for elections in this country! We are over a year out from the actual 2012 election and once again the whole country is watching what happens at the state fair in Iowa. The biggest questions are:

1. Who will win the Ames straw poll?
2. Will a diet of deep fried sticks of butter give you heart disease?

Let me see if I get this right... The Republican party of Iowa holds a fundraiser at the state fair. For our international Cellar dwellers, a state fair is sort of a mostly midwestern agricultural ritual where everyone gets together to judge pies and jams, eat all kinds of disgusting deep fried foods, watch tractors do a tug of war and learn about corn and cows, sheep and pigs etc. Oh and talk politics...

In Iowa most of the GOP contenders for President get big tents, some even pay for prime spots like Ron Paul shelling out $31K. They have speakers and musical acts, air conditioning and as Bachman pointed out, chairs! They charge everyone entering the tents $30. Then at some point everyone gets to vote and like a Ouija board prophecy the next GOP contender is somehow revealed. Why don't they sell sell Olvatine Secret Decoder Rings as well, you have to buy one to decode the winner!

This sounds like it could have been part of the plot for a Kurt Vonnegut book. :thumb:

It is all pure fantasy to kick up the dust and weed out those who are weak in the claim for the Kings Throne in the White House. Fact is a number who have done poorly in the past dropped out of the race after the polls were published. Polls are worthless forms of statistical measure.

I must admit, i did find the Daily Show segment on this very interesting. The deep fried butter was ....well, it's hard to put into words... wow. I doubt even the Scots do that and they deep fry fucking chocolate bars.

It's a truly bizarre format for politicking. I love the way these oddities spring up within the political process. there's always one place that gets heralded as the predictor, and starts to take on almost mythic properties. And always some bizarre rituals form around certain places and activities. Awesome.

I saw that deep fried butter thing too, what the hell? I should have been a cardiologist in Iowa.

lol

I think Bachmann is just a nutter they keep around to scare the shite out of the Taliban. Like, 'you think YOU"VE got crazy motherf***ers? Check HER out!'

Fighting fire with fire, so to speak.

And there you have it... Pawlenty just quit.

Well I take solace in the fact that past Iowa straw poll winners did not do so well in either the Iowa Caucus, the Republican Primary and ultimately the election. So why is everyone calling it a "Bellwether"?

Year------Ames poll winner---------GOP Nominee------President

1979---------G H Bush-------------------R. Reagan-----------R. Reagan
1987---------Pat Roberson---------------G H Bush------------G H Bush
1995----------B Dole/P Gramm tie-------B Dole----------------B Clinton
1999---------GW Bush-------------------GW Bush-------------GW Bush
200----------M Romney------------------J McCain--------------B Obama