Iowa Conspiracy Theory

Posted on | August 31, 2011 | 51 Comments

Two different people sent me this photo:

This photo — showing Texas Gov. Rick Perry talking to Ken Crow — was taken Saturday by Lisa Krantz of the San Antonio News-Express at a Polk County (Iowa) GOP fundraising event in Des Moines.

Crow is the president and founder of the Tea Party group that is hosting this weekend’s Indianola rally with Sarah Palin. In discussing the controversy surrounding that event, I mentioned earlier one friend’s conspiracy theory that Perry’s campaign was secretly orchestrating that controversy to undermine Palin. One of the people who sent me this photo included an e-mail comment:

This guy Crow has to be doing this all on purpose, for one reason: to make Palin look bad, for the benefit of someone who wants to make Palin look bad.
Remember: if they can make the narrative “Tea Party Woman=Christine O’Donnell=Sarah Palin” stick, then who wins? Rick Perry.

Way too far-fetched for my tastes. Is Team Perry really so crafty that, months in advance, they would dispatch a clandestine operative to insinuate himself among Iowa Tea Party activists, persuade them to invite Palin to a big rally, and then wreck the whole thing on purpose just to make Palin look bad?

Well, I don’t believe it — although some very intelligent people do believe it — yet I pass this along just to illustrate what kind of bad vibes have resulted from this disorganized Indianola situation.

UPDATE: Want some more paranoia?

The guy who supposedly put the hook in to get O’Donnell booted off the Indianola rally was Palin chief of staff Michael Glassner. Here’s his biography — total GOP Establishment guy, worked 15 years for Bob Dole.

Make of this what you will.

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Iowa, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Tea Party

Comments

51 Responses to “Iowa Conspiracy Theory”

Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 10:50 pm

It didn’t take months.. The rally seemed to be fine until this week. That photo was taken on the 27th, which was last weekend. All it took was one guy and a few days to muck everything up..

Just sayin.
Van Grungy
August 31st, 2011 @ 10:57 pm

Is Team Perry really so crafty that, months in advance, they would
dispatch a clandestine operative to insinuate himself among Iowa Tea
Party activists, persuade them to invite Palin to a big rally, and then wreck the whole thing on purpose just to make Palin look bad?

====

why do you think Individuals need direction to plan ahead..

The EDL is scrutinized for infiltration.. how aware are most regular folk TEA Partyers at the chance they would be infiltrated by RINOs with selfish agendas?

If you asswipes want to win so badly, you will get a Stephen Harper..

good effing luck with that.. Bill C 51.. read all about it at American Thinker..
Blackwater
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:10 pm

Stacy {McCain] Had you actually READ the link about Glassner, you’d know Dole was a boyhood idol, someone he’d handed out campaign materials for before he was old enough to shave!

Since then Glassner has proven to be incredibly competent at what he does. How about looking at his record before smearing him as “establishment”

Sarah Palin hired him because he’s good at doing what he does.

As for Perry, he is what he is. Has played dirty tricks in Texas for years. Nothing would surprise us Texans.
McGehee
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:14 pm

What does a Canadian act of parliament have to do with the price of ethanol in Iowa?
McGehee
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:17 pm

When people are more interested in blaming somebody when things don’t go as planned, than they are in adapting to the changes and making it happen regardless, conspiracy theories are what you get.

Maybe what we need for president is a spammer. They can get around any obstacle.
CalMark
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:19 pm

Definitely some dirty dealing going on. Whether it’s ego-driven or just plain old incompetence. This Crow fella sounds like a jerk who’s manipulating the Tea Party for his own ends. Boo, hiss.

Observation: I wish Republicans were a fraction as nasty and aggressive toward Democrats as toward fellow Republicans.
Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:30 pm

I doubt Perry had anything to do with all of this bullshit, but Crow could be working as a lone wolf if he is smart enough to pull it off.

Although, it’s hard to tell how bright this guy really is with this quote.

“I love Sarah Palin,” Crow told me, “but I know for a fact she ain’t gonna
run.”

Golly, ‘Gomer’ Crow, “she ain’t gonna run.” Really?

When someone starts a sentence with, “I love Sarah Palin, but….”, then you know they don’t have her best interest at heart.

I would love to know where Crow got his ‘fact’ from. Heh!

Well, I think she is going to run, so one of us will be eating crow.
FUBAR In The Cornfields « The Camp Of The Saints
August 31st, 2011 @ 7:33 pm

[…] He has now filed a second report on a related matter here. […]
Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:34 pm

No one is going to remember any of this after come Sunday morning. The only thing they will remember what a great speech she gave. The only people who will recall ANY of this are the political junkies like weigel conroy etc.
Bob Belvedere
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:36 pm

Methinks this calls for some Devo…
http://youtu.be/Gq1kqzqhPzY
Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:39 pm

Ya know if we’re ever going to get to the bottom of this conspiracy we need the right guy to flesh it out for us.
Russ Emerson
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:45 pm

The most stunning thing about this story… ChO’D has an aide?
Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:50 pm

I agree about Glassner. You can’t please some of these bloggers. Either Palin needs more experienced politicos or she is hiring establishment types. Palin can’t win either way.

If Herman Cain had hired Glassner then RS McCain would be expecting us to wash his feet as we praised his greatness.

RS, if I check Cain’s staff will I find any ‘establishment’ types? What is Cain just going out on the street and hiring staff members?
andycanuck
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:53 pm

It looks like van grungy is spamming sites attacking Harper to attack Perry, or something.
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/08/31/to-show-her-support-for-american-workers-obamas-labor-boss-buys-canadian-built-car-wait-canadian/#comment-288279
adolph.stephens
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:57 pm

The intelligentsia will portray Palin, Tea Party, and pretty much the rest of us as disorganized boobs. They’re going to do that whether there’s any rationale for doing so or not. It’s who they are, and what they’re about.

The person who will be least affected will be Sarah Palin. She has elevated her stature and status, so that most of this is just subterranean rumbling. Ultimately has zero impact on the road she’s traveling.
Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:58 pm

Several and obviously a booking agent.
Adjoran
August 31st, 2011 @ 11:59 pm

Well, she had over $1 million unspent from her joke campaign, and is living off that money. Aides would be paid from it, too.

That gal sure could charm a rube out of his money, couldn’t she? Lots of sucker money in that stack . . .
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 12:08 am

Newt Gingrich once called Dole the “tax collector for the liberal welfare state.” Definitely not a Tea Party type of figure.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 12:36 am

Ed Rollins: Veteran operative, anti-Establishment, working for Bachmann.

There are lots of people who (a) have vast political experience and (b) didn’t work on the 1996 Dole campaign.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 12:38 am

It has been kinda trolly around the comments the past couple of days, now that you mention it.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 12:39 am

RS, nothing says it had to be “months in advance” could have simply been Crow had a change of heart after Perry announced and decided he wanted to be on Perry’s team instead.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:02 am

Ed Rollins = Jackass

I asked about your man Cain. Who is on his staff and would you have hammered him for hiring Glassner?

I’m not and never was a Dole fan and suffered having his wife for a Senator, but not sure you can disregard and throw a man overboard because he decided to work for Bob Dole.

Did you vote for Clinton?
ThePaganTemple
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:03 am

Did anybody ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, Crow is a stupid son-of-a-bitch that just doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing? Sort of the anti-conspiracy theory. Just like people like to insist JFK was just assassinated by some lone wolf reacting to a random set of chance opportunities, here you have some guy who excels at causing chaos, not because he’s good at it, but because he’s just a fuck-up.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:08 am

Wasn’t Bachmann herself an IRS tax lawyer?
Firelight
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:24 am

Sorry RS but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Team Palin and Team ODonnell are being played for negative publicity.

The common denominator is Crow. That picture says it all.

Crow seems to be feeding wrong information to the Palin team and wrong information to the COD team in an effort to instigate something. He also seems more than happy to leak wrong information to the media in order to instigate bad press.

Crow is the link to all involved, the media, Team Palin and Team COD. He also is a new addition to the mix as Charlie and Peter Singleton were running this event before hand.

There were NO issues with this event prior to last week when Crow got involved and that picture was taken.

If you can’t see that, you are in denial.
richard mcenroe
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:27 am

It’s Texas, Jake.

Remember LBJ and his chicken-er, plucking opponent in his first Senate run?
richard mcenroe
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:50 am

don’t be silly. He has a cowboy hat.
Why Did Ken Crow Make Such a Mess Out of the Iowa Rally? | A Time For Choosing
August 31st, 2011 @ 9:51 pm

[…] McCain has been all over what he calls the “Indianola ‘Clusterf**k’” today and has added another post to the mix, along with this […]
Garym
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:53 am

My comment in the other thread stands. If this turns out to be a setup against Palin by the Perry clan, he will NOT have my support if he wins the nomination and he was going to be my second choice.
I hope I’m wrong and its just a HUGE misunderstanding!
Adjoran
September 1st, 2011 @ 2:52 am

Yeah, but look how it’s working out . . . .
Adjoran
September 1st, 2011 @ 3:05 am

Oy!

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

Crow just didn’t realize that when you “book” a star like Palin, you give them ALL the info up front. Anything you change about the set-up, the cast, the speaking order, the sponsors, etc. can reflect on the star in ways the organizer may not even consider.

Ask Stacy – didn’t his problems way back start because he attended some conference where a wacko extremist was handing out literature OUTSIDE, and he got tied to the guy by the leftists?

C O’D is a comic figure, a caricature of a serious person in politics. Sure, Palin endorsed her in the heady days where the Tea Party was at its full strength, and all sorts of kooks and freaks were tying themselves to it. That doesn’t mean she wants to be reminded of that mistake.

Especially on a day where she is the headliner, in a key early state when she is still in the mix for the race and has another event in New Hampshire the same weekend, why would she want her message drowned out by talk like “Is Palin trying to rehabilitate Christine or help sell her book? Are they working together?”

Crow just didn’t know, and failed to ask anybody. A Perry conspiracy? Criminy! See a shrink ASAP!
Garym
September 1st, 2011 @ 3:19 am

Key word is IF….
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 3:59 am

O’Donnell might have been acceptable at that rally had she not walked off Piers Morgan.

Now, unfortunately, Hitler could beat her.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:02 am

I can almost guarantee that this was some skullduggery out of Texas.

Some C4P people found out that O’Donnell has a commitment in Vegas this weekend and would have been hard pressed to make it to the event on time from LVN.

IMHO, Rick was trying to use his ambitious stooge to screw up Palin’s policy rollout and highlight the “crazy” Palin meme. Crow is blaming everyone but hisself for this stuff.

Palin didn’t expect Rick to do this, so she walked into an ambush that she barely was able to get out of. Now she knows better.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:08 am

BTW, thanks for your reporting unseen. You were the guy who spoke w/ Crow while he was working w/ Perry’s people.

The Palin Can Do No Wrong crowd over at C4P refused to believe that she was being sabotaged and that she was the victim of poor advance work on her own part.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:11 am

Ah, Stacy, NOW you begin to understand.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:11 am

You actually do some good work. Didn’t like your Spectator column but this is good stuff. Palin knows Perry is a Bad Guy. I think she is certainly running.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:17 am

Crow certainly is up to something and does not have Palin’s interests at heart here at the least.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:55 am

I knew we could count on you.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Palin, Perry and Paranoia
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:11 am

[…] opinions about his own rally's headliner. And then one e-mailed me a photo showing Crow talking to Texas Gov. Rick Perry at a recent Des Moines GOP event. The Palin supporter […]
ThePaganTemple
September 1st, 2011 @ 5:21 am

Always happy to help out.
ThePaganTemple
September 1st, 2011 @ 5:24 am

I just don’t get all the Christine O’Donnell hate. Okay she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed if you have a shed full of Harvard educated elites, but isn’t that what we’re supposed to be encouraging? She’s bright, educated, and she does know her constitution, she’s well spoken. She’s what a citizen legislator should look like in my opinion. I just don’t get it.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 5:53 am

Sure, folks. Crow is stupid. O’Donnel is stupid. Palin’s staff is stupid. Palin is stupid for having a stupid staff. The “Is Perry Stupid” concept is still warming the hearts of leftists and anti-Perry folks everywhere. Stupid seems to be the word of the day. And why not? It’s such a cheap, easy word to throw around.

It’s the veritable slut of accusations. Everyone whats to have a go, but not out where they might be required to show proof.

I suppose the SCOAMFOTUS should be very afraid.

I’d care, but I’ll be too busy “acting stupidleh.”
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 11:16 am

Morgan, who slandered British troops in Basra, I give her props for doing that, Santorum apparently didn’t get the hint, and she was sandbagged by CREW and the Duke and Duke crowd
Anonymous
September 1st, 2011 @ 11:35 am

This will test the determination, focus and resiliency of Sarah Palin – and, IMHO, she’ll come out smelling like a rose and remain the rock star that she is. Frankly, she’s WAY above the petty fray of the little boys trying to make trouble behind Mama’s back; when Mama turns around and tells them – in no uncertain terms! – to be quiet and stop fighting, they – and all of us! – will know who’s REALLY in charge of her campaign and, indeed, her own destiny!
Bob Belvedere
September 1st, 2011 @ 12:36 pm

Despite the fact that she obviously comes from the crazy side of town, you’ve got to admit, the gal’s eminently doable.
Bob Belvedere
September 1st, 2011 @ 12:38 pm

We love you, man.
Chas C-Q
September 1st, 2011 @ 1:48 pm

You’ve linked to Michael Glassner’s bio; I wish someone would do the same with Ken Crow. Who is this guy?

I haven’t uncovered anything about Crow beyond TPoA, and a puzzling lack of curiosity on the topic of his political priors.
Threedonia
September 1st, 2011 @ 4:13 pm

Bush redux… would the Perry H8ers please figure out whether he is a blithering idiot or Auric Goldfinger in a 10-gallon hat?

That is all.

Ken Crow sounds like a typical f**kup — a common characteristic of people of all political stripes. He bit off more than he could chew, but is too dense to figure out that it’s his fault. All hat and no cattle as a certain candidate might say. 🙂
David R. Graham
September 1st, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

Glassner has good eyes. Even though his eyes in that picture are perpendicular to its plane, Crow’s look like those of a very bad man. Perhaps a Democratic Party spc-ops guy? Palin would know it if he is, presumably. The only thing clear to me in this so far is that Crow is a very bad man, and Glassner’s eyes say he is a good one. I am speaking of character, not political ability.