The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

On the Scene in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa — Friday, I visited the Iowa HQs of the Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain presidential campaigns, and then attended a Christian music festival in West Des Moines where Bachmann spoke. Bachmann poses for a photo with a boy and his frog. Bachmann poses for a photo with a family. The man in […]

Fear and Loathing at the Quality Inn

DES MOINES, Iowa Just got off the phone with Dale Peterson, who’s meeting with agriculture groups — including the Iowa Turkey Federation — on behalf of the Herman Cain campaign today. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out the logistics for the rest of my trip. Right now, I’m staying at the Quality Inn downtown, which […]

Long Knives in Iowa

Michelle Bachmann pushed “a pardon … for a convicted drug dealer/money launderer in 2007”? They’re bringing it all now — as predicted — and check out this bit buried in today’s Wall Street Journal profile of Bachmann: Ms. Bachmann has gone through four chiefs of staff and two acting chiefs in less than five years […]

Cain, Corn and … the Phantom Menace

My American Spectator column: DES MOINES, Iowa — Highway 193 runs nearly flat and straight some 60 miles southeast from the state capital in Des Moines to the Mahaska County seat of Oskaloosa, where the monument in the town square honors the tribal chieftain for whom the county was named. Chief Mahaska? “lived at peace […]

Fear and Loathing on Highway 193; Pawlenty Aiming at Bachmann?

DES MOINES, Iowa Got back from Oskaloosa — an hour away on Highway 193 — about 6 p.m. local time and spent hours struggling to upload video and photos. Now I’m just a couple hours aways from my deadline for The American Spectator, and so there’s only enough time for a couple of pictures and […]

Michele Bachmann Touts ‘No’ Vote on Debt Ceiling Deal in Latest Iowa TV Ad

DES MOINES, Iowa While watching TV news in my motel this morning, I saw a Michele Bachmann ad, aimed directly at getting her supporters out to next week’s Ames Straw Poll: It’s a good ad: She slams Washington “politicians,” blames the bad economy on Obama, says, “Someone needs to say no,” and closes with an invitation […]

‘Neo-Confederate Sex Panic’ Becomes the Biggest Political Punchline of the Year?

DES MOINES, Iowa Little did I suspect this morning when I boarded my flight at Reagan National that, by the time I reached Iowa, the nation would be deep in the grip of a hitherto unknown political fever: Neo-Confederate Sex Panic! “It was like the secessionists .. . Even as [Obama] was being inaugurated, the […]

En Route to Des Moines

REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT, Washington, D.C. We had passed through the security checkpoint and were waiting for our belongings to come through the X-ray scanner. And waiting. And waiting. Our carry-ons and other personal items weren’t coming through. There was a flurry of activity involving the TSA agent in charge of security at Terminal A, who […]

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