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The Des Moines Register’s Endorsement of Romney: Why Republican Skepticism Is Largely Unfair

The Des Moines Register’s Endorsement of Romney: Why Republican Skepticism Is Largely Unfair

For those who haven’t paid attention to The Des Moines Register’s recent editorial board history, there is no question their endorsement of Mitt Romney is a big story.  This history includes a 40 year gap in backing a Republican for President, spanning all the cycles between Richard Nixon’s second run and Mitt Romney’s second bid for the oval office.

Over the next week much of what you hear from both the left and the right will be various forms of skepticism, questioned motives, and outright dismals—including claims this was payback for Obama disrespecting them last week.  Our readers clearly know we generally don’t have much love for The Register, and specifically we exposed the ridiculous intellectual dishonesty of their 2008 presidential endorsements.

Not only will this reversal-of-course make national headlines in the coming days, it will alienate their shrunken consumer base of hard-line Democrats.  This prompts the questions: Is it possible they have turned over a new leaf, or was this retribution and/or just a disingenuous ploy for attention?  Surprisingly, my sense is it’s likely the former and not the latter.

What To Make Of This?

Having noted their highly partisan past, I believe all the suspicion and skepticism surrounding this endorsement is largely unfair.  The Register deserves the benefit of the doubt for two reasons.

First, Republicans have yearned for a state paper that played things close to down the middle for years.  To finally see evidence this institution may be heading this direction and react by simply dismissing it out of hand is biased in and of itself.

Many will say this one action cannot undo years of daily left-slanted journalism, and they are correct, but realize as well that this endorsement is no small thing.  If Romney was up 7-10 points here in Iowa you could make the case they simply were backing a sure winner—the reality is that this is a very tight race and The Register’s abandoning of Obama could actually have a small impact, especially on those somehow still wavering voters.

The other reason Republicans shouldn’t cheapen this nod to Romney lay in the actual substance of the endorsement itself.

Before reading it I was expecting heavy equivocation ( ‘though we like Romney on X, we fear he doesn’t understand and will be damaging to Y and Z’ )—this however was largely not the case.

Though sure to say America needs to be even more hospitable to illegal aliens and that losing “progress” on gay and transgendered issues is unacceptable—the remaining balance of the endorsement did not spare Obama on his poor record and laid out a strong case for why Romney would succeed in fixing turning around the economy,

My View

The text reveals this was an “endorsement-endorsement” and not just lip service.  Nobody has been harder on The Des Moines Register in recent years than The Conservative Reader, but judgment must be cast on words and deeds not prior reputation.  In this case The Des Moines Register was willing to put the two candidates on a scale and report how they saw the resulting measurement.

Going forward, if and when The Register is willing to give Republicans a fair shake—than Republicans should be willing to return the favor.

 

Des Moines Register Challenge: Endorsement In Secret

Des Moines Register Challenge: Endorsement In Secret

Silence, off-the-recordThe Des Moines Register’s Editor, Rick Green, last night published some details around an interview that the Register’s editorial board held with President Obama Tuesday morning.  An interview they could not, at first, talk about publicly.  An off-the-record conversation that they say will contribute to their endorsement decision, and the conditions of which will not affect their decision.  Since Rick’s original online post, the White House has released their own transcript of the conversation.

To his credit, Rick was clearly frustrated with the White House for putting such severe restrictions on the 30 minute telephone interview.  He is convinced that Iowans need to hear what the President had to say, and that Iowans would be influenced positively by what Obama shared with the editorial board.  The Register has been consistent in their effort to promote transparency in government, and should be applauded for their efforts.

Obviously, the President’s campaign (did we say “White House”?  Are the two the same?) was sensitive to the impact that even a handful of words can have in the world of instant communication.  But this administration has been a paragon of secrecy since moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the 2008 campaign promise of transparency has proved not only to be a ruse, but largely ignored by both campaigns in 2012 and the mainstream media.

Rick’s comments attempt to provide an element of transparency at least to the Register’s process, but it’s unfortunate that he treats the President’s requirements for this interview as inevitable.  Even though he challenged the decision, he said they “relented and took the call.  How could we not?”  I think the Des Moines Register’s influence is adequate enough that if they balked, it would have looked bad for the President and the White House eventually would relent because they would have to.  How could the Register endorse the President without such a conversation?

But, given the idea that Obama is just so important and powerful a man that he should be listened to, the secondary piece of this was amazing to me.  Rick stated later in his post that the “the White House’s decision won’t play a factor in our board’s final endorsement decision.”  Perhaps that was a coded message to the Obama team that just the opposite was true.  But it escapes credibility to believe that anyone in the Register’s position would not give serious consideration to this and other examples of the President’s opaqueness and attempts to control the messages going out so desperately.  How the President of the United States tries to hide the most trivial information should have a substantial impact on the Editorial Board’s perception of this administration.

Looking back on this, before the White House released the transcripts, it is wildly crazy that there was any concern about the contents of the interview.  The transcript was about as mundane as the first Presidential Debate.  The sense is that the President has a cozy enough relationship with left-leaning media such as the Register that they can talk casually about how they will continue to change America in ways that the public doesn’t need to hear, but that the Register’s editors should hear in order to provide the “right” endorsement.  Even though the Register apparently wants to avoid any such appearance, this sounds like a lot of back room dealing with members of “the team” to get the endorsement.  Perhaps the White House figured out that the Register has more integrity than that.  What concerns me is, what kind of off-the-record conversations are going on with other media organizations?  We may never know.

By the way, the Register hasn’t actually stated that the transcript was accurate.  I’m assuming they can tell us one way or the other, can’t they?

Image © Aaron Amat – Fotolia.com

The post Des Moines Register Challenge: Endorsement In Secret appeared first on The Conservative Reader.

Iowa Senate Races: A Closer Look At The Leaners (SD 24)

Iowa Senate Races: A Closer Look At The Leaners (SD 24)

(For a complete overview by TCR:Iowa of the Iowa Senate races click here)

The Candidates

Jerry Behn (R)  vs.  Shelly Stotts (D)

Jerry Behn is the incumbent and was elected to the Senate in 1995 after serving one year as Boone County Supervisor.  He was then elected Senate Minority leader on November 10th, 2011.  Shelly Stotts has been a teacher in Boone for the last 28 years, has her Masters Degree in Education, and is a past president of the Boone Educators Association.

The District

Senate District 24 sits due North of Dallas County.  It’s new configuration after redistricting shaves off Dallas County and replaces it with the Southeastern portion of Webster County and the Northwestern corner of Story County.  These slivers join all of Hamilton, Greene, and Boone Counties to construct SD 24.  The registered voter numbers here are less favorable to Jerry Behn than his old district was, though he still holds an advantage of R+1,379.  The rest of the numbers are: (R-13,465) (D-12,086) (NP-14,553), with the district total being 40,132.

The Race

Much like Senate District 38, this goes in the leaner column by just a hair and should be a victory for Behn.  In addition to campaigning hard, Jerry Behn has been one of the point men rolling out the Republican legislative agenda titled “Iowa Strong“—which is a fairly specific, multi-issue priorities list for the upcoming session.

Despite being a well-liked legislator, a fantastic spokesman for the Republican Party, and a likely victor in his November re-election bid—Behn has come under fire this year from fellow Republicans for not raising the kind of funds necessary for a Republican takeover of the Senate.  There is really no way to say the criticism is unjustified, as part of his job as minority leader is building a war chest that can be distributed to other Republican candidates throughout the state.  As of the last filing period he was outraised by his counterpart, Democratic Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, by more than $416,000.

Democrat Shelly Stotts is attempting to transition from a long career in teaching to Senator by taking down the highest ranking Republican in the Senate.  Though the registration advantage is surely able to be overcome, Mrs. Stotts will have a hard time doing so for two major reasons.  First, though Behn’s cash on hand is low for a Minority Leader, he still has $83,383 in the bank to Stotts’ $1,528.  Secondly, she has identified her political views on her own Facebook page as “liberal”.  Though laudable for her honesty—this self-description combined with her money disadvantage is not a recipe for an upset.

Frankly, I am surprised that more Democrats have not stepped up to the plate with donations.  You would expect this to be the case being that the newly drawn district left a Republican Senate Minority Leader with such a small voter registration advantage.  Put simply it would be a shock not to see Jerry Behn back in the Senate in 2013—and the possibility of him being at the helm of a newly minted Republican majority is certainly within reach.

Further Information

Jerry Behn – Candidate Profile

Shelly Stotts – Facebook Page

(Complete TCR: Iowa overview of the races crucial to Republicans winning a majority in the Iowa Senate)

 

Iowa Senate Races: A Closer Look At The Leaners (SD 38)

Iowa Senate Races: A Closer Look At The Leaners (SD 38)

(For a complete overview by TCR: Iowa of the Iowa Senate races click here)

The Candidates

Tim Kapucian (R)  vs.  Shelley Parbs (D)

Tim Kapucian is the incumbent, having first been elected to the Senate in 2009.  Shelley Parbs is a first time candidate and a production worker at Rockwell-Collins.

The District

Iowa Senate District 38 is located Northeast of Des Moines, halfway between Polk County and the Illinois border.  It is made up entirely of three whole counties (Poweshiek, Iowa, and Benton).  The number breakdown of registered voters in SD 38 is as follows: (R-12,549) (D-10,963) (NP-16,512), which leaves a Republican advantage of +1,586.

The Race

Since being elected in 2009 Tim Kapucian has taken on a high profile role in the Senate minority.  This includes, but is not limited to, being elected Assistant Republican Leader and being the ranking member of the Senate Transportation Committee and the Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee.  The Bleeding Heartland makes the very good observation that Democrats will attack hard on the fact that he is on the record twice voting for an increase in the per-gallon tax on gasoline.  Kapucian has gotten major backing from Farm Bureau and, beyond being a farmer himself, this is likely not a coincidence as they spent the last year leaning on Republicans to support this unpopular price hike.

Shelley Parbs easily won a three way Democratic Primary to earn the right to take on Kapucian.  She is a production worker with Rockwell-Collins and a member of the union, IBEW.  Mrs. Parbs appears to be another Democratic labor union candidate (she’s been endorsed by every union in a 50 mile radius), and yet another Democratic candidate with absolutely no information on her campaign website regarding her political views or agenda.  All the visitor gets is that Parbs wants to “invest in worker training” and “make sure jobless Iowans get the help they need to get back on thier feet”.  This is the case with so many of these Democrat candidates that it is beyond a trend and is surely an intentional strategy from the political higher-ups in the Party.  How they are expecting to bring anyone into the campaign with no information on issues, not even platitudes—fully escapes me.

This seat is a strong Republican leaner because the challenger is not that threatening and the Republican Party will not let Kapucian go without plenty of resources and attention.  He made not need much help, as the fact that he already had a $41 thousand to $15 thousand dollar cash on hand advantage as of July 19th shows he doesn’t exactly struggle in the fund raising department.

It strikes me that this race could be very interesting if there was a Democrat surge for the candidate on the presidential ballot, as there was in 2008 for Obama.  The fact is this will not be the case in 2012 and Senator Kapucian should be returning to the Senate, perhaps in the majority, in 2013.

Further Information

Tim Kapucian — Senate Republican Caucus page

Shelley Parbs — Shelley4Senate

(Complete TCR: Iowa overview of the races crucial to Republicans winning a majority in the Iowa Senate)

 

Polk County Sheriffs Forum Controversy: Trying To Make Sense Of Sheriff McCarthy’s Senseless Display (Part 2 of 2)

Polk County Sheriffs Forum Controversy: Trying To Make Sense Of Sheriff McCarthy’s Senseless Display (Part 2 of 2)

With Part 1 of this story covering the entire forum minus the last five minutes, lets dig right into the controversy that marked the conclusion of Monday’s forum and went on to engulf the local media in the following days.

What Was Said

For those who have not heard or read it yet, here is the transcript of the most controversial remarks from Sheriff McCarthy’s closing statement:

“…Then the other day I opened his website and he’s got a reference on there to the Oath Keepers.  The Oath Keepers!  It’s a group that affiliated with this (holds up book), but they are the big boys.   These are people on a Patriots list from the National Poverty Law Center, a watch list for extreme radicalism.  (Timothy) McVeigh died going to his grave saying that he was that kind of patriot.  This guy that runs the Oath Keepers movement, who says he’s a Constitutionalist, has now come out on his website and said it’s time to arm because we think Obama might win.  It’s time to arm, and it’s also time to store food for the war that’s coming (crowd starts booing).  This is the kind of garbage you’re going to get if he (points to Charleston) is elected.  It’s really about as radical as it gets.”

Contributing Factors

Though utterly indefensible and unjustified, there are two factors that should at least be understood when thinking about McCarthy’s attitude and conduct on this night.

I believe it fair to realize that for the last year or so Sheriff McCarthy has been listening to and watching Dan Charleston run for his job by basically saying that his department is a poorly run outfit plagued by low morale that needs whole-sale changes to better serve and protect the people of Polk County.  I am not for a moment saying that these things are untrue, but I am saying that very few of us, if any, have experienced this situation—and clearly it would be extremely tough and frustrating.  To continually hear on the radio strong criticism that you are failing in a job you are personally invested in and passionate about is no small thing, and certainly would wear on anybody.  Secondly, and unknown to me until after the fact, apparently Sheriff McCarthy’s own brother was killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing carried out by Timothy McVeigh.

The Bottom Line

The above information is presented solely to give some context to an allegation and line of logic that is nothing short of disgraceful and bizarre—there is just no getting around that.  While the whole closing statement was overboard, the last sentence elevated the charge to a different level.

It’s one thing to raise questions about a quote on Dan Charleston’s website from some group who you view to be extremist in order to cast doubt about where your opponent is coming from—some may even define this as “hard ball” politics (I would use the word “dirty”).  It is yet another step-up to imply that all this groups’ beliefs and actions can be attributed to Charleston.  Rather unfortunately Sheriff McCarthy didn’t even stop here.

Though it was hard to hear in the auditorium at the time due to the crowds audible gasp and objections, the last sentence that McCarthy uttered that night was, “And this is the kind of garbage you are going to get if he is elected, it’s really about as radical as you can get.”  Beyond being baseless, irrational, and reckless—this is legal slander that demands, in the least, a public apology.

Impact On This Race

In my view this stands as the second most bizarre episode in Iowa politics this year—bested only by Republican Senate candidate Randi Shannon’s break from reality—and will certainly hurt his chances in the November election.  Besides being a huge public relations misstep, McCarthy’s conduct and slander was a head-scratcher politically, as it runs counter to the broader-themed case he has been making against Charleston from the beginning.

Besides saying that Charleston is wrong on the issues, McCarthy’s general assertion to voters is that he is more professional and well-mannered while Charleston’s temperament and straight-talking boldness are the wrong traits to have heading the Sheriff’s Department.  It is beyond ironic that the man making this case, even saying himself during the forum that you can’t “bare your soul on every social issue”, would himself make a reckless and bizarre allegation by publically “baring” his own outlandish and paranoid beliefs about Dan Charleston.  It is truly as unbelievable and nonsensical as it is hypocritical.

The fact that these two candidates have opposite beliefs on nearly every issue already presented a clear choice for the citizens of Polk County.   Sheriff McCarthy’s outlandish display in the waning moments of Monday’s forum have made this picture’s contrast even sharper…and made the prospect of him keeping his job far less likely.

 

 

 

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