Aug 10Liked by Robert Leonard, Iowa Writers Collaborative
Thank you for the very good discussion. Democrats have a very rough row to hoe here. I honestly didn't know the hole was that deep until Laura gave the R v D numbers in the Iowa Legislature and how rapidly everything went south for the Democrats I knew it was bad but..............wow. We have work to do.
Heather Cox Richardson (August 9) But, as conservative writer Tom Nichols of The Atlantic noted, Trump appears nonetheless to have gone entirely off the rails. He claimed that the crowd he drew on January 6 was bigger than those who gathered in 1963 to hear the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous I Have a Dream speech, and he told the entirely fabricated story of surviving an emergency landing in a helicopter with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. As Nichols put it, “The Republican nominee, the man who could return to office and regain the sole authority to use American nuclear weapons, is a serial liar and can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Donald Trump is not well. He is not stable. There’s something deeply wrong with him.”
Drove across Iowa today listening to podcast 3 and 2 in that order. Good perspectives on national, state and local topics. Podcast 2 was taped before Governor Walz selection so learned no clairvoyant on panel. Thanks to all speakers.
Reply, with all due respect, to panel member remarks about--- What does Mr. Walz "bring to the ticket?"; "clean slate"; "normalcy"; and "brilliant choice"----
Please read, on Google, the following Report, by the Minnesota State Senate, about Mr. Walz, and his response to the 2020 Summer Riots in Minnesota:
"Review of Lawlessness and Government Response to Minnesota's 2020 Riots", October 2020
Report, reads, in part, "Report Summary": "...Governor Walz and elected local leaders identified with the causes promoted by the demonstrators, causing them to lose sight of their responsibility to protect the public from criminal acts committed during the riots."
Further, "Report Summary": "Lives were lost, over 1,500 businesses and buildings were burned..."
So much for the "clean slate"; "normalcy"; and "brilliant choice".
In conclusion, as John Adams said: "Let justice be done though the heavens fall". Further, as said by John Bunyan, in his book, "The Pilgrim's Progress"---"Do you see yonder shining light....Keep that light in your eye..."
I don't think most voters are focused on what happened in June 2020. I believe the small percentage of voters who will fixate on that were already going to vote for Trump.
I believe that the Democratic Party has lost its way--as currently reflected in the candidacy and policies of Harris and Walz.
The Historical Records of Harris and Walz--in 2020 and all years---is important, in my view, because they reflect policies, which have resulted in the current political decline of the Iowa Democratic Party. This decline is the result of the votes of "most voters" in Iowa.
In my view, to win elections, again, in Iowa, the Iowa Democratic Party needs to remember and renew the values of Iowans, and of "most voters" in Iowa.
In Iowa, the Historical Record---the recent growth and now dominance of the Iowa Republican Party--both in State and National offices, in my view, regardless of any personal opinions, provide indisputable, empirical evidence--that the past policies of the Democratic Party, including, the Iowa Democratic Party, have not been supported by "most voters" in Iowa.
Laura Belin, Rekha Basu, Julie Gammack, Robert Leonard, Ed Tibbetts, Barry Piatt, and Kathie Kinrade Obradovich have been misleading the public for years. The words "independent" and "local" hardly come to mind when Iowans hear your names. The Voter Registration Conspiracy (one among many in the transcript) was completely UNBALANCED! It nearly made me faint.
Seven urban Democrats representing the tiny blue areas in Iowa you see on a map, get together to essentially ignore fact the left installed a puppet candidate who dropped out of the Presidential race after never polling above 2% in Iowa. A humorous discussion about whether Walz is a great choice, or the greatest choice ever, with competitive fawning performances praising the Democrats and Kamala's sagacity, brilliance, power, and moral superiority, yet while still being a victim, though soldiering valiantly on. Quote: "Some people are saying her caucus performance was a failure. Not in the eyes of Iowans, she just didn't get the money." The former is perhaps the intellectual highlight of this stilted stroke fest. A regurgitation of media talking points supportive of Democrats, the left, Harris, and Clinton era, delivered with all the smarm you'd expect from a faculty lounge in Madison or Portland. If you have a panel that admits Republicans will prevail by 8% to 15% statewide, and by as much in your area, yet you have no conservatives on your panel, you are not discussing Iowa politics, you are discussing your views and party talking points. Laughable to suggest Iowans will favor Walz because he's midwestern, must have forgotten Mondale's 49 state loss to Regan in 1984. Walz allowing over 1,500 businesses in Minneapolis to be burned with $500 million in damages, a police station taken over, people to riot at will and people to be murdered in 2020 were not even mentioned. But a cat lady comment from 2021 was thoroughly discussed and a cause for serious concern, vs looting, violence, arson, and deaths in the second most destructive riot in US history in Minneapolis, followed by repressive MN covid policies which fined businesses for being open, put people in jail for violating covid lockdowns, criminalized gathering for worship services and ran a snitch line to rat out your neighbors for not social distancing, for two years. And during covid released inmates because they were at covid risk, while jailing citizens for violating covid law, inmates who later successfully sued to stay out of prison. All that they call "normalcy" Americans are craving. Kathie tried to have a frank discussion about the Dems sabotaging the Iowa caucus, but the panel failed to rise to the occasion and have a serious discussion about how badly the DNC damaged liberalism and the party in Iowa.
Thank you for the very good discussion. Democrats have a very rough row to hoe here. I honestly didn't know the hole was that deep until Laura gave the R v D numbers in the Iowa Legislature and how rapidly everything went south for the Democrats I knew it was bad but..............wow. We have work to do.
Heather Cox Richardson (August 9) But, as conservative writer Tom Nichols of The Atlantic noted, Trump appears nonetheless to have gone entirely off the rails. He claimed that the crowd he drew on January 6 was bigger than those who gathered in 1963 to hear the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous I Have a Dream speech, and he told the entirely fabricated story of surviving an emergency landing in a helicopter with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. As Nichols put it, “The Republican nominee, the man who could return to office and regain the sole authority to use American nuclear weapons, is a serial liar and can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Donald Trump is not well. He is not stable. There’s something deeply wrong with him.”
True. I wish Republicans cared.
Drove across Iowa today listening to podcast 3 and 2 in that order. Good perspectives on national, state and local topics. Podcast 2 was taped before Governor Walz selection so learned no clairvoyant on panel. Thanks to all speakers.
Reply, with all due respect, to panel member remarks about--- What does Mr. Walz "bring to the ticket?"; "clean slate"; "normalcy"; and "brilliant choice"----
Please read, on Google, the following Report, by the Minnesota State Senate, about Mr. Walz, and his response to the 2020 Summer Riots in Minnesota:
"Review of Lawlessness and Government Response to Minnesota's 2020 Riots", October 2020
Report, reads, in part, "Report Summary": "...Governor Walz and elected local leaders identified with the causes promoted by the demonstrators, causing them to lose sight of their responsibility to protect the public from criminal acts committed during the riots."
Further, "Report Summary": "Lives were lost, over 1,500 businesses and buildings were burned..."
So much for the "clean slate"; "normalcy"; and "brilliant choice".
In conclusion, as John Adams said: "Let justice be done though the heavens fall". Further, as said by John Bunyan, in his book, "The Pilgrim's Progress"---"Do you see yonder shining light....Keep that light in your eye..."
Richard Sherzan
I don't think most voters are focused on what happened in June 2020. I believe the small percentage of voters who will fixate on that were already going to vote for Trump.
Thank you for your reply and remarks.
I believe that the Democratic Party has lost its way--as currently reflected in the candidacy and policies of Harris and Walz.
The Historical Records of Harris and Walz--in 2020 and all years---is important, in my view, because they reflect policies, which have resulted in the current political decline of the Iowa Democratic Party. This decline is the result of the votes of "most voters" in Iowa.
In my view, to win elections, again, in Iowa, the Iowa Democratic Party needs to remember and renew the values of Iowans, and of "most voters" in Iowa.
Richard Sherzan
I couldn't disagree more about Walz's record. He and the Democratic-led legislature enacted a tremendous number of great policies. A partial list:
https://prospect.org/politics/2023-05-22-new-minnesota-vikings/
Thank you, again, for your reply and remarks.
In Iowa, the Historical Record---the recent growth and now dominance of the Iowa Republican Party--both in State and National offices, in my view, regardless of any personal opinions, provide indisputable, empirical evidence--that the past policies of the Democratic Party, including, the Iowa Democratic Party, have not been supported by "most voters" in Iowa.
Laura Belin, Rekha Basu, Julie Gammack, Robert Leonard, Ed Tibbetts, Barry Piatt, and Kathie Kinrade Obradovich have been misleading the public for years. The words "independent" and "local" hardly come to mind when Iowans hear your names. The Voter Registration Conspiracy (one among many in the transcript) was completely UNBALANCED! It nearly made me faint.
Seven urban Democrats representing the tiny blue areas in Iowa you see on a map, get together to essentially ignore fact the left installed a puppet candidate who dropped out of the Presidential race after never polling above 2% in Iowa. A humorous discussion about whether Walz is a great choice, or the greatest choice ever, with competitive fawning performances praising the Democrats and Kamala's sagacity, brilliance, power, and moral superiority, yet while still being a victim, though soldiering valiantly on. Quote: "Some people are saying her caucus performance was a failure. Not in the eyes of Iowans, she just didn't get the money." The former is perhaps the intellectual highlight of this stilted stroke fest. A regurgitation of media talking points supportive of Democrats, the left, Harris, and Clinton era, delivered with all the smarm you'd expect from a faculty lounge in Madison or Portland. If you have a panel that admits Republicans will prevail by 8% to 15% statewide, and by as much in your area, yet you have no conservatives on your panel, you are not discussing Iowa politics, you are discussing your views and party talking points. Laughable to suggest Iowans will favor Walz because he's midwestern, must have forgotten Mondale's 49 state loss to Regan in 1984. Walz allowing over 1,500 businesses in Minneapolis to be burned with $500 million in damages, a police station taken over, people to riot at will and people to be murdered in 2020 were not even mentioned. But a cat lady comment from 2021 was thoroughly discussed and a cause for serious concern, vs looting, violence, arson, and deaths in the second most destructive riot in US history in Minneapolis, followed by repressive MN covid policies which fined businesses for being open, put people in jail for violating covid lockdowns, criminalized gathering for worship services and ran a snitch line to rat out your neighbors for not social distancing, for two years. And during covid released inmates because they were at covid risk, while jailing citizens for violating covid law, inmates who later successfully sued to stay out of prison. All that they call "normalcy" Americans are craving. Kathie tried to have a frank discussion about the Dems sabotaging the Iowa caucus, but the panel failed to rise to the occasion and have a serious discussion about how badly the DNC damaged liberalism and the party in Iowa.