Electioneering
Tommy Thompson is apparently running for president. We know this because he said he might, and as ABC reported, he has made "four trips to Iowa in the last six weeks." Really, making any trips to Iowa in any time frame should be a giveaway that you are running for president, because, come on, Iowa. He's from Wisconsin so maybe he has relatives there, but I don't think that's the kind of trip they're referring to.
But what kind of trip do they mean? Lots of politicians have books ghost-written for them, so they can discuss them at the Dubuque Borders and pretend that they aren't necessarily running for president. I don't think Thompson did. Is he just travelling around the state, giving speeches from bandstands, because the issues move him so deeply that he can't hold it in? How is the former governor of Wisconsin and all-around nobody going to draw a crowd in Iowa? Like absolutely everybody in the Midwest, his signature issue is ethanol subsidies (the fuel kind, not the good kind). Maybe he's really eloquent. You could probably retool the Cross of Gold speech by just changing "ethanol" for "silver". I would go to hear that.
If he's not giving speeches, what is he doing? Dropping in on people? Like walking up and down the main street of Des Moines and shaking hands? There is probably no way he could *arrange* to meet Iowans without looking transparently stupid. Even in January 2004, surprising people in diners and chatting with them was just not bearable. It would probably just make him look like a lonely billionaire, or something, to be introducing himself to strangers in October of 2006.
Yeah, I know what the real business is. He's probably giving little speeches to little groups of big men in little rooms about how much he favors ethanol subsidies. I guess the support of industrialists is important when you're trying to win their caucuses, but I am not clear on the exact mechanism of how. I suppose I have a lot to learn about politics, but I still hope he can work a reference to the crown of thorns in there somehow.
But what kind of trip do they mean? Lots of politicians have books ghost-written for them, so they can discuss them at the Dubuque Borders and pretend that they aren't necessarily running for president. I don't think Thompson did. Is he just travelling around the state, giving speeches from bandstands, because the issues move him so deeply that he can't hold it in? How is the former governor of Wisconsin and all-around nobody going to draw a crowd in Iowa? Like absolutely everybody in the Midwest, his signature issue is ethanol subsidies (the fuel kind, not the good kind). Maybe he's really eloquent. You could probably retool the Cross of Gold speech by just changing "ethanol" for "silver". I would go to hear that.
If he's not giving speeches, what is he doing? Dropping in on people? Like walking up and down the main street of Des Moines and shaking hands? There is probably no way he could *arrange* to meet Iowans without looking transparently stupid. Even in January 2004, surprising people in diners and chatting with them was just not bearable. It would probably just make him look like a lonely billionaire, or something, to be introducing himself to strangers in October of 2006.
Yeah, I know what the real business is. He's probably giving little speeches to little groups of big men in little rooms about how much he favors ethanol subsidies. I guess the support of industrialists is important when you're trying to win their caucuses, but I am not clear on the exact mechanism of how. I suppose I have a lot to learn about politics, but I still hope he can work a reference to the crown of thorns in there somehow.
posted by apk01004 at 12:17 PM
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