A Cynical View of Iowa

I hadn't looked at the article since a day or two after its publication, but I read through the corrections. Nothing on the ridiculous description of voting trends?

 

I wasn't advocating for Iowa to be first in the nation. I honestly don't care who goes first. My only beef here is with the article and the author.

 

Pretty much. Midwestern hospitality is a good thing and there's plenty of it in Iowa, despite what a song from The Music Man might say.

I'm proud to say I'm an Iowan and I'll say that until the day I die alongside my "meth head and waste-toid" neighbors. For the record, meth use has gone way down in Iowa and won't there be "waste-toids" in ever city you visit? Wouldn't there be more in, say, New York City than in Iowa? By the way, what the fuck is a "waste-toid" anyway?

Also, I swear to god nobody in Iowa has ever called a caucus a "Chat N Chew." To pile on Prof. Bloom further, he originally said this was a piece that exposed hard truths that needed to be written and talked about. In his interview on Rock Center Monday night he tried telling the reporter it was satire and parody. Well, which is it Prof.? Because if you believe using satire and parody is a good way of putting out your hard-hitting essay you should seriously consider giving up your job at the U of I. For real.
/rant over

 

Connecticut has crack whores and hedge fund traders.

 

Mason City's most beloved son weeps.

 

Jeff Horner?

 

We heard this guy on NPR last weekend. What a smug bastard.

And nowhere in the discussion was it noted that Iowa's unemployment rate is under 6%. Now that may be a function of everyone leaving to go someplace else, but it didn't seem to entirely square with his pessimistic portrait of the state, either.

 

Des Moines is either in its second or third year as Forbes' pick for best city for a recent college graduate and I think also best place to start a business.

 

Actually, The Music Man opens with "Rock Island", with the salesmen swapping quips while bouncing along on the train . . . the song which also serves as Harold Hill's introduction.

Carry on.

 

You are of course correct. In my defense I think of 'Rock Island' as a patter number or recitative, not a choral song.

 

Iowa is Arkansas without the mountains.

 

I do.