The whole day I have been hearing errant interpretations of what the Romney victory in Iowa means. Some fellow boggers and some of the more well-known pundits have been stress that the eight votes means a whole lot of something. One of the major guys out there even stated those eight votes as “significant, significant” victory for Romney. He was wrong.
Iowa was an absolute disaster for Romney, and Mitt’s persona on the small screen has that written all over it. FOX News and their squad of unfair and off-balanced entertainers have over emphasized Mitt’s presence all day long. The story is about Santorum and ron paul. yet, those two get slim mention. Even the other Texan got better cover by the FOX hounds than Rick Santorum. Why? Because FOX is out to sell airtime and push the entrenched Republican Guard’s agenda (but that is another story for another day).
In Iowa, Mitt Romney received 8 votes more than the clear victor, Rick Santorum. “Wait a minute” you may argue. “Eight votes or a million votes, a win is a win.” What I said was that he got only 8 votes more than the victor. Let me try to explain with an example. Years ago my alma mater was playing a basketball game at home against the Air Force Academy. It was like an NBA team playing with a little league squad. AFA was getting beat-up mercilessly. It seemed like they went for ten minutes straight (that is a long time in basketball) without scoring once. The turnovers were almost routine. Then one of their players caught a break and sank a three pointer from the corner. The stands exploded with cheers. All 20,000 fans in the seats were screaming and shouting, congratulating AFA. Even I was one my feet applauding them.
Here is the point of that tale. My school won the game by a huge margin. But, AFA was the victor. Everyone saw their stamina and determination. We watched the hard work on their part. We weren’t cheering for the underdog, as the media might have claimed. We all were praising, with justification, a valiant effort (using the basics) to the very end. The Air Force Academy stood for something much greater than a simple hash mark in the “win column.” They worked on what they believed. They were the victors over themselves and over the easy way out; griping, complaining, pointing fingers, cheating, throwing elbows, etc.
In Iowa Risk Santorum was the victor! Mitt Romney simply got more points on the board.
The caucuses in Iowa were a disaster for Romney. He was slated to be the heir apparent. He was lazy and mean spirited. Rick Santorum hit the three point corner shot.
Romney won in 17 counties, by slim margins, Ron Paul won in 17 counties. Rick Santorum won in 63 counties. The broad base of support in Iowa is clear. Santorum had it, Romney didn’t. But it goes much deeper than that, much deeper. The final tally shows that Romney actually had less success in 2012 than he did in 2008.
Mitt wanted, spurred on by the deceptive and backroom gambling of Karl Rove, to slam home the idea that he was the next anointed one (replacing Barack Obama). He lied at the outset of the caucuses saying he wouldn’t campaign in Iowa, only to flip-flop again by pouring millions of dollars in hate advertising into the state. As a member of the “Say Anything Party” Romney desperately needed Iowa to demonstrate his inevitability as the Republican candidate. That desperation showed in his coordinated hate mongering. If you watched his speech Tuesday night it was more than obvious how stunned he was, and off balance.
Mitt Romney talks a good game. The rich fat cats in the expensive seats swear he is the man. But, as Iowa demonstrated, they still must share the stadium with those pesky fans. Br. Mitt, talk is cheap, and you couldn’t make the sale. You have bought yourself a corn dog while spilling your coke on your nice dress slacks. Here is some sound advice. Those quality three-pointers from the corner outweigh your foul shots every time. The fans (voters) just chat with each other while you are at the foul line, and pay close attention when a passionate player (Rick Santorum) goes into the corner.
Mitt Romney knows he was iced in Iowa, and he is now panicking about both New Hampshire and South Carolina. His talking empty-head, Karl Rove, may be spouting platitudes, but “panic” is the watch word. Romney must win, and win hugely, in New Hampshire. If he does not than we can all look forward to hearing his “I’m getting behind the Republican nominee” speech.
That’s The Way I See It.
