If Walker can't stand up to Iowans, how can he stand up to the Islamic State?

Washington Examiner ^ | MARCH 9, 2015 | 11:46 AM | PHILIP KLEIN

[SoConPubbie]

"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton "We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792 "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I don’t know what you do as a Conservative in Iowa (hoping to get elected, that is)

You go against ethanol and you are cooked. It’s the functional equivalent of social security to Iowa. Sad but true.

[knarf]

OK ... does corn for ethenol pay more than corn for flakes, or oil, or syrup ?

[Obadiah]

In my opinion, the ethanol mandate is an example, albeit a small example, of the tyranny of the federal government. There is no longer any valid justification for ethanol - none - except it being a payout to the corn farmers of Iowa.

[grania]

Supporting ethanol is troubling. A lot of us liked Scott Walker as a visionary, but one whose credentials about favoring business interests were still a possible negative. Supporting government funding of a stadium was not a nod to smaller government. Reining unions in is fine, as long as it isn't something that extends to supporting unfair competition against labor.

We still don't really know who Scott Walker is. I hope he doesn't start making decisions based on what political advisors tell him will increase his support.

[Gaffer]

I am still trying to keep an open and positive mind to him. But he is making it difficult.

Ethanol use in engines as an additive is a personal effrontery to me, its having caused me so much trouble with my small engines and O2 sensors on 4 vehicles thus far. To me, pandering to a bunch of Iowa farmers and processors really gets my goat.

It isn’t needed; if it were worth using in gas, it should stand on its merits without subsidy; and we damn well cannot afford to let good edible foodstock be pissed away on political fancy and pandering.

[petercooper]

I think Walker has peaked. We may be looking at another Herman Cain here.

[peyton randolph]

Walker is severely compassionately conservative.

[SoConPubbie]

In my opinion the title of this article is extreme hyperbole.

That being said, there is a point here about not pandering to an electoral group because you want their votes.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Supporting government funding of a stadium was not a nod to smaller government.”

I thought the stadium funding was to come from taxes on the players?

[SoConPubbie]

I thought the stadium funding was to come from taxes on the players?

Well, isn't a tax, even on a limited group of tax-payers, still a form of government funding of a stadium?

[NormsRevenge]

It’s called MAD.. Mutual Assured Destruction.

The politics and whack science of today led us down this path.

Who is fit to govern?

Anyone from the beltway is highly suspect.

Join the crowd, Scott.

It’s OK, we have ouchless ObamaCare band-aids.

[cornfedcowboy]

Generally speaking the answer is No. It pays about the same.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

So now we have a Conservative newspaper (Wash Examiner) joining the liberals in trying to take Walker down early. It isn’t going to work.

[MrB]

I think the point is that the gov’t isn’t creating an artificial demand for those other products,

and the free market would direct the use of the land to other products than corn.

[knarf]

Then WHY would farmers care WHERE their corn goes if they get paid essentially the same ?

Why is ethanol even a political spur ?

[detective]

So now the idiot who wrote this article is comparing America’s farmers to ISIS terrorists. Give me a break.

This is not a question of “standing up” to violent terrorists. This is a small government program that will continue regardless of what Gov. Walker says or does.

[Maceman]

OK ... does corn for ethenol pay more than corn for flakes, or oil, or syrup ?

It's not that it pays more, it's that it's a whole different market for corn. According to iowacorn.org, 47% of Iowa corn goes into ethanol production.

[DoodleDawg]

You go against ethanol and you are cooked. It’s the functional equivalent of social security to Iowa. Sad but true.

And yet Ted Cruz had no problems standing with his long held opposition to ethanol. Do we want a candidate who changes his position merely because he thinks it's the popular thing to do? Or do we want a candidate who will stick to his guns regardless of audience?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Farmers have overproduced corn and now the price is low. If too many plant corn this year, the price will go lower.