You're absolutely right. The writer had an agenda from the start: to travel to a quintessential, down-to-earth red state, locate a nutjob, and use it to slander the entire country.
If I were in charge of everything -- I'd arrange to have every graduating high schooler travel cross country -- east and west, then north and south. In my younger wandering days I did this -- by hitching, hiking, bus and car. And it forever colored my perceptions of this country and deepened my appreciation.