Commentary

Traditional media complain when they don’t get credit, too

Cedar Rapids Gazette Editor Steve Buttry published a blog post Sunday lamenting the fact that traditional news outlets often fail to credit one another for stories they pick up, repurpose, or in some cases simply regurgitate from other sources.  Buttry cites a tweet from Des Moines Register reporter Daniel P. Finney complaining that KCCI took [...]

Photos: Flags among flood damage in Cedar Rapids

Nearly six months has passed since I stood on the top of the 1st Street Parkade in downtown Cedar Rapids, feeling the fury of the Cedar River as it battered the concrete pillars of the structure below, and snapped photographs of the flood that surrounded me. To be honest, there are days now when I can almost forget the damage that has happened in Cedar Rapids, Linn County and in other parts of Iowa — almost.

CBS Evening News spotlights Postville with too narrow a beam

COMMENTARY: CBS News Correspondent Seth Doane came to Postville at the end of last week to highlight the growing economic crisis in the community.
The focus of this round of national attention is primarily on the town’s future, and not necessarily that of the residents or Agriprocessors, the kosher meatpacking plant that was the site of [...]

What the Bible tells us about Sarah Palin’s future

How can evangelicals support a woman for president at the same time they worry about women as pastors? By reading the Bible very selectively.

Recounts rarely change much

ANALYSIS: With a handful of Iowa legislative races within double digits or even single digits, and three U.S. Senate races yet to be decided, the word “recount” is buzzing in the air.

While a recount may give a losing candidate emotional satisfaction and a sense of closure, the vote shifts tend to be very, very small.

Is Palin GOP front-runner in Iowa — for 2012?

ANALYSIS: While being careful to tell us up front that he thinks the question is a bit premature, Republican David Oman, a key figure in the last two GOP gubernatorial administrations in Iowa, says Sarah Palin has the makings of a front-runner in the 2012 Iowa caucuses.

Welcome to 1964?

Is it feeling like 1964 out there? Richard Cohen of the Washington Post thinks so: “Powell walked away, and others will follow — the second time that a senator from Arizona has led the GOP into the political wilderness.”

In final debate, McCain swings past target, exposes himself

COMMENTARY: McCain was like the kid who jumps out from behind a bush and yells “boo” to scare you on the way to school — after jumping out from the same bush and yelling “boo” each day for the past two weeks. As Dionne Warwick would say, you just walk on by.

National GOP pulls plug on House challengers across the country

The Republican National Committee is pulling its money out of challenger races to shore up suddenly endangered incumbents, reports the Politico:
In 2006, veteran Republicans Gil Gutknecht in Minnesota, Jim Leach in Iowa and Jim Ryun in Kansas suddenly found themselves in tough reelection fights. By the time the party saw what was happening, it was [...]

Are Reed and Hartsuch being ‘triaged out’?

Both parties, in cold political Darwinism, leave the weak to die. It happened to me in my own legislative race 12 years ago. But at the moment, the grumbling appears louder on the Republican side.