Quotable: Andrea Mitchell on Iowa

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell caused a furor among wingnuts when she said: "The rap on Iowa: Too HICK."* Andrea, Andrea ... Please. What you really meant to say is, "The rap on REPUBLICAN Iowa ..." I mean c'mon, Andrea, the state's gone blue five of the last six presidential elections; you're really insulting those normal folks — Democrats — who hang out at places like Java Joe's and are going to caucus for President Obama. No wonder Iowans are upset at being lumped together with the fringe crazies of their state. Those that the media politely, euphemistically call "evangelicals" and "libertarians" and "conservatives."

Some polling group really ought to determine what subset of these are Klan or militia members. Or white supremacists. And who are these "evangelicals" — where's the overlap? How do they diverge in fundamentalist beliefs with traditional Christian denominations? Are they home schoolers; do they reject the state's right to tax or govern them? They're fringe, yes. But they exert a national political influence from their state Republican caucus that belies their small numbers and is unrepresentative of their state and the nation. And no one reports this accurately — well, Andrea tried but was slapped down by the wingnuts — consequently this skewed perspective worms its way into Beltway Mediaspeak.

*Andrea was being polite when she said Iowa doesn't represent the rest of the country because it's "too white, too evangelical, too rural" ... too HICK. Iowa Republican caucusgoers, Andrea. Please. You shouldn't lump Democrats and non-Paul independents in with the CRAZIES. Their numbers, less than 30 percent I'm guessing, are the same in most advanced, sophisticated (blue or "swing") states. Wingnuts want us to believe their numbers are actually larger than they are. It fits with their Big Lie and makes it easier for them to shift the national political conversation to the far right of where the electorate is. Can't you see?