ELECTION 2016: IT KICKED OFF IN DES MOINES, IOWA

 

Yes, the former 1/2 Alaska Governor was a key wing-nut at the Iowa Summit

 

Iowa’s Freedom Summit had nearly a dozen conservatives show-up, but not the current top-two.

 

Well, it’s started.  Yep, last weekend in Iowa (of course), was the Freedom Summit.  This is a the regular unofficial kick-off for the conservatives of the next presidential campaigns.

In the past, when all the major contenders for the GOP nomination got together, this summit has selected the individual that eventually does represent the GOP in the presidential race.  But, ever since this event’s main sponsor became the anti-immigration, Iowa Tea Party congressman, Steve King, this event has chosen only super-conservative candidates that have had virtually no chance of winning in a general presidential election.  As an example, the last two choices from this even were Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee.

Now, since Steve King got himself involved, this event is probably the most conservative event of any potential national election.  Because of that, the speakers and the audience members show serious scorn for those candidates who do not attend.  That is particularly true for today’s more moderate no-shows, like former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, and the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.  These may be the current national poll favorites, but they are way too moderate for this group at the Freedom Summit in super-conservative Iowa.

As usual, there was still a slew of potential candidates that showed up to play directly to the conservative base at this Iowa forum. 

This was also an event that saw Sarah Palin jump back into the mix.  As usual with Ms. Palin, her attendance took all of the oxygen out of the room and away from many that deserved to be paid some serious attention.  New Jersey’s Governor, Chris Christie, did show that he can mingle with these conservatives here in the heartland.  Unfortunately, Ted Cruz also showed up and he received a huge reaction when he demanded to “repeal every word of Obamacare.”  ( I find it so sad when these politicians say they want to get rid of something that has already helped so many Americans.)

But the visit by Sarah Palin was particularly disturbing. 

There was a picture that has recently been released, (I will not show it here, but you can Google it.) that apparently came from the event.  It shows Ms. Palin holding a large hand-made sign on butcher-paper that has some "ultra-unchristian writing" on it against the liberal documentary producer, Michael Moore.  The sign says: “FUC_  YOU, MICHAEL MOORE” .  Ms. Palin was holding up the sign with a couple of her admirers and the “o’s” in Mr. Moore’s name have “x’s” in their centers like pistol targets.   Brrrrrr.  Palin seems to get more extreme every year in her attempts for trying to remain relevant whenever the elections roll around.

Of course, Palin once again tossed herself back into the primary mix telling reporters she’s also thinking about a run in 2016.  But she also offered-up one of her non-classy one-liners saying, “Hey Iowa, can anyone stop Hillary? To borrow a phrase, yes, we can!”

One of the most astounding speeches was made by the former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. 

Now, Huckabee is truly one of the best speakers that appear at this event.  But this time, the governor decided to talk about his 6+ years that he worked as a host on the Fox network.  He spent a good portion of his speech embarrassingly, praising the founder and CEO of the Fox Network, Roger Ailes.  He also then went way out of his way to mention how professional the people were that he worked with at Fox.

Yes, Huckabee just couldn’t stop from praising “all those professionals at Fox News”.  These are the same professionals that according to the organizations that follow all the networks, Fox News is the absolute worst in the accuracy of their news reports.  To be quite frank, Pundifact, the main fact-checker of all the networks says that Fox News offers: "1/2 true- to totally false information, 60% of the time".  (This compares to only 18% at CNN)  But by the way Huckabee talked, the people he worked with were absolutely the “best of the best”.

Saying all that about the so-called Fox professionals tells me a lot about Mr. Huckabee.

Others that attended the Freedom Summit were the “Birther”, Donald Trump, the Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, and Texas Governor, Rick Perry.

Even the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Carly Fiorina, coming off her unsuccessful California Senate run several years ago, she is also weighing her 2016 options.  She spent her time hammering President Obama and other Democrats over everything from the health care law to Obama’s immigration policies.

Apparently, the visiting potentials that made the best impression were the governors, Chris Christie and Scott Walker.

Scott Walker is currently attracting some buzz on the heels of the event, and many were surprised that both Christie and Walker aligned themselves so closely with Rep. Steve King, (R-IA).  King is the main congressman who organized the event and is known for his outrageous remarks against illegal immigrants. (BTW: Christie called King a “great friend.”)

Regarding Christie, an audience member said, “I didn’t expect him to be funny.”  But would she vote for him in 2016?  Her answer: “Maybe.  I liked him a lot more after today. I thought he did a really nice job.”

This Des Moines, Iowa, summit included nearly a dozen Republicans who are at least flirting with a presidential bid, and as usual, it served as a kick-off in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses which are always held in Iowa.

But the odds that the choice made at this Summit in Iowa will be the final GOP nominee, when the caucus actually occurs, those odds are much different than they were a decade ago.

Copyright G.Ater  2015