REMEMBER, IT’S THE OTHER ROGER SIMON: More Doubts Raised About The Politico’s Thompson Article. An interview with the fire chief, plus an editor who says “no comment.”
UPDATE: The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of going out and interviewing people mentioned in questionable media accounts. And the less I think some “journalists” will be pleased with the results.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader says that The Politico missed the real story — Thompson’s refusal to pander:
AKD: What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County?
FT: (laughs)
AKD: You knew this was coming, right?
FT: I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president to hand them something. Farmers want fair treatment and a chance to prosper in a free economy and that’s what I would help ensure. There’s a lot of programs we’ve got out there, some of which are good programs, some of which are not. And I think that we need to work our way through that and make sure we’re doing what’s good for the country, not just the farmers, not just the people of Iowa, not just the people of Tennessee. But good for the country. A sound policy that makes sense. I think there’s a lot more that we could do for the working farmer in terms of ecological programs and environmental programs – land conservation, soil conservation – that would be fair and it would be beneficial to the nation and to Iowa and to our country. We’re going to have to phase out the corporate welfare system we’ve got, however. There are extremely rich people living in skyscrapers in Manhattan that are receiving subsidy payments. I think that’s wrong. I’d put a stop to that if it was within my power. That still continues in this latest Farm Bill and it’s not right. There ought to be a cutoff at some level and it’s not right ot have millionaires receiving farm subsidies.
Non-pandering in Iowa? There’s a man-bites dog story. This seems like it should have been bigger news.