- BRANSTAD “ON THE TAKE” FROM BIG CORPORATE INTERESTS
- BRANSTAD SON PAID SHILL FOR BIG ETHANOL
- BRANSTAD A CRONY CAPITALIST
- BRANSTAD A CAREER POLITICIAN
- BRANSTAD SUPPORT FOR ETHANOL MANDATES TAKES FOOD OUT OF MOUTH OF BABES
- BRANSTAD POLICIES INCREASE MEAT PROTEIN PRICES
- BRANSTAD FAMILY HEAVILY INVESTED IN BIG CORN
- BRANSTAD SUPPORTS ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
- BRANSTAD BY IMPLICATION TRASHES STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY WHICH OPPOSES MANDATES AND GOVERNMENT DISTORTION OF MARKETS
- BRANSTAD OPPOSES THE ONE CANDIDATE WHO SUPPORTS THE STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM ON SUCH MATTERS
- BRANSTAD MUST BE VERY VERY WORRIED ABOUT CRUZ
Here is the story as reported in the Des Moines Register (DMR) that prompts our little display.
Branstad says he wants Cruz defeated in Iowa
We highly recommend reading it as the DMR manages to present the controversy with some journalistic evenhandedness, not on facts about the issue, but in the political balance to the article.
Our headlines above are at least as accurate, charitable and encompassing about Governor Branstad and / or (we would maintain both) his son (who is managing the Big Ethanol attacks on Cruz) as their take on Cruz. Our statements can be substantiated by reviewing Branstad’s political history and campaign finance reports, reading the DMR article and those we have published about ethanol in these pages. Simply type “ethanol” into the search window on this page and follow the links. The Republican Party of Iowa 2014 platform, items 5.1 and 5.8 are obtainable here (not that the anti-Cruz jihad cares about party principles reflected in the platform).
Our hats off to Congressman Steve King, a noted champion of Iowa farmers, and corn ethanol by the way, for the integrity he has shown on the matter by explaining Cruz’s position which is to phase out the so called “renewable fuel” mandates but also ending the so called “ethanol wall” allowing as much ethanol production as the market demands. Cruz’s position has been recognized by one of the largest marketers of ethanol in the state as a solid position good for the industry.
R Mall
More reading:
*How Pandering To Iowa’s Ethanol Lobby Hurts America
*Refusing to Kiss King Corn’s Ring in Iowa
A Profile In Courage In Iowa: Cruz Won’t Bow To Ethanol Lobby
As Ted Cruz rolls through Iowa he does battle with the ethanol corn lobby
Editorial: Ethanol lobby losing clout in Iowa caucuses
Environmentalist groups have long questioned the virtues of ethanol. It is cleaner than fossil fuel when it comes out of tailpipes, but its production requires enormous amounts of land, water and energy. In 2014, the Canada-based Institute for Sustainable Development estimated the overall carbon dioxide and climate impact of biofuels to be about the same as for petroleum.
The reigning Republican establishment Iowa Monarch, Terry Branstad has come out of the closet. On Tuesday Governor Branstad revealed for all the world to see, that he really doesn’t care who wins the presidency in November…Trump, Hil, Bern, Donald Duck…as long as it is not a candidate who threatens to cut off the ethanol lobby. In a strangely candid, for him, announcement, Branstad revealed the only thing important to him…not the future of America, not the quality of leadership of this nation for the next four years, definitely not the viability of the Republican party…no! It is the continued support for the unconscionable government subsidies and mandates for ethanol. Terry’s hypocrisy is as stunning as it is obvious. He complains that Ted Cruz is “heavily financed by Big Oil”, while his own son heads a pro-ethanol group!
The governor’s motivation is so apparent, it would be embarrassing if he were not already recognized by many of us as a world class hypocrite. Branstad did NOT endorse ANY candidate. He simply wanted to make clear that Iowans should not vote for Ted Cruz! Terry can’t afford that! What a guy!
It is national Economic suicide to trade Manufacturing Jobs for opening markets to sell soybeans and corn. This free trading idea alone has contributed more to the debt than out of control education spending. We lay off workers if we don’t have jobs but somehow the Agriculture GOP mafia has rejected the idea that ground should be fallow if we don’t have a market for corn.
. . .
In my opinion Gov. Braindead is out of touch with GOP values as per usual. I still hate Ethanol but its a sideshow issue in my opinion. Trump is what the GOP needs. With Trump you may win west of Brady street for the first time since 1990s and Neil Harrison. You take Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida out of Dems hands and actually begin to compete in Michigan and New York.
Cruz is a greasy canadain selling that evangelical “suckers bet and Bob Vanferplatts king maker or as I call it loser selection process. We have been down this road before
Trump is Pat Buchanan on Steroids. Trump is probably a middle of the road GOP type probably a Kennedy or Truman democrat. But a winning GOP as POTUS changes this country for the next 2 decades.
More importantly Trump brings the GOp back to the party of Eisenhower and the working class and not the exclusive party of the merchant class where there are no votes.
Trump will finally give the GOP an answer to the problem of the debt. The Rand Paul and GOP insistence to cutting government as the only way to reduce the debt is unworkable and unachievable in today’s European Socialism. Trump will eliminate the debt by cutting government and enacting tariffs that bring back jobs and and the money that washes continually through society and is tax at every exchange generating huge revenue for the Feds.
“Trickle down” and” Free trading” eliminates jobs and wages and pools money at the top where it is put in tax shelters or moved to low taxed areas.
Bernie Sanders is being underestimated, he is the populations rejection of the American Dream and turn towards European Socialism. Ted Cruz and Rush Limbaugh and all of the other GOP “true” conservatives are being rejected by the working class.. It is Trump who must save Capitalism as we know it or turn for ever to being a European Democracy. Trump is workable conservatism…Limbaugh and the Ayn Rand zealots have failed and are rejected by the workers of this country. There is no winning coalition of Business owners, Farmers, and evangelicals. Every one of those groups is shrinking in membership. We must get the American worker to buy into conservatism again.
Trump does that.
I appreciate the unnamed writer’s “response to the editor”. Reasonable and thoughtful although his/her reference to the “greasy canadain” (whatever that is, I presume he refers to Senator Cruz) is unnecessary and self-defeating. I am not an opponent of Trump and, like the writer, I like hearing much of what he is saying…at this time. No one knows what is in the heart of any politician, but a somewhat reliable guide to their sincerity and likely future positions is what they have done and how it relates to what they said they would do. Ted Cruz, that “greasy canadain”, has great appeal to me for the reason that he is consistent in what he says and in what he does. Perhaps each of us has his/her own definition of “conservatism” but I believe Senator Cruz is closer to what I define and support as Conservatism than any other candidate in the field…which I suppose makes me a “zealot”. I am suspect that Donald Trump has come to his current version of “conservatism” only very recently and only because there are many Americans who are truly angry and fearful about the future of this country. Mr. Trump promises to “make this country great again” and who would argue with that goal? However, he has endorsed and supported in the recent past many of the very things which have brought America to its current distressed state. I applaud Trump for bravely raising the issues the GOP establishment has refused to. But is it only because The Donald has shrewdly perceived where most Americans are and is adroitly turning it to an electoral advantage?
Ted Cruz has taken strong stands on many of the same issues and he has done it where it would count if he had the support of a Party structure that did not cower before a hostile press, a president with dictatorial aspirations, and an unprincipled opposition party. Mr. Cruz has displayed extraordinary courage in doing so.
But, he is now disparaged as “greasy” for seeking the “evangelical” vote as though Donald Trump were not seeking it? What would “two Corinthians” say about that?
Where we go from here will define us as a society and a nation. I believe that both Trump and Cruz proclaim their commitment to the things which make a great and just and prosperous country. I do believe, though, that true commitment to that vision is stronger and more reliable on the part of one of the GOP candidates moreso than the other’s…that of Ted Cruz.