Speaking of ethanol money and its influence, (previous post) — can even it dry up?
Iowa has certainly had an influential place in presidential politics. An often referred to publication for many searching for comment, or to comment, has been the political journal The Iowa Republican (TIR). Its founder is Craig Robinson who was also often quoted by analysts and reporters. After determining that “TIR” was totally in the tank with corn-based politics we stopped our more frequent visits. The ridiculous attacks on Cruz (and snideness toward Steve King) were too much to take and we stopped our frequent check-ins not long after caucus time (however, we never questioned its founder’s support for genuine conservative ideals in other areas). Our latest checkup indicates that there have been no posts since May 9th. That post is still up at the site.
We have not studied the site to see if there are more clues that would explain the complete cessation but we did notice a fall off in the number of posts in the months previous to the last post. The strangeness in our estimation is that if TIR has ceased publication one would think there would be a farewell message, or if on hiatus, some explanation — a “see you in September note” or something.
We suspect a loss of funding or maybe a job change for the proprietor. It had become pretty much a one-man show and greener pastures, other time commitments, priorities … all are understandable reasons to end the previous publication schedule. Nevertheless one would still expect an explanation, unless there was a sudden dire illness, as a courtesy to its readers, especially the ten or so that kept the comment section going. We contacted one of them, perhaps the most prolific, and that person “had no idea” as to why there has been no sign-off message.
We don’t think the costs of keeping such a site up are overwhelming. Your humble editors at veritaspac.com are volunteers and pretty much float the boat as to costs ourselves (v’pac has a less sophisticated site). But even if compensation for the content providers was a requirement to keep it functioning, or a job change came up, one would think TIR or Mr. Robinson, or the owners if different than him, could muster an explanation, a farewell, or perhaps even an occasional post as part of a reduced format as a transition to ceasing publication. We would be curious about any information our readers may have.
Regarding the possible influence of Big Ethanol on The Iowa Republican, this extensive article at the liberal outlet Bleeding Heartland does provide some research. Any conclusions are theirs or yours. Our impressions were formed independently. R Mall
Memo to journalists: Craig Robinson’s firm makes money off the Iowa caucus campaign
Addenda — This is speculation, conjecture with no particular claimed basis that has come our way from others or crossed our mind to “explain” a sudden cessation:
That the site stats (readership) for TIR fell off so much after the caucuses that the proprietors / funders unceremoniously gave up. The publication tried mightily to denigrate Cruz, it was not particularly friendly to Congressman King of late, both of whom would be considered champions of what might be presumed to be the the largest component of the publication’s regular readership. In other words TIR shit in its nest.
Other conjecture — simple enough — funders if they were essential, stopped funding, as any acclaim achieved by the site did not show political results — Cruz cruised to victory in the caucuses, TIR’s preferred candidates had disastrous showings. King was clearly cruising to his primary victory. Other speculation, the funders funding was needed elsewhere and the relatively expensive toy had to go. None of that explains the lack of a sign-off message unless it was accompanied by some bitterness perhaps???
One other speculation — costs went up — ad revenue went down — that would explain a more orderly cessation, but they would not seem to call for such an unceremonious ending. We noticed no appeal for funds to readers. We doubt unexpected costs or dependence on ad revenue were primary factors.
