- The Iowa caucuses are less genteel than ever before, David Yepsen says
- More voices are being heard at the caucuses, but some are increasingly hostile, he says
- Yepsen: Iowa's tradition of civility is challenged by hecklers, protesters and Internet negativity
- Come 2016, candidates may conclude Iowa's just not worth it any more, Yepsen says
Editor's note: David Yepsen, a former political reporter for The Des Moines Register, is the director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
(CNN) -- In 1979, George H.W. Bush was giving a foreign policy speech to a group of Iowa Republican caucus-goers when a British journalist, well into his cups, shouted "Rubbish! Rubbish!" at the former U.N. ambassador from the back of the room.
Joseph Kraft, one of America's leading political columnists, frowned at his well-soaked colleague and said, "Shhh. We don't do it that way here." The man nodded, and Bush smiled and proceeded with his address.
Things have changed at caucus time in Iowa. It's a whole lot less genteel than ever before. And that may not be good for the future of the caucuses.
For several cycles now, caucus events have grown ever larger, with more money being spent and media attention being generated. But the biggest difference is the level of surliness.
Americans on both the left and the right are angry and frustrated. Many have reached snapping points. Upset about being ignored by a political process that won't do things they want done, their solution is to raise their voices and adopt guerrilla theater tactics to force their way into the debate.
Growing numbers of websites, bloggers and YouTube videos help define the coverage in ways that didn't exist a cycle or two ago. At one level, that's a healthy use of the First Amendment. There are more voices being heard.
At another level, it's not so good. Some of these voices lack civility and employ increasingly hostile tactics in an effort to garner media attention. If this sort of thing keeps up, it could contribute to the demise of the caucuses and an end to the up-close campaigning that has been a hallmark of caucus campaigns.
Newt Gingrich and the chocolate factory 
Wife talked Romney into second run 
Ron Paul in the spotlight To be sure, American political campaigns have never been very genteel affairs. They seem even less so today thanks to communications technologies that enable the campaigns' negativity to be spewed into living rooms and hand-helds on a constant basis.
In Iowa, the state's tradition of civil politics is being challenged by hecklers, protesters and Internet negativity, along with record amounts of last-minute attack television ads from unknown sources.
Early signs of it came in 2010, when some tea party activists verbally challenged Iowa candidates. On top of that was the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which has poured the gasoline of unattributed campaign donations onto these fires of negativity. Next was hackers threatening a cyber attack on the caucus results to destroy the reporting of the vote. Now, the Occupy movement is arriving in Iowa to use the events as a backdrop for their protests.
(Stay tuned. This could get interesting in the coming days. When some Occupy protester from out of state gets in the face of an NRA supporter at a caucus, things could turn ugly. Despite the best efforts of cooler heads on all sides, the storyline on caucus night may not be who wins but the outcome of any Occupy vs. tea party confrontations.)
Add this all up, and it's easy to see why it could contribute to the demise of the caucuses. Already we've seen some members of Congress reduce the numbers of town hall meetings so as not to have ugly scenes with hecklers -- and to limit the opportunities for opposition trackers to capture them in gaffes that will live forever on the Internet. At many caucus events, there are also more security people than ever before, judging by the increased numbers of thick-necked fellows with wraparound sunglasses and plastic earpieces.
Come 2016, candidates may conclude that Iowa's just not worth it anymore. They may figure they are better off just raising more money in closed-door fundraisers and doing invitation-only telephone town hall meetings.
It's not hard to see why. The caucuses became important because candidates like George McGovern, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush felt they got something out of participating. Candidates in the future may no longer feel that way, because the caucus events have moved a long way from the days when Carter munched lemon bars in someone's kitchen.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Yepsen.
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/_hb4-Q7_9Gg/index.html
bbc latest news bbc world news bbc pacific news bbc asia online bbc europe online bbc news live
No comments:
Post a Comment