A response to 'Sh*t Richard Says'

...by his wife

For those who read today’s post by my husband, Richard Gilbert — Sh*t Richard Says - about his decision to support Nikki Haley in the Iowa GOP caucus on January 15, let’s say I have a different point of view.

I chose not to comment when my Iowa Writers’ Collaborative colleague Chuck Offenburger announced his intention to do just that (endorse Haley) on Sunday morning. I figured Chuck was Mary Riche’s problem since they became the Richeburgers upon marrying not long ago.

All kidding aside, several people I know (and love) support Nikki Haley. They hang onto the idea that there is a dying breed within the Republican Party of folks who at least say they aren’t in favor of banning books and at least say they think a woman should have a right to make decisions about her health care, and at least say they think it’s insane to let absolutely anyone - even those convicted of domestic abuse - buy a gun. Or, they say Donald Trump is a threat to Democracy, a felon, a rapist, an insurrectionist, a cad, a liar, a cheat, a pedophile, and a boor.

Well, they at least say these things in private (to people like me). Wink, wink, nod, nod. All complete with an eye-roll at the mention of 45.

I asked one evergreen election-night talking head if he’d come on my podcast to discuss what happened to the Iowa Republican Party:

I’ll come, he said, but I won’t talk about banning books, Kim Reynolds, Chuck Grassley, school vouchers, guns, or Trump.

Caucus night promises to be interesting. I know of one Democratic strategist who will be caucusing for Nikki Haley, she told me this week.

There is a school of thought that Haley is a lesser evil than Evil 1, Evil 2, and Evil 3.

It is a low bar.

Still, a case can be made that a Democrat messing around in the GOP caucus to lower Trump’s margin of victory makes some sense - he must win bigly to manage expectations.

I get it. If you are a legal resident of Iowa, your preference on January 15 carries an outsized weight, so why not make the best of it?

Well, be careful what you wish for.

Dallas County Courthouse, Sunday, January 7, with flags at half mast in honor of the school shooting victims in the county. Photo by Julie Gammack

I drove from Des Moines to northwest Iowa on Sunday, taking the back roads through Dallas County, the scene of a horrific school shooting. Since the last time I made this trip, more farmland has turned into housing developments, and the storefronts on the brick street north of the courthouse are undergoing a significant overhaul. A ton of federal money is helping to make this happen (thank you, Joe Biden).

The same is true in many Iowa towns, including Coon Rapids, a city in Carroll County. It's funny how government spending is welcome in a city or town. There have been waves of federal support coming into Iowa, which is ironic. GOP members who voted against the expenditures now coming into their districts attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies or send press releases about the initiatives they sometimes voted against.

Are these the programs folks like Haley think make Biden such an awful president?

The disconnect is understandable with declining legacy media coverage of complex issues like local government spending. Too many voters are being swayed by misinformation on Facebook and elsewhere and don’t know how appropriations happen.

As for the reasons why a 17-year-old is driven to shoot up a school, there are a lot of dots to connect, and the trail links directly back to GOP lawmakers who thumb their noses at the majority of voters who say they want common-sense reforms.

Checking with Google’s AI tool, Bard; I asked what Haley’s view is on common sense gun safety issues:

• Red Flag Laws: Haley has expressed distrust in red flag laws, which allow temporary firearm seizure from individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others. She worries about the potential misuse and infringement of Second Amendment rights.

• Banning Specific Firearms: Haley opposes banning specific types of firearms, such as AR-15s, arguing that it wouldn't prevent mass shootings and wouldn't effectively address the root causes.

I just picked one issue that is still on Iowans' minds due to the tragedy in Perry. I could look up her positions and upload video clips from television interviews on Fox and find she repeatedly fails in the mystical ‘Bob Ray Republican’ match-up on many of those litmus test issues.

Bob Ray was the only governor in the United States to welcome Vietnamese refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Haley was a hard no when, as governor, she was asked to assist with a humanitarian crisis involving Syrian refugees.

Haley was opposed to same-sex marriage.

As Governor, she signed a 20-week abortion ban.

So, dear friends, a vote for Haley is not for a ‘Bob Ray moderate.’

Would she be better than Trump?

Who wouldn’t be? I guess that’s the point my pals are thinking about who is planning to caucus for Nikki Haley.

Some old liberals chew on the ‘what if Biden isn’t the candidate’ question. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, D-MI, gets the nod in my circle, with Senator Ralph Warnock as her running mate. But there is no indication that Biden will not be the nominee, so we must knock it off.

Biden was not my first, second, third, fourth, or fifth choice for president when he won the Democratic party nomination. But once he was sworn into office, I could at least sleep knowing Trump was out of the White House.

A friend who is a long-time volunteer for her local Democratic party in a small Iowa town confessed she is scared for her physical safety.

Around election time, she distributes yard signs for candidates, and when she started to make her usual rounds, people said they were afraid to take Biden signs, she says. They tell her they feel physically threatened.

We stand for what we tolerate. When we see something, we’ve got to say something. If we know one thing about bullies, they can’t be ignored or empowered by our surrender out of fear.

So, I’m seeing something and saying something.

Biden is the President of the United States, who assumed leadership without the so-called peaceful transfer of power, thanks to a failed coup attempt. Biden has leaned into the headwinds of hate and misinformation and lies with strength, character, and a moral compass.

Perfect? Nope. But he’ll go down in history as one of the most influential presidents of our time and who literally (literally, folks, to coin a Bidenism) saved our democracy.

I hope supporters proudly take those Biden yard signs. If they are worried about vandalism or worse, use video cameras to document and identify the perpetrator, then prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

We still have the rule of law and the Constitution.

So far.

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