Waterloo Sunset?

Trying to score points off of Michele Bachmann's John Wayne gaffe has resulted in failure for the Cedar Rapids Gazette Todd Boreman, err Dorman and Conan O'Brien.

Bachmann erred in having John Wayne born in Waterloo, but Dorman and Conan made a much bigger boo-boo, and the scientific community is united in that fact, in saying Waterloo is the birthplace of John Wayne Gacy.

Dorman -- I think Michele Bachmann’s mistaken assertion that John Wayne was born in Waterloo, when it was really the homicidal clown John Wayne Gacy, falls into that category.

Conan -- "Michele Bachmann said her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, is the birthplace of John Wayne, when it is actually the birthplace of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. She then said her favorite sitcom from the 80s is 'Charles Manson in Charge."

For the record John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago.

These clowns had a chance to look it up, like I did, and failed.

Occupied Our Cock-eye

We ducked out of our precinct caucus during platform debate.

There was one fewer attendee than 4 years ago when we had 106 participate.

The results from my precinct caucus are...

Ron Paul -- 41

That's an increase from his 2008 total of 17.

Rick Santorum -- 22.

Mitt Romney -- 16.

Romney's results were the exact same as four years ago.

Rick Perry -- 15.

Newt Gingrich -- 8.

Michele Bachmann -- 3.

Another precinct caucused in the same building and I was able to obtain their results.

This precinct saw an increase from their 2008 turnout of 82 participants, with a total of 103.

Ron Paul -- 29.

Which was 20 more votes than four years ago.

Rick Santorum -- 22.

Newt Gingrich -- 22.

Mitt Romney -- 17.

That's 6 fewer votes than in 2008.

Michele Bachmann -- 9.

Rick Perry -- 4.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

I promise not to review last night's entire Republican debate.

Gary Johnson looked like Ryan Stiles to me and sounded a little like Jon Lovitz (Yeah, That's The Ticket!) and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Johnson got off the best line of the night when he said, "My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration".

Mitt Romney was smoothest, Newt Gingrich again was spot on, Rick Perry looked lost, Jon Huntsman was somewhat better, Rick Santorum fumbled a wee bit, Ron Paul had his moments, Herman Cain was classic and Michele Bachmann remains a lightweight.

CHECK It Out

My friend Cal (Freedom's pal) and I went to the Iowa Straw Poll and each collected a commemorative t-shirt for our Tim Pawlenty votes.

Actually, the BBQ wasn't awful, plus you can never go wrong with a Dairy Queen Blizzard and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Some other sights and sounds from our day included...

Jennifer Jacobs of the Ragister was standing near our Pawlenty shuttle when we got off. Jacobs asked where we were from and I told her Des Moines. She asked if the whole bus had come from Des Moines and I told her it was a shuttle from the Ames Wal Mart.

Jacobs wrote that, No one could get on a Tim Pawlenty campaign bus this morning unless they signed a pledge promising to vote for the former Minnesota governor and showed a photo ID, which is required to vote at the Iowa Straw Poll.

It's not the first time Jacobs has gotten the facts wrong.

I did not sign any pledge and our bus captain asked if everyone was supporting the Governor, but he stated they'd be able to ride to the Straw Poll either way.

T-Paw greeted us while his staff handed out those now historic shirts.

While waiting in the long line to vote, Michael Barone (Washington Examiner) walked by and I mentioned I read his writing. Barone commented on my Viva La Reagan Revolucion shirt and said something in Spanish, to which I replied -- Si.

After voting, we headed to The Iowa Republican's tent and along the way passed Newt Gingrich.
Cal shook his hand and told him what a great job he had done at the debate.

At the TIR tent, I introduced myself to Christie Vilsack's number one nightmare, for now, Kevin Hall.

Kevin said some nice things about the Liter and I reciprocated about his writing.

Listened to my current, and next, Congressman Tom Latham before wondering off.

We were nearly run down by Ron Paul's golf carts, complete with suited up goon squad.

I was disappointed the Party used a Warren County Dummycrat, Steve Mathews, as their voice talent(?) during the program inside Hilton.

I sure hope they didn't pay him, as Mathews gave $200 to Staci Appel-sauce for brains last August, $100 to Mark Davitt in 2008 (both lost to Kent Sorenson) and $175 to Steve Richardson in 2000. I'm sure there have been other contributions, especially to the county party.

It will be interesting to see how the next few months play out.

I guess I'll support Rick Santorum, if he can hang in there, and wait for the oncoming Michele Bachmann melt down (she's been close already) and Ron Paul's continued devolution.

Mitt Romney and Rick Perry will only receive my support if they are the nominee.

Play My Record

I'm not going to go in depth into last night's Republican debate, for that read The Iowa Republican for Kevin Hall's & Craig Robinson's impressions.

As for impressions, I thought Jon Huntsman was doing his best Don Knotts as the Shakiest Gov From The West.

Huntsman's voice and body seemed to shake with every response, that always included he was proud of his record.

I can see Seth Meyers and Saturday Night Live having a field day with a Huntsman skit, but he won't be around long enough for it to be worth it and the scientific community is united in that fact.

I loved Newt Gingrich, you can never go wrong attacking the media at a Republican event.

Rick Santorum was fantastic, up until he mentioned beating 3 Dummycrat incumbents. As an incumbent, Santorum was soundly beaten in 2006.

Ron Paul continues to be an embarrassment, especially with his foolish belief that if we just focus solely on our borders everything else in the world will be hunky dory.

Herman Cain remains a great speaker, Mitt Romney lost me in 2006 and will only get me back if he is the nominee.

Michele Bachmann is a lightweight.

I'm most comfortable with Tim Pawlenty and that's who I'll be voting for on Saturday.