Al Forno
2005-01-29 02:42:13 UTC
Carlson: 'West Wing' serves Iowa politics with a side of corn
By JOHN CARLSON
REGISTER COLUMNIST
January 28, 2005
You say you didn't see Wednesday night's episode of "The West Wing" on NBC?
Too bad, especially if you missed it to watch the Hawkeye debacle at
Northwestern. If that's the case, you truly have my sympathy.
The "West Wing" show was called "King Corn," because it took place entirely in
Iowa and provided a look at a couple of winter days before the Iowa caucuses.
Some of it was painfully genuine.
For instance, the stage where the candidates appeared was piled with bales of
straw - a requirement of every big-time political event held in the state.
Staffers were in strategy sessions reading The Des Moines Register and fretting
over the paper's poll results. And John Deere tractors were everywhere.
Don't believe it?
They even had a John Deere tractor parked on the tarmac of an airport,
presumably in Cedar Rapids.
OK, that one was a little excessive.
Excessive like the unnamed Cedar Rapids hotel where Johnny Cash's version of
"The Green, Green Grass of Home" was playing a bit too loudly in the elevators
and hallways. And the rusty sign on a farmstead that read, "Screw the Dog; This
Property is Protected by Smith and Wesson."
Actors playing members of the Iowa State Patrol were in the familiar brown
uniforms with the yellow patches. Political big shots talked about Des Moines,
Ames, Centerville and Osceola County.
None of it was filmed in Iowa, but the show's producers replicated the interior
of the Hamburg Inn No. 2 restaurant in Iowa City, where the candidates stopped
by and made their pitch. Customers put coffee beans in jars bearing the
candidates' names, like the restaurant does in its "coffee bean caucus."
That was nice, especially because they didn't put kernels of corn in the jars.
Which is a surprise because it was the only piece of the show that didn't dwell
on the crop.
The plot involved presidential candidates and whether they had the courage to
speak truthfully about their opposition to ethanol. They all dislike subsidies
for the corn-based fuel additive, but only one - the always lovable, sensitive
and honest Alan Alda - had the guts to say so. In front of the "Iowa Corn
Growers Expo" at the "Jefferson Cattle Barn" in Council Bluffs.
The truth is, the show was a one-hour Jimmy Swaggart-style flop-sweat sermon
about the evils of farm subsidies and ethanol, and how presidential candidates
have to pander on the issues to get Iowans' votes.
"General Patton would have pandered on ethanol," said an adviser to the Alda
character.
"Making a gallon of ethanol takes almost a gallon of oil," said Alda. "That's
like saying using tonic water reduces our demand for gin."
The National Corn Growers Association says that's absolutely wrong, in case you
think those folks didn't notice.
Nevertheless, Alda went on to say farm subsidies cause the "corn glut" and are
the reason Americans are fat.
"That's why we make 20 million tons of corn sweetener a year," he said. "The
average American eats and drinks 93 pounds of it, and we wonder why we have an
obesity problem."
The corn growers group says that's bogus, too, and it's planning to send
informational packets to the show's producers, who no doubt will be impressed.
The show's angst over pandering was predictable.
It's how much of the country sees us, including New York Times editorial
writers who wrote not long ago that Iowa should lose its first-in-the-nation
caucuses - it called them "icicle-festooned precinct scrums" - because we have
"quaint views" and care only about local issues. Primarily ethanol.
The fact is, Iowa's farm population is shrinking and has less influence
politically than ever before. I talked with a colleague who covered probably
100 candidate events before last year's caucuses, and said he doesn't recall a
single one focusing on ethanol. Or any other quaint local issues.
Iowans vote on issues well beyond the state's borders. War, terrorism, the
economy and a candidate's electability, for instance.
But it's silly to get riled. It's just a TV show, and a good one at that. Even
though nobody screamed like Howard Dean, and the writers missed another chance
to make fun of the Coralville rain forest.
Maybe next time.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050128/OPINION01
/501280406/1035
By JOHN CARLSON
REGISTER COLUMNIST
January 28, 2005
You say you didn't see Wednesday night's episode of "The West Wing" on NBC?
Too bad, especially if you missed it to watch the Hawkeye debacle at
Northwestern. If that's the case, you truly have my sympathy.
The "West Wing" show was called "King Corn," because it took place entirely in
Iowa and provided a look at a couple of winter days before the Iowa caucuses.
Some of it was painfully genuine.
For instance, the stage where the candidates appeared was piled with bales of
straw - a requirement of every big-time political event held in the state.
Staffers were in strategy sessions reading The Des Moines Register and fretting
over the paper's poll results. And John Deere tractors were everywhere.
Don't believe it?
They even had a John Deere tractor parked on the tarmac of an airport,
presumably in Cedar Rapids.
OK, that one was a little excessive.
Excessive like the unnamed Cedar Rapids hotel where Johnny Cash's version of
"The Green, Green Grass of Home" was playing a bit too loudly in the elevators
and hallways. And the rusty sign on a farmstead that read, "Screw the Dog; This
Property is Protected by Smith and Wesson."
Actors playing members of the Iowa State Patrol were in the familiar brown
uniforms with the yellow patches. Political big shots talked about Des Moines,
Ames, Centerville and Osceola County.
None of it was filmed in Iowa, but the show's producers replicated the interior
of the Hamburg Inn No. 2 restaurant in Iowa City, where the candidates stopped
by and made their pitch. Customers put coffee beans in jars bearing the
candidates' names, like the restaurant does in its "coffee bean caucus."
That was nice, especially because they didn't put kernels of corn in the jars.
Which is a surprise because it was the only piece of the show that didn't dwell
on the crop.
The plot involved presidential candidates and whether they had the courage to
speak truthfully about their opposition to ethanol. They all dislike subsidies
for the corn-based fuel additive, but only one - the always lovable, sensitive
and honest Alan Alda - had the guts to say so. In front of the "Iowa Corn
Growers Expo" at the "Jefferson Cattle Barn" in Council Bluffs.
The truth is, the show was a one-hour Jimmy Swaggart-style flop-sweat sermon
about the evils of farm subsidies and ethanol, and how presidential candidates
have to pander on the issues to get Iowans' votes.
"General Patton would have pandered on ethanol," said an adviser to the Alda
character.
"Making a gallon of ethanol takes almost a gallon of oil," said Alda. "That's
like saying using tonic water reduces our demand for gin."
The National Corn Growers Association says that's absolutely wrong, in case you
think those folks didn't notice.
Nevertheless, Alda went on to say farm subsidies cause the "corn glut" and are
the reason Americans are fat.
"That's why we make 20 million tons of corn sweetener a year," he said. "The
average American eats and drinks 93 pounds of it, and we wonder why we have an
obesity problem."
The corn growers group says that's bogus, too, and it's planning to send
informational packets to the show's producers, who no doubt will be impressed.
The show's angst over pandering was predictable.
It's how much of the country sees us, including New York Times editorial
writers who wrote not long ago that Iowa should lose its first-in-the-nation
caucuses - it called them "icicle-festooned precinct scrums" - because we have
"quaint views" and care only about local issues. Primarily ethanol.
The fact is, Iowa's farm population is shrinking and has less influence
politically than ever before. I talked with a colleague who covered probably
100 candidate events before last year's caucuses, and said he doesn't recall a
single one focusing on ethanol. Or any other quaint local issues.
Iowans vote on issues well beyond the state's borders. War, terrorism, the
economy and a candidate's electability, for instance.
But it's silly to get riled. It's just a TV show, and a good one at that. Even
though nobody screamed like Howard Dean, and the writers missed another chance
to make fun of the Coralville rain forest.
Maybe next time.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050128/OPINION01
/501280406/1035