Two things have jumped out at me about the Iowa Caucuses. Newt Gingrich’s threat to go after Ron Paul for letting Iran have the bomb without a fight drew them into even sharper focus.
Item 1. The results showed that 48% of the people aged 20 to 29 ( or something like that) at the caucuses supported Ron Paul. Having all the leading figures of the GOP badmouth the candidate of the youth tells them to go elsewhere. For a party of old people that is a fatal message.
Item 2. For my entire adult life the GOP has promoted itself as the party of the military. That same message will also put off the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have come to revere Ron Paul for drawing the same conclusion about the errors of American interventionism that my war-hero Republican Grandfather did after he fought in World War I. The neocon message will pour cold water on today’s American military for the GOP cause. I’ll be surprised to find many gung ho vets running for office to wave our bloody flag under the nose of the rest of the world.
