Iowa delegation strays from our heritage

Backing Jim Jordan is an affront to our history

Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash

Every member of Iowa’s congressional delegation, every last one of them, voted Tuesday to make Jim Jordan the Speaker of the House.

There may be no better evidence that Iowa’s heritage of political moderation is gone.

Oh, I know: Those days have been absent for quite a while now. Neither am I one to rhapsodize the “good old days.” Rarely were they as good as in our memory. But rarely, too, has it been so clear just how far Iowa has strayed from the days when the tenor of its politics was a point of pride, when the judgment of its delegation wasn’t so badly compromised.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how voters and the media rarely consider who a congressional candidate supports for Speaker, even though they should; even though there may be no vote — other than whether to go to war — that is more important for a member of Congress. The Speakership is an immensely powerful position that carries immense responsibilities.

Jim Jordan is about the last person who should be given these powers in a country as divided as ours. Jordan is the embodiment of a vicious, snarling attack-dog style of politics that has poisoned our federal government. He’s repeatedly pushed government shutdowns and led partisan investigations; he has a long history of scuttling Republican bills. It wasn’t for nothing that former Republican Speaker John Boehner called him a “legislative terrorist.”

It should be no surprise that Jim Jordan is Donald Trump’s guy for speaker. And why wouldn’t he be? Jordan was a legislative lieutenant in Trump’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. And even as Trump was fueling the January 6^th riot and insurrection, Jordan was on the phone with him that day. We don’t know what they talked about. But we do know Jordan went on to vote to reject the unambiguous results of two states Joe Biden won, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Then he tried to cover up his involvement.

Yet, every single Iowa Republican in Congress voted for him to be next in line to the presidency behind the vice-president. And if this wasn’t insult enough to our Republic, then what about the economic interests of the state they’re supposed to represent?

One of the most important pieces of legislation to Iowa is the Farm Bill. But Jordan has never voted for a Farm Bill. Not once. (Of course, in a bid to get enough votes to become Speaker, Jordan is now promising to bring this year’s Farm Bill over the line. But I wouldn’t trust him. He’s also promising to act on US aid to Ukraine, even though he’s long criticized the fight against Vladimir Putin.)

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents my congressional district, was one of the Iowans who threw her support to Jordan. There were reports that Miller-Meeks waffled. But not when it counted, when it came time to vote. Instead of joining the 20 Republicans, largely from moderate districts, who couldn’t stomach a vote for Jordan, who resisted the pressure, Miller-Meeks jumped on board.

In the two weeks since McCarthy got the boot, we’ve heard from Republicans that the Democrats should put aside politics and help them elect a leader. And to many Americans who aren’t immersed in the day-to-day hardball politics of this country, this may seem logical.

Why couldn’t some moderates in both parties just put politics aside and get the House operating again?

Tuesday’s vote should explain why this isn’t possible. At least not for the moment.

Republicans could have turned put forward a less polarizing figure than Jordan to resolve this crisis. But they did not. Instead, they backed a man who could never win any Democratic support; they backed a man who is so radical that he won even less Republican support than Kevin McCarthy. (There is another vote scheduled for this morning.)

Did Iowa’s delegation seek a moderate solution?

No, they put their trust in Jim Jordan.

I can’t imagine any Iowa member of Congress from my youth voting for a Jim Jordan.

I’d like to think that when voters go to the polls next year, the ones who complain that our politics is so divided and dirty and that nobody knows how to get along and compromise, they will remember this sad day.

There are few people more responsible for the decrepit state of politics today than Jim Jordan; no politician who so fuels its hateful fires.

Yet, on Tuesday, ever single member of Iowa’s congressional delegation said with one voice: This is our guy.

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Laura Belin, Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Stephanie Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen, Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

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Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

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Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

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Wini Moranville, Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle’s Main Street, Iowa

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton, My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

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