Musings on the Iowa State Fair

By Tom Quiner

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqxjRfSBBmw]

Your humble blogger is a little bloated today.

I will regale you on my diet at the Iowa State Fair in a moment. First, a little politics.

President Obama visited the Iowa State Fair on Monday. In vintage Obama fashion, he cost a small business owner major bucks.

This time, it was the Bud Tent. The Secret Service came and shut it down for a couple of hours. When? During prime beer-drinking time, of course. The president was speaking nearby, so they shut down Mike Cunningham’s business in the name of security.

Understandable. Unfortunately, it cost Mr. Cunningham about $25,000 in sales which cannot be recuperated.

This is vintage Obama. He just can’t help himself. Anything he touches leaves a path of destruction for the business community. Jobs lost. Business lost. Associated tax revenues lost.

Even when he tries to “help” by giving taxpayer dollars away to green companies, like Solyndra, they still go broke. And taxpayers are stuck holding the bag.

His visit to the Fair was simply a microcosm of his presidency.

Paul Ryan also visited the Fair on Tuesday without shutting down the beer tent. What distinguished his speech was the attempt of liberal agitators to suppress his free speech by shouting him down. Again, a microcosm of liberalism. It follows on the heals of liberal mayors trying to suppress the free speech of Chick-fil-A by threatening them with economic sanctions for speaking publicly about their Christian faith.

I didn’t make it to the Fair until Tuesday. By then, things had calmed down. Yes, I had to wait in long lines at the beer tent. I suspect that was due to a wiser group of beer drinkers trying to stock up before the next Democratic candidate came through and shut down the taps.

Now, on a more serious note, the food ranged from the “gourmet” to the “gut wrenching.”

Let’s start with the Wonder Bar. Always spectacular! How can anyone complain about an ice cream bar “double dipped” in chocolate and rolled in nuts? The president would love it, I’m sure, knowing how he likes to double dip and even triple dip taxpayers.

On the other hand, the deep fat-fried Snickers bar was a little bit too much for me. I took but a small bite of one, and still I felt a need to rush to the emergency room for a quick insertion of multiple stents.

I stopped into the Beaverdale Confections concession for a gourmet S’more. Wow! Delicious, complete with caramel marshmallow. The owner, Tom, may be a liberal, but don’t let that hold you back. His product is outstanding. Go ahead and order online and tell him his favorite conservative sent you his way.

The Pork Burger was very good. The barbecue pork was solid.

The corn dog was a corn dog. However, the new bacon-wrapped corn dog was a disappointment. The bacon is wrapped around the hot dog before the corn meal crust is deep-fat-fried. The bacon was soggy and fairly tasteless. What’s the point?

My gourmet tasters thought the bacon should be crispier and on the outside of the corn dog, not on the inside.

These are important issues, you know.

I spent a little time listening to Miss Iowa Honey Queen, or something like that, at the bee exhibit. She warned of decreasing bee populations and how that can be dangerous to our ability to feed ourselves. She must have been a Republican: she didn’t blame it on Bush, Catholics, global warming, or climate change. Rather, she expressed concerns about changing farming practices and hybrid corn.

All I have to say is: “Our State Fair is a great State Fair!”