Hawkeye Republican

IOWA'S BLACK EYE: Ann Coulter took a swipe at Senator Tom Harkin, saying:

"Tom Harkin, Crazed Moron, was shouting this week that Dick Cheney is a "coward," evidently for not fighting in Vietnam like Harkin. Except Harkin didn't fight in Vietnam either! The last time Harkin was bragging about his Vietnam service was in 1984 when he told David Broder of The Washington Post: 'I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962. One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions.'

Sen. Barry Goldwater -- not the Post -- checked with the Defense Department and soon Harkin was forced to admit he had never been in combat in Vietnam, but was based in Japan during the war, ferrying damaged planes from the Saigon airport to Japan for repairs. Oops!"

I always revel in seeing Harkin attacked by national pundits. This man is as liberal as Ted Kennedy, and also equally as much of a shrill. And it's not as if he's a true Iowan, anyway. The man owns more land in Cancun than he does in Iowa (his Iowa residency consists of a mailbox!). He holds a personal vendetta over Jim Ross Lightfoot, the man who almost defeated him for Senate in 1996. When Lightfoot ran against Tom Vilsack for the governership, Harkin set up a PAC to raise money against Lightfoot - a move seen by many as motivated by Harkin's declaration that Lightfoot would never serve in elected office again. Harkin's not adverse to Watergate tactics, either: a former member of Harkin's staff attended a 2002 meeting for Harkin's opponent, Greg Ganske, with a tape recorder hidden. He then gave the tape to Harkin's staff who used it to smear Ganske.

But, in Harkin's defense, he did make an awfully good coat rack for Howard Dean during the "I Have a Scream" speech.