Hat Chat

As John McCain prepares to visit the Hoosier state Monday afternoon, the reaction from the ag community continues to pour in from the statement made last week by Barack Obama about agriculture.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty on ABC’s Good Morning America: Obama Not Offering “Positive Vision” for Iowa Farmers. BILL WEIR: “People want to follow hopeful, optimistic, civil, decent leaders. Are those qualities what has him so far ahead in the polls, do you think? And how would you relate those qualities to the McCain campaign?” GOV. TIM PAWLENTY: “Well, I think whether its Barack Obama or anyone else, people want to see a hopeful, positive vision for the future of the country, but that’s not what Barack Obama’s been offering. For example, here in Iowa, he said recently to Joel Klein of Time magazine, that agriculture is to blame for the nation’s health problems partly, including diabetes and heart disease and others. You can imagine what Iowa farmers are going to think of that.” WEIR: “Well, I think he was talking about corn syrup in soda and fast food. That’s a little bit out of context. I won’t ask –” GOV. PAWLENTY: “But Bill, farmers don’t grow soda, they grow corn.” (ABC’s “Good Morning America,” 11/1/08)

Commentary Magazine’s Jennifer Rubin: Obama’s Rural “Condescension” Slips Out. “In loose moments, Obama’s lack of understanding of and condescension toward rural and small-town America always slips out. And really, is his point that if farmers grew less food, Americans would be thinner? The mind reels.” (Jennifer Rubin, “Obama to Farmers: Stop Growing Food,” Commentary Magazine Contentions blog,” http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/40941, 11/1/08)

Bemidji (MN) Pioneer: Sen. Grassley: “It Is Ludicrous to Blame Farmers for Obesity.” “‘It is ludicrous to blame farmers for obesity and pollution,’ Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters during a Friday conference call. ‘I think he really doesn’t understand agriculture.’” (Don Davis and Scott Wente, “CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK: Obama comments upset GOP farmers,” Bemidji Pioneer, 11/1/08)

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Sen. Grassley: Obama “Doesn’t Have a Very Good Foundation.” “In a conference call arranged by the McCain campaign, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, called it ‘ludicrous to blame farmers for obesity and pollution.’ Said Grassley: ‘It shows that Sen. Obama doesn’t have a very good foundation in American agriculture.’” (Tom Webb, “McCain faults Obama’s comments on farming,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/1/08)

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Sen. Grassley: Obama Gets Ag Ideas From “Professor At Cal-Berkeley.” “(P)eople in agriculture need to know that if Sen. Obama is going to get his ideas on agriculture from a professor at Cal-Berkeley, they should think twice about what they are voting for.” (Tom Webb, “McCain faults Obama’s comments on farming,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/1/08)

Barack Obama Blames Farming For Some of The Nation’s Leading Health Problems, Including Obesity And Heart Disease, In A Recent Interview. “Obama - citing an article by Michael Pollan, an author and outspoken critic of U.S. farm policy - told Time magazine that agriculture is partly responsible for the explosion in our health care costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in health care costs.’” (Philip Brasher, “Obama links health issues to farming, then backs off,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama Attacks Farmers for “Contributing More Greenhouse Gases Than Our Transportation Sector.” “Obama also said in the Time interview that farming, enabled by cheap energy, “actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector.” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama’s Remarks “In Conflict” With Previous Remarks “But Ron Litterer, a Greene farmer who is chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, said Obama’s comments in the Time interview were ‘in conflict with what he’s been saying about agriculture, no question about it.’” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

John McCain Has Proposed To Exempt Farms From The Emissions Caps In His Cap And Trade Proposal. “McCain would exempt farms from emission limits, a crucial issue for livestock producers.” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama Has Not Proposed Exempting Agriculture From His Emissions Caps. “Obama hasn’t taken a position yet. A spokeswoman said Obama Enhanced Coverage would take into account political considerations as well as the impact on the economy and agriculture.” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama Quotes Radical Berkeley Professor Who Advocates Restructuring. “Pollan, who teaches journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, has long criticized the wide-scale cultivation of corn for use as livestock feed. He contends that it would be better for the environment and human health to fatten livestock on grass.” (Philip Brasher, “Obama links health issues to farming, then backs off,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Pollan Says Higher Meat Prices A Good Thing. “Pollan acknowledged that his ideas would raise meat prices: ‘You will need to make the case that paying the real cost of meat, and therefore eating less of it, is a good thing for our health, for the environment, for our dwindling reserves of fresh water and for the welfare of the animals,’ he wrote.” (Philip Brasher, “Obama links health issues to farming, then backs off,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)