About that racist Reynolds commercial ....

DeJear

I was intrigued the other day by a social media comment from a cousin who lives with his wife in Mississippi. Addressing suggestions that they should consider moving back to Iowa, he pointed out that for Mississipians, long under Republican control, the only way forward is up.

For Iowans, badly off balance now and firmly under GOP control at the statehouse, the trajectory has been downward with no clear indication that course will change. So why, he asked, would someone move to Iowa?

One strong indicator of Iowa's trajectory began airing last week --- an overtly racist commercial for incumbent Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, now seeking re-election to her second full term. Reynolds' opponent in the race is Democrat Deidre DeJear (left), a native Mississipian by the way.

 Broadcast from a cafe in Pella, that bastion of conservative whiteness (with tulips in due season), the commercial features the face and voice of a black woman (not DeJear's) along with the usual GOP tropes intended to stoke fears among likely voters of immigrants and other "others."

Here's a link to Laura Belin's excellent roundup of reaction to the commercial in a weekend version of her politics blog, Bleeding Heartland: "Take two on Kim Reynolds' racist campaign commercial."