The XX Factor : heartland

What Happens in Des Moines ...

Kerry Howley — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:11:00 GMT

As E.J. pointed out earlier, the hotbed of radicalism otherwise known as "Iowa" is the third state to legalize same-sex marriage. (And let me tell you, it's crazy out here—gay orgies in the parks, polygamists storming the Capitol, abandoned children wandering...(read more)

Palin and Uniters and Dividers

Rachael Larimore — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:50:00 GMT

Dahlia, You're absolutely right , of course, to say that Sarah Palin has been a divider, not a uniter. I didn't see it because I wasn't looking for it. Even though I'm in a bit of a unique situation—I'm geographically planted in Ohio while spending my...(read more)

Palin: It's Us vs. Them

Melinda Henneberger — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:29:00 GMT

Dahlia , you've put your finger on the reason my initial enthusiasm for Sarah Palin evaporated the minute she opened her mouth; it isn't her conservatism that rankles, but her bile. (Today, for example, she accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists...(read more)

Home Is Where the Heartland Is

Dahlia Lithwick — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Rachael , I think you’ve put your finger on Sarah Palin’s “heartland” problem, but perhaps not in a way for which you will thank me. Accepting your premise that Palin deploys the term not in a geographic sense, but to express her “experience, ideology,...(read more)

Heartland: A Place or a State of Mind?

Rachael Larimore — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:34:00 GMT

Noreen , You ask why it doesn't bother me that Sarah Palin claims a connection to the "heartland." I would chalk it up to a couple of reasons. For one, every time I see a picture from Wasilla, I'm reminded of the small town in North Dakota that my husband...(read more)

Heartburn

Noreen Malone — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:40:00 GMT

Marjorie , I couldn't agree more about Sarah Palin's convenient geographic confusion—why are people letting her get away with saying her Alaska roots give her a "connection to the heartland"? And Rachael, fellow Ohioan, why doesn't that bug you? I get...(read more)