From an article by Dave Leshtz published in The Nation. Dave is editor of The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newslettter. 

What, Her Worry? Iowa’s Kim Reynolds Is Running a Dishonest and Nasty Campaign

Iowa City—The painting American Gothic, by Grant Wood, depicts a stern and stoic white couple, their lips pinched, wearing a prim apron and sturdy overalls as they stand in front of a frame house in Eldon, Iowa. The painting has been parodied hundreds of times—including several in Mad magazine featuring Alfred E. Neuman in overalls.

Today, in the politics of Iowa, it’s hard not to see Republican Governor Kim Reynolds standing in for the frowning woman in the apron. Reynolds has eschewed all claim to the image of “Iowa nice,” preferring to embody the mean and stingy side of the American pioneer spirit that Wood’s painting sought to capture.

Earlier this year, Reynolds engineered a cut in unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks. “The safety net has become a hammock,” she said, and saw to it that unemployed workers would be forced to take any available job, even one well below their previous pay grade.

Read more at The Nation