Indiana Congressman Mike Pence was on the trip to Baghdad with John McCain. He, too, "strolled" through the market under intense protection. Pence was inspired. Just like a summer day at a market in Indiana. But, as Al Kamen reported, not such an accurate comparison:
Pence, however, said he came away from his "day at the market in Baghdad with a new sense of cautious optimism that freedom might just work for these people." The Shorja market, he said, was "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime."So, is this what Indiana markets look like?:
Really? Just like the weekend farmers market in the Minnetrista Cultural Center parking lot in Muncie?
Maybe not exactly. "There've been no shootings or car bombings" at that market since it opened a few years ago, said Robin Gibson, assistant metro editor of the Star Press in Muncie. So no dangers there at all? "Maybe some overeager dogs jumping at people," she ventured.
Avon Waters, a former features editor and writer for the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, the other relatively big town in Pence's largely rural congressional district, said he never wore a flak jacket and "never felt afraid" when he spent a couple of recent years covering farmers markets in Madison County, including places such as Elwood and Pendleton.
"No snipers or car bombs," Waters reported.
