Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has torn Sen. Ted Cruz a new one.

He calls Cruz an unfit Republican presidential nominee and is urging Iowa caucus participants to ensure he doesn’t win that state’s candidate selection process.

I’m going to say something good about Cruz, however, even though I do not believe he should be the next president of the United States.

Branstad’s dislike of Cruz well might have something to do with the Cruz’s refusal to pander to Iowans’ specific needs and desires — to which I say “bravo!” to the senator.

They grow a lot of corn in the Hawkeye State. They use much of that corn to produce ethanol fuel. Cruz has long opposed subsidizing ethanol. Branstad doesn’t like Cruz’s opposition to it. Thus, he says Cruz shouldn’t be the choice of Iowans.

Enlightened self-interest? That’s what they call it. Conservatives who used to love Cruz now think less of him. It’s all about the corn.

Cruz, though, has shied away from pandering to that particular constituency.

Cruz is taking his share of hits from other Republicans, not to mention from Democrats. Lord knows I’ve lobbed my share of stones at the Cruz Missile from this forum.

The ethanol argument, though, is an interesting back story in this Iowa Republican caucus kerfuffle.

The corn used to produce the fuel requires a lot of water. I repeat . . . a lot of water. There used to be a huge demand for it here, on the Texas Tundra. Then it dawned on many folks that the water it consumes is more valuable to the region than the fuel. The fever for ethanol production has cooled considerably in the Panhandle.

Not so in Iowa.

Cruz isn’t going to jump onto the ethanol train. He does favor more exploration for fossil fuel, which isn’t surprising, either, given that he represents Texas in the U.S. Senate. And yep, we produce a lot of oil and natural gas here, correct?

OK, so perhaps Sen. Cruz isn’t being totally and completely high-minded in his opposition to ethanol subsidies.

Still, a lot of politicians have journeyed to Iowa to sing the praises of ethanol production just because their audience wants to hear it from them.