Never mind how Rep. Herseth-Sandlin's votes have actually affected South Dakota. Never mind how candidate Noem's policy positions have all the substance of a misspelled Tea Party banner. Just make up some childish black-hat portrait that ignores the fact that, yes, golly gee, when you get elected to Congress, you wil spend a lot of time in Washington doing the job we the people pay you to do. And never mind there's not one bit of evidence that the Herseth Sandlin residence is in Texas. SHS and hubby Max got married in Brookings. They live in Brookings.
Noem has offered the amusing spectacle of trying to disguise her Tea Party associations from the general electorate. She won't confirm that she would join Michele Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus if elected, but it's obvious she will. (She's already a member of Bachmann's farm welfare club.) Noem happily courted the Tea Party vote for the primary. And what was the first thing she did after winning the primary on June 8? She flew to Rapid City to thank her Citizens for Liberty Tea Party supporters at a Rapid City rally:
Figure 1: Announcement of Kristi Noem Tea Party thank-you rally the day after her primary victory. (The Citizens for Liberty website was destroyed in a recent fit of pique by the guys who lost the organization's amusing civil war; the above is a screen-cap from the Google cache.)
In tactics and loyalty, the Noem campaign is Tea Party through and through. And that bodes ill for a state that would elect her to turn a vacuous, spite-based worldview into votes in Washington.
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Bonus Tea Snark: I can't wait to hear whether Noem will take the Tea Party immigration stance that would deport Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Michelle Malkin.
"As we all know, Tea Partiers are obsessed with ... claiming America belongs to only a few chosen people."
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, approximately 300 million chosen people at last count.
I think that Kristi Noem is "Tea Party." Good!
I also think that Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin has better "qualifications" for the job.
These things said, I find it remarkable that an upstart such as KN could carry a significant lead (according to Rasumssen anyway) over a proven public servant such as SHS, even in a conservative state such as ours.
I, like many others (I suspect), plan to vote for KN based on fear and determination: Fear that our country has veered toward an aspect from which the founders intended to escape; and determination that we, the people, must stop this process.
Maybe all the carbon monoxide from the motorcycles has affected my brain this fine morning (the "eyewall" of the Sturgis rally hurricane has finally made landfall in Paha Sapa).
It's head vs. heart ... and in this election I suspect that heart, for better or worse, will prevail, from Maine to Maui, from Seattle to St. Petersburg.
Stan,
ReplyDeleteI don't believe you should be surprised at all. She nearly beat Gov. Janklow and took out Larry Diedrich twice when she was young, basically fresh out of law school and hadn't been in SD much at all since high school.
I know that Corey has bought into the labels that the MSM had painted that the tea party people are just a bunch of racists who hate government but those of us who support the movement know better. Could you find a few roques and rascals in the movement; you bet! Just like the Moveon.org people said things like kill Bush that liberals didn't agree with. I think Kristi will certainly caucus with the Republicans and would renounce any division. That's not to say she wouldn't join meetings with a conservative cause much like the Blue Dogs.
Saying things like she's avoiding policy is really a strawman built to convince people she has no ideas.
Stan, how is our country veering from what our founders were trying to escape? We have freedom of religion, gun rights are assured, freedom of speech is still in place (without unlawful wire taps) and gay rights are expanding, so what do you mean? Things are looking better with Obama and the Dems from where I’m sitting.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I got a bit carried away.
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned about expansion of government power beyond what I imagine the founders intended for it to have. The health care mandate constitutes a good example.
I'm also concerned about fiscal irresponsibility manifest in the years since Bill Clinton left the White House, and especially since 2001.
You make a good point about gay rights. Gun rights too. As for freedom of speech and/or expression ... that subject could make for a great post (Cory, how about it?) especially in light of the recent flare-up on WikiLeaks.
The Republicans (their most recent administration, anyway) deserve as much blame for our current malaise as the Democrats do, and maybe more. However, I think that this November, the people will vent their wrath on the people in power right now, not the people who held power two years and more ago.
Memory is limited to the party in power, right now. "Change" is a word that sounds nice and gets people elected, but when the changes come too fast and appears to be a socialism grab with massive government expansion like we've never seen before, people in both parties become uncomfortable. When the Dems took over all three positions of power, it's as if they said, "Wow! We did it, and we only have one shot at this, so let's ram everything we ever thought of doing down the taxpayer's throats right now." Too much, too fast and people are simply pushed out of their comfort zone, which causes a burning desire for more "change" or balance of power this November. There's an old saying that applies when you attack one candidate over another. "When you throw dirt, you're digging a hole."
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