Newquist Knocks Noem (and Farm Subsidies, Monsanto, Media, Bloggers...)

The good Dr. Newquist is blogging a relative blue streak lately, doing determined battle with boorish KELO commenters and related forces of intellectual and cultural decline. His Monday post on farm subsidies and Kristi Noem runs to 2300 words, without any lengthy blockquotes from other source. It's all Newquist... another reason I like his blog.

The post encompasses much—less polite or patient reviewers might say it rambles. But rambling is good for the intellect. Dr. Newquist begins with his ambivalence toward farm subsidies, then connects his concerns about the decline of journalism and democracy, the "yammering" of the blogosphere, and finally, the unreadiness of Kristi Noem for Congress. He assesses Noem's performance on farm issues and other questions at the Corn Palace and State Fair debates and concludes Noem doesn't have answers on farm subsidies or anything else:

In my lifetime, journalists who did not prepare for assignments got fired. Students got failed. Noem did not prepare....

The Republican tactic of performing an Orwellian portrayal of Nancy Pelosi as an enemy and then mounting an entire congressional campaign on their cheap ad hominem attempt to hide the real issues under a smear is put to work by Noem in South Dakota.

It is not a question of whose ideas are better for agriculture. It is a matter of who has informed themselves about what the issues are and how they affect the state. As she did with the traffic tickets, Noem has chosen to blow those issues off, too. She does not present herself as one who knows what is taking place in agriculture or who really cares [David Newquist, "The End of Farming and What Kristi Noem Proposes," Northern Valley Beacon, 2010.09.13].

Read Newquist's full post here. It's worth your time.