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All conservatives got with Kristi Noem was looks. Observers outside South Dakota are already seeing that, far from a true Tea Party crusader, Noem is just another pork-seeking farm-state politico. Take her comments on subsidies for ethanol:Speaking on the Scott Hennen Show Noem says “Ethanol has been very good to South Dakota.” She said that this is not the time to repeal the subsidy “when you look at taking away that subsidy it is the wrong decision.”
She says that supporting the ethanol industry with subsidy promotes investment and continued hiring “In the long run it will get the economy back on track faster” [Kurtis Workman, "New South Dakota Congresswoman Say Ethanol Subsidy Good For Recovery," PlainsDaily.com, 2010.12.09]
Wait a minute: isn't Noem the same lady who spent a lot of time this year blasting federal stimulus efforts?
Let's tour the blogosphere. Rob Port at Say Anything:
How are ethanol subsidies any different than Obama’s economic stimulus spending? The fiscal conservative argument against the stimulus spending spree was that government cannot create jobs because government cannot spend anything without taking away from someone else.
Given that, if Obama’s stimulus spending hasn’t resulted in job growth (and we know it hasn’t) then how is spending on ethanol subsidies any different? [Rob Port, "South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem: Ethanol Subsidies Are Economic Stimulus," SayAnythingBlog.com, 2010.12.09]
Rand Simberg:
This is depressing. Kristi Noem hasn’t even taken office yet, and she’s already defending home-grown pork as “stimulus"... [Rand Simberg, "And So It Begins," Transterrestrial Musings, 2010.12.11].
The Lonely Conservative from New York:
Kristi Noem is conservative only when it suits her.... I'm glad I didn't waste my time blogging about this woman ["Just When I Was about to Praise Kristi Noem," The Lonely Conservative, 2010.12.12].
Ah, but we shouldn't be too hard on our Mrs. Noem. She's just following the lead of John Boehner and the other big Washington Republicans who are engaged in the same hypocrisy on the pending $855 billion tax-rate and stimulus deal. Stimulus packages and deficit spending are bad, bad, bad when Democrats will get the credit and we need to rile up the voters. But when stimulus packages and deficit spending send money to our favored special interests, be they the ethanol industry or the richest 1% of Americans who pay for our campaign ads, then spending money we don't have becomes our patriotic duty.
At least John Boehner and John Thune can recommend a good tanning salon for her in the D.C. metro area.
ReplyDeleteKristi has yet to prove her "new math". Increased subsidies to agricultural(which has resulted in $6,000/acre land prices), federal dollars to Ellsworth, allocations to Lewis and Clark while promoting tax cuts for the richest Americans does not add up in proper math to cut the deficit. Her program is all about me(the greedy) while ignoring the we(average SD resident). Unfortunately we let "eye candy" get in the way of good thinking.
ReplyDeleteBoth parties have the motto of spend spend spend. Why? because they can. There is nothing to restrain them from creating all the money they need through the Federal reserve bank. What politician wants to be the one to cut medicare, social security, unemployment, food stamps and all those big government programs? When they can instead just raise the debt ceiling and create more money.
ReplyDeleteSee also: "stealth stimulus." And while you're there, drink deep "the heady wine of freedom and the re-birth of limited government which is the mother’s milk of liberty!" (No one mixes metaphors as well as the Tea Party.)
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