District 9: Liberal Media Endorses Pastor Hickey and Debate Dodger

What liberal media? That Sioux Falls paper just endorsed the complete Republican slate for District 9 Senate and House. That includes Deb Peters, who appears to be dodging debates and thinks the right way to keep families from open enrolling out of her school district is to throw up legislative barriers to school choice; Bob Deelstra, who has a speech impediment online; and, in the greatest sign of the apocalypse, Pastor Steve Hickey, who will ban abortion entirely if he gets the chance.

Now I'll admit, of the various fundagelicals with whom I've locked blog horns, Pastor Hickey has come across as more capable of reasoned debate and practical political action than some others of his ilk. But that the largest newspaper in our state would pick him and his Republican colleagues over Trudi Hatch, Mark Anderson, and Rob Wilson—three relatively sober and serious Democrats, not wild radicals like me—reduces to absurdity any suggestion that the South Dakota media has a liberal bias.

Then again, Pastor Hickey does support reparations for Native Americans, including at least a conversation about some eventual land settlement. Maybe he's a liberal after all....

Bob Deelsta fo Distict 9: Impoving Hatford!

Because no politican is above the law... of orthography!

Republican District 9 House candidate Bob Deelstra appears to have a problem with the letter R. Sift through the dozens of camper videos on his YouTube channel (he's a salesman at Northview Campers), and you'll find this little slideshow of nice things that have happened in Hartford during Deelstra's service as city councillor. Nice things like Dollar General—yay.

The slideshow opens with this screen:

Deelstra does spell improvements right in a subsequent slide, but Bob, you're a salesman: you know the importance of a good first impression, right?

Deelstra's other campaign video seems to affirm that he has a serious R aversion:

"I don't look at these issues as Republican or Democratic issues"... wait! I get it! Bob Deelstra is committed to a post-partisan South Dakota. He's taking the Heidepriem line, downplaying his party affiliation, right down to blotting out the R's that might remind viewers of the big fat partisan R that will appear next to his name on the ballot. So subliminal! So clever!

Oh well, at least he's not dropping g's like Kristi Noem... which reminds me: is it kosher for an elected councilman to film a campaign video in the city council chamber? Does appearing under the glorious insignia of the City of Hartford constitute an expenditure of public funds to influence the outcome of a campaign?