Sibby Online

Democrats critical of Daschle

The Hill has a report titled, "Reid makes it clear he’s no Daschle". Excerpt:

Reid "understands we’ve had a problem communicating our position to the American people, and he’s tired of having us defined by the other side," said David DiMartino, press secretary to Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

The charges became specific:

Implicit in some of the calls for a more "aggressive" press operation is a criticism of Daschle’s organization.

"I don’t think there’s a perception that there was necessarily anything wrong with the way Daschle was doing it," said one Senate Democratic aide. "There was a perception that we are up against a very, very aggressive message operation that in fact puts message above all else and in fact is willing to say things that aren’t true in support of their political goals. That requires a ramping up of our effort to get accurate info out there."

Some Democratic aides say Daschle’s organization became too focused on home-state concerns as Daschle’s own Senate seat became increasingly in peril.

"The way Daschle press shop was set up, it was too slow," said one Democratic press secretary. "It was too narrow. They just didn’t do enough for other members. The message always just seemed to be Daschle’s message — as opposed to the message of the party."

All of this gives substance to the argument that Daschle was no longer the Democrat leader in the Senate even if he had won re-election.

Here is insight on the footage the Thune campaign ran of Daschle saying he is a DC resident:

For now, Reid plans to discontinue the practice of giving dugouts, when previous leaders have taken questions from the press on a number of policy and political issues without TV cameras present.

Daschle has expressed regret for getting away from the practice during the last year as his campaign heated up. At one point during his Senate race, Daschle had TV ads run against him based on a clip from a dugout session where he had claimed to be a D.C. resident.

Sibby out in the cold

(Editor's note: I have added updates to this post)

Steve Hemmingsen’s column mentioned the impact two of the DBA bloggers (Jon & Jason) had in the 2004 South Dakota Senate race. Like the National Journal column a couple of weeks ago, he took issue with the money they received from the Thune campaign.

I did not get one red cent from the Thune campaign. This is not a complaint. I did not start Sibby Online in search of money. As it says at the top, I am in search of the truth. It's the truth that Hemmingsen and the mainstream media can't handle.

But I do have a problem with not being mentioned by Hemmingsen and the National Journal. It’s a good thing I put my clothes on before reading Hemmingsen’s column. I certainly feel like I have been left out in the cold. It seems like the old media doesn't want Sibby Online to get into the way of a good story. Because I did not receive money from the Thune campaign, I do not fit into their world view of bloggers and therefore, I am ignored as they put out their biased propaganda.

Hemmingsen tried to down play the Kranz-Daschle college connection:

That prairie fire included an effort to unhorse Dave Kranz from the KELOLAND/Argus Leader sponsored debates.
Jason Van Beek's blog http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com, also with money from the Thune side of the fence, tried to paint Kranz as a college cohort of Tom Daschle's going back to their student days at SDSU in the late 1960's. Kranz says he barely knew Daschle in those days. And since Kranz and I are old friends going back to the budding of our careers in Austin, Minnesota, I tend to believe him.

For the record, I was the one who found the Kranz-Daschle college connection. Here is what I found (and posted on May 30, 2003) in a 9/4/1976 David Kranz column published by the Mitchell Daily Republic:

More familiar faces are returning from other parts of the country to South Dakota. Tom and Laurie Daschle, aides to Sen. James Abourezk in Washington have been reassigned to Abourezk’s Sioux Falls office.

Daschle is formerly of Aberdeen and his wife is the daughter of PUC commissioner Mrs. Norma Klinkel. We went to college with Daschle at South Dakota State University and worked together on a mock political convention.

Daschle masterminded one of the most successful participation events by students of an unrequired nature when he headed the political science department’s convention project. Well over 650 students got involved in the event which was patterned after the Democratic convention that year because of the general interest.

I remember our tireless search to find a renowned public speaker to address the convention such as McGovern, McCarthy, Humphrey or some other prominent Democrat. With no takers, we finally found a popular young state senator from Salem to address the group. His name was Richard Kneip.

Steve Hemmingsen can ignore me. Steve Hemmingsen can ignore what David Kranz said in 1976. But I am not going to ignore Steve Hemmingsen. More to come on this issue.

UPDATE: Hemmingsen mentioned the Ride Of The Valkyrie. Here is another connection to Hitler:

This piece is based on an old Germanic legend, a practice that was highly approved by the Nazis. Its bold and uplifting music is a part of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner's sense of the importance of Germanness, as well as his expressed antisemitism, made his music popular with Nazis.

Another Update:

Jason at SDP is wondering why Hemmingsen thinks the DBA is "mildly anti-Hemmingsen". I think I am responsible for that. In April I mentioned the Kranz-Hemmingsen connection with regard to South Dakota’s liberal media. Then just November 10^th I said Hemmingsen needs to join Elitists Anonymous.

Jason & Jon need to wake up. Hemmingsen just proved he is in the same camp as Randell Beck. It’s just that Beck uses a more straightforward approach. Hemmingsen is much more subtle. The difference is shown by how they accuse bloggers of being Nazis. Also note that Hemmingsen did not specifically point me out when he mentioned "mildly anti-Hemmingsen". He is a sly one. Jason thinks he is a "good guy", but I don't trust him...yet.

One more update: Ryne McClaren decided to help Hemmingsen out with his lack of understanding a Blue Dog Democrat. Here is more.

Pajamas versus nude anchors

Sherrie Gossett has a column titled, "Pajamas Versus Nude Anchors" that responds to an Eric Engberg column. Here is the opening:

On November 8 Eric Engberg, a retired former correspondent for CBS News, wrote a column on CBSNews.com that was highly critical of blogging, a form of do-it-yourself journalism on the Internet. It was bloggers who first discovered CBS had used faked documents for a "60 Minutes" story that accused President Bush of neglecting his Texas Air National Guard service. Other mainstream media recognized a good lead when they saw it, and saw that CBS was in the middle of a horrific scandal. The bloggers had struck gold.

Soon the Washington Post, ABC News and others were after CBS. CBS initially stonewalled. Finally, Dan Rather, host of the controversial broadcast, issued a belated mea culpa. An internal investigation is now underway into what happened. CBS and Rather had been forced into humiliation by people wearing pajamas in front of their computers, which is how a former CBS executive had described bloggers.

Here is her ending:

One wonders what Engberg would say about Cleveland anchor Sharon Reed of WOIO, who decided to go naked for a story in a craven race for ratings during November's sweeps. Her news station, Channel 19, says Reed "didn't just report the story, she became part of it…" Are bloggers supposed to be a step below this kind of thing? Is Sharon Reed's nudity supposed to be legitimate journalism? We'll take the bloggers any day.

I just turned on the coffee and am about to take a shower. I am blogging this post in the buff. Now does this make me liberal mainstream media worthy?

The tale of two Toms

A Sibby Online reader pointed me to a Bruce Walker column titled, "The Tale of Two Toms." The column is in regard to Tom Daschle and Washington’s Tom Foley. Here is the ending:

This then is a "Tale of Two Toms" - men who rose to the highest position they could within their political party in the congressional chamber in which they served, yet who lost reelection despite the clout they carried - and it is a story of men forgetting that Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota and that Washington State was named for the creator of our term limits and that America exists, and exists solely, to preserve liberty.

Here is an excerpt regarding the Daschle defeat:

What happened? Tom Daschle, of course, was exposed as a very liberal Democrat in a very conservative Republican state and his attitude seemed less of malice toward his fellow South Dakotans as of condescension. He brought home the bacon. He helped constituents. He represented the interests of his state well. He assumed that was enough. He assumed that South Dakotans were more South Dakotans than Americans.

"He assumed that South Dakotans were more South Dakotans than Americans", is a nice quote. Also Daschle assumed we wouldn’t learn he was more DC than SD.

The tale of two Nelsons

The Washington Times has a column that may point to another Dakota Blog Alliance challenge:

Democratic senators in the states that President Bush won will face a tough road to re-election in 2006, Republicans say, with their sights set most eagerly on two Democrats named Nelson — Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bill Nelson of Florida.

"They have something to worry about, and they need look no farther than Tom Daschle," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, referring to this month's defeat of the Senate minority leader from the red state of South Dakota, which Mr. Bush won by 22 percentage points.

I am sure DBA’s Nebraska blogger, Ryne McClaren, could use some support in removing Senator Ben Nelson. I believe that it is important that the entire Midwest follow South Dakota’s move to replace Democrats in the Senate with conservative Republicans. After all, it takes 60 votes to stop a filibuster of judicial nominees.

UPDATE: Rush talked about this today. Here is the transcript.

Far-left name calling

We have been under the attack in South Dakota by the far-left ever since the John Thune victory over Tom Daschle. The Daily Caucus Hitler cartoon and statements made in letters to the editor, such as Todd Epp’s Argus Leader letter, came to mind as I read a David Limbaugh column titled, "On the use and abuse of labels". This column substantiates my recent creation of the "The lying left" catagory, which was started with a post containing the Epp letter. Here is the opening to the Limbaugh column:

Liberals often decry labels, but labels can be helpful. It is the misuse of labels to which we ought to object.

In secular-liberal Orwellian speak, words and concepts are cleverly twisted to demonize political and religious opponents. From "intolerance" to "racism," the liberal quiver is pregnant with verbal arrows tipped with the very poison they pretend to abhor.

Liberals don't usually call conservatives merely "conservatives." That's because the term, standing alone, is not a pejorative. Instead, we are "extremists," "bigots," "homophobes," "racists" and "intolerant." And these labels, unlike the conservatives' general invocation of "liberal," are usually gross distortions.

After providing examples Limbaugh makes this very astute assessment:

The lesson is that there is a comprehensive practice afoot by liberals, even if not conspiratorial, to misuse words to mischaracterize people as something they're not in order to demonize them. It's propaganda of the most calculated and vicious variety.

The frequent comparison of conservatives to Hitler is a prime example of the propaganda that Hitler used to demonize Jews. John Thune never advocated the herding up of homosexuals and using gas chambers in a genocidal cleansing of America, nor would he. But like Hitler, the left will use public education to indoctrinate children with the extremists propaganda that run counter to their parents religion. So much for the separation idea. Typical far-left hypocrisy.

You would think the left would learn something after losing elections, but they don't. Instead they counter by slandering people of faith by taking lying to a new level. Just when we thought Bill Clinton had that award forever.

CBS News vs bloggers

Doug Powers has an interesting column titled, "Dan Rather's successor: "The CBS Evening Blog". Here is the opening:

In case you weren't aware of this, which, given the ratings of "CBS News," is very likely, Dan Rather announced that he will step down from the anchor desk in March of 2005. Rather's defenders in the big media point the finger at bloggers for his troubles. Sure, and there are lots of busted bank robbers who blame the security camera, too.

Here is the ending:

"The CBS Evening Blog" could be an enlightening venture into the future of news dissemination, but the network will hold firm and insist on a person who will secure the line that keeps the Big Media ship firmly in place, not drifting with the current of the times, as ratings continue to sink. History will show this is why they were called "anchors."

Read the whole thing.

Far-left socialists and hypocrisy

My Thanksgiving post pointed to the Pilgrims failure to implement socialism. A Henry Lamb column ties the socialists of today to the anti-war movement. In America they argue that they have the right to dissent. Lamp points out the hypocrisy of that argument:

In much of the world, the antics of these protesters would result in jail – or worse. Cuba, China and many socialist countries routinely eliminate protests – and protesters – against the government and its leaders. It seems ironic that the ultimate goal of these protesters is to transform America into the kind of government that tolerates no dissent. The Communist Party USA says:

We Communists believe that socialism is the very best replacement for a capitalist system that has served its purpose, but no longer meets the needs and requirements of the great majority of our people.

Rueters is reporting what the Columbian Marxists’ agenda is regarding those they disagree with:

President Bush was targeted for assassination by Colombia's biggest Marxist rebel group this week when he visited the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, a top Colombian official said today.

So much for dissent. Besides the right does not say the left has noo right to dissent. But the right should also have the same right to say the left is wrong. Not so from the left, who are using a double standard.

Dakota Blog Alliance recognition

The Economists says this:

Local bloggers also had an effect; in South Dakota, for instance, they repeatedly highlighted Tom Daschle's partisan record in Washington, DC, something that the Democratic Senate majority leader's friends in the local print media had never laboured to expose.

Now the Bird gives us the Designated Hitter of the Year: This goes to the guys who gave us info we might not have seen otherwise. Guys who kept us informed. Kept us jazzed. The bloggers! Sibby, Lauck, VanBeek, Q, and the rest.

I also like the Bird's (Sigh) Young Award: Disappointed. Saddened. Outraged. Tom Daschle. We feel your pain. But look on the bright side, buddy, you’ve got a helluva nice Jaguar in the carport.

Real reasons for Thanksgiving

Today I am reflecting on how thankful we are to have chosen John Thune to represent us in the U.S. Senate beginning January 4^th. I found this to further reinforce the importance of the 2004 election results:

Thus the real reason for Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.

This is the ending to a Richard J. Maybury piece called, "The Great Thanksgiving Hoax". Here is the introduction:

Each year at this time school children all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.

It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving's real meaning.

My motivation to search for this report came from Rush Limbaugh’s mention of William Bradford. Here is what Maybury said about Bradford:

The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.

In his 'History of Plymouth Plantation,' the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years, because they refused to work in the fields. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."

In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, "all had their hungry bellies filled," but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first "Thanksgiving" was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.

What few of us may know is that the Pilgrims came to America and were experimenting with socialism:

This had required that "all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means" were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock." A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed.

Here is how Bradford solved the problem:

This "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that "young men that are most able and fit for labor and service" complained about being forced to "spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children." Also, "the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak." So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.

To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of famines.

Today I am more thankful than ever. I am thankful for all the comforts and goods and services we have that make our life much more enjoyable verses the difficulties that faced our Pilgrims. I am thankful to the Founding Fathers who fought for freedom and set up the Constitution so that generations to come could enjoy the fruits of freedom.

I am also thankful for one development above all others today. That would be the Internet. Today I can utilize the freedom provided by the First Amendment. After becoming frustrated by the stifling of that important right by the Argus Leader, I am blessed to be able to speak my mind here.

I am also thankful that my message may have been a small factor in helping the truth about the socialistic beliefs of the left and one of their leader’s, Tom Daschle, to have become known to more people than what would have happened if I had not started this web site. I am also thankful to all of the members of the Dakota Blog Alliance.

But I am the most thankful to all those who have participated in the democratic process by reading the findings of the blog alliance and took action.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, including those on the left. May you find the wisdom to understand the errors of socialism and that there is nothing progressive about the ideology of today's so-called liberals.