Sibby Online

Argus Leader defends Daschle’s position

Again the Argus Leader defends Tom Daschle’s position, this time on the issue of Daschle’s reluctance to debate John Thune. Today’s issue has a front-page above the fold report titled, “Debates may not change election”. The headline is supported by the opinion of just one South Dakota State University political science professor:

The potential voter most likely to be swayed by joint appearances by Sen. Tom Daschle and John Thune also is the least likely to be listening, a political science professor at South Dakota State University said Friday.

Gary Aguiar said most South Dakota voters have made their choice between the Democratic incumbent and Republican challenger. Undecided voters tend to be less interested in politics and probably wouldn't pay attention to the series of joint appearances Thune proposed earlier this week, he said.

If the professor is right then Daschle should have accepted John Thune’s idea to hold Town Hall meetings in all 66 counties during the month of August. Instead Daschle declined:

"Some of the best ideas I have ever heard about how to improve South Dakota have come from people I have met in the cafes, sale barns and homes I have visited on my driving tour," Daschle said. "My tour is is not about campaigns or political gimmicks; it is about making sure the voices of all South Dakotans are heard in Washington.”

I was at one of Daschle’s Town Hall meetings, and my voice was not one he wanted to hear. When I asked Daschle why he didn’t provide the people all the facts on the prescription drug issue, he told me we disagree. That would be the end of my voice being heard in Washington.

Also, John Thune correctly pointed to who is the one using political gimmicks:

Thune said he has been meeting the people as he has campaigned this year. He also said he touched nearly every county each year when he was in Congress.

"I will tell you there were some years I might have made 64 out of the 66," he said. "It was my practice, too. I just didn't do it with all the fanfare."

Tom Daschle is on the wrong side of the issues, and does not want the people of this State to fully understand his positions. That is why he does not want 3rd party organizations, who have detailed knowledge of their issue of interest, to tell us about Daschle’s position while in DC.

Instead Daschle wants media sources like the Argus Leader, to provide only what is viewed as positive for the Senator. They do not want his voting record to get in the way of a good story. I learned about all of this when the NRA, of which I am a life member, endorsed John Thune in the 2002 Senate Race. The Argus Leader provided the Tim Johnson campaign a platform for Tony Dean to call us liars. The voting record that I provided would have cleared all this up. Unfortunately to the readers of the Argus Leader, they did not get to see that before going to the polls on Election Day.

After the election David Kranz continued to promote Tony Dean and poke fun at the NRA:

When Sen. Tom Daschle said he would run for re-election to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, Tony Dean abandoned plans to seek that office.

Now Dean, host and producer of "Tony Dean Outdoors," a popular television show, says he is considering a race in 2004 for U.S. House of Representatives against Republican incumbent Bill Janklow.

Dean, 62, is also a Republican, but that may change.

"The hardest part of this is figuring out how I would shift from Republican to Democrat. But I think the Republican Party has left me," he said.

It was Dean who was a key influence in Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson's re-election victory over Republican Rep. John Thune in November.

The Pierre man publicly supported and campaigned for Johnson despite their party difference, saying it was the right thing to do.

Dean's vocal support neutralized the National Rifle Association's endorsement of Thune, giving Johnson a significant share of support from avid hunters and fishers, many of whom are NRA members.

Tony Dean could not have neutralized the the NRA without the help of David Kranz and the Argus Leader. The paper refused to let Johnson's voting record get into the way of a good story. For more on this go to my old web site and scroll down to the June 9, 2003 post titled, "Time for Truth in South Dakota Politics".

Yes, the gun issue is not a debate Tom Daschle wants to have with John Thune or me.

Additional Note: If you do a Google search on Tony Dean, the second listing after his web site is my web site. That's got to make him just a little nervous.

SDP back in action

Jason Van Beek, the master Dakota Alliance blogger, is done with the bar exam and is back in action.

DVT is saying that Daschle stiffed the farmers. I already know that Daschle could care less about farmers, he only cares about their votes.

DVT also reports on Daschle’s reluctance to debate the issues with John Thune. Based on my debate with Daschle, I say that is smart on his part. He is on the wrong side of the issues.

John Kerry

For all those who were waving the American flags as John Kerry accepted the nomination of the Democrat Party for President of the United States…take a look at the American flag on John Kerry’s 1971 book. They should also take a look at a Human Events column by Allen H. Ryskind. Here is an excerpt:

Kerry is campaigning today as a tough, but prudent hawk, who fought in the Vietnam war and wanted Old Soldier John McCain as his VP. He rides motorcycles, shoots rifles and takes to the slopes. But the machismo image cloaks a lifetime of policy positions favoring or grossly accommodating America's enemies, especially those on the Left.

In his April 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry famously called for the surrender of South Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh's murderous regime in the north. He not only wanted the U.S. out, but the Communists in. The consequences of the Communist victory proved severe: hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom perished on the high seas, and tens of thousands imprisoned in the gulags. North Vietnam's conquest also enabled the genocidal Pol Pot to seize Cambodia and murder nearly 2,000,000 of its inhabitants.

What is Kerry's true plan regarding the Middle East?

South Dakota country gal visits NYC

A Sibby Online reader sent me this text from Roll Call regarding a breakfeast Stephanie Herseth spoke at in New York this week:

Newbie Rep. Stephanie Herseth (S.D.) has, unsurprisingly, been the toast of the town this week, a symbol of Democratic hopes that they can compete this fall in traditionally Republican states.

Still, it was still rather surprising to see Herseth with a guest speaker’s slot at the New York delegation breakfast Tuesday, introduced by former state Democratic Chairwoman Judith Hope as a “really stunning young woman from South Dakota.”

Herseth is one of those Democrats who must forever walk a line between her party’s liberal tendencies at the national level and her constituents’ bedrock conservative values.

First, she sounded like a small town girl visiting the big city.

“It sure is a treat for someone from South Dakota, one of the country’s smallest delegations to address one of the country’s biggest delegations,” she said.

But then she sounded more like a true believer. Speaking of her own special election victory two months ago, she said, “A true blue Democrat was elected in a red-blood red state.”

She also bragged that South Dakota is now one of four “progressive” states in the union. “Massachusetts, Hawaii and North Dakota are the others” with all-Democratic Congressional delegations. And she singled out Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), one of the most liberal Members around, as a mentor.

So how will South Dakota voters feel about Herseth consorting with all those New Yorkers? “They already know I consort with New Yorkers,” she laughed.

Daschle’s daughter-in-law at Boston

A Sibby Online reader brought this Fox News report to my attention regarding Tom Daschle’s daughter-in-law Jill's activities at the Democrat convention:

Maybe the award for worst venue ever for a big party goes to the men's clothing store Louis Boston. (It's pronounced Louie, like the Danny DeVito character on Taxi.) Last night the Creative Coalition tried to cram a couple million young people into Louie Boston and a couple of tents in its backyard so everyone could hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers up close. Patrons supposedly paid $1,000 apiece, but as one friend quipped, if everyone actually forked over that money, the Coalition raised more in one night than John Kerry did recently at Radio City.

There were the requisite velvet ropes, nasty security guards and the surliest representatives of the store you could imagine. All of this was designed to keep everyone out of a VIP area in the store and outside in the lightly falling rain. Since clothes in Louie Boston are very, very, very expensive, this did bring to mind a good question: Why not just shop at the Gap or Bloomingdales, instead?

"You're the kind of person who gives the media a bad name," said a man who seemed to be in charge, if not own, Louie Boston when our pass was not honored. The fire marshall was invoked, a man who must be very busy since he seemed to be all over Boston last night issuing proclamations.

Later, the Creative Coalition's secret A-list reconvened at a nice bar in the Park Plaza Hotel called Bonfire. Jill Daschle, identified as the daughter-in-law of Tom Daschle, was in charge of offending people and keeping them out. She did an excellent job.

So who is the Creative Coalition? Even though they claim to be bipartisan, here is what they do:

What We Do … The Creative Coalition sponsors public forums for the discussion of vital issues such as education policy, violence in America, the role of the media, campaign finance reform, gun control, and other topics of broad concern. These highly publicized events ensure a balanced approach that always includes concerned, informed members of the creative professions.

Sounds like liberal Hollywood to me (check out the guest list)…and Jill Daschle made the “secret A-list” for her talent in offending people.

Ann Coulter

USA Today, which is owned by the same parent company that owns the Argus Leader, decided to censor Ann Coulter from the pages of their paper. It’s too bad, because the nation should here this from her latest column:

How did Teresa "earn" the right to be opinionated again? By marrying inherited wealth? She also boasted that the Heinz family charity, John Kerry, "earned his medals the old-fashioned way." A couple of sponges on another man's wealth might want to steer clear of using the word "earn" so much. Democrats don't believe in capitalism and don't worry about taxes on earned income because they can't imagine there is any way to "earn" money other than the Teresa Heinz-John Kerry way.

But it is comments like this that scared the USA Today:

Even as Democrats ape Republicans – producing a platform that lyingly claims Democrats support war with Iraq, the Patriot Act and the defense of America – the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats can't help slipping out: Democrats are not angry about 9-11. Sad, maybe – sad that it didn't happen on Clinton's watch so his legacy would be more than a semen stain. But they're not angry.

Daschle's hypocrisy at the Democrat Convention

Thanks to Greg Belfrage, I got to listen to Tom Daschle’s speech at the Democrat Convention. Belfrage also provided great analysis of what Daschle said, and so did Jeff Gannon. Here’s an interesting excerpt:

The South Dakota senator railed against the special interests of HMOs and drug companies and declared, "The era of Enron and Halliburton ... will come to an end."

The campaign of the challenger for his senate seat, Republican John Thune, was quick to point out in a statement that Daschle's attacks on big drug companies, "stand in stark contrast with the fact he personally profited from Linda Daschle's lobbying for Schering-Plough in 1999 when the pharmaceutical company hired her to lobby Congress to extend the patent for the allergy drug Claritin."

Thune's campaign cited the January/February 2002 edition of Washington Monthly magazine that said, "Linda Daschle took something of a beating in the press and from public interest groups for taking up Schering-Plough's case, which if successful, would add billions of dollars to national prescription drug expenditures."

The senator's wife is one of Washington's most successful lobbyists, representing many corporations that do business with the federal government. She is the lead lobbyist for Boeing, a company embroiled in controversy surrounding the awarding of a $20 billion leasing contract. One company official has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and another is nearing a plea agreement.

The Washington Post reported that the lobbyist presence in Boston is far greater this year than at previous conventions because of a loophole in campaign finance laws. There are no limits to what corporations and labor unions can spend to influence officeholders at presidential conventions.

For more see this November 9, 1999 analysis and this June 1999 link.

Club For Growth

While I was in California the Club For Growth blog linked to my post on John Thune’s Democrat Convention travel gift to Tom Daschle. Even when I was a Democrat, I was a fiscal conservative, and I fully support The Club For Growth's cause. Sibby Online will blogroll the Club For Growth blog.

Fair and balanced

As the Argus Leader only allowed David Kranz to opine on the Daschle Dead Zone Op-ed, The Mitchell Daily Republic printed the whole Wall Street Journal piece. It’s nice that at least one media outlet in South Dakota lets us see the whole thing and let it’s readers decide.

Back from California

Just got back from California at 4PM today. Turned on Greg Belfrage and got a little caught up on what has been going on. He first covered the Thune challenge to Daschle regarding Town Hall meetings in 66 counties. Of course Daschle turned him down. I have covered the Daschle Town Hall meeting Daschle had last Friday on prescription drugs. Daschle is not back here to find out what we think. His purpose is to con us into thinking it is okay to give up on ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and on South Dakota and become completely dependent on the Federal government. That last thing Daschle wants is to have a free-for-all debate on the issues publicly in South Dakota.

Greg also covered Jon Lauck’s National Review Online column. I need to read that as part of my catching up process.

I had a chance to do some reading on the plane and have more to talk about later.