Sibby Online

This just in

From Tom Daschle (I think):

Dear Friends:

I wanted to share with you an article that appeared in my hometown paper of Aberdeen, SD this morning: Daschle Accepts New Role.

After several weeks of considering various opportunities, I have decided to serve as a Public Policy Advisor at the law firm of Alston & Bird. This will give me an opportunity to continue to work on issues that I care so deeply about – renewable energy and health care, to name a couple – and also allow me the time to remain active in other areas.

One area of particular interest is to continue my involvement with issues critical to Native Americans. I will be traveling across South Dakota in a couple of weeks and will be meeting with many of our tribal leaders to seek their thoughts and advice on a way that I can continue to make an impact in this area.

As I reflect on my 26 years in Congress, I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity I had to serve the people of South Dakota and the nation. While my job title may have changed, my commitment to public service and for taking on the issues we care about, has not.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I believe in the dreams of the future more than the history of the past." So it is with me. I look forward to continuing to work with you as we fight for the dreams of the future...

Sincerely,


Tom Daschle

He jumps in with the capitalists and quotes Thomas Jefferson. Just a short time ago he was on the campaign trail quoting socialists like FDR. Maybe he has changed? Or is it just another con job?

Cross-color Senators

From the Washington Times:

Just slightly less significant than the president's re-election was Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's defeat in South Dakota. The Daschle defeat highlighted the circumstance of senators running counter to their state's presidential voting. These cross-color senators (red/blue senators in blue/red states) are a much greater liability for Democrats than for Republicans. While there are seven Republican senators representing blue states, 15 Democrat senators represent red states.

Closer examination reinforces the trend. Only two Republicans garnered smaller vote totals in their last election than Mr. Kerry did in their states in November; seven Democrats in their last election ran behind Mr. Bush's November total in their states. As Mr. Daschle's defeat underscores, cross-color senators have to be cognizant of this reality, which again favors Republicans.

Don't get "Daschled"

Another interested report from The Hill:

Much ink has been spilled over the past two weeks in an effort to add the verb “to Daschle” to Washington’s insider vocabulary. The new usage can be loosely defined as “to aggressively target for defeat a liberal Democrat who represents an otherwise solidly Republican state.”

Tim Russert, for instance, commented that “Democrats who live in the red states, or Republican states, now have a new term — we have to be careful that we’re not ‘Daschled,’ referring to what happened to Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.”

This is noticeably different from the previous use of “Daschled,” used mainly as a play on the word “dashed.” As in “Dem Spirits Daschled” (New York Daily News), “Tax Cut Hopes are Daschled” (Smart Money) and “Daschled Dreams” (Weekly Standard).

South Dakota was the winner

I think this excerpt from a Jan Larsan editorial sums up last week:

Winners on Election Day included the people of South Dakota. Tom Daschle was the poster boy for the classic "politician," the guy that puts partisan politics above all else. His act finally wore thin back home and he was sent packing, becoming the first Senate party leader voted out of office since 1952.

Environmentalists verse SD farmers & ranchers

For those who have followed me for awhile know that there is a problem facing farmers and ranchers. And that is the lost of property rights to the special interests of environmentalists. For those who are fairly new to Sibby Online, you can find more about this by reading through my Tony Dean index. Tony Dean is one of South Dakota’s leading far-left environmentalists. He is also a Sportsman Outdoor writer, but his main camouflage is his claims to be a conservative Republican.

At the very top of today’s front-page of the Argus Leader is a report on the drought relief that recently passed the Republican controlled Congress and signed into law by President Bush. The environmentalists are not happy about how the drought relief was funded:

The disaster package is being offset by reducing baseline funding for the Conservation Security Program from $9 billion to $6 billion. The CSP is a new program created in the 2002 Farm Bill.

Unlike the 20-year-old Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to idle fragile cropland and plant it in permanent cover, the CSP rewards farmers and ranchers for using environmentally friendly practices on working crop and range land.

The program, made available to farmers and ranchers on watersheds identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has gotten off to a slow start, with only $41 million earmarked nationwide this year.

No South Dakota watersheds qualified this year.

Since the CSP program is only a way for the environmentalists to assert their control over South Dakota farmers and ranchers, who received no benefit…the fiscally responsible method of providing drought relief from within the current budget should be Ok to South Dakota agriculture interests. Right? But continue reading the Argus report:

The fact that the CSP is just getting under way might have made it easy for Congress to raid it for a disaster bill, but "it sets a terrible precedent," said Dennis Wiese, South Dakota Farmers Union executive director.

"By taking money out of this fund, we have reopened the Farm Bill," Wiese said. "That's never happened.

"Even though farmers and ranchers will receive assistance for weather-related disasters incurred in 2003 or 2004 crop years, the fact remains that the assistance is taken at the expense of another farm program, and that is unfair."

What the Argus Leader did not disclose about Dennis Wiese is the fact that he is a partisan Daschle supporter. I saw him at the Masonic Temple in Mitchell on October 21 during a Daschle community dinner wearing a Tom Daschle sticker on his shirt. He also attacked me with a letter in the October 15 Mitchell Daily Republic regarding a letter I wrote containing Daschle's voting record on the 2003 Omnibus bill. Today’s MDR has published my response:

Dennis Wiese, president South Dakota Farmers Union, October 15th letter attacked me for misleading readers of this paper. He should have gotten his facts straight before writing his factually incorrect letter.

He referred to my “letter printed in mid-September regarding drought aid”. I had no letter printed in this paper during September let alone “mid-September”.

Wiese then makes a feeble attempt to provide cover for Daschle’s votes against $3 billion in drought aid, by saying, “it was amending his own $6 billion amendment. Wrong, the $3 billion amendment was voted on 27 minutes prior to the Daschle amendment. When Daschle’s amendment did come to vote, Daschle could only muster 39 votes. Five Democrats voted against it, while five more Democrats did not vote at all on the amendment. So much for Daschle’s clout.

Daschle and his partisan supporters, such as Dennis Wiese, should blame Daschle for the ten Democrats that Daschle couldn’t bring to the table before they start placing blame on President Bush and John Thune. After Daschle did not have the clout to increase drought relieve from $3 to $6 billion, he twice voted against the entire 2003 Omnibus bill that contained other funding he is now taking credit for.

The Daschle campaign has been running negative attack ads at the President and John Thune for doing nothing about drought relief in 2002. The ad used Gene Williams who received $15,907 in disaster subsidies during 2002 thanks to Thune’s work.

Daschle’s campaign has also lied about the Second Amendment, abortion, and tax cuts. But Daschle’s biggest lie is that the people of South Dakota are helpless and not capable of finding a job, providing healthcare, and we cannot survive without him.

After posting the BPI letter that took Daschle to task for lying about a value-added agriculture business, it is disturbing to read a Argus Leader report using a partisan Daschle supporter, represented as a South Dakota Ag expert, who is actually representing the interests of far-left environmentalists…at the expense of South Dakota farmers and ranchers.

The Other Side of Tom Daschle

Talmage Ekanger will be signing copies of his book "The Other Side of Tom Daschle" tonight (Friday) from 6-8PM at the Sioux Falls Barnes and Noble. The other side is the side the South Dakota “old media” (KELOTV & Argus Leader) does not cover. That’s not my opinion, it’s the truth. If everybody would read this before they vote, Thune would win by 30 plus points.

Daschle vs his own campaign Part 2

DVT has a post regarding the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee buying TV air time in South Dakota that contained this quote”

“Senator Daschle has asked all third-party groups to stay out and he stands by that request,” said Daschle deputy campaign manager Dan Pfeiffer. “As Thune has said all along, we don’t have direct control over these groups.”

Note what Tom Daschle said on September 19, 2004 during the Meet the Press debate:

[Tim Russert] There is an ad, Senator Daschle, that you are running criticizing an ad that you say is by John Thune. Let's watch.

(Videotape):
Announcer: John Thune is running another negative misleading ad. Tom Daschle does not support any increase in gas taxes. Daschle's fought to lower energy prices.
(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: The ad is actually run and paid for by the National Republican Senate Campaign Committee, so it's not a John Thune ad, and yet you say it is.

SEN. DASCHLE: Well, I do, Tim, because John has the ability to pull those ads.

Even Dan Pfeiffer, Daschle’s deputy campaign manager, admits Daschle was wrong.

What’s good for the goose

Is good for the gander. That seems to be the message of this Talon news report regarding Mansiongate (more at SDP):

A South Dakota college student is citing what has been referred to as the "Daschle dual residency exception" in order to retain his residency privileges while he attends a Colorado university. Ben Folsland, a 22 year old student at Colorado Christian University is considering declaring Colorado as his "primary place of residence" so he can take advantage of an "in-state" tuition rate that would be substantially less than what he is paying now.

In a letter to the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, the Rapid City student asked Secretary John Cooper if he would be permitted to retain his in-state hunting license if he were to become a Colorado resident.

I wonder what kind of hunting license Daschle had on that hunting ad where he lied about the Second Amendment? Was it a resident license or was it a non-resident license?

Gun Show in Mitchell

I was at the Mitchell gun show this weekend. We had a great turnout.

The local NRA was there. Notice they had Larry Diedrich’s sign up and not Stephanie Herseth. Herseth has taken a strong stand on guns, but those of us who know Larry know he will take the same stand in DC.

John Thune’s supporters were also there. I was at the table beneath the Thune sign most of the weekend wearing my “Dump Daschle” T-shirt. I received a lot of agreement on that note. Daschle supporters did not show up with a table. On March 2, Daschle did not support gun shows by voting to add more Federal regulations. There was one guy who showed up wearing Daschle stickers. I heard there were several pointed discussions with the guy as he passed by tables. I wonder what would have happened if Daschle showed up saying he believes in the Second Amendment, like he does in his hunting ad.

From the mailbag

Here is an email I received regarding my post on last night’s speech by Tom Daschle:

Gee, I was tucked in my house tonight, but when I read your comments on Daschle's speech tonight in Mitchell, I would swear I was also there. He used exactly the same stories about Lyndon Johnson's desk and the rising/setting sun at Dakotafest. Maybe he thinks people don't remember - guess what? We do. And that is why he is having so much trouble with his double life (Washington vs SD) - we remember all his various stances and doubletalk and don't like it!