Last updated on 2013.03.23
Way back during the 2010 primary, in a live online chat with Kevin Woster on Mount Blogmore, candidate Kristi Noem cited her strong support of Congressman Paul Ryan's budget roadmap, a signal Tea-flavored Republicans would reasonably read as a signal of true conservatism:
12:13 [Question from Derek Gardner] Kristi, do you support the Republican budget proposed by Paul Ryan (R-WI)?
12:15 [reply from Kristi Noem] It is a great place to start and the right direction for this country to go. One of the main reasons I am running is to get our nation's fiscal house in order.
During the general campaign, when Stephanie Herseth Sandlin pointed out that the Ryan budget calls for privatizing Social Security and Medicare, Noem stripped gears backpedaling away from her May 11 statement.
Now the flip-flop revisionism is complete:
Rep. Kristi Noem (R., S.D.), a member of the House leadership team, tells us she likes portions of the roadmap, such as Ryan's caps on spending, but "beyond that, I haven't explored too far" [Robert Costa, "A Roadmap Not Taken?" National Review Online, 2011.01.17].
Eight months after publicly endorsing it to win primary votes, Congresswoman Noem now says she hasn't really explored the Ryan plan.
The generous interpretation: Noem is telling the truth. When she called Ryan's plan "a great place to start" back in May, she was just offering a stock fluff answer that she thought would cover her lack of knowledge about the specifics. She knew just enough then to know smiling and nodding at Ryan would make conservative voters happy. Even after getting hammered by Herseth Sandlin on the specifics in August debates, Noem hasn't given it much more study.
The realistic interpretation: Noem was feeding conservatives a line during the primary. With a sinecure freshman leadership post, Boehner and the GOP leadership have effectively brought Noem to heel. She has decided to play the safe establishment game rather than carrying out the hard-right conservative agenda of many of those who made her November victory possible. As seen elsewhere, Noem is going Washington.
To get elected, Kristi Noem said things she either didn't understand or didn't mean. Under either interpretation, you folks who thought you were voting for a Teapublican got played. Noem must want to be just like Herseth Sandlin, tacking center and alienating her ideological base.
Personally, I'd go for the generous interpretation. I think she's dumber than a box of rocks. Until I get evidence to the contrary, I'm sticking with it.
I have a feeling this will be just one of many Noem said one thing to get elected while doing something else once in office posts that we'll be writing in the coming months Cory.
You must really be scared of Rep. Noem and the congressional Republicans. Basically nothing has changed since the online chat, yet you spin it up into some big backpedal.
As I said a day or two ago here, you're desperate to drive a wedge between Tea Party patriots and Rep. Noem. Unfortunately for you, we're a great deal smarter than you think we are.
But then, that kind of down-your-nose view of the world is comes with the territory of being a liberal elitist. Remember what the Bible says about pride coming before a fall...well, that already happened back in November, didn't it? And it's coming again in 2012...
ip and Bob Ellis had sex.
Bob Ellis- If nothing has changed since the online chat then she lied during the general election so there is still a problem there. If she was willing to lie about that in order to cover her tracks with senior citizens what else has she or will she lie about?
Note how again, Bob Ellis can't make his argument without ad hominem attacks against the person making the argument. Mr. Ellis, at least I'm consistent. Noem can't keep a consistent policy line. Note also that Mr. Ellis completely fails to offer any logical counter-interpretation.
(But I think it rocks that the comments opened with three Bobs in a row!)
Have any of the other Bobs noticed any opportunities for constituents to meet with their new representative? (I suppose I'm open for an ad hominem attack from at least one of the Bobs) I sure haven't.
Cory-
Normally I disagree with you but can see where you're coming from, but on this issue, there you go again. You've got some pretty flimsy evidence in trying to say again that Representative Noem is flip-flopping on what in all reality is a non-issue right now.
Lets talk about her first interview with Kevin Woster where you slam her for "giving a stock fluff answer"... yet in the very next comment she offers in the Woster interview, she offers this: "The first thing we need to do is take the TARP dollars that are being repaid and put them towards the debt this country has. I would also look to cut programs and departments that are not necessary for government or required by the Constitution." Sounds like she's offering some ideas to me; and plus, the idea of getting rid of TARP and the idea of cutting government inefficiency are in fact alluded to in Paul Ryan's Roadmap.
So next let’s look at where you offer your “realistic interpretationâ€. If you want to criticize Bob Ellis for offering ad hominem arguments, I think you should probably look at your own too. Your whole "realistic interpretation" is nothing more than an ad hominem attack on Representative Noem. But aside from that, even in the National Review interview Representative Noem offers an idea of what she likes in the Roadmap ("such as Ryan’s caps on spending"). Could she have expounded on what she liked more? Absolutely… but then again, she wasn’t the only person who was interviewed, and even if she had offered more points, the writer of the article probably wouldn’t have put them in there in an effort to save column space. Finally, I don’t really expect her to know that much about an idea that isn’t gaining much traction in Congress these days… as the article mentions, the entitlement issue that the Roadmap addresses just isn’t going anywhere right now, so why should she focus on the Roadmap when Congress is dealing with other issues?
SHS lost. That's really all there is to this story. Perhaps those of us on the left should have spent more time going after the phony Democrats called Blue Dogs than after their opponents. We know how their opponents will govern and that's the whole point. TPM, HuffPost, Kos, Madville and others wasted two years telling us how bad the opposition would be but never held the phony Democrats feet to the fire. The Democrats only proved that they couldn't govern thanks to people like SHS. So what about Noem. Did you honestly think she would not be any different than SHS?
"I would also look to cut programs and departments that are not necessary for government or required by the Constitution."
Are there instances where Kristi gave us any additional insights into which programs these are? I think not, either because she wasn't up to it, or wanted to avoid irritating a particular constituency.
The Difference between May and July:
What you are all missing is that in the primary she was Kristi Noem who most R's didn't even know existed. Sure she didn't say stupid things because she's got a lot of natural talent but she relied on her instincts.
Then along came a primary win and she was up big in a Rassmussen poll a few days later and then she hired??? You guessed it a political genius Joshua Shields who worked for Curd and Thune and I'm sure he started feeding her lines that wouldn't get her into trouble. He started teaching her how to be a politician instead of shooting from the gut and being the Kristi Noem who was real and unique.
They turned her into just another politician only she has a lot of natural talent and looks.
If you think Kristi Noem is stupid than you are not going to ever defeat her. She is very smart and talented. I would probably say that her campaign damaged her image by being so negative. I think she'd have won by 5 or more if she'd have presented more ideas like she did in the primary. She's got a lot of work to do over the next couple years to repair her image and make sure people get to know her. SHS is only going to get more popular out of office and living in SD.
What bothers me about Noem is that she doesn't give a straigh answere when she talks and she is obviously aligned with the Cantor crowd rather than the Ryan's and Tea Partiers.
My impression of Noem's staffers in SF were that they looked down on the average Republican/Conservative. Like the nerd with glasses and the guy with the beard. The bearded guy was the worst! They treated people like second class citizens. I kind of lost my interest when they wouldn't answer my questions. I still voted for her but I stopped volunteering.
Tyler, a note on ad hominem: the point of my argument is indeed to question Rep. Noem's honesty and/or intelligence. I look at the words she said in May, August, and January, and I conclude that in her original May statement, she spoke either uninformedly or disingenuously. Mr. Ellis does not directly address the evidence and logic I use to form those conclusions (unlike you, in your first paragraph, which I can appreciate). He simply copies and pastes the standard irrelevant insults that he uses against me and others who disagree with him.
Snapper, if she is smart, why can't she just say, "You know what? I've studied the Ryan budget further, and I find I can't support it as strongly as I did in May"?
Good point. Let's just say she appears to be smart at a distance.
Snapper, I'm open to changing my mind. At the distances from which I've witnessed her, I've no evidence that she has any original ideas, or has any substance.
I didn't say that. I guess I should have said that the standard was so high for the debates. SHS was supposed to destroy Noem and in the end Kristi went toe to toe with her. If anything most South Dakotans thought they were both negative and caught up in a cat fight. That means Kristi got SHS on her turf and won.
I still don't think I'd underestimate her because even if she isn't smart with original ideas she looks poised and pollished repeating what she is told. In the end that sells to most voters. She has a confident demeanor and it resonates. I think Kristi connected on a passionate level with her supporters and SHS lost people in her lack of position. Even if she was more knowledgable on the issues she didn't connect with voters gut reaction.
Give Noem 2-4 years and then I think she'll begin to fade amongst the conservative base in SD and she'll lost to Rounds in a primary for Senate.
I'm actually very upset with Noem and her political calculating attitude since she won the primary. She avoids the Tea Party like the plague. Just ask Tea Party leaders in Mitchell and the rest of SD if Kristi has done jack with the tea party since she won the primary.
Now I might not be a Tea Party activist but at least the Kristi in the primary drew a hard line in the sand and stuck with it. The new Kristi with Josh Shields has her finger in the air and follows the Thune playbook of staying popular and rising up in the ranks rather than getting something done. So I'm a little upset that Kristi isn't the same as she was the first time I voted for her.
Ok I have one thing to say... Bush wasn't smart but he was president for how many years in a row? It's our state's people we should be questioning... That is just in my opinion....