Tim Still Raving about SHS SDSU Job; Change Subject Much?

You'd think with supermajorities in the State Legislature, a lock on the governor's office, and two of three seats in our Congressional delegation, the South Dakota Republican Party wouldn't feel the need to manufacture bogus issues around a campaign they won six months ago. But Republican insecurity apparently knows no bounds, as GOP chair Rep. Tim Rave keeps trying to fight the 2010 Congressional campaign. (What is it with Republicans living in the past?)

Rep. Rave sees something "odd" in South Dakota State University's appointment of former Conresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin as an adjunct assistant professor. Reporter Bob Mercer put this nutty complaint to bed last week:

As I recall, she also did some teaching at SDSU before she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. But bringing Herseth Sandlin back is hardly a first. For example, the University of South Dakota has tapped former governor and former congressman Bill Janklow to talk to students. Who better than a Herseth Sandlin or a Janklow to teach about real life in real politics? Former governors, former federal Cabinet officials and former members of Congress dot campuses throughout the nation.

...Oh, by the way, who's that guy Janklow tapped to be president of USD? Oh yeah, Jim Abbott, who was a state legislator, ran for the U.S. House (1996) and ran for governor (2002), all as a Democrat. Better run him off campus too [Bob Mercer, "Heaven Forbid! State Universities Hire Politicians," Pure Pierre Politics, 2011.04.21].

I guess Herseth Sandlin just can't win with Republicans. If she takes a job out of state, Rave criticizes her for not remaining a true South Dakotan. If she takes a job in South Dakota that is commensurate with her copious skills and experience, Rave tries to manufacture some scandal of political favoritism.

Notice what Chairman Rave is not making noise about. He and his fellow Republican legislators abdicated their constitutional duty to support public education and made extreme, unnecessary, job-killing cuts to K-12 state aid. The GOP's new Fox News darling, Intern Kristi Noem, has voted for a wildly unpopular plan to end Medicare and Medicaid. Noem is also demonstrating an inability to answer simple questions and a superficial fiscal conservatism that is wearing thin with her Tea Party backers.

Boy, with a record like that, I can understand why Chairman Rave is desperate to change the subject. It's too bad the GOP chairman is ranting and raving about nonsense and not the real issues facing South Dakota.

Update 11:56 CDT: Bob Mercer cites research from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner that finds the Rave-Noem-GOP priorities of cutting K-12 education, Medicare, and Medicaid to be markedly unpopular among Americans. The GQRR questionnaire did not gauge Americans' concerns about former members of Congress teaching at universities.