The thus-far anonymous individuals and/or group(s) behind the attacks on South Dakota's Republican Legislative leadership now face the full legal wrath of the Governor and the GOP Establishment, who will use the full force of the Attorney General and the courts to flush them out and throw the book at them for possible violations of South Dakota electioneering law.
We will thus soon know who these folks are, although it's a pretty good bet that they are connected with the disgruntled Gordon Howie-Stace Nelson wing of the SDGOP. These gents have been pressing the argument that the GOP leadership is corrupt, that it cares only for personal power, not the principles of the Republican party.
Ladies and gentlemen of the robocall insurgency, it's time to get serious. Goofy calls and cards targeting the post-election caucuses aren't enough to achieve your aim of loosening the leadership's corrupt grip on state government. You need to stop throwing the general mudballs and start advocating for the only real alternative on the table: Democrats.
You don't want Russell Olson as Senate Majority Leader? Throw him out; help Charlie Johnson beat him on November 6.
You don't want Dan Lederman throwing his weight and money around to take RINO contributions and sue you guys? Campaign for his Democratic opponent Michael O'Connor.
You want to thwart Brian Gosch's ambition to become Speaker of the House? Send your money to Jackie Swanson in District 32.
Democrats may have reason to keep daylight between themselves and your harsh, anonymous, and somewhat misleading attacks. But the GOP machine is now out to kill you. You can't wait for the post-election caucus. It's time to fight for the most immediate and powerful victory you can get: the unseating of your targets, not by internal caucus, but by popular vote.
Allying with Democrats may be anathema to your fundamental party principles. But if the current GOP leadership threaten the Republic the way you think they do, backing Democrats is the surest route to immediate change.
I've been saying the say thing for awhile. Tired of the GOP BS then vote for a change of direction and vote in Democrats.
Alos check out tea-bagger Bob Ellis in the Daily Republic calling our Governor a liberal. Talk about out of touch.
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/70258/
Good pitch, Cory.
Cory, your plan just means more big government/little citizen BS that we have now. The real solution is Democrats understanding the governemnt is for the big guy and the solution is smaller government. Time for Democrats to support conservatives.
Steve, your understanding of everything is limited to trite platitudes. Including both Democrats and your own "beliefs".
When Janklow died I hoped the bullying in the Republican party was over. So why do people not dare say who they are when they point out problems in the system. I admit who I am and there are people who say that I am just negative. When they can not point out a problem with my arguement and just throw attitude at me then I know they know I am right but their prestige just can not take it.
Whomever is making these calls should just say who they are and show where they got their information. Then their calls would make more difference.
thank you doctor politics
Justin, green energy fosters cronyism. Both parties use government to line their pockets.
Dems poised to take back House: Wang.
Makes perfect sense. I just don't understand why people can't just sit down and talk. I hate the way politics are now. At the end of the day we still should be friends and neighbors. This super partisan stuff is crazy.
I like the post-partisan comments. Let's strip the party labels away for a moment. Suppose there's a corrupt politician in office. You want to get rid of that politician, right? How do you do that? Vote that politician out and elect someone else. Stace wants it; I want it; let's do it!
Steve, voting conservative is for voting for the people that got our economy into the mess we're into. Not liberals.
Need proof. Bill Clinton had balanced the budget and was paying down the national debt when he left office.
I just don't get why being a Dem is even worse than teh gay west of the Missouri. It's not rational, especially in the face of the massive dereliction of duty and integrity shown by the current State House and Executive.
McGovern was right, we need two parties to keep things in balance.
Jackley and Gant are reminding me of the legends of Huey Long et. al. in the South back in the day.
Steve, the blogosphere is crying out for a decent conservative who writes something other than press releases. Get off the slogans, get back on your blog horse, and start posting good original content, even once a day, and you'll kill DWC!
Two parties to keep things in balance: exactly, Curtis! Even if the worst things Steve says about Democrats were true, Republicans voting for Democrats for SD Legislature this year would not be creating a one-party socialist dictatorship. They'd be ending the one-party crony dictatorship that currently rules Pierre and replacing it with a somewhat more honest system of checks and balances.
Heck, Republicans, I'm not even asking you to vote in a Democratic majority. Pick 13 Republicans in the House and 10 in the Senate who you think are part of the corrupt leadership. Help us replace them with Democrats this year. The GOP would still hold majorities in both chambers, but only by 3 votes. Pare down the GOP majority that far, and it would have to negotiate with Stace's Mugwumps and with the Dems. We'd get better, balanced government... which is what we all want, right? Right?
And, by the way, I'm proud of my label and refuse to apologize for it. This is the label that brought us Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Family Leave, and yes, the Affordable Care Act, even though it was paid for using Republican ideas, with nary a Republican vote. "Post-partisans" are usually folks that are trying to make us forget the disasters Republicans brought us in the 2000s, foreign and domestic.
Point well-taken, Curtis! I by no means am abandoning my Democratic status. I'm just saying that, on this specific question of corruption in state government, we don't need a label to see the right way to vote: throw the bums out!
With a little inspiration from Steven Colbert...I think some of the South Dakota Republicans are 'self-deporting' from their party.