Press "Enter" to skip to content

Congresswoman Dresses Like Farmhand; GOP Fashion Police Stand Down

The AgFirst Co-op Elevator in Aurora hosted a hastily convened meeting on the stalled Farm Bill yesterday. With so little notice, hardly anyone was able to attend, just a couple reporters, a blogger (who didn't have the time to report any substantive discussion of what the farm bill will or should include if it ever passes), five guys and some shabby-looking gal in frayed jeans, a hoodie, and a cap pulled low over her eyes...

Rep. Kristi Noem meets a handful of constituents and reporters at the AgFirst Co-op Elevator, Aurora, South Dakota, 2013.10.24. Image from KELO video.
Rep. Kristi Noem meets a handful of constituents and reporters at the AgFirst Co-op Elevator, Aurora, South Dakota, 2013.10.24. Image from KELO video.

Wait a minute! That hoodie-lum is Congresswoman Kristi Noem! But she sure doesn't look very Congressional. She looks more like she's headed out to the barn to shovel some horsesh... oh, well, um....

Send me to the penalty box for thinking bad words. Republicans, write the blog for me. What's that you say, Joel?

Elected officials should remember their physical appearance is important. They must project an image reflective that they represent others. Citizens will not support someone as their representative who doesn’t present well. I scribe this because of the disheveled appearance of Rep. Stace Nelson who looked like he just got out of bed with his wrinkled shirt and sleeves rolled up above the elbow [Joel Rosenthal, "Political Speeches," South Dakota Straight Talk, 2013.09.22].

And Pat, come again?

There’s a saying out there, which I most recently caught while ignoring my wife watching “What Not to Wear.” I hate most television, especially reality shows, but this was an absolute truism: Don’t dress for the job you have. Dress for the job you want [emphasis in original; Pat Powers, "Dress That Candidate Up. At Least South Dakota Style," Dakota War College, 2013.09.23].

Ah, maybe Noem did take Pat's advice and is showing us which job she wants us to give her next year.

Oh, sorry. Pat was still speaking:

Congresswoman Noem dresses similarly, always looking neat and professional. She dresses down for many Republican events, and it’s not unusual to see her in jeans when it’s appropriate, but she never, everlooks sloppy or ratty.

In fact for most Republican events I attend, she’s usually one of the most fashionably dressed ones there [Powers, 2013.09.23].

...additionally...

You wouldn’t wear a suit to a cattle yard, but as a candidate, you aren’t working the yard, either [Powers, 2013.09.23].

When U.S. Senate candidate and bête noire of the GOP mainstream wears clean jeans and rolled up shirt sleeves, the GOP fashion police holler. When Kristi Noem slums it to a public meeting, Rosenthal and Powers (who's there to adore her with his camera) yield the floor to the crickets... just as they do when it comes to discussing Noem's failure to pass the Farm Bill for South Dakota.

29 Comments

  1. Bill Fleming 2013.10.25

    Hilarious. Nice smack-down Cory. Kristi looks just fine IMHO, but your fellow bloggers have now sure got some egg on their faces, huh?

  2. Rorschach 2013.10.25

    Rep. Noem does look like she's trying too hard to be one of the guys. But her outfit looks a lot like what I wear when I'm going hunting. Maybe she was going to throw on an orange vest and go hunting from there. She sure wouldn't want to make a habit of speaking at public meetings looking like that though. I bet the guys in the audience were underwhelmed with her wardrobe, her gum chewing and her demeanor also.

  3. Roger Cornelius 2013.10.25

    After all, it is the spooky season, in more ways than one.

    Are you sure this wasn't a Halloween Party?

  4. Jenny 2013.10.25

    Oh Cory, Cory, Cory! You, of all men, should know better than to judge a woman by her appearance. I know men are mainly visual creatures, but come on, we need to get beyond that. It's always a double standard in the media when it comes to men and women's appearances. Rep Noem is just wanting to blend in with the farming masses she represents and not one of the Washington elitists. I won't judge her for that.

  5. Jerry 2013.10.25

    NOem is just dressing like she will be forced to in a matter of months. That is just fine and she will look the part of just an everyday person here in South Dakota. Lets do all we can to keep her in her present attire on a daily basis. NO More NOem

  6. Rick 2013.10.25

    Her contempt for her audience and our state are on full display. She dresses sloppily. Her posture is sloppy. The body language is arrogant. She's a bum.

    No doubt she thinks she'll win another term by pulling out the manure spreader and viciously attacking her general election opponent, just as she did to escape defeat last election. Given her failure to pass a farm bill and her vote to prolong the government shutdown which damaged South Dakota's economy, we won't have Kristi to kick around after the next election.

  7. interested party 2013.10.25

    Meeting Image Like Farmhand

  8. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.25

    Bill! Nice to hear from you! I'm just trying to apply my Republican friends' principles consistently... and finding it impossible. Oh yeah, that's right: that's how I became a Democrat.

  9. Bill Fleming 2013.10.25

    LOL. I hear ya, Cory. Even so, something tells me Stacy Nelson wouldn't look as quite good in that red hat as Kristi does. ;-)

  10. owen reitzel 2013.10.25

    I think she's in hiding and doesn't want to be recognized. I wouldn't if I was her.

  11. Stan Gibilisco 2013.10.25

    If she weren't so cotton pickin' cute I would never have voted for her.

  12. grudznick 2013.10.25

    She is cute, but not as cute as that Dr. Bos. But don't we have bigger issues than what Ms. Noem was wearing? Like why the French, the FRENCH!, are upset with US because of that cell phone business. If Obama will snoop on the French they will snoop on Republicans. I am just glad I don't have one of those fancy phones.

  13. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.25

    The point (says the author patiently) is to look at the Republicans' facile and shifting use words. That's the only way, grudz, that your repetitive mention of Bosworth might be relevant to this discussion.

  14. Roger Cornelius 2013.10.25

    Remember all the big ado a few months back that Republicans made about photos of President Obama working, yes working, in his shirt sleeves and his feet on the desk in the oval office? It is always open season on politicians.
    About Noem being cute, cute like beauty is only skin deep.

  15. MJL 2013.10.25

    I think that the bigger issue is that Noem continues to set up fake meetings at times and in ways that the majority of people can't attend. Open houses in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday when the majority of people are voting. She can attend fund-raising events on the weekend with months of press releases.

  16. Jana 2013.10.25

    Outside of the media...how many people were there? Five?

  17. Deb Geelsdottir 2013.10.25

    My first reaction to the photo was a guffaw. Seriously? "Look at me. I'm just one of the guys."

    When I was growing up on the farm, we always cleaned up before we went to town. Even if we had to hurry, we still washed up, changed a dirty shirt, took the cap off.

    Noem is so pitifully transparent and less than skin-deep.

  18. Winston 2013.10.25

    I get a kick out of her designer jeans. A real farmer wears Levi's.... Check-out the extensive photography on this appearance at DWC....

    Is this her way of hiding from her vote to prolong the shut-down or is it to make-up for it and try to be one of the South Dakota boys?

    I heard a story once, that whenever Senator Mundt returned to South Dakota from DC, the first thing he would do is go visit his friend Joe Floyd at KELO, where he would use the facilities there to get out of his tailored DC suit and into his baggy South Dakota suit.... Well, let us just say Noem has taken this art to an extreme....

  19. charlie5150 2013.10.25

    I kept waiting for her to play with her phone. Jabber jabber jabber, chomp chomp chomp.

  20. Winston 2013.10.25

    But if she pulled-out a new IPhone 5c wouldn't that blow her cover? Hopefully, she has a Zack Morris brick phone on her at this event.....

  21. Mark 2013.10.26

    I was curious to know what logo was on her cap, but the DWC didn't respond, but Winston did, and the DWC didn't rebut him...

  22. Jerry 2013.10.26

    Winston, there is another similarity with NOem and Mundt, both were supporters of nut cases in Washington. Mundt was a big supporter of Joe McCarthy's red scare and NOem is that way to Cruz's red herrings. Buffoons all.

  23. Bill Dithmer 2013.10.26

    I guess I'm not worried about what our Miss Noem is wearing. I have grown up around strong women that dress the way they feel. Maybe she just felt like crap.

    You people are taking this to the extreme. Shouldn't this be about substance not fashion? I guess until they start handing out anatomically correct dolls of the candidates us blind people wont have anything to bitch about when it comes to cloths.

    Now if you really want something to worry about read this about her good friend Sarah Palin.

    http://dailycurrant.com/2013/10/23/sarah-palin-claims-jesus-celebrated-easter/?fb_action_ids=10201449569380157&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210201449569380157%22%3A669805326387316%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210201449569380157%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

    It's about enough to make me start believing in the Easter Bunny. Until then let me give you something to think about.

    Lap dance primary, pole dance general, is this where we are headed?

    The Blindman

  24. Bill Dithmer 2013.10.26

    Come on people I know the story was a joke but it was way funny. It could easily have been classic Sarah.

    The Blindman

  25. Winston 2013.10.26

    Thanks Mark! For those who don't care to go over to the other side (DWC), I believe the hat says.... "Hubbel for Gov."

    Jerry - You are right, except NOem and Mundt don't look a like regardless of what type of suit they have on, but Joe McCarthy and Cruz sure do......

  26. Douglas Wiken 2013.10.26

    Discussion of Noem is absent of substance because Noem is a pretty empty bag. Something like an empty shiny Christmas bag. Or if less generous, something like those flaming grocery sacks stuck on the front step and containing a fresh cow pie. Stomp, stomp is not recommended.

    There is now discussion of what is happening to the "soul of the Republican Party". That is wasted hot air. The GOP has no soul, or brains for that matter.

  27. Roger Cornelius 2013.10.26

    Did you see Noem's editorial in the Rapid City Journal explaining why she voted to shutdown Mt. Rushmore?

  28. Winston 2013.10.26

    Let me guess, she heard a rumor that they were going to add Barack's likeness to the mountain?

Comments are closed.