Yesterday the South Dakota Republican Party responded with immediate snark to Rep. Susan Wismer's announcement of former legislator Susy Blake has her running mate in the gubernatorial race. "South Dakotans Appreciate Results, Not Rhetoric," said the press release headline from the party that spent its convention approving the impeachment of the President of the United States.
The announcement of Susy Blake's addition to the Democrat [sic] Party ticket is a strong indicator that the South Dakota Democratic Party is out-of-touch with what is important to South Dakotans. Rob Burgess, Communications Director of the South Dakota Republican Party, had the following response to the announcement of Susan Wismer's running mate:
"The people of South Dakota are hard-working and they expect the same from the leadership of their state. That is why the people who live here and work here have chosen to elect Republicans as their statewide leaders for the last 50 years. This year is no different. The people of South Dakota deserve responsible and capable leadership which is exactly what Governor Daugaard and Lt. Governor Michels have provided. Susan Wismer and Susy Blake represent the chance for South Dakota to take a step backwards... that just isn't something South Dakotans are known for" [South Dakota Republican Party, press release, 2014.06.25].
The headline spoke of "Results, Not Rhetoric," but I didn't see anything in the text that addressed pinned results to their guys or objectionable rhetoric to our gals. Such poor writing is to be expected from Republicans who apparently don't believe that the assertions they bleat should be supported by examples, logic, or reality.
But hey, I'm a generous, reach-across-the-aisle kind of guy, so I gave SDGOP communications director Rob Burgess a shout and asked for examples of the "results" and "rhetoric" that he was shouting about. Burgess obliged:
Under Gov. Daugaard's leadership, South Dakota has experienced a lot of success ranging from eliminating a $127 million structural deficit in the state's budget to having the 2nd best Business Tax Climate in the nation this year [Source]. More South Dakotans are finding work here than in previous years. These are the type of results South Dakota has seen under his leadership.
Susan Wismer has chosen not to acknowledge these accomplishments. Instead, she insists that people in this state are hurting. That the people of South Dakota need help—her help—in order to succeed... this is the type of rhetoric that does not speak for the people of South Dakota. That isn't the kind of approach the people of South Dakota take to their everyday lives [Rob Burgess, SDGOP, e-mail to Madville Times, 2014.06.25].
Burgess's response at least gives us some rhetorical handles:
- Result #1 is Dennis Daugaard's ability to get us out of the structural deficit that his boss Mike Rounds created during eight years of lazy governing. Oh, yes, please, Republicans, emphasize that point on the campaign trail. I'll help!
- Governor Daugaard achieved that result by slashing education funding to set our K-12 schools fiscally back five years. That's some of the real hurt candidate Wismer is talking about.
- Result #2 is achieving one of several arbitrary ratings based on business taxes that were mostly in effect before Dennis Daugaard took office.
- Result #2 is a clever pivot away from the last arbitrary ranking that Team Daugaard touted, last year's CNBC #1 state for business ranking that just CNBC just downgraded to #11... which wouldn't be so bad if CNBC weren't ranking the Democratic People's Republic of Minnesota #6.
- Result #2 ignores CNBC's #11 because CNBC's #11 says South Dakota ranks 30th in education, 31st in infrastructure, and 50th in technology and innovation.
- The "rhetoric" point is no more than alliteration wrapped around vague word abuse. The SDGOP's razz-welcome of Susy Blake to the race boils down to saying, "Republicans get to say they want to help South Dakota, but Democrats don't get to say they want to help South Dakota."
Susan Wismer is talking about results... the results of a generation of Republican one-party rule and neglect of education. Republicans need to dismiss such talk as "rhetoric," because they need us all to coast on their preferred sunny, checked-shirt, "Everything Is Awesome!" Bricksburg rhetoric rather than engaging in a serious analysis of what their public miserliness and private crony favors are doing to our schools, our roads and bridges, and our creative culture.
Sounds like the GOP is feeling threatened by the Wismer/Blake team.
"Susan Wismer is talking about results... the results of a generation of Republican one-party rule and neglect of education. "
The result: We have the Democrats growing the government schools, so that the Republican crony capitalists can use it to create human capital for the corporatists' global economy, all in the name of workforce development.
The Argus Leader has a short and easy to miss article today about how SD just slipped in some rating from #1 for business down to #11. North Dakota and Minnesota got higher rankings than SD did. The catch line was "change the marketing materials." Our crony capitalist crew is now ranked lower than MN. They must be very proud of that result.
Democrats have to hammer the Republicans on the $127 million structural deficit.
Rounds is at fault for creating the deficit and Daugaard is at fault because he fixed it on the backs of education.
I asked a Rounds supporter on this the other night on Twitter and he responded that Daugaard went a different direction. What???? He never explained.
There was no $127 million structural deficit. It was $12 million in Rounds last year. Projected revenues for Daugaard's first year was to rise about $50 million. So Daugaard had an extra $40 million to spend. To bad Medicaid demanded a larger increase.
$127 million deficit. here's a link to a conservative article
http://www.americanclarion.com/lies-about-south-dakotas-structural-deficit-19413
here's Duagaard saying it himself
http://www.kdlt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34624&Itemid=57
Daugaard still claimed the falsehood in the primary. What both Rounds and Daugaard don't talk about is the extra 100s of millions of Obama stimulus money they put into their budgets.
Is their snark worse than their bite?
I was at the convention and my impression of the impeachment resolution (just a resolution-not actually on the platform) was that it was just a bone, thrown to the more radical wing of the party to keep the torches and pitchforks from coming out or, worse yet, having a bunch of them run off and start a third party.
I sincerely hope the Democrat candidates at least take home a significant percentage of votes. This bunch could use a good scare in November.
There is nothing going on with this whole process that alters my view that politics is the art of handing out sh*t sandwiches while attempting to convince the recipients that they're Big Macs.
I agree Steve that they didn't want to talk about and give Obama credit. Tea Party nut cases would have ripped them.
Well Owen, being against crony capitalists printing money, lending to the government with interest, having that money return to the corporations they own is something that only Tea Party nut cases are against. Both Democratic and GOP Establishment types are all for it.
Steve, you should consider writing adventure comic books. The same mythology can be used over and over again like the theme music of a bad radio show. Those who read that tripe don't care. On the other hand, your nonsense repetition of themes, memes, and other nonsense already discredited about 1,000 times gets old awfully fast.
Report reality without the mythology clothes, and you can make an actual contribution.
Any great Madville Times bloggers in the mood to write the obituary for Sibson's blog? Perhaps we can have an online wake. The last I checked, his last post was March 14.
The death of his blog is obviously due to the fact that he cannot construct a sentence or paragraph with using those two overused phrases.
gee, Roger, I just castigated Steve over on the "Dean Backs Wieland" thread. Think he'll get the message?
The Wismer/Blake team needs to hammer on that structural deficit Rounds created, so does Weiland.
Our Democratic gubernatorial team have any opportunity to effect change and get some results, they need to do it.
We can talk crony capitalism corruption tell hell freezes over, but if Wismer does not lay out a plan to end, it is all for naught.
Hopefully she will tell us the plan she has to hold every state official and de facto organizations and bussiness's accountable by the use of ethics boards, committees with real punitive consequences.
What will Susan do about true transparency, not the tidbits that state chooses to tell us about. Will she make access to state records and documents affordable to South Dakotans that want more information.
About GOED/EB-5, will she aggressively call for independent special prosecutor with full subpoena power to conduct an investigation? Obviously, citizens can't rely on the foxes to provide evidence and prosecute and punish.
Come on Susan and Susy, this boat needs rockin'. Rock it.
Jessie,
Great, I'm on my way over there to see what ding dong is up to.
I was just complaining about it being the same old, same old. You expected him to say something new and interesting?
Jessie, I have no expectations of Sibson one way or the other. He consistently makes himself more irrelevant with every post he writes.
Cranky, does the Democratic Party throw any bones like that to any of its radical fringe? If I am part of that fringe, I don't feel like I get many bones. And if they did throw such bones, what would happen? Would they catch heck in the press and still win the elections, the way the Republicans do?
Rounds, when asked about the impeachment resolution, "I'm concentrating on the November Election". Well don't get a headache Mike. Will we ever get a specific answer to a direct question from this guy?
That is what is called a political non-answer answer; meaning that it cannot come back to bite him.
No, Kenny, we will not, because Rounds thinks like the rest of the Republican Party: he thinks he is entitled to power and does not have to answer questions that invite a serious discussion of his or his party's actions. "I'm concentrating on the November election" encapsulates Rounds's and the GOP's thinking at every moment.
'The people of SD are hard working'. Such a tired statement I've heard for years. I don't notice any difference with Minnesotans being any less hardworking than South Dakotans. South Dakotans can't claim that protestant work ethic all to their own.