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SDGOP Spin Blog Repudiates Fellow Republicans for Hurting Party Brand

You think I've been hard on Republicans today? Pat Powers is so disgusted with his fellow Republicans that he interrupted his usual lazy Sunday press releases to write his own blog post to blast Rep. Elizabeth May (R-27/Pine Ridge) and Rep. Isaac Latterell (R-6/Tea) for exposing the vile, selfish thoughtlessness that having an R in front of one's name excuses in South Dakota:

How does saying test anxiety is contributing to a disturbing suicide rate encourage a young professional businessperson to run as a Republican candidate for office when asked? When going door to door, how does saying “Planned Parenthood is beheading children people like ISIS terrorists” convince people that helping Republicans get elected is a worthwhile cause?

The answer is that they don’t. They’re just incendiary bombs being lobbed for the sole purpose of getting personal attention. And of course they’re going to get attention. They’re over the top, offensive and just plain stupid. And all that attention comes at the expense of all the other Republicans who are trying to do the difficult job of governing, and are now at risk of being painted with the same broad crazy brush by Democrats and the media who look for these opportunities.

Everytime I read that kind of things, I find myself asking “For crying out loud, please stop damaging the Republican brand.” If you feel the need to say something offensive and incendiary, sleep on it first. Bounce it off of a colleague for a read on how it sounds [Pat Powers, "For crying out loud, please stop damaging the Republican brand. (And maybe sleep on it before you say it.)" Dakota War College, 2015.03.01].

Oh, Pat, you and your "brand." May and Latterell aren't "damaging" the South Dakota Republican brand; they are the logical product of the very Republicanism you peddle. They ooze Republican anti-intellectualism. They throw whatever they've got at their opponents. They say vile falsehoods to arouse their base, then assume they can wave the flag or hit Delete and make us all forget. May and (more so) Latterell are Republicans straight out of a Dakota War College lesson plan.

Because May and Latterell are products of the politics he practices, Powers can't issue a simple, uncategorical rejection of their errors. Powers still couches his critique in language about Democrats and the media that make it sound like we are to blame for talking about what Republican legislators say and do in Pierre. "Broad crazy brush"? Hey, if crazy Republicans were just the trim, I could use my narrow brush. But with Reps. Craig and Stalzer disrespecting students who beat their gun bill with smart lobbying, with Rep. Stalzer dissing cops, and with former Noem intern Tomi Lahren calling Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren men (why? why?!?), the "crazy" folks aren't the trim; they are the siding. I can paint all day with the biggest brush I've got and still not cover all the rank idiocy that South Dakota Republicans put out.

(Note: Powers has yet to critique Craig, Stalzer, or Lahren for saying things that hurt the GOP "brand".)

South Dakota Democratic Party chair Ann Tornberg, at whom Powers has regularly thrown mud, agrees with his assessment of Latterell's irresponsible headline-scoring. She sends out this comment appended to Huffington Post's coverage of Latterell's equation of Planned Parenthood and ISIS:

Our politics are cheapened when extreme GOP legislators resort to demagoguery to score headlines. No matter your position on issues like life and choice, South Dakotans deserve better than this kind of hateful rhetoric [Ann Tornberg, SDDP e-mail, 2015.03.01].

Tornberg is party chair; she has as much interest in promoting her party's brand as Powers does his. But for Tornberg, panning Latterell's comments is about respecting all South Dakotans and resisting demagoguery and hateful rhetoric. For Powers, it's just damage control, throwing a couple fellow Republicans overboard for fouling the party's effort to conceal its inherent extremism behind a marketing curtain.

48 Comments

  1. larry kurtz 2015.03.01

    Stick a fork in DWC: it's done.

  2. Jana 2015.03.01

    Please capture PP's post so it can be used in the next election! He has a history of deleting years of posts when it doesn't fit his own personal agenda...which we know is bending over for the GOP power brokers.

  3. Steve Hickey 2015.03.01

    Maybe I'm breaking blog rules by cross posting a comment. This is a cut and paste of what I wrote over at DWC:

    No doubt there is truth to the criticism above about me wearing out my welcome in the party. Some cheer me on when I speak up, others roll their eyes. Not sure that’s anything new. It’s probable the comment above was even written by a colleague in the legislature. If I was singing the song they want sung it might not be so hard to listen to me.

    There are four groups of legislators in Pierre; Democrats and Wing Nuts, Power Players (party poster boys) and the Grovelers. I’m in the lower tier of the grovelers. Grovelers have to work twice as hard on bills and can only get something done if the Players smile on it too. Please relax and don’t be offended by what I’ve titled these four designations. I mean them to be hyperbole. Depending on the issue, on any given day, I’m standing right along side my friends in any one of these groups.

    Perhaps I should give more thought to the Republican Brand as I do align closest with it. Notably worse for the Republican Brand (than a often out-of-context comment that goes national) are missteps in how we steward our supermajority. Things like changing the rules so we win (Daschle Law, CAFO regs, Initiated Measure signature minimums). Also hurting the Republican Brand are things we do that give the public the perception we care more about money than we do about people, that we care more about business than we do the bottom feeders in our economy.

    Just a few of my thoughts. I mean them as constructive. Fire away…

  4. jerry 2015.03.01

    Steve Hickey, I like what you are saying. Stay in your party, but govern for all.

  5. leslie 2015.03.01

    "bottom feeders"??

    last time i asked you about "indian cars".

    do people say you have a problem with offending generalizations?

  6. Jana 2015.03.01

    Back to the SDDP using this as a direct mailer to registered voters.

    Headline.

    "Even the Republicans agree that some are too extreme."

    Insert candidates name and quote Pitiful Pat's quote.

    “For crying out loud, please stop damaging the Republican brand.”

    Tagline: Even the most loyal Republicans agree that "______" is bad for the Republican party.

    Vote "Insert name of Democratic candidate"

  7. Jana 2015.03.01

    Pastor Hickey, please don't classify Democrats and people like Bernie Hunhoff in with the Wingnuts.

    There is not an extremist Democrat in Pierre.

  8. Steve Hickey 2015.03.01

    Sometimes I say natives, sometime Indian . I'm friends with many natives and have been for years. Depending how it's used both designations seem okay. When we were working on a used car dealership project, my native friends only referred to Indian cars. In church circles and native church circles there was a period of PC where people were talking about First Nations people.

    Bottom feeders was meant to be hyperbole and I said as much. There are bottom feeders in our economy.

  9. Steve Hickey 2015.03.01

    Jana, ?. I intentionally mixed up the order of the four. Dems and wing nuts are of course different.

  10. Curt 2015.03.01

    Rev Hickey -
    Thanks for boldly going - earnestly and honestly - and for not doing too much groveling wherever you go.

  11. Jim 2015.03.01

    Powers is basically saying he doesn't want voters to know what his people really believe. Maybe he should have considered that before making that post. Rather than criticize the beliefs in question, he just wants the crazies to have the good sense to sometimes keep their mouths shut.

  12. leslie 2015.03.01

    rep' hickey-not that this is vital, but consider your words.

    once years ago on the rez somebody broke a window trying to get some stereo speakers out, and the chairnman just laughed at me and said-"now you drive a car just like the rest of us". that or your car project may not give any of us non-indian do-gooders license to make references that may give offense, inadvertantly, to them.

    "bottom feeders", whether you think they exist, or whether they are measurable or make a discernible impact on the bottom line, is an offensive castigation that is mean spirited. it could be like calling you some sort of scurrilous religious invective. we take enough shots at politicians, so i have said my peace. maybe you don't realize the value of political correctness.

  13. CLCJM 2015.03.01

    Wel, perhaps the dissenting in the Republicans's ranks is a sign of some weakness that can be used against them in the next election.It should definitely be used to show that their messages are hurtful and spiteful!

  14. Jana 2015.03.01

    Pastor Steve, thanks for the clarification. I was hoping that my initial read was wrong on your intent.

  15. Jana 2015.03.01

    Oh, and Pastor Steve, I don't see what you do as groveling. Groveling is the "Party Poster Boys" who only find self worth in standing meekly behind the establishment unable to form an original thought or opinion.

  16. Winston 2015.03.01

    The two growing factions within the SD Republican Party are becoming our new two party system in the absence of a relevant SD Democratic Party.

    It is this internal party scrabbling within the SDGOP which could eventually, however, be the break SD Democrats are looking for…. but then it will be a question whether the Dems will be ready to seize this opportunity when it comes.

    In the not so distant future, the potential opportunities (if ready) could be a EB5 indictment(s) and/or a vicious GOP struggle for the '18 gubernatorial nomination…. I guess we will have to see and hope…..

  17. Donald Pay 2015.03.01

    I'm interested in what people in the Republican Party think their brand is today. How is that brand selling to the future voter. I would sum up the brand as "We hate everybody, except the rich and fetuses." or "We're white and grumpy, but we hope you don't notice."

    I came from a solid Republican family, but I started turning against the "Republican brand" as a teenager, mostly because of issues like civil rights and the Vietnam war. Even as a teenager, I identified most with the old progressive wing of the Republican Party, which tended toward an isolationist foreign policy, civil rights, women's rights, middle class (not trickle down) economics, and a strong regulatory role for government. When those ideas went out of favor in the Republican Party, I moved to the Democrats, who seemed to be reforming themselves, or at least listening to their kids more. Gradually from 1964 and 1967 (when I was all of 16 years old) the Republicans lost me for good, though I still admired some Republicans and would vote for a few through the years.

    The brand the Republicans were selling then led to Nixon, a paranoid genius (like Hitler) who nearly destroyed the country. It was lucky there were still some old school Republicans around who got Nixon to resign. I worry we're back to that sort of Republican brand again. Certainly the arrogance and paranoid style is there.

  18. Jana 2015.03.01

    Funny, but our very own Troy who chooses this blog for intellectual discussion says this:

    "That said, just because these linkages are unwise and improper, I think we should just attribute it to “exuberance” and hyperbole and not overstate its import with regard to either May, Lattrell or the GOP brand."

    So basically Troy is saying that these newest comments from that South Dakota Republican Party shouldn't have any personal responsibility and be tossed aside as something not to be taken seriously.

    What the hell Troy! They were said in the People's House to influence law! This isn't some trite phrase on the campaign trail, that ship sailed, these are people who have the burden of representing the people of South Dakota and making the laws of our state.

    Trivializing what they said gives them a pass and neither has been willing to apologize, fake or genuine, for what they said on our dime and in our house.

    Not to mention, outside of a third rate blogger, not one person in the GOP has had the balls to say they were wrong. Score on for the third rate blogger.

    Every official of the GOP, from the Governor on down, knows what was said and not a one of them has the courage to either agree or disagree.

    Every elected representative know that what was said was both wrong and offensive, yet they cower in their own cowardice for not standing up and publicly saying that this isn't what South Dakota stands for.

    Hey reps, put you big girl and big boy pants on and pull yourself away from the free food and drink that the lobbies provide you.

    Besides Hickey, do you think we will see anyone else in Pierre denounce this crap?

    I'm praying that they are not the cowards they are proving themselves to be. But when even an elder statesman like Schoenbeck stays silent, I'm guessing that there is a wink and a nod.

  19. Jana 2015.03.01

    Sorry Lee for calling you out, but I had high expectations for you to come in and be the adult in the room. My hope was that you would be a scholar and advocate of policy over politic...so far...I'm disappointed.

    Maybe it was the "silly" minimum wage law where you half heartedly acknowledged the will of voters, ridiculed the bill, called it silly and then boldly said that while you didn't agree you would vote for it for political reasons.

    Hey! Listening to South Dakota Public Broadcasting recordings of committee heaings is a good thing. Just think if it was easier to read.

  20. Roger Cornelius 2015.03.01

    As a tribal elder, I have never been fond of reservation slang such as "Indian car" or "rez". My parents taught me not to talk in abbreviations or use demeaning terms about fellow tribal members.
    The full-bloods that I know are bilingual and have an eloquent command of English and Lakota and would never disrespect either language with slang.
    What is white equivalent of an "Indian care"? I know they are out there, are they called "Redneckmobiles"?

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2015.03.01

    I like Rep. Hickey's four-part nomenclature. Rep. Hickey, is there any chance that the Dems, the Wing Nuts, and the Grovelers could ever find common ground to push an issue that the Power Players alone oppose?

  22. Deb Geelsdottir 2015.03.01

    Jim said, "Rather than criticize the beliefs in question, he just wants the crazies to have the good sense to sometimes keep their mouths shut."

    Jim is right on the button with that statement. The GOP policies are completely wrong for the inhabitants of the USA, but they don't want to change that. The plan is simply to hide their real intentions.

    If scumbag Scott Walker had initially campaigned on destroying any rights the working people have, he would not have won. He continues to try to keep secret that he is one of the wholly-owned subsidiaries of Koch Industries.

    Jim, thanks for the succinct statement of the American Republican Party. And Hickey, I am sure I will continue to argue with you passionately on many topics, but I don't believe you are one of -them- . You are a true Republican.

  23. Jana 2015.03.01

    So Troy, basically you are saying that neither of these deeply held beliefs and statements from Issac the Adulterer and May the Merchant should hold them to any personal accountability in trying to shape the laws of South Dakota!?!

    Aren't you generous.

    Put your pointy headed intellectual conservative hat on again and tell us how this harms the democracy. No fair saying that its a Republic, we already know by evidence that the people in power in Pierre have no respect for the will of the people of South Dakota.

    For you to be intellectually honest and consistent we need you to step up with more vigor and courage or just shut up and say it just doesn't matter.

  24. Jana 2015.03.01

    Cory, one issue that would find common ground to push that would make the Poster Boys uncomfortable is Common Core.

    Again, I'm conflicted, but the statewide debate would be great!

  25. Jeff Barth 2015.03.01

    Thank you Steve Hickey. I don't always agree with you but I like the way you do it.

  26. Jana 2015.03.01

    Fight!!!

    Over at press release central, Troy is bashing the good reverend Hickey. That's what happens when someone stands up to the school bully.

    But Troy leads with a right hand punch that says: "Clarity of message or communication requires clarity/precision of the words used."

    Pastor Steve, don't let up and don't let Troy hide behind a private college education that taught him how to speak rather than how to feel.

    Troy, I'll leave you to duke it out with the Pastor (Maybe a cage match for charity?) But, does your demand of Reverend Hickey extend to the other Poster Boys of the GOP? Didn't think so.

    Troy, how would you gauge Schoenbeck's effectiveness in providing the desperately needed governance to what he calls “the biggest issue in South Dakota is the tragedy of our young people on the reservations.”

    Is the answer Common Core or does it require a little more thought and a great deal of more action on the part of the Governor and those that were elected to serve. (and by serve I meant all of South Dakota and not just the people who give them the money)

  27. Jana 2015.03.01

    “The biggest issue in South Dakota is the tragedy of our young people on the reservations.” - Lee Schoenbeck.

    I'm not going to put Lee on the spot, but I will put the rest of the legislature and Governor Daugaard on the spot.

    Amidst all of the petty politics, political agendas, campaign donor paybacks and homage to the NRA and ALEC.

    What the hell have you done?

    A senior legislator has called out a need for South Dakota. A legislator has linked tribal youth suicide as a flawed link to education. Legislators are playing games with what ifs from guns to abortions, but yet:

    “The biggest issue in South Dakota is the tragedy of our young people on the reservations.” - Lee Schoenbeck.

    Lee, if this is the biggest issue, use your clout to make a change. Screw Blue "Red" ribbon panels that are only there to kick the can down the road and provide cover for doing nothing.

    Dare to be great Lee and have the courage to convince others to do the right thing.

    If you decide to do nothing, you can thank Troy for calling you out.

    Keep us posted.

  28. Roger Cornelius 2015.03.01

    I'm not buying Powers outrage or Troy's apology for May or Latterell with words like "exuberance" or "hyperbole". Troy did not reprimand them for their idiocy, he explained it.

    May and Latterell both said exactly what they mean and their irresponsible comments have actually followed a pattern of perverted thinking.

    The fact of the matter is that Powers and the SDGOP need the May's, Latterell's, Stalzer's, et al. They are merely pawns that occasionally let slip what Republicans of all ranks and classes think.

  29. Jana 2015.03.01

    Easy Roger, Troy will 'mansplain' to us all how being a mean spirited jack ass is good thing.

    Just might take some time to rationalize how this 'hyperbole and exuberance' actually have an effect on governance and how his pass to May and Lattrell deserve a full pardon.

    Just seems weird for Troy to be the one to say that personal responsibility doesn't apply across the board. Troy, does this seem hypocritical to you?

    Heck, May and Lattrell got knocked up in their own misguided dogma and you are going to give them a day after abortion pill?

    Or are you going to say that their conceived beliefs and thoughts are living ideas that should be sacrosanct and defended and not allowed to be aborted by the thought leaders.

  30. Jana 2015.03.01

    Roger Cornelius is exactly right. Powers has proven that he doesn't have an opinion until someone tells him what it is and Troy is just the guy behind the elephant cleaning up after the parade.

  31. Deb Geelsdottir 2015.03.02

    Give em hell Jana! And Hickey and everyone else.

    In the last year's of the 19th century, populist rabble rouser Mary Elizabeth Lease* told the Iowa farmers to "raise less corn and more hell!" South Dakotans ought to take a lesson from her.

    (*May not have actually been Lease. There is some dispute.)

  32. Someone 2015.03.02

    I see progress here. More than I've seen 'available' anywhere else in that no comments are deleted. "Dems, the Wing Nuts, and the G..... could ever find common ground to push an issue."

    Who is looking for common ground before we (SD'ans) destroy from within w/o identifying on BIGGER commonalities?

  33. mike from iowa 2015.03.02

    So PP doesn't like it when kids tell tales out of school. Makes them all look like the wingnuts they truly are. Too bad his lack of a conscience won't let him berate the tools for the content of their comments. Time for a come to jeebus moment for Powers and his minions. Get back on message and stop admitting what everyone knows about wingnuts.

    Wingnuts love the 1%. The shortest love song ever written since "Colour My World" by Chicago.

  34. mike from iowa 2015.03.02

    Roger C- I remember mostly "ghetto cruisers" and "welfare cadillacs" as slang aimed at the poor and mostly minorities.

  35. Craig 2015.03.02

    I grew up on the reservation and never heard the term "indian car". I can't help but wonder if that is a slightly softened version of what I did often hear which was "rez runner". No I'm not saying that is ok - merely explaining that is what a certain type of car was called regardless of the race of the person who owned it and the term was used by everyone (white, native, and everything in between).

    Back in the days of hubcaps, if you saw a car with four steel wheels with the hupcaps long gone, a few dents here and there, a dragging tailpipe, perhaps one door that is a different color, cracked windshield and perhaps a bit of car cancer (aka: rust) it would most certainly have been called a rez runner. However I don't recall any equivalent term to describe the same vehicle aside perhaps the generic term "junker" or "POS" (assuming everyone knows the acronym).

    Somewhat related is some background offered to me from an older Native once. We were discussing the topic of cars and he explained that to many Natives cars are a lot like horses. It was an honor to own many, and they would rather own three or four "rez runners" than one nice shiny new car. So that was his explanation on why so often you find older non-running cars parked in and around some homes on the reservation. It isn't that they couldn't sell them for scrap or that they couldn't get rid of them if they wanted to - it is that they enjoy owning them running or not.

    Perhaps Roger can expand upon that and see if that is similiar to anything he has experienced. I have no idea if it is built upon truth or was just one man's viewpoint. Interesting theory either way I suppose.

    It probably should be noted that income isn't always the determining factor here either. I've known upper middle-class folks who drove junkers, and I've known low income people who scrape enough together to go out and lease a brand new vehicle. It is all about priorities and what one perceives as value. Some people look at cars as basic utilitarian transportation, others look at them as a form of expression. So be it.

  36. mike from iowa 2015.03.02

    The name junkers does come to mind as well as jalopies. Growing up we mostly made fun of the brand choices people made. Fords were found on the road day or fixed or repaired daily or effing old recked dodges. Dodge was doggies. Pontiacs were pumpjacks. Chevys were the ultimate in kewl or ridicule-chevy,chevy,chevro-let,push it home and let it set.

  37. bearcreekbat 2015.03.02

    "Bottom feeders" seems an inaccurate term for other people, whether intended as hyperbole or a deprecating label.

    A more accurate term might be "brilliant survivors." These folks have survived difficulties that most of us would not be able to tolerate. They are the folks without the advantages of good educations, good health, strong rich family support, blind luck, or any other advantage that makes it so much easier to negotiate life. Notwithstanding the absence of these advantages, the "brilliant survivors" manage to stay alive and in many cases maintain good attitudes and compassion toward others.

    Here is an example of a man that I would call a "brilliant survivor" (rather than a "bottom feeder") helping a boy who appears to be freezing in the street during an experiment to who, if anyone, would help the boy.

    http://aplus.com/a/social-experiment-freezing-homeless-child

    I have met many, many "brilliant survivors" over time and I have the greatest admiration for their survival abilities, their generosity and their compassion for other people.

    And I have met many other folks who did not face similar challenges, but had wealthy supportive families, good health, and lots of luck. Unfortunately, many in this group demean those not as lucky and fight for public policies that deny the use of tax dollars to help those in need, while advocating policies intended to make themselves richer and better off than others, including the "brilliant survivors" among us.

  38. mike from iowa 2015.03.02

    I watched,bcb,but in the 6 plus minutes it looked like there could have been numerous edits-the way the camera jumped around. I'd like to think someone cared enough to help.

  39. bearcreekbat 2015.03.02

    mfi -I think the story itself reported that there were edits and that one passerby asked her male companion for money to give the boy, but this was cut. Regardless, my point is that a homeless man choose to help the boy, despite the man's own lack of resources, evidencing compassion by a brilliant survivor.

  40. Dicta 2015.03.02

    Even though I identify as a republican, I have to ask: at what point are people "hurting the brand" as opposed to recycling the same rhetoric that DWC comments sections have on a daily goddamn basis? Perhaps it's less a reflection of idiot legislators than it is South Dakota's increasingly vocal conservative fringe element. I struggle to post there anymore without being accosted by someone who wants to make analogies from gay to incestuous marriage.

  41. Roger Cornelius 2015.03.02

    Craig,
    The horse/cars analogy has always been a joke for those getting married, instead of adding horses to the father in-law for the hand of a maiden, you now add ponies.

    As with most people that live in rural areas, Indians do have a number of cars, I don't know that it is necessarily a source of pride or not.

    All the years I lived on the reservation, I maintained a number of vehicles and all for different reasons. There was a luxury car for off reservation travel, a utility vehicle for daily errands, and an ugly 4Wheel drive pickup truck to fight weather elements.

    The reality of the "rez" cars is the extremely poor infrastructure on most reservations. Most of the people live on their own land and make their own roads, state and federal roads are poorly maintained and this naturally adds serious wear and tear on a vehicle.
    By the time I was finished with a vehicle, I couldn't even consider selling or trading it, it would be junk.

  42. Craig 2015.03.02

    Interesting point about those living in rural areas Roger - and that appears to be true regardless of race or income level. How many times have you driven by an old farm and saw six or eight cars parked in the pasture or shelterbelt? I suppose the only thing preventing city dwellers from doing so is lack of space and the ever-present code enforcement officer.

    Although it does seem to still be somewhat prevalent in some trailer parks. I'm sure there is a team of sociologists and economists that could write a lengthy paper on the subject, but I'd guess it often is due to people of lower means purchasing used vehicles which already have considerable wear by the time they get them, and eventually it becomes more expensive to fix them than it is to purchase a replacement... so the old one just sits there as the scrap yard is simply too far away to make it a worthwhile investment to have it towed.

    Then again - I'll admit if I had a place to keep them, I probably would have several of my old automobiles regardless of how road worthy they might be. Who wouldn't like to still own their first car?

    Alas if the price of iron continues to climb, I'm guessing someone will make a full time job of traveling around to buy up those old cars just as they often do with old farm equipment. I wonder how many would rather have the memories than the few dollars in their pockets.

  43. mike from iowa 2015.03.02

    Plus you get a multi-car insurance discount if you drive all of them.

  44. Deb Geelsdottir 2015.03.02

    It's always been easier to demonize the poor than look at one's role in that poverty.

    Occasionally the Strib runs "CEO Paywatch" in the Business Section. With 19 Fortune 500 companies in MN, there are some extremely large total incomes from work. That includes salary and all the other ways those guys are paid, like vested shares, bonuses, etc. I look at those multimillion numbers and my thought is, "He should be ashamed." There are so many people struggling mightily, and those CEOs have the ability to change lives, but they don't.*

    *Yes, there is a small number of exceptions.

  45. Disgusted Dakotan 2015.03.02

    Powers supported Che loving Annette Bosworth and every EB5 corrupt politician in Pierre (and now DC). He really isn't one to point a finger and claim these people are smudging the GOP brand.

  46. caheidelberger Post author | 2015.03.02

    You've got it, Dicta: Powers is trying to portray as marginal attitudes that his blog makes central to the Republican brand.

  47. Jana 2015.03.02

    The bigger question is if he will now include good Republican Anne Beale's comment here that Republican women never, ever, ever have an unintended pregnancy because of their moral superiority and collective brilliance. (Thanks for that one Matt Michaels!)

  48. leslie 2015.03.03

    deb-brilliant: "easier to demonize the poor than...."

    like ann beal demonstrated in her dem slam in a parrallel thread, that explains racism in a sound byte.

    republicans are baiting benjamin netanyahu who obviously has the security of his country at heart. he has used the "G word" genocide (a "third rail" provocateur today in the press) describing iran's actions and nuke ambitions. the republicans, shameless opportunists at every turn who love to call themselves the party of anti-slavery president lincoln (who SD has immortalized in a really big granite mountain top which repubs keep open despite a government shutdown hurting little people for political purposes, and, who hanged 38 Indians in Minnesota) are conservative now.

    liberal though that "republican" party was before the civil war, the republicans today should therefore obviously be anti-genocide for the last 215 years.

    I don't think it has turned out that way. thus, as repubs are now the best friends of israel as boehner is claiming, of course they should now logically be the very, very best friends of south dakota's 80,000 + Indian residents who are angry as hell at republican law enforcement efforts re: the "Allen 57". the reason is the genocidal action of the state of sd since before statehood. now would be the time to turn that around, republicans, unless this would affect your brand.

    the party of noem, rounds and thune who haven't said a word (unlike ND/SD's standing rock ally, Sen. D. ND former atty general-e.g. she knows the politics of prosecution in an Indian but Republican state) Heidi Heitkamp.

    We have one politician in a leadership role in SD, Mayor Kookier, who seems to be standing up for the Oglalas despite his seemingly chicken-sheit local and state republican prosecutors.

    got any thots ann beal?

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