The SDGOP propaganda machine points to some award handed to Congresswoman Kristi Noem but strangely, doesn't cite any specific actions Noem has taken to deserve it. This strange silence on specifics comes because, as has been the case for my poor Republican friends since Noem won election in 2010, our achievement-challenged Congresswoman hasn't given them anything to cheer about.
Consider as the latest example the House Farm Bill. Her fingerprints are all over a bill that eliminates proper judicial and executive checks on corporate power, ignores the environment- and cost-saving potential of a serious Sodsaver program, infringes on states' rights, and keeps Kristi's pockets padded with subsidized crop insurance.
The South Dakota conservative blogs keep silent about Noem's hypoKristi... but conservatives know a faker when they see her. Consider this broadside from Breitbart:
Congresswoman Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota), one of the 2010 class of Republicans, and a farmer and rancher herself, is heading the "bipartisan" group, along with Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vermont), that is hoping to urge House leaders to bring the Farm Bill to a vote before August, as the old Farm Bill expires at the end of September. The group's letter to Speaker Boehner and the Republican leaders states that the new Farm Bill is needed immediately so that they can "tell the American success story of agriculture and work to ensure we have strong policies in place..."
It sounds like the letter sent by Reps. Noem and Welch is saying that big farmers and ranchers should have certainties that the rest of the private sector does not have. Should the government provide insurance for all entrepreneurs and businesses so that risk is not a factor in their enterprises? [Dr. Susan Berry, "Why Are Republicans Supporting the Farm Bill?" Breitbart, 2012.07.24]
Or consider the take on Noem from this Texas blogger, some sort of conservative who thinks Bristol Palin is smarter than Barack Obama (I'm just establishing conservative cred here, not sanity):
...If you wanted crony capitalism combined with the welfare state, you now have it in full even in agriculture.
That Republicans you elected in 2010 to fight all of this are now supporting it is terrible enough, but when we see freshman members like Kristi Noem (R-SD,) herself a rancher, joining hands with Democrats to further such legislation, you must know we are in terrible shape. I can't imagine how a person can campaign for office as a constitutional conservative, but then immediately ignore that when it comes to their own pet subsidies.
...Conservatives should be livid, and the large number of ostensible conservatives in the agriculture fields should be raising Hell, but many will not because they want to be able to queue up at the trough in secret too. In 2010, or in 2012, if this is the answer our Republican Congress provides, I'd just as soon have Democrats. At least they don't pretend to be conservative [Mark America, "Republicans in Congress Shafting Us Again," blog, 2012.07.24].
Even the Corporate Voices/Working Mother award Noem got with 29 other Congresspeople notes as her only concrete achievement the granting of liberal work-hour privileges to her staff.
I should feel some mild relief that my Congresswoman is not as conservative as she says she is. But help me understand, Republicans: who is this bill of goods with hair and boots that you're trying to sell us again? Is she a conservative or not? What does she stand for? What has she achieved that should make South Dakotans jump up and shout for her?
South Dakota Republicans' inability to answer that question is why we can expect mostly silly anti-Varilek insults and horserace stories from the GOP propaganda machine the rest of this campaign.
Who owns warcollege now if Powers sold it? He said he sold it in his first post back.
This is where leadership becomes a difficult task for Noem. She wants conservatives/tea party to view her as conservative, she wants to climb the leadership ladder and she wants South Dakotan's to support her.
Who loses on this attempt to play all sides?
Unlike fellow Tea Partyist Michele Bachmann, Kristi Noem failed to make The Hill’s list of 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill, so I guess this is the booby prize. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/michele-bachmann-makes-the-hills-50-most-beautiful-people-list--thanks-to-her-stylist/2012/07/25/gJQA14ut9W_blog.html
Cory, it is curious that there is no explanation how Noem made this list – Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., was number 1. The organization’s highest priority bills were sponsored by high profile liberals like Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. http://www.cvworkingfamilies.org/our-work/corporate-voices-working-families-policy-tracker-family-economic-stability/
Even more curious would be how many people in South Dakota had ever heard of Corporate Voices for Working Families, Inc., which sponsored the award.
Kristi Noem rode the Tea Party wave and pandered to the Uber Severe Conservative base to get the 2010 GOP nomination and win in the worst Democratic year since the Reagan wave of 1980. Other than missing scads of committee meetings and somehow finding time to complete her undergraduate degree at S.D. State University in her first term, Noem has failed to distinguish herself in the U.S. House.
Oh, wait. She distinguished herself in proudly voting to repeal ObamaCare for the 33rd time and failing 33 times to succeed. That’s interesting because real American Moms want to make sure their college students are covered and their children with pre-existing conditions don’t get dropped by their insurance companies … two major benefits of ObamaCare which Noem vehemently opposes. Now Kristi’s next major quest is to audit the Fed, a task which is clearly far, far, far above Noem’s abilities.
But, no worries. As reported on the GOP front group blog, Noem was listed by the New York Times summer analysis to be a lead pipe cinch to win in November. So maybe she’s got nothing to worry about. She will arrive on Election Day 2012 with nothing to show for accomplishments in her first term in a heavily GOP-dominated House, and it won’t matter. Unless South Dakota voters wake up.
According to the Corporate Voices statement regarding Rep. Noem, "the estate tax caused a tremendous strain on her family when her father died". Just how many millions $$ did her family inherit? When your family inherits millions $$ how much strain is there really in paying a mere percentage in taxes on the inherited amount over and above the initial $2 million or so exemption that would have been in place at the time?
Was it really that difficult paying some taxes when she inherited millions of dollars? I'd take that challenge any day. When this particular mythology keeps being repeated by Rep. Noem somebody ought to tell her to put up or shut up. How much did her family inherit, and how much did it pay in estate taxes.
Maybe the estate tax should be repealed and instead anybody who gains money from ANY source whether it be earned income, capital gains, or gift or inheritance ought to pay income tax on that money. It's all income to the person receiving it. The tax rate to the recipient should be the same regardless of the source of that money. There's fairness.
Wasn't the bite from the state estate tax greater than the federal version? It was repealed after her father died, thanks to the diligence of Democrat Sen. Frank Kloucek. She used the estate tax issue a lot in her political talking points in the last campaign, indicating the federal tax was so severe.
Rorschach has an interesting point. If indeed the estate tax was such a great hardship for the family, I wonder how much inheritance was involved. The family got millions in federal farm aid, which isn't a conservative value, which may indicate how much land and money was involved in the estate.
I would love for one of my Hamlin County neighbors to drop by the courthouse and look up the will and tax information from that unhappy year on the Arnold/Noem farm.
Hundreds of dead fish appearing in Big Sioux River:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/news/aan-dead-fish-wash-up-along-big-sioux-river-in-sd-20120729,0,28431.story
Back on subject Larry, did the families of the dead fish have to pay any estate taxes?
It's all relative: fewer estate taxes mean more tax-deductible campaign contributions that finance fish kills; therefore, non-point pollution is off Rep. Noem's radar, Mr. Thompson, more taxes fund environmental oversight.
I stand corrected