David Montgomery works hard to make clear that when Public Utilities Commissioner, Republican, and cool State Fair debater Chris Nelson said that "any candidate ought to be willing" to talk the issues and debate at the State Fair, he wasn't trying to throw Congresswoman, Republican, and State Fair debate dodger Kristi Noem under the bus.
I didn't think Commissioner Nelson was trying to do active harm to Team Noem. It wouldn't be hard to write a plot where Pierre-bound Chris Nelson harbors a grudge against a politician who denied him a chance to go to Washington and be a good and decent Congressman, even though the politician who beat him is inferior in every way that matters for doing the people's business. But Chris Nelson isn't the star of that dime novel. He's a public servant who speaks with simple integrity.
Besides, we don't need Nelson's help to throw Noem under any bus. When it comes to her unforced error on running scared from public forums, Kristi Noem does that with her own words. She said at the 2010 State Fair debate that she loves the State Fair. And back in June, she told the editorial board of that Sioux Falls paper that she was looking forward to debating Matt Varilek at the State Fair. From a reader's transcript of her response on debates:
I'm expecting that probably, usually the first one is Dakotafest. That happens in Mitchell, and the State Fair usually has one too. I think it'll be a good discussion at those debates on different agendas and ideas and thoughts for this country, and what's good for our families [Rep. Kristi Noem, interview with editorial board of that Sioux Falls paper, June 13, 2012, as transcribed by an eager reader].
Lick your chops, kids. There's one very obvious and logical explanation for Noem's flip-flop on debating at the State Fair. Back in June, she saw Matt Varilek as a sacrifical Dem whom she could easily beat. Then Nielson Brothers Polling finds Varilek trailing Noem by just one point. Team Noem doesn't respond with any of their internal polling data... because nervous Team Noem is finding the same data, that Noem is close to losing her job and her chance to be on Fox News every month.
Earlier this summer, Noem wanted to debate at the State Fair. Now she backpedals. Yes, Noem is scared. And she is scared because the bus that's going to run her over is not some trap laid by Chris Nelson. The bus bearing down on Noem is the truth of her failure as a Congresswoman.
Anybody recall the last time an incumbent declined to debate at the State Fair?
As the saying goes, "First time for everything!!"
Mike:. Tim Johnson.
If it was close, she would debate. Because it isn't, there is only downside to debating.
I didn't like Johnson's choice and don't like Noem's
Cory, link an old thread of you criticizing Johnson sonobody thinks this outrage is because KN is a Republican.
Did Kristi have a stroke? That would explain her difficulty with language.
Saying it isn't close is quite a whopper as well. It's because it IS close that she won't debate.
I bet if you told her that it's gonna be on Fox News, her people get to screen questions like it's a telephone town hall, she can bus in all her supporters and give them t-shirts and a free lunch, and that Matt Varilek will tie half his brain behind his back she would show up.
My prediction is that at the Dakotafest debate she comes up with some snide comment about being a wife and a mother because obviously her opponent can't match that qualification. Let's make a drinking game out of how many times she says "at the end of the day."
"At the end of the day" comes an end of a congressional term and career.
Hey, Troy, does this 2008 post cut your mustard? Key quote: "Instead of spinning, we Dems would do better to acknowledge and accept Senator Johnson's own honest explanation: he's just not recovered enough to make a public debate a fair fight. And that statement opens the door for the honest question: If Senator Johnson cannot handle a public debate, is he the best candidate for the U.S. Senate?"
OPINION.
Kristi...we know that you chose not to debate your opponent at the State's Fair. Was it because it wouldn't be good for you politically or because you didn't see a value in the public having issues discussed in a public forum?
Kristi, Is it safe to say that you put your own selfish needs above the public's good of having the ideas and issues of leadership for the state debated in the public square.
Is it more important for you to listen to your political handlers or the public?
Let us know when you get the chance...K? Check with your people and get back to us. K?
Kristi? Beuller? Beuller?
Yes Cory. You are being intellectually honest/consistent as well as addressing Justin's comment.
Permit me to make this an outrage because KN is a member of the earth hater party.
Next time Krusti has a brain bleed I'll personally write her excuse not to appear at a debate.
Troy, you say that if it were close, she would debate. But in 2010, it was close, and she skipped a debate on KOTA TV.
I dunno. Maybe Kristi's got a court appearance that day. Oh wait, she skips those too.
Never mind.
Your characterization of Kristi Noem as a failure just reflects the failure of Congress as a whole: guilt by association. In the current Washington environment, I'm not sure that anyone else could've done much better or worse.
Can you name one piece of legislation that Congress has passed in the last two years?
I watched the last governor's candidate debate at the State Fair. I was very disappointed: one said that everything was OK and the other one came across as only worried about the thousands of dollars we were wasting on state airplanes.
Um, Kristi voted 33 times and failed 33 times to repeal ObamaCare! Does that count?
Those votes were completely symbolic. ObamaCare is the law of the land until at least the election. I don't care if you are Democrat or Republican, people cannot continue to pay double-digit increases every year for health insurance.
"Can you name one piece of legislation that Congress has passed in the last two years?"
Of course, can't you Michael?
"I’m not sure that anyone else could’ve done much better or worse."
I am.
Let's just say that wasn't one of your better posts, Mr. Black, okay?
Michael, in the last two years, no, because the GOP took the House and committed itself to delibertate and total obstructionism. Noem and Boehner have achieved nothing. SHS, Pelosi, Reid, and Obama achieved monumental change in the 2009-2010 term, and thank goodness they did, since we needed the stimulus to avoid Depression, healthcare reform to save money and save lives, Lilly Ledbetter to strengthen women's equality in the workplace, repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell to defend the rights of our soldiers, credit card reform to protect consumers. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and the 2009-2010 House did a whole lot better. Matt Varilek will do a whole lot better.
Michael, Kristi is a failure. The GOP Tea House is a failure. if you want a Congress that does something other than preen for Fox, you need to vote for Varilek and Obama in November.
This was a pretty important bill that was passed, guys. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s365enr/pdf/BILLS-112s365enr.pdf
See also: http://www.congress-summary.com/B-112th-Congress/Laws_Passed_112th_Congress_Seq.html
Interesting bill summary, Bill. By this time in 2010, the President had signed 237 bills passed by the 111th Congress into law. Currently, the 112th Congress has had 147 bills signed into law, a 38% decrease. (Also, the President signed another 145 bills into law in the last five months of the 111th.) Quantity does not guarantee quality, but it does indicate the Herseth Sandlin and her colleagues got more done than Noem and hers.
And that failure to work is what Noem doesn't want to talk about.
Cory I am going to stay out of the fray here covering my friend Representative Noem but put forward a few facts covering Obamacare. Let us just for discussions sake say Obama wins re-election and the Senate remains powered by the Democrats. South Dakota is then forced into either taking the Federal money to fully implement it or say no to the increased medicaid mandates and health care exchange programs. Those good people who think we made a huge mistake by setting up the ground rules for health care exchanges must then be willing to increase taxes upon our residents to cover the lose of Federal Funds or let the chips fall where they may and be sued by a multitude of organizations which would certainly become unfunded. WE cannot have it both ways which no one has to date put much thought into. Isolation works when you are an island but being one of 50 states does have some responsibilities regarding legal mandates under Federal Law; which we will be forced into accomodating one way or another. It would be interesting for me to hear your readers comments on how we go about blocking Obamacare and taxing the good people of South Dakota to cover those lost funds.
And one more thing Cory is the Democrats in Congress pushing home ownership with ficticious financial statements making everyone qualify pushed the deriviatives of loan splitting and selling by Wall Street is what totally caused the meltdown. Go get the book; "To Big to Fail", and let me know if you agree with my previous statement. The stimulus funded goverment works projects but did nothing for the private sector's woes. TARP saved the banks who bought the pieces of loans Wall Street was getting rich from selling. Until the House of Cards came crashing down that is. WE need to cut the size of the Federal Government. Until we do that we are headed for total economic failure.
Agreed, Cory. Rather than endorsing the meme of a "do nothing Congress, better to compare the work product of the two Congresses. It would also be interesting to review the laws that didn't pass. How much good could have been done if the legislative body wasn't so partisan? i.e how damaging (counterproductive) has partisan politics been to the Constitutional mandate ("...to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...")?
Wow, way to "stay out of the fray" Hoffman. LOL
Here's a chart to study relative to your assertion about public vs private sector jobs under Obama, Charlie.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/01/493849/obama-bush-jobs-record/
Charlie, you are wrong on the ACA Medicaid expansion. The one part of the Supreme Court decision where AG Jackley et al. "won" was where the majority overruled exactly the funding requirement you cite. If South Dakota refuses to expand Medicaid, it loses none of its federal funding for other Medicaid programs. Plus, as I have explained previously, expanding Medicaid saves South Dakota money and brings in an infusion of new federal cash that can only help our economy and our citizens.
Ask Kristi Noem to get off her horse and explain that policy and the other benefits of ACA in a public forum, and she'll sputter and spin over the crushing headache that real Congressional work gives her. She'll just babble about her 33 useless Fox-fodder votes to repeal those benefits and conveniently dodge any non-memorized-talking-point discussion of a nuts-and-bolts counterplan to solve real problems in health care.
Cory's right Charlie. The SCOTUS decision turned a "carrot and a stick" proposition into a "carrot and a carrot." If you and Noem can't sell that to South Dakota, maybe you should rethink your committment to being political leaders.
Bill/Cory; We have many miles to go before we sleep. As history teaches us from years of past unfunded mandates we need to be sure the fox is out before entering the den.
The Democrats pushing home ownership is just plain wrong Charlie. Home ownership reached its peak of 70% in 2004 thanks to W's "culture of ownership" initiatives. The housing market peaked in 2006 and still hasn't recovered. W pushed for FHA loans with no down payments, expanded programs for easy money for minority buyers, etc, etc. And then W signed the TARP bill.
If Willard is elected, his tax plan will crush the economy.
Bill you sent me to a very liberal site which hammers Ryan, hammers Ohio republicans, hammers Romney, hammers the GOP Senators, and you wish for me to come away with fruitful intelligent new ideas about old arguments?
Yes Justin W did some things I am not proud of because he needed all the votes he could muster to fund the Iraqi War. Even Obama's.
I sent you there to look at a chart, Charlie. Perhaps you can find the same chart in an establishment more to your liking, but consider this. I frequently go to restaurants whose proprietors have political and/or religious views far removed from my own, mostly because they cook great food. I try to avoid looking at the room decor in many of them, or evesdropping on very many conversations.
Sorry that's hundreds of billions annually. And 100 billion to repeal ACA. Still no change on the unfunded mandate of Medicare part D that bush and the GOP passed though.
Bit this isn't about W, its about Kristi and her blind following of her SuperPAC funders that want to continue the mistakes of the past.
Matt Verilek is certainly a great guy who is fun to have around and a good son. But he will not beat Krisit Noem no matter what the libs cook up against her. Sorry gents, that just ain't gonna happen. LOL
Yeah, it would be unheard of for SD to have a Democratic rep.
If you guys would have nominated a decent candidate rather than a spray tan on a horse, you might have a point. That's what you get when you let the out of state money pick your candidates, though.
Maybe Varilek isn't pretty enough, that seems to be the primary reason voters liked Noem last time.
A self-inflicted blow to her campaign in-deed-e-o! In my opinion, her entire term has been one big self-inflicted blow to reelection. I saw the writing on the wall before she took her oath office in January 2011.
A few months ago I talked to Kristi in Mitchell and I asked if Obamacare was gone what she would do to improve the system. Her first answer was tort reform.
So she would make sure that doctors were taken care of first before needy people. Nice. I wonder if tort reform happened prices for a doctor's visit would go down? Doubt it.
But there you have the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
Owen, the "real difference" was between Herseth and Noem, which has become quite evident over the past 2 years: competence v. incompetence. We lost a strong advocate for veterans and agriculture when we lost Stephanie. Steph didn't shy away from her duties. She was at the committee meetings getting real work done instead of showing up for every television interview Noem books for herself. Herseth's 6 1/2 year record speaks for itself. Now, we have lost that hard earned influence for a televised show horse.
The GOP have been consistently clear that they support the doctors' union and big pharmaceuticals above all other health care issues.
The "Doctor Fix" is not to be scoffed at. Quality health care depends on both an adequate quality and quantity of doctors. We might have sufficient quality but the next ten years, we will have a serious shortage of both general practitioners and specialists.
Perhaps not scoffed at Troy, but Tort Reform is not the #1 problem with health care.
"Perhaps not scoffed at Troy, but Tort Reform is not the #1 problem with health care."
Tort Reform doesn't solve any serious problem with health care. GOP tort reform is hot air. Doctor reform and hospital reform are needed. Relatively simple sanitation practices and checklists can save a ton of money and literally thousands of lives each year.
Hospital check lists and sanitation just don't get press coverage like contributions to corporate athletics. I still wonder why US Government hasn't suggested that Sanford reduce charges instead of pissing money away on jocks.
"Owen, the “real difference†was between Herseth and Noem, which has become quite evident over the past 2 years: competence v. incompetence. We lost a strong advocate for veterans and agriculture when we lost Stephanie. Steph didn’t shy away from her duties. She was at the committee meetings getting real work done instead of showing up for every television interview Noem books for herself. Herseth’s 6 1/2 year record speaks for itself. Now, we have lost that hard earned influence for a televised show horse."
I agree G-man. I had some disagreements with Herseth but she was honestly working for South Dakota and she had a "clue" to what was going on.
Troy, the doctor fix is easy. The AMA just has to offer more degrees. They don't so they can create an artificial shortage of doctors to keep their wages up. Try going to a specialist these days, it is impossible to get in and the quality of care stinks because they are trying to treat too many people.
I hope Owen Reitzel and others go to DakotaFest and share their observations, as I'll not be able to get to Mitchell Wednesday.
Amazing how when the same tactics used by America's President and his sidekick bowel tongued VP in denouncing Representative Ryan as the GOP pick for VP are used against a no name kid wanting to unseat a sitting US Representative .....................................and Bill quit bringing historical data into this conversation as it is only about Kristi Noem!!!
Justin, I cannot agree with the assertion that the doctor fix is "easy." The American Medical Association doesn't grant degrees, but rather approve and accredit medical education and training programs. I think you might be a little to cynical about what drives doctor shortages. A lot of complex variables of getting the right specialists practice in the right places as well as getting primary care specialists to go to medically underserved areas. And that's difficult to do. Impossible to get in to see a specialist? You're not going to see an interventional cardiolgist in Woonsocket, but you you can in SF, RC, Mitchell, Aberdeen. I'd also be curious on what you base your claim that "the quality of care stinks." Medical care isn't perfect, but throwing out wild generalizations do little to help the discussion on improving medical care in this country.
Mark I know not who you are but from conversations with those in the field of medicine must admit you do speak the whole truth. America is getting older and more out of physical condition needing more not less medical care. Obamacare will exasperate this problem; horribly so.
[CAH—vocab note! Charlie, sometimes you exasperate me, making me feel irritated, provoked, occasionally even infuriated. I generally recover. However, bad legislation can exacerbate problems, as HB 1234 will, making school's paperwork burden and the difficulty of keeping good teachers even worse.]
To Justin's point, here is a chart on Docs per 1000 around the world.
http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/data/topic/map.aspx?ind=74
Then there's this article that points to not only a need for more GP's, but also a continuing nurse shortage.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/health/doctor-shortage-affordable-care-act/index.html
For the free market advocates...does the law of supply and demand apply with healthcare?
I don't agree with Obamacare making the problem worse of older and out of shape citizens. One of the components of the reform that is trying to be placed on the medical field is to produce better results. One of the ways that the medical field will need to try and hit that aspect is it will now put more emphasis on general practitioners. GP's are one of the keys to reducing healthcare costs. If more people are able to see a GP before the need for a specialist, then this will bring down the overall costs to the system.
I agree with Mark that it is not a simple fix. One of the key issues to getting doctors to serve in an area is to recruit people from that area. Many doctors would prefer to serve in an area that they grew up (inner city Chicago or rural South Dakota).
I stand by what I said Mark. I had to go to a neurologist and it took 3 months to get in in Sioux Falls, I don't live in Woonsocket. 3 months AFTER my visit, the purpose of which was to compare an old MRI to a new MRI they still hadn't done it.
Generally speaking, despite paying far more than the rest of the world for our health care, we also have higher obesity rates, higher diabetes rates, lower life expectancies and higher infant mortality rates.
The point is talking about torts isn't the issue. We are constantly having barriers thrown in front of us to prevent the citizen/patients of this country from uniting to use our own bargaining power to our advantage.
Look at the charts Jana posted. If you are a doctor you know exactly what I am talking about. Doctors are always whining about not making enough money, yet the local hospitals charge 4 times the competitive rate for an MRI. I've said before that if I got a serious illness I would be in Rochester constantly. As far as I've seen the only thing we have accomplished in Sioux Falls is providing high wages for doctors, and that seems to be the fundamental goal of everything the local hospitals do.
And if you look it up Jana with just over 40% of eligible residents having a college degree, we are pretty good at sixth globally, with only Russia, Canada, Israel, Japan and New Zealand ahead of us.
Here is an interesting editorial from Forbes detailing the scam perpetrated between big government and big medicine: http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/25/american-medical-association-opinions-columnists-shikha-dalmia.html
Trust me I have lots of friends who are doctors and they don't deny this.
Here is a fantastic work on the cost of monopoly power in medical markets that is only a couple of months old. I have posted it before, but it is definitely germane to the tangent this thread has taken: http://www.aei.org/papers/health/healthcare-reform/concentration-in-health-care-markets-chronic-problems-and-better-solutions/
CBH-Note well taken CAH though "To increase the gravity or intensity of" is intended Sir! I am not using it as a transitive verb.
"The coming elections will likely exacerbate the conflicts within Congress if and only if the Democrats remain in control of the Senate and Barack Hussein Obama remains in office."
I'll take conflict over disaster any day!
I hate spending more of my tax payer dollars but if 1.2.3.4 gives that much needed money to the best teachers like Mr. H then I am all for it. Give good teachers more money. Get rid of the slackards.
Justin,
You know better. Unless of course, you want to decrease the standards for getting in and graduation, opening a third world Doctor mill will not improve health care.
Charlie: that's one more reason to spread the word about what an ineffective, cowardly Congresswoman Noem is and exhort them to send Varilek to join a resurgent Dem majority in the House!
Grudz, you exacerbate my exasperation.
Well I couldn't have given you any more conservative sources, Troy, the op-eds of Forbes and the American Enterprise Institute.
I'm not asking for a third world doctor mill, I'm just asking the medical degrees to grow at the same rate as other college degrees. And for legistlators to stop supporting the monopolized doctor's union that is the AMA.
And it's not a partisan thing, the AMA owns both sides of the aisle.
I expectantly await your exacerbescence in the face of my exacritude as well.
Charlie, of course it's "all about Kristi Noem," because Kristi has made it about herself ever since she ran for this office. We want to get someone in there who: 1) Has a clue about what they are doing and 2) Makes the office about serving others and not their selves. If you have a problem about the issue being about Kristi all the time, maybe you should talk to her about that.