And now in the local Tea Party irrelevance department, the Minnehaha County Republican Party shows its need for a coup by declaring the Chamber of Commerce a den of liberal iniquity. Rep. Manny Steele (R-12/Sioux Falls) and Minnehaha County GOP chair Lora Hubbel dismissed both the Chamber and the League of Women Voters as partisan, liberal organizations who favor liberal questioners and exclude conservative questioners at their legislative crackerbarrels. Steele vowed to host his own crackerbarrels where conservatives would be able to get a word in edgewise.
Steele and Hubbel have met with near universal ridicule. The state GOP has signaled its displeasure with Steele and Hubbel. Issued these speaking orders, the GOP blogissariat piles on. Meanwhile, the saner heads among local legislators all signal they'll be attending the traditional Chamber/LWV crackerbarrels, as they ought.
The Steele/Hubbel brand of conservatism leads to declaring everyone who allows disagreement with orthodoxy a traitor. By decrying forums where they face hard policy questions instead of the lollapalooza of John Birch chanting, Steele and Hubbel exhibit the craving for epistemic closure with which they will consign themselves and their party to irrelevance. Minnehaha GOP, for your own sake, check your by-laws, look into impeaching your chair... and in 2014, find some practical policy-makers to primary Manny Steele.
Cory the Democratic Marxist defends the fascist SDGOP and their Chamber of Commerce corporate cronies. Not surprised, collectivism is collectivism no matter what the flavor. The Ds and Rs are only fighting over power. Those of us who see the truth are a problem for both sides.
Good eye: your Constitutional Party is such a nice alternative to the GOP, Steve.
I'm no fan of the COC, but even I know it is idiotic for anybody from the GOP to say such things.
It's as ludicrous as our oft-drunk friend from Eureka saying here that KELO is biased against the state GOP.
I believe Manny is "termed-out" for 2014. He was first elected in 2006. But would you not love to see a primary for the state senate between Steele and Johnston, thus granting an offering for the Dems in 2014 in District 12.
SDGOP fascism plus Democratic Fabian Socialism = Crony Capitalism Squared
Free Markets - Federal Reserve = More prosperity for the working class
Russia has a free market, Steve: mail that ticket?
Reminds me of when the League of Women Voters backed out of sponsoring presidential debates for the exact same reason. I guess the GOP took a play from their book.
"In 1987, the LWV withdrew from debate sponsorship, in protest of the major party candidates attempting to dictate nearly every aspect of how the debates were conducted."
Non-partisan group......that's laughable.
Chickens. Bed wetting, mommy clutching, self-absorbed cowards. Manny and the gang are so afraid of being questioned by the public. Great issue for the Democrats.
DB, if the LWV were at odds with the two major political parties in 1987 would not that make them non-partisan not only in name but also in actions as well?
Winston makes a great point. Let's see, the Democratic Party was looking out for whose interest? The Republican Party was looking out for whose interest? The LWV was looking out for whose interest?
DB, here's the official statement from the LVW and I would think that you would find that there is no correlation whatsoever.
http://www.lwv.org/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud
DB, are you supporting Hubble and Steele?
DB, that 1987 instance sounds nothing like the actions of Hubbel and Steele. It sounds more like you reaching to find some way to avoid admitting that the Minnehaha GOP are acting like idiots. As Winston notes, the LWV was criticizing both parties equally and attempting to maintain its non-partisan status and a commitment to honest discourse and tough questions. Let's look at the text from Jana's link, which makes clear the difference between that 1988 action and the Hubbel/Steele drive for epistemic closure:
"'It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and honest answers to tough questions,' [LWV president Nancy M.] Neuman said. 'The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.'
"Neuman said that the campaigns presented the League with their debate agreement on September 28, two weeks before the scheduled debate. The campaigns' agreement was negotiated 'behind closed doors' and was presented to the League as 'a done deal,' she said, its 16 pages of conditions not subject to negotiation.
"Most objectionable to the League, Neuman said, were conditions in the agreement that gave the campaigns unprecedented control over the proceedings. Neuman called 'outrageous' the campaigns' demands that they control the selection of questioners, the composition of the audience, hall access for the press and other issues."
So really, the LWV saw the Bush and Dukakis campaigns behaving like Hubbel and Steele, seeking control over the questions and the composition of the audience. That's the real analogy. DB is just arguing for the sake of arguing, which leads him to spout nonsense.
"DB, if the LWV were at odds with the two major political parties in 1987 would not that make them non-partisan not only in name but also in actions as well?"
Scott Brown anyone?
Looks like I at least got you all thinking. Frankly, I expect all sponsoring groups to have input. I think it helps all of their credibility. Really Corey?....Nonsense?....I guess that nonsense required a heck of a response from you. Your welcome for the history lessons.
The twists and turns never end. Now DB's a hero in his own mind for providing a history lesson (even though he gets his history wrong) and getting everyone thinking (even though it took very little thinking to see the utter fallaciousness of DB's attempted analogy). Yes, really, DB, nonsense. Your analogy made no sense. Can you see that?
Where you come up with half this stuff amazes me. Hero? Very little thinking? Fallaciousness? Grow up Corey.
South Dakota killed 31 workers in chemical toilet in 2011:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/news/aan-31-people-died-from-work-injuries-in-sd-in-2011-20130105,0,1765451.story
Although having Hubble and Steele take questions on their planned secession from the United States could be fun.
Just calling it the way it is, DB. And now you resort to the usual personal bull instead of supporting your original claim. Your analogy is bogus. There is no equivalency between the LWV's withdrawal from the 1988 debates and the Minnehaha GOP's fuss over the fact that they get hard questions about things other than Agenda 21 at the crackerbarrels.
And Hubbel came 42 votes short of beating an incumbent senator in a primary this year in a district that was mostly new to Hubbel after re-districting. There must be a large market for this craziness within the GOP ranks.
DB, as far as the "Scott Brown" comment, so what? A local Mass. chapter of the LWV criticized Brown's vote concerning the EPA ... and that means they are no longer non-partisan?
You should check out this LWV cite where they recently criticized Obama's hesitance over global warming policy.
http://www.lwv.org/press-releases/league-pushes-obama-climate-change
The LWV is a political organization which challenges politicians and encourages constituent input ... what's wrong with that?
No one ever said politics was flag football. It's tackle football. Any politician worth their weight should be able to handle hardball questions and turn any question to their advantage through ingenious spin and commanding advocacy of their beliefs and expression of what they think are the real important issues of the day.
Instead, Manny and Lora want their house rules in a common setting filtered by a censorship of their likening.
Mike Knudson will take out Steele in 2014.
Steele is term limited.