Last updated on 2013.12.27
And in the "Picked His Dope on the Wrong Side of the Ditch" Department, Gordon Howie harps on former Senator Larry Pressler's support for marriage equality and draws this impossible conclusion:
It makes me wonder if perhaps Senator Pressler is positioning himself to enter the race for the Tim Johnson seat.
That would give us two “big tent” Republicans in that race [Gordon Howie, "Larry Pressler, Big Tent Republican," The Right Side, 2013.04.14].
We have here another example of how Gordon doesn't care about the truth or accuracy or mere plausibility of the things he says. Larry Pressler is not on anyone's list, short or long, for any elected office in South Dakota. Since leaving the Senate after 1996, Pressler has dedicated his attention to national and global affairs, not South Dakota issues. According to OpenSecrets.org, Pressler has given more money over the last four years to Barack Obama than to John Thune. He hasn't played any significant role in South Dakota campaign financing. To top it off, Pressler worked as a lobbyist for nine years, and we all know lobbyists aren't fit to shine your shoes with their silk ties.
Gordon Howie needs to save his stupidity for his own primary retry against Dennis Daugaard in 2014.
* * *
My favorite part of Pressler's argument for South Dakota to get over gay marriage is his contention, laid out in that Sioux Falls paper on April 5 and reiterated in yesterday's Rapid City Journal, that our constitutional ban on gay marriage could lose us Ellsworth Air Force Base:
One of the criterion for retaining a base is a friendly and supportive local group in the state -- and for some of the personnel to live and make contracts as a married couple off-base. If a gay person were at a military base in another state that allowed gay marriage and entered into a gay marriage and was subsequently reassigned to Ellsworth, this person could have difficulty in entering into housing contracts, loan contracts, etc., as a married person. Thus, local supporters of Ellsworth should inform themselves very carefully as to what consequences might arise [Larry Pressler, "Supporting Gay Marriage Could Save Ellsworth AFB," Rapid City Journal, 2013.04.13].
Pressler mingles this warning to South Dakotans with his justification for joining the brief that he, Clint Eastwood, and other amici curiae signed and sent to the Supreme Court in February. It won't affect the Court's reasoning, but saving Ellsworth AFB could be reason for West River economic development hawks to get ahead of the Scalia curve and start an initiative to repeal South Dakota's gay marriage ban.
Howie's blog helps me whenever I have writer's block. All I need to do is read one of his posts and I can start typing a rebuttal.
Larry Pressler ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. House in 2002. He turned 71 a few weeks ago. He recently joined about 80 other former members of Congress on a bipartisan council to fix the federal debt. He lists his professional address as Washington, D.C. I don't know whether he is registered to vote in South Dakota.
The Secretary of State's Voter Information Portal shows Larry Pressler registered at 25910 457Th Ave, Humboldt, Minnehaha County, District 9.
That makes Larry Pressler ... Rep. Steve Hickey's constituent.
Federal issues are going to bubble up, but Pressler's argument is statistically very weak. However, it is another reason to make all marriages civil unions at a national level. Totally level the playing field.
Looks like Howie got this one right, eh? And back in April, too. What foresight.
Even a blind squirrel can find his nuts sometimes Chris.
Gadzooks! You're right, Chris... and so was Howie!