The SDGOP spin machine read this Politico article and crowed that Rep. Kristi Noem had "chewed some major butt with House GOP leadership" over their failure to pass the Farm Bill.
Not quoted was the portion of the Politico article immediately following its mention of the grouchy Noem, which discussed comments from Noem's North Dakota colleague Kevin Cramer:
Cramer, a first-term lawmaker, read aloud an editorial to his colleagues from a North Dakota newspaper, arguing that failing to pass a farm bill could end his brief congressional career. In an interview with POLITICO, Cramer said Republicans — especially committee chairmen — who voted against the farm bill are "jeopardizing the whole majority" [Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, "House Leadership Draws Flak on Farm Bill Defeat," Politico, 2013.06.26].
A second straight year of Farm Bill failure won't help Noem win reëlection. She may not be worried about a Democratic threat (hey, I'll admit, we Dems don't have a challenger for her yet... but we still have nine months to recruit!). But maybe she should worry about a GOP primary threat. Most of the South Dakota conservative agitation has focused fire on M. Michael Rounds and the more-at-stake Senate seat Tim Johnson is leaving open. But consider this assessment of Noem's failure to live up to conservative ideals in the House:
The fiscal conservatives who voted against the Farm Bill last week are no different. House Republican leaders made a promise to cut spending, but they saw before them a bill that spent too much — in fact, it was 56% more expensive than the $604 billion Farm Bill that was passed in 2008 — and brought nothing in terms of real reform to agriculture policy.
If Republican leaders wanted to pass a Farm Bill, they should’ve offered something that fiscal conservatives could stomach instead of shutting them out while trying to placate big-spending House Democrats.
And about Noem and Cramer — the two House Republicans expressing their frustration with fiscal conservatives — these two aren’t exactly friends of the taxpayer. Noem has a43% score for the current Congress. Cramer is even worse, at 14%. To give you an idea of how bad these two are, Rep. Nancy Pelosi has a higher score (57%) for the current Congress [Jason Pye, "Big-Spending Republicans Upset with Fiscal Conservatives for Killing Farm Bill," United Liberty, 2013.06.28].
Rep. Noem says she's all about cutting spending. But conservatives paying attention to her voting record on the Farm Bill and other issues can argue that this year, at least by the metrics of conservative outfit Freedom Works, she's no better than Nancy Pelosi.
Just like Mike Rounds, Kristi Noem is vulnerable to charges that she's a fake fiscal conservative. Just like Mike Rounds, Kristi Noem is vulnerable to a primary challenge. But unlike Mike Rounds, Kristi Noem won't have nine million dollars in the campaign war chest. If I were a fiscal conservative (wait a minute—who says I'm not?) and I wanted to run for Congress in South Dakota in 2014, I'd be looking as hard at prying Kristi Noem out of her House seat as at keeping Mike Rounds out of our Senate seat.
Conservative voices trying to "uncrack the money," are you paying attention?
They aren't fake fiscal conservatives, they are just fakes..or shadows of fakes. Empty, ambitious and representing only themselves..
So wait a minute...are you telling me that you didn't want the farm bill? That a fiscal conservative has to vote no on everything that pertains to that to be considered a fiscal conservative or is this just hypocrisy on the Democrats to poke? Because I'm just tired of all of the back and forth and no working together. A site like this does nothing but cause that strife to continue.
Oh please God, don't let Kristi Noem having a poorer FreedomWorks ranking than the evil and dreaded Nancy Pelosi!
Someone grab the screen shots before they slip away.
What is ironic or a bit of Karma is a bitch is that Kristi hung Nancy Pelosi around Stephanie's neck. Time for the tables to turn and hang the ultimate nemesis of conservatives around Kristi's neck!
Nancy Pelosi has a better fiscal ranking than Kristi Noem with the Tea Party overlord!
It's gonna take more than a new haircut and a cute horse to get over that one!
Heck, Johnny Thune is a 58% conservative!!! That's just 1% better than Nancy Pelosi! And he's the #3 guy in the Senate!
Keep this rating in the memory hole too!
http://congress.freedomworks.org/legislators/john-thune
http://congress.freedomworks.org/legislators/nancy-pelosi-0
Almost makes me feel bad for the conservatives in South Dakota that their heroes have feet of clay!
I bet old PP at the War College is going to be all over this one!...wait...what?
She is ripe for defeat in 2014! Brendan Johnson could destroy her in a race.
As a South Dakotan I'm getting tired of Noem blaming everyone but herself. She should look in the mirror if she wants to know why bills fail so easily. Maybe if she worked better with others instead of just blaming everyone for her failures she would do better.
Oh, James, let's not overgeneralize. That's the problem Kristi has. She campaigns on the overgeneralization that spending is bad and that cuts are good. But then when fellow Republicans turn on her and vote against a Farm Bill because they want more spending cuts, she gets all pouty and tells them she won't play with them. Noem needs to be held accountable for that contradiction. This site highlights that contradiction in an effort to educate the people better than Noem does and to invite Noem to be honest with voters about what she thinks government should prioritize.
I think people need to find out what parade Kristi will be involved in during the July 4th holiday and start chanting "WHERE IS THE FARM BILL????"
Yes, Noem is for cutting spending. But what does she want to cut?
Not a Republican has answered that question.
MJL, That is a great idea! I bet she's at Kranzburg and Watertown.
The "clay feet" comment reminded me of a recent cartoon with Superman flying through the air with toilet paper stuck to one foot.
Just think of the ad that could be run with Nancy vs. Kristi...heck, you wouldn't even need a candidate to run that one. The SD Dem party should start running it now!
Signs saying "Nancy Pelosi has a better Tea Party rating than Kristi" or just the picture of both of them together along parade routes, right next to the "Where's the Farm Bill Kristi" signs.