South Dakota Politics

Blogging Senators

An interesting nugget from US News and World Report's "Washington Whispers":

Convinced that Internet weblogs, or blogs, helped defeat Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and out Dan Rather 's bad reporting on President Bush 's National Guard duty, House and Senate Republicans are scrambling to put them on their government Web pages. "Senators want them even though they don't know what they are," says a strategist helping several GOP senators develop the chat and news pages"...

I hope Senator Thune will be one of the first senators to utilize this powerful new medium.  Seems like someone on Capital Hill has been reading this.

Some Interrogatories for David Newquist

Jon L. below links to this piece, by David from today's Northern Valley Beacon, which offers up "News from the Brown County Democrats."  I know David, though not well, as he was still teaching at Northern when I arrived there, and on one occasion I responded to a column of his in the local paper in a "Reader's Response" piece.  That was before I began writing my own column.

David is always fun to read, precisely because he tends to a bit of hysteria now and then.  Saturday's blog is no exception, so I pose a few questions for this Northern Valley Beacon.

1.  You say "The Republicans need a fuehrer to lead their party."  I voted Republican, as I expect my fellows here at South Dakota Politics did.  Do you really believe that we are Nazis for doing so?  Or is it rather the case that everyone who disagrees with you is a Nazi?

2.  You say that Howard Dean will "moderate among the party's diverse members, listen with respect (a word no longer in the Republican Newspeak Dictionary)."  But you imply that everyone who disagrees with you on the war in Iraq, or the budget, must do so not because they have thought it through and come to a different conclusion, but because they need a Fuehrer.  Is this what you mean by "listening with respect."

3.  You say that Dean "will not tolerate the political shysterism evident from the [Republican] party's character assassination attempt on Harry Reid to the local hate-chants of its cadre of bloggers."  But hasn't strident criticism of the other side always been a feature of democratic politics, here and elsewhere?  Isn't it a "hate-chant" by bloggers to compare Bush to Hitler, as Moveon.Org did, or as you do here?  Of do you believe that only conservative hate-chants are deplorable? 

4.  You say that "Rather than compromise with the neo-conservatives, many Democrats would rather create a new nation under the old principles of our Declaration and Constitution."  Did it escape your notice that we just had an election; that people voted and electors were chosen; that Bush won fair and square by constitutional rules.  Aren't these precisely the principles that are enshrined in both documents? 

5.  Isn't the real trouble that you lost an election and you just aren't grown up enough to take it?  So when you say "The two parties are no longer political opponents.   They are bitter enemies locked in war about what America will become," this is really nothing more than an adolescent pout.  You are making a gesture of taking your marbles and going home.  That is assuming you haven't lost them.

6.  Did it occur to you that Al Franken runs a "hate-filled talk show," and that if you looked up "hate-filled, witless blogger" in the dictionary, you just might find your own picture?

Update: When I wrote the above questions I had assumed that the subtitle of  Northern Valley Beacon, "News from S. Dakota Democrats," implied that the blog represented a number of persons, as SouthDakotaPolitics does.  Looking at it more carefully, this is a misrepresentation.  There is only one bulb in this beacon, and it produces a lot more heat than light.

Churchill

The Rocky Mountain News has published a major review of happenings in the Ward "little Eichmanns" Churchill matter.  Thanks to Instapundit.

Fascism Watch

Did you know the Republicans are led by a "fuehrer," Iraq was a "war of atrocity," that Hitler, like Republican statements on reforming Social Security, "probably referred to his gas ovens as a 'reform,'" and that "If Hitler were alive today, he'd have his own blog"?  If not, you haven't been keeping up on your Dakota reading.  From a Dakota blogger of the left:

The Republicans need a fuehrer to lead their party. They like to be led into wars of atrocity based upon false pretenses. They like to be given easy-to-remember cant to dully repeat in the face of facts.

You know, that "war of atrocity" which allowed 8 million Iraqis to freely vote a few weeks ago.  That "war of atrocity" which toppled an authoritarian regime which had killed a million people.  Today, this fellow's town is welcoming home South Dakota National Guard troops from Iraq.  Perhaps he should ask the troops about their "war of atrocity."  Also, see this from another Dakota lefty blogger:

Republicans like to “frame” there [sic] destruction of programs as “reform” and refer to Democrats [sic] evil agenda. Hitler probably referred to his gas ovens as a “reform”.

For more on the left's constant use of comparisons to fascism, see this, which notes how the editor of Harper's compared Trent Lott to "Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring" and thinks the war in Iraq was a "test market for a reconfigured American political idea matched to Benito Mussolini's definition of fascism."  And you can't forget this gem from the editor of South Dakota's biggest newspaper:

"If Hitler were alive today, he'd have his own blog."

Chairman Dean

It's done.  The Democrats chose Howard Dean to be their Chairman.  Remember that a few weeks ago he said "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."  I didn't think the more strategic-thinking Democrats would allow a Dean take-over.  I guess this proves who is in control of the Democratic Party.

Minnesota

Remember that big sexual harassment lawsuit brought by some women against a big mine on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota?  They're making it into a movie. 

The Unbearable Lightness of CNN

Many bloggers have assumed that the tape of the World Economic Forum must be damning to Eason, else it would have been released.  This is largely confirmed, I suppose, by this from CNN's own version of the story.

The Davos organizers have said the session, like most at the forum, was off-the-record, and they have refused to release a transcript to preserve their commitment.

This is a good reason for not releasing the whole tape except with the permission of all the participants, but surely Eason could voluntarily agree to allow the key scene to be released.  That he has not done so stands as evidence that he said what his critics say he said. 

To get an idea how left-tilted CNN's staff is, take a look at this interview of Lou Dobbs in Mother Jones.  What is most appalling about Dobb's remarks is not his partisanship, but his utter economic cluelessness.  Consider this passage:

As we go deeper in debt, we continue to lose jobs and diminish our manufacturing base. Many people want to talk about our dependency on foreign oil, and it’s a legitimate and real concern. But so is our dependency on the rest of the world for our clothing, our food, our computers and our consumer electronics. Our dependency isn’t just on foreign oil; we can’t even clothe ourselves. Free-trade economists will tell you we’re a technology economy, but we don’t even produce the technological components that are the foundation of a technology economy.

Has Dobb's looked at recent employment figures?  Is he altogether unaware that those nations that practice the protectionism he advocates are poorer than those that do not?  Does he really think that a nation should try to manufacture all of its own goods, and that trade is a sign of weakness?  Yes.

It is widely assumed that anchors need only have pretty faces and that brains are superfluous, but in Dobbs case that can't be the explanation.

Bloggers Bag Another Pompus Pinhead

As Wes notes below, Eason Jordan of CNN has resigned.  In retrospect, the whole thing seems unbelievable.  He can't have been so stupid as not to know what he was saying, and how could he not know what would happen if someone called him on it.?  He is sticking with his "I never meant to say what I obviously did say" storyline. 

While my CNN colleagues and my friends in the U.S. military know me well enough to know I have never stated, believed, or suspected that U.S. military forces intended to kill people they knew to be journalists, my comments on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not as clear as they should have been.

I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise. I have great admiration and respect for the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, with whom I have worked closely and been embedded in Baghdad, Tikrit, and Mosul, in addition to my time with American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in Afghanistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the Arabian Gulf.

Tip to Pressthink. 

There is a videotape of the Davos meeting but it has not been released to the public.  It would be interesting to know who controls the tape, and why they could not at least release the portions in which Jordan is speaking. 

This story suggests something important: this is probably the way Jordan and others like him were accustomed to talking back when a few networks controlled the news.  They could say about anything they wanted, trusting that the dangerous stuff would be filtered out long before it reached the airwaves.  Jordan just hadn't adjusted to the new world yet.  It didn't occur to him that it only takes one blogger in any audience to blow the whistle.

Film Review, no charge

I just got back from Million Dollar Baby. With serious reservations I recommend the film. There is a twist in the film, so I will keep my comments limited, although those really interested in seeing the film might not want to read to the end of this post. The acting is top notch and the relationship between Clint Eastwood's character and Hillary Swank's is well developed and often touching. The film is also surprisingly funny with the lively exchange between the various characters. On the downside, the Hillary Swank's hillbilly family is straight out of "Cletus the Slackjawed Yokel" of The Simpsons fame. Total stereotype. Also, there is a priest character who is wholly (holy?) unconvincing, and at the crucial moment of the film has nothing positive to say to a morally conflicted Clint Eastwood. He has no comfort and cannot develop a positive ethic for Eastwood to follow. The ultimate failing of the film, I believe, is moral, not artistic, although the two cannot really be separated. The film ends up wallowing in the culture of death, denying that there is inherent value in human life.  Thus the film fails to present an ennobling or edifying view of the world. 

Eason Jordan resigns

Chalk another one up for the blogosphere.  Eason Jordan has resigned at CNN over the remarks he made at Davos this year.  Bascially pick any conservative blog to read all about it.  I want to give a hat tip to Ramesh Ponnuru over at The Corner who had the scoop at 4:32 pm MST this afternoon, around a half-hour before the story broke!

To give you a start, check out Michelle Malkin (where you can add your thoughts), Blogs for Bush and Powerline for more on the story.  I would say the score is Bloggers 2, MSM 0.

The North Dakota Front

From today's Wall Street Journal Political Diary:

Battle of the Badlands

Tom Daschle's defeat last November naturally created nervousness among other Great Plains Democrats who are facing reelection battles in "crimson" states where Mr. Bush won by 20 points or more. And perhaps none more so than North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad: It now appears likely that he will be challenged by popular GOP Gov. John Hoeven, setting up another multi-million dollar referendum on Democratic obstructionism in the Senate.

Normally, Mr. Conrad would have little to worry about. The former tax commissioner won re-election in 2000 with 62%, the same percentage George W. Bush carried the state by. But Mr. Conrad knows full well that Tom Daschle won re-election with 62% in 1998, only to lose to Republican John Thune, a Bush favorite, six years later. Mr. Conrad also knows that his potential challenger, Mr. Hoeven, won a second term last November with an even more impressive 71%.

The White House was able to convince Mr. Thune to run for Senate last year, and now is turning on the charm to convince Mr. Hoeven that he should move to Washington as a Senator. Last week, the president had both Mr. Hoeven and Mr. Conrad on Air Force One as he jetted to Fargo for a rally in support of his Social Security plan. You can be sure that the president spent more face time with Mr. Hoeven than with Mr. Conrad, a consistent critic of White House policies.

For his part, Mr. Hoeven is keeping mum about his plans. His spokesperson says, "The governor is focused on his job. He's just not going to talk about [a Senate race]." Nonetheless, friends and former aides of Mr. Hoeven tell me he has more or less made up his mind to challenge Mr. Conrad. But he's also looking for a way to make it clear to voters that he won't neglect his duties as governor if he also runs for the Senate.

If Mr. Hoeven runs, national political reporters will relish covering a high-stakes slugfest. North Dakota's 640,000 people, on the other hand, would face such an avalanche of political commercials that many might be tempted to swear off TV for the duration.

Defending Harry Reid

Jonathon Chait defends Harry Reid, or, more accurately, attacks the Republican efforts to undermine Reid (see Jon Lauck below) in today’s LA Times. He references the “Daschle Treatment.”

Republicans carried out a nearly identical operation to drive up antagonism against Tom Daschle, the previous Democratic Senate leader, who was also inconveniently mild-mannered. Republicans sent out talking points, and in short order conservatives everywhere found themselves deeply vexed by the previously inoffensive, low-profile South Dakota senator. Rush Limbaugh, taking the demonization campaign a tad too literally, began calling Daschle "El Diablo." Perhaps now, with the devil himself already having been used, Limbaugh is thumbing through "Paradise Lost" looking for lesser satanic figures after which to name Reid. (My money's on "Beelzebub.")

Chait is upset that Republicans are demonizing the mild mannered Harry Reid, proving the Republicans don’t really want bi-partisanship or to “change the tone” in Washington. Chait concludes:

The real reason Republicans object to Reid is that he's a Democrat who disagrees with key points of Bush's agenda. Of course, you can't very well whip the Fox News audience into a lather by pointing at Reid and shouting: "He's a Democrat, and he's voting against us! The nerve!" Hence the need for insults like "obstructionist" and "partisan" — another favorite term of abuse against both Reid and Daschle — which are merely ways of making membership in the other party sound like some kind of affront.

This kind of transparent propaganda is, sadly, a normal function of political parties. But if you get gulled into believing it, or repeating it, you're either a dupe or a partisan hack.

First, note the tired derision of the Fox News viewership. When will that get old? Probably about the time SNL stops the “Bush is dumb” gags. Chait is certainly correct that Republicans are exaggerating Reid’s record to make him look worse than he is. Well, Mr. Chait, welcome to politics. Please take off your diaper now. But, as I look at my copy of the 2004 Almanac of American Politics (eagerly awaiting my new edition), I see that in 2001 Harry Reid scored a 100% from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, and in 2002 he scored an 85%. His National Journal ratings for 2002 had him 90% liberal on economic issues, 62% liberal on social issues, and 70% liberal on foreign policy. Reid may be mild mannered, but he is moderate only compared to Ted Kennedy or Howard  Dean. 

Does mild mannered Harry Reid announce that Clarence Thomas writes terrible opinions (while Reid struggles to find an example) or rule any reform of Social Security out of bounds, or say that George Bush's budget is "immoral"?  Chait and Reid must remember this: it was not Rush Limbaugh who beat Tom Daschle.  Limbaugh's impact here was zero.  Daschle lost because as Democratic leader he had to defend liberal positions that are unpopular in this state.  The Thune campaign and the blogosphere did a good job of informing the voters that Daschle would say one thing in DC and another here, making Daschle look duplicitous.  If Harry Reid isn't careful, he'll suffer the same Daschle fate. 

London Mayor Ken Livingstone

Well, the London mayor is at it again.  It wasn't enough that he called President Bush "The greatest threat to life on the planet" or that he wanted Castro to visit London.  Today's outrage is over a scuffle with a reporter in London.  From Reuters:

LONDON (Reuters) - London's outspoken Mayor Ken Livingstone has refused to apologise for calling a Jewish newspaper reporter a war criminal and concentration camp guard, despite complaints from Britain's main Jewish group.

"Are you a German war criminal?" Livingstone was heard saying on a tape recording of the exchange with the Evening Standard journalist at a event to mark the 20th anniversary of former cabinet member Chris Smith announcing he is gay.

When the journalist said he was Jewish and was offended by the mayor's remarks, Livingstone replied: "Actually you are just like a concentration camp guard."

He also called the Evening Standard, a newspaper he has clashed with in the past, a "load of scumbags".

How did this guy get elected?  No wonder that Anti-Semitic attacks have risen to record-high levels in UK.

It's never too early for political junkies

An interesting letter to NROs Corner today concerning a possible Mitt Romney run at the presidency. I have always thought of Romney as another simpleminded pro-abortion Republican (“I am personally opposed, blah, blah, blah”). Perhaps he deserves another look. In part the letter says:

I too have been charmed by Gov. Romney and, as someone who comes from the socially libertarian wing of the GOP, I think that he has the uncanny ability to bring cultural conservatives like yourself and social moderates like me together. The reason is that, as you pointed out, all of his positions seem well-reasoned. Never do you hear the nuance of some Republicans, who are obviously trying to hide their pro-choice position behind pro-life rhetoric or vice-versa. Instead, Mitt's social positions are all based on logic and reason (something all Republicans like) and usually end up as a compromise between both wings of the party that we can all live with…

And need we mention the electoral calculus of a Mitt/Hillary race? Romney would almost certainly win his father's Michigan (my native state) and would likely pull Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and hold Ohio. In order for Hillary to win, she'd have to pierce the red/blue divide and win the South, the thought of which is laughable.

And yet, all of this remains speculation, as I am one of those stubborn history buffs who has seen how the GOP selects nominees and remain convinced that either McCain or Rudy will be the nominee largely because it's "his turn." Republicans haven't nominated a dark horse since 1940. Romney certainly has a shot at defying history in New Hampshire, but I'm not putting any money on him just yet.

This letter writer is likely correct about the electoral calculus with Hillary, although I think that is true of almost any decent Republican candidate who runs a reasonable campaign (I am on record saying Hillary Clinton will never be president of the United States). I differ in that I’d be surprised if McCain or Rudy get the nomination, as I don’t think either will run. McCain will be quite old by that time (72 years old on election day 2008) and Rudy has too much baggage to make it in national politics.  He’d be better served running against Hillary for the Senate, and I think he’s smart enough to know that. I think the race for GOP nomination for president in 2008 is wide open. Just sign me up for the Anybody but Bill Frist Club. You’d like to have a candidate who does not need a personality implant.

 

Mark Kennedy

has announced for Senate in Minnesota.  Not a shocker.  If he announces early and can quickly raise alot of cash, perhaps he can scare off some contenders.  I think the country needs another St. John's alum in the Senate. 

Did Johnson Flip?

Word has it that Senator Tim Johnson, who normally votes with the trial lawyers, flipped yesterday and voted for the tort reform bill in the Senate.  It is indeed a new Senate.  And a brave new political world.

Reid and the Democrats

Ed Morrisey:

The Democrats managed to reach a nadir in their fight to remain relevant yesterday when a group of senators demanded that President Bush force the GOP to abandon politics and leave their poor Majority Leader alone. Chuck Shumer announced that Bush faced a "new Democratic Party," one that apparently endorses the repeal of the First Amendment:

Senate Democrats demanded Thursday that President Bush order a halt to personal attacks on the party's leader, Sen. Harry Reid, and expressed regret that they had failed to mount a stronger defense for his defeated predecessor.

"This is a new Democratic Party," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a news conference called to release a letter telling Bush to muzzle his "political operatives."

"It says to the president, `You will not intimidate us'," said Schumer, who likened the attacks on Reid to political knee-cappings.

This kind of petulant whining, dressed up as muscular politics, makes me laugh but should have Democratic voters crying tears of despair. What prompted this reaction from every non-GOP senator except Reid himself? The RNC published a thirteen-page list of examples that demonstrates Reid's insistence on obstructionism as a political strategy for the coming year. One passage in particular raised the Democrats' ire, accusing Reid of spending too much money on DC housing. Its inclusion was based in part on Reid's self-portrait during the Democratic response to the State of the Union address as a man of modest background and workingman ethics.

Reading through the entire document, something that the AP never bothered to do or report on if it did, almost everything in it has to do with Reid's votes, or the forty days of Democratic political idiocy that followed his elevation to Senate Minority Leader. In other words, it addresses his public policy, something of which Democrats appear embarassed and want kept quiet. I don't blame them a bit, but calling this "knee-capping" shows a level of hysteria and pusillanimity that confirms every worst stereotype of lily-livered Democratic inability to handle real crises.

The Democrats propose that Bush "muzzle" people from political speech simply because Harry Reid can't stand political heat. They regret not demanding silence from the GOP during Tom Daschle's reign. The same people who will elect Howard Dean as their chairman -- the same Howard Dean who told NPR that he found rumors of Bush and the Saudis conspiring to commit the 9/11 attacks "interesting" -- want Bush to stop the GOP from discussing Reid's voting record. The same politicians who endorsed John Kerry and defended his assertion that Bush and his team were "the most crooked, you know, lying group of people I've ever seen" now sob for the cameras when Republicans debate with actual facts and figures.

They're Coming Home

Rapid City Journal:

A welcome-home parade is planned Saturday in Aberdeen for members of Battery B of the South Dakota National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 147th Field Artillery, which is returning home after spending about a year in Iraq.

The soldiers are expected to arrive at the airport early Saturday afternoon.

The soldiers will ride with their families in decorated cars, Barb Wacholz, co-coordinator of the family support group for Battery B, said.

"We want anybody and everybody to come out to this," Sgt. John Berndt of the Aberdeen-based battery said.

Celebrations are also planned for troops returning to Sisseton, Redfield, and Pierre.  Really, you should go. 

SDSU Professor Saves the Day!

Argus Leader:

For one day last month in Antarctica, professor Jihong Cole-Dai's ability to speak Chinese was more crucial than his vast knowledge of chemistry.

The South Dakota State University professor was conducting research Jan. 7 when the U.S.-operated South Pole station received a distress call that an engineer on a Chinese team had become seriously ill while crossing eastern Antarctica.

That's when Cole-Dai, one of three members of an SDSU team, switched roles from researcher to interpreter to help save the man's life.

A Dissenting Voice on Kyoto

From the Canadian Globe and Mail:

Ottawa

— Scientists who oppose the prevailing views on climate change have been shut out of debate on the Kyoto protocol, the Commons environment committee was told Thursday.

The result is that Canada may be wasting billions of dollars trying to curb emissions of carbon dioxide which is not a pollutant, said Charles Simpson, president of a Calgary-based group called Friends of Science.

SDPolitics Mentioned in Weekly Standard

In Hugh Hewitt's article "The Blogs Beat the Bigs Again" our own Jon Lauck and this blog are mentioned.  That should bring in a few stragglers.  Thanks to HH.  If you are reading this blog, buy his book!

The Minnesota Front

ABC News thinks that Tim Pawlenty, the Governor of Minnesota, might be embraced by conservatives as a strong Presidential candidate.

The New Senate

Without Daschle, the Senate was finally able to pass some tort reform.  From The New York Times:

The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to shift many class-action lawsuits from state courts to federal courts, handing President Bush and his supporters in the business world a major legislative triumph.

The 72-to-26 vote sends the bill to the House of Representatives, where it will probably be quickly passed and sped on its way to the desk of the president, who is eager to sign it.

Passage in the House seems assured, since that chamber overwhelmingly endorsed similar legislation last year, before it stalled in the Senate. This time, though, the idea was backed by enough senators, Democrats as well as Republicans, that passage was not in doubt.

The Senate vote this afternoon followed repeated attempts by some Democrats to enact amendments curbing the effects of the measure. They were beaten back in part because some Democrats had also seen problems in the current state of the law.

All 26 votes against the measure were cast by Democrats.

Separated at Birth?

Am I the only one who things Wayne Gretzky and Princess Diana look like they could be brother and sister?

Stuart Smalley Decides Not to Run

The web was a buzz today with speculation that Al Franken would announce he was running for Mark Dayton's Senate Seat next year.  Franken instead announced he would not be running in 2006.  He didn't rule out a run against Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008 though.

I was actually hoping Al would run using the campaign motto Vote for Franken "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me!" 

Dean

Remember that the Democrats are soon going to pick Howard Dean to Chair their party.  Here's one of my favorite Dean lines: “We should have contained Saddam. Well, we’ve gotten rid of him. I suppose that’s a good thing.” CNN’s “Late Edition,” 8/24/03. 

More on Rice

This from the Guardian:

She was treated like a movie star wherever she went. Her face launched a thousand front pages. Her every word was news. Europe's leaders fell over themselves to welcome her. Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, looked like a besotted stage door fan. Her speech in Paris was the hottest ticket in town and her fleeting appearances in capital after capital merely enhanced the perception of glamour and power.

This doesn't sound exactly as if, and The Progressive Put it, Ms. Rice is coming across to everyone as "grating and supercilious to most everyone during her European sojourn." 

And then there is this from the Arizona Republic:

Following his meeting with Rice, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder was described as "ebullient." He and the U.S. secretary had "very much agreed" on cooperation regarding Iraq, the preceding two years of unpleasantness over that nation notwithstanding.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier - a refreshing replacement for the culturally oppressive Dominique de Villepin of pre-Iraq war infamy - declared the discovery of "a new spirit that prevails between" the United States and France. And, for what it's worth, he referred to his new spiritual cousin as "Condi."

Rice's most impressive foray into formerly hostile French terrain, however, occurred Tuesday. She spoke at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, directly addressing 500 French intellectuals and political elite - those policy-framing members of French society who most detest her boss.

"Ms. Rice was convincing, the bearer of simple and strong ideas, the Americans' ideas," observed a French corporate executive afterward. "She really is Mr. Bush's spokesman."

In point of fact our new Secretary of State is doing very well.  She is obviously doing Europe at a very good moment.  The Iraqi election and the sudden thaw in Israel/Palestinian negotiations both make it seem like the Bush Administration knew what it was doing the last several years, whereas the Euroweenies did not. 

Hugh

From Hugh Hewitt's new article in The Weekly Standard entitled "The Blogs Beat the Bigs Again": 

On Monday, I was part of a panel put together by Campaigns & Elections Magazine on blogging's impact on campaigns. The panel before us had been moderated by CNN's Judy Woodruff. One of my co-panelists, Jon Lauck of South Dakota Politics, asked Woodruff in the hallway outside of the meeting room what she thought of the story. "When I talked with Woodruff, she did seem simply stunned that Jordan could have said something like he did." Her reaction is similar to most of the reactions of those present at Davos, but again, the striking thing is she hadn't heard of the story. Of course, Woodruff works for CNN.

I hadn't considered the possibility that big names in journalism simply wouldn't be reading the blogs. For one thing, the blogs are interesting--whether left, right, or center. More to the point, they are news engines, carrying advance word of brewing stories. By Wednesday, February 9, Eason Jordan's slander on the military was the subject of a Fox News Roundtable on Special Report with Brit Hume, and had birthed its own blog, Easongate. Anyone admitting to not being up on the story by the following Monday was admitting to a lassitude about the news that calls into question both their work habits and news judgment.

Senator Dodd, by the way, is calling for release of the Davos tapes.

Open Fields Bill Dies

The SD House killed the bill 27-43. 

"ironic twist"

From today's edition of The Hill:

Career talks could land Daschle with former foe By Alexander Bolton

In an ironic twist, a D.C.-based law firm and lobbying shop whose head lobbyist was connected to a million-dollar ad campaign that helped defeat former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) last year has approached Daschle about joining the firm. The firm is McDermott, Will & Emery, whose top lobbyist, Stan Anderson, heads its government-relations function. Although Daschle is not a lawyer, he could be brought on by McDermott to help land meetings with Senate Democrats, which apparently would place him under Anderson’s wing. Patrick G. Ryan Former Sen. Tom Daschle Anderson is one of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s gurus on tort reform. Last year the Chamber spent $400,000 to air television and radio ads in South Dakota blasting Daschle for “killing” reform of medical-malpractice lawsuits. The Chamber also flooded the state with direct mail criticizing Daschle for his opposition to GOP tort-reform proposals. Tort reform is the No. 1 issue of the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform, of which Anderson is executive vice president and legal counsel. Anderson told The Hill that “lawyers in the firm have talked to” Daschle about working with McDermott. However, he said that he himself has not contacted Daschle but that “one of the other partners in the firm” handled the discussions. Harvey Freishtat, McDermott’s chairman, referred questions about Daschle to Tim Waters, head of its D.C. office, who said the firm does not comment on prospective recruits. Daschle also declined to talk about his dealings with McDermott. “I would rather not comment on any of my current discussions with firms and organizations with whom I have been in contact,” Daschle wrote in an e-mail to The Hill. The Chamber’s role in the 2004 South Dakota race is still seared in the memories of some former Daschle staffers. Dan Pfeiffer, who served as Daschle’s deputy campaign manager, said the Chamber’s TV and radio ads on tort reform warned South Dakotans that “rural doctors were going to go out of business because of Daschle’s opposition to medical-malpractice legislation.” He said those ads were followed by direct-mail pieces that attacked Daschle on malpractice and others attacking his character and his choice of an upscale Washington, D.C., residence. “It was almost indistinguishable from what the RNC, the South Dakota Republican Party and the Thune campaign were doing,” he said, referring to the Republican National Committee and newly elected Republican Sen. John Thune. “It was a very well coordinated smear campaign.” But Pfeiffer emphasized that the Chamber “focused a lot of their energy on medical malpractice.” Bill Miller, the Chamber’s political director, said his organization spent about $400,000 on airing a tort-reform attack of Daschle on TV and radio. He said that it also hired 55 canvassers in the state and dispatched 13 separate direct mailings aimed at Daschle.

Senator Franken?

KSTP is reporting that Air America host Al Franken is expected to throw his hat into the ring and run for the MN Senate seat next year.  He is expected to make announcement on his show today.

UPDATE: Quentin noted and Powerline notes as well that Al Franken/Stuart Smalley will not be running for a Senate seat.  Darn. 

North Korea has nukes

North Korea is becoming more brazen.  From Fox News:

SEOUL, South Korea  — North Korea publicly admitted Thursday for the first time that it has nuclear weapons, and said it wouldn't return to six-nation talks aimed at getting it to abandon its nuclear ambitions

Diplomats have said that North Korea has acknowledged having nuclear arms in private talks, but this is the first time the communist government has said so directly to the public.

"We had already taken the resolute action of pulling out of the (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) and have manufactured nukes for self-defense to cope with the Bush administration's ever-more undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

No sex for UN "peacekeepers" in the Congo

The UN is out of control.  The latest:

U.N. bans peacekeepers from sex with Congolese

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers have been banned from having sex with the local population in Congo following allegations of widespread abuse of women and girls, the United Nations says.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan disclosed the new "non-fraternisation" regulations on Wednesday in a letter to the Security Council in which he called for 100 extra police and French-speaking investigators to "root out" the abuse and prevent further sexual exploitation.

Over the past year the United Nations has probed 150 allegations against some 50 soldiers of sexual exploitation of women and girls, including gang rapes.

Children as young as 12 or 13 were bribed with eggs, milk or a few dollars in exchange for sex, U.N. reports said.

I just shake my head at reports like this.  Why is Kofi still in charge? 

Throwing Rice

I remember a film I saw in Psychology class about glasses that would turn your vision upside down.  Amitabh Pal of The Progressive seems to be wearing a pair of them. 

Is it just me or did Condoleezza Rice come across as grating and supercilious to most everyone during her European sojourn? Europe must already be nostalgic for the agreeable, albeit ineffectual, Colin Powell.

News flash, Amitabh, it's just you.  This from the London Times:

ONE day after Condoleezza Rice called for a “new chapter” in transatlantic relations, she unveiled yesterday a new conciliatory brand of American diplomacy in the capital of Europe.

Or this, from the Telegraph:

Condoleezza Rice negotiated the trickiest leg of her European tour as the new US Secretary of State yesterday, extending an elegant hand of friendship to France and calling for a new understanding between America and Europe.

Or this, from the Australian:

THE US and France set aside almost three years of strained relations over Iraq yesterday when Condoleezza Rice swept in to Paris on an official mission to kiss and make up with the Bush administration's harshest European critic.

Declaring open a "new chapter" in relations between Washington and Europe, the new US Secretary of State met French President Jacques Chirac, who planted kisses on her hand, and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who referred to his American counterpart as "dear Condi".

In point of fact dear Condi seems to be striking all the right notes with the various Euroweenies who now, when things look to be falling into place, have suddenly discovered Anglo-European solidarity.  Any day now Chirac will be claiming that the Iraq war was all his idea.

Open Fields Doctrine

Here are some thoughts on the "Open Fields Doctrine."  Judging by the email, there seems to be lots of interest in this debate.  Here's an article about the bill in today's Argus Leader.  Remember, the bill has been through a Senate committee, the Senate, and a House committee.  So let's see what the House does with it.  By the way, was there a scandal involving poaching or something recently that helped spawn this debate?  Or what were the game wardens looking for when they made the property owners mad?  I haven't followed this very closely...just wondering.

Democracy rising, pick your symbol

An interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor:

MOSCOW – The peaceful street revolts that recently brought democratic change to Georgia and Ukraine could spawn copy-cat upheavals against authoritarian regimes across the former Soviet Union, experts say.

***

In Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, hundreds of pro-democracy activists rallied on Saturday to demand that upcoming parliamentary elections be free and fair.

From Kyrgyzstan on the Chinese border to Moldova, where Europe's only ruling Communist Party faces elections next month, opposition parties are eagerly studying Georgia's "Rose Revolution" and Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," which led to the triumph of pro-democracy forces. Opposition groups are even selecting symbols for their banners when the moment arrives - tulips for the Kyrgyz opposition, grapes for Moldova's anticommunists.

Freedom is on the march!

Open Field Warfare

Apparently, tempers are really flaring in Pierre over the legislative attempt to abolish the "Open Fields Doctrine."  The bill has passed the Senate and is now in the House.  Word has it that the Governor is not a big fan of the bill.  More later.

More Minnesota thoughts

It's amazing how much Minnesota has changed since my childhood.  While Minnesota had two Republican Senators for an extended time (fellow St. John's alum David Durenburger and Rudy Boshwitz), everyone understood that this was a Democratic state.  Indeed both of those Republicans came from the "moderate" wing of the party.  We all know that Minnesota is the only state never to vote for Ronald Reagan.  But the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party of Hubert Humphery has fallen on hard times.  The Republicans control the House in the legislature, and the Democrats have not elected a governor since Rudy Perpich in 1986.  Minnesota has become a battleground state in presidential politics.  When I was younger, there were only three Republicans out of eight congressional seats, and at one time it was only two when David Minge represented the 2nd District, but now it is four and four.  Minnesota is no longer a Democratic state, and may be starting to trend Republican.  The areas that are growing (TC suburbs, Rochester, St. Cloud) are Republican areas.  I think the future is bright for Republicans in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. 

Randy Kelly

Dayton also removed his endorsement of St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly.  This is too bad.  Even though Kelly endorsed Bush in the last election (which understandably angers many in his party), there reasons independent of that to think that Randy Kelly is a serious person in an unserious party.  How about running for Senate, Mr. Mayor?   For one thing, the national Democratic Party needs some pro-life Democrats.  But as we all know, it is just that pro-life position that would likely make him, if you will, unviable in his own party. 

Dayton Stock Plumets

This is certainly a surprise, but probably the right move for Dayton.  Still, I don't know that any Democrat likely to run is in a great position.  Interestingly, Mike Ciresi, a wealthy lawyer who made millions by figuring out that he could rape tobacco companies and no one would care, just yesterday had stated that he'd run for sure if Dayton bowed out.  Did he know something?  Maybe.  Bill Luther, former Congressman from the old 6th district is also a good bet to run.  The fact that Bill Luther has "former" in front of his name and was defeated for re-election when switched to the 2nd District after the 2000 redistricting doesn't help (this is unlike the John Thune situation where Thune beat Daschle while being a former congressman.  Thune had never lost for re-election and it was widely understood that Thune lost the 2002 Senate contest against Tim Johnson under bizarre circumstances).  Certainly there is no Democrat in the position that Mark Kennedy and Gil Gutknecht are in.  Gutknecht has a decent amount of cash on hand while Kennedy already represents most of the all important Twin Cities suburbs.  Rod Grams is a disaster and we can only hope that he stays home.  One hopes that the Republicans can coalesce around a candidate early while the Democrats go through a bruising primary.  This is a job for Elizabeth Dole.  Can she find one candidate to support and convince others to stay out?

The Minnesota Front

Amazing.  Senator Mark Dayton (D, MN) is calling it quits.  He surely feared the growing power of the Dayton v. Kennedy blog (which was mentioned at that blog conference earlier in the week).  More here from Captain Ed.

Dayton Not Seeking Re-Election

From the Channel 5 ABC Eyewittness News:

ST. PAUL - Sen. Mark Dayton has announced that he will not seek re-election.

"I'm announcing today that I will not seek re-election to the Senate next year," the one-term senator announced during an afternoon conference call. "God willing, I will complete my term to the very best of my ability."

Dayton said it has been a "tremendous honor" to serve the people of Minnesota for the past four years. However, he said he did not believe he was the best candidate to keep the seat in the hands of the Democrats.

"Everything I've worked for and everything I believe in depends upon this Senate seat remaining in the Democratic caucus in 2007. I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead the DFL party to victory next year."

Fundraising was also a factor in the decision.

"I cannot stand to do the constant fundraising necessary to wage a successful campaign," Dayton said. "And I cannot be an effective senator while also being a nearly full-time candidate. Plus, I choose to devote all of my time and energy to the job Minnesotans elected me to do."

In 2000, Sen. Dayton contributed nearly $12 million dollars of his own money to his campaign.

Last month, the Associated Press reported Dayton raised $1.35 million last year, topping his goal of $1 million. However, he finished the year with only $177,000 in the bank.

Also during his announcement, Dayton said that he has withdrawn his support for the re-election campaign of St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, a Democrat who endorsed President Bush in last year's election. 

 

Dayton had been seen as vulnerable in a run for a second term. Late last month, a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll found Dayton's approval rating had fallen to 43 percent.

Dayton's departure from the race presents a major opportunity for Republicans in a state that has become increasingly more friendly to GOP politicians. Among those considering bids were Congressmen Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy, as well as former Senator Rod Grams, who lost to Dayton in 2000.

I'm actually mixed on the announcement myself.  Dayton represented a chance for an easy Republican pickup due to his strange behavior the last few months.  He was possibly the most vulnerable Senator out there.  In fact, I'm not sure if he wouldn't have been easier to beat than whomever the Democrats decide to run.  That being said it is never a bad thing to run for an open seat rather than against an incumbent.  Especially if somebody like Representative Kennedy who already has name recognition gets the Republican nomination.  It looks like the next election cycle will be very interesting for those of us in the Midwest. 

UPDATE:
Powerline has more here. 

Man Pees Way out of Avalanche

Living in the Dakotahs you hear your share of winter survival stories and get lots of advice on what to pack in your emergency kit. Now, along with blankets, candles, powerbars, and kitty litter (for traction), you can add something much more fun: a couple of cases of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  Tip to Mark Steyn, writing in the London Telegraph.

I was very moved by the story of Mr Richard Kral, a Slovak gentleman found staggering drunk down a snowy trail a few days back. He'd been motoring through the Tatra Mountains in his Audi when he got buried by an avalanche. Opening the window and frantically clawing at the snow, he grasped that he couldn't dig his way out faster than the white stuff would come into the car and bury him. So he looked around and his eye fell on the 60 half-litre bottles of beer he happened to have with him. He had a drink and midway through realised that he could urinate on the snow to melt it.

And he did: "Man Peed Way out of Avalanche," as one headline put it. "It was hard," the plucky Slovak told the local press, "and now my kidneys and liver hurt."

Not exactly Shackelton, clawing his way across the Antarctic.  But heroic nonetheless.

The North Dakota Senate Race in 2006

Looks like we could have a big Senate race in North Dakota in 2006:

CONRAD SEES RED
It's true that President Bush hit the upper Midwest and the South in his first big push after the State of the Union Address in order to target potential Democratic support in the House and the Senate. But he also was sending Democrats a clear message: 2002 and 2004 were no mistakes. Recall that the President was particularly aggressive in campaigning for Republicans in the midterms in 2002, and barring unforeseen political disasters, will be out there again, pressing for added GOP strength in Congress.

Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota is up for re-election in 2006, and Bush apparently intends to do to him what was done to Sen. Tom Daschle in 2004 if Conrad doesn't fall into line. Conrad was rumored to be mulling retirement, but indications are now that he will run for re-election. The White House has targeted North Dakota's Republican Gov. John Hoeven to run against Conrad. Hoeven attended the State of the Union, then spent time with the President on Air Force One back to his home state. According to White House political sources and a staffer on the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Hoeven's political future was discussed.

Now Conrad finds himself in a tough spot. In a state that tends to run heavily red in national campaigns, with a strong rural and Catholic vote, he will be hard pressed to be a highly visible obstructionist with the GOP putting a spotlight on just about every move he makes in Washington. Hoeven is considered a strong campaigner, and popular in the state. The NRSC expects him to make a decision in the next couple of months, and he is expected to oblige the President.

Beyond the White House interest in Hoeven, his recruitment would be a big boost for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who took over control of the NRSC from Sen. George Allen. "People aren't sure she is up to the job," says a Republican Senate insider. "She wanted it, and got the support, but there are lingering questions. This kind of early, aggressive move helps her quite a bit."

New Book

Check out this new book, available in PDF, entitled Dancing Without Partners: How Candidates, Parties and Interest Groups Interact in the New Campaign Finance Environment from the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU.  Chapter 13 is about the Thune-Daschle Senate race.

Me and Judy

Hugh Hewitt, author of the best-selling book "Blog" (which you should buy), on CNBC's "Kudlow and Cramer" last night:

HH: Larry, in 1999, there were two dozen blogs. Today, there are seven million. David Sifry of Technorati says 40,000 new ones a day are being created. Some of them like mine and Powerline and Instapundit, and on the left there are a lot of good lefty bloggers like Pressthink.org and Jeff Jarvis over at Buzz Machine. All of these people are changing influence or opinion before the newspapers come out in the morning. They are setting the information curve that people have to absorb. I was stunned when Judy Woodruff at a panel I was on in Washington yesterday, she preceeded the panel, she was asked about the Eason Jordan story by a blogger friend of mine, and she didn't know about it. I mean don't they read the blogs at CNN? You cannot put your head in the sand and not see that the information processing in the United States, it's sensory system, has been completely revolutionized. That's what's happening.

When I talked with Woodruff, she did seem simply stunned that Jordan could have said something like he did. 

The History Profession and the Internet

The Wilson Quarterly has published a review of a book I'm using in class this semester entitled PAST IMPERFECT: Facts, Fictions, Fraud—American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and Goodwin.  One of the obvious connections to South Dakota politics and history is that the book covers the Stephen Ambrose controversy.  If you'll recall, his work was questioned after it was discovered that there were problems with his book about George McGovern.  From the review:

Ambrose, perhaps the quintessential popular history author, “compiled rather than composed” many of his books, Hoffer reports. In one of them, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany (2001), extensive plagiarism was proved beyond any doubt. Hoffer correctly notes that slight wording changes in purloined prose are “the telltale marks of an intent to borrow illicitly, proof of a pattern of unethical conduct.” Nonetheless, he says that evidence of conscious intent is not required for a finding of literary theft, and he applies that standard in concluding that [Doris Kearns] Goodwin did plagiarize, even if not purposely.

What blog triumphalists might want to note is that some of the historians mentioned in this book were brought down by the internet.  Not so much bloggers back then, but listservs where interested people scrutinized historians instead of relying on the reviewers in The New York Times and The New York Review.  Anyway, when reciting the common refrain "the internet's first victims were Trent Lott and Howell Raines," we might want to consider expanding the scope of our history a bit by saying the internet first went through the history profession like a tornado.  Another book I'm using in the same course is Ron Robin's Scandals & Scoundrels: Seven Cases that Shook the Academy, which reviews problem books in both history and anthropology.  In the case of Michael Bellesiles' book Arming America that Instapundit has noted (the book tried to revise the view that guns were prominent in early American culture but simply made up stuff), the role of the internet was critical.  Robin notes how in the Bellesiles case "the Internet was the proverbial golem rising to attack its creator." (81)  Robin reviews how Bellesiles tried to undermine his critics by deeming them internet nuts and historical amateurs.  Robin: "In actual fact, cyberspace produced a sobering mechanism of checks and balances, public scrutiny, broad access, and an important dialogue between the once-protected scholar and a demanding public." (81)  Robin sees the critique of Bellesiles by an internet-savvy computer programmer (who also had a masters degree in history and liked guns) as a "vivid illustration of the demise of academic insularity and the dissipation of intellectual borders separating academia from its audience." (82) Robin's book is worth a read because it spends considerable time on the intersection of the Old Way of doing things in the history profession and the New Age of the internet. 

The internet scrutiny that undermined Dan Rather and Michael Bellesiles is at work in the case of Ward Churchill, as you've surely seen around the blogosphere.  Churchill is now under scrutiny for his historical claims.

Thune in Iraq

Here's Senator Thune in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces with some Iraqis who were very proud to have voted in the recent elections:

Here's Thune having lunch with some South Dakota troops in Baghdad:

Here's Thune boarding a Blackhawk in Bagdad:

Podcasting

One of our West River readers thinks we should be making a bigger deal about the potential for "podcasting."  He's probably right.

Churchill

It turns out that Ward Churchill was just making up "history" in his publications.  For more on Churchill's TV show, see this.