I had not yet bothered to look at the two anti-Herseth-Sandlin commercials that South Dakota War College posted links to until I noticed that the Pied Piper of Peevish Malevolence at the NVB got his knickers in a twist over them. Here is the SDWC post with the links, so you can view them yourself.
If you think I'm tough on her, 2 commercials began running today in South Dakota markets regarding Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin's trip to the ice caps:
Ouch.
Having viewed them both, I conclude that neither add contained anything of substance. Senators and Representatives have a lot of demands on their time and they can't be everywhere at once. It's always a good idea for them to jet back home when disaster strikes, but what we pay them for is what they do in Washington. The attack ads make a lot out of the fact that Greenland is far from Brown County, but whatever you think about the issue of Global Warming, it is clearly a very important one for South Dakota, the United States, and the world. Representative H-S owes us no apology for wanting to see for herself what is going on.
On the other hand, residents of our state and this county have a right to feel neglected, and do not need Professor David Newquist's permission. Those who produced the ads clearly think such folks are out there, and if they are right, then these ads serve to express the opinions of that group. Professor Newquist complains yet again about and issue of the Thune/Daschle campaign.
We strongly suspect this is the work of the Thune camp. It sounds like the dishonest, peevish malevolence that is the established character of that man and his minions. After all, the stuff about Tom Daschle's "palatial" residence in South Dakota got the churls stirred up, so why shouldn't this kind of petty dishonesty work on Stephanie?
I have written in my American News column and in this blog that Daschle's big house in Virginia was the single most important cause of his defeat. I have also said that, in my opinion, that house did not justify voting against Tom Daschle. That Senator Daschle rose to a position of national power, and moved his center of gravity eastward from the Dakotas, is something that South Dakotas ought to take some pride in, regardless of how they voted. But contrary to what Professor Newquist says, the ads on Daschle's house were not dishonest. They were dead spot on. Those who felt that the house did matter had a right to feel that way, and a right to cast their vote accordingly.
Finally, the attack ads above were funny, and poking fun at politicians is one of the great traditions, especially in English speaking democracies. Political ads, like political cartoons, are not supposed to be balanced or fair. They are supposed to sting. Pat Powers was right to say "ouch."
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