By recent accounts Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin is exasperated with the base of her party...maybe a little angry, but mostly exasperated. Not with everyone, just those unwieldy populists. Those "liberals" who don't understand politics in the real world.
She is choking on the bone of incumbent lament. Powerful members of Congress can't exactly go around saying that their constituents are dumb, but in her private moments, she thinks, "Why don't these people trust me?" For three-term incumbents like Herseth-Sandlin, just beginning to earn a little Capitol Hill juice, the lament evolves ever so slightly from, "Why don't the people back home trust me?" to "These people need to trust me." This is the voice of condescension that suggests, "I have influence. I know how Washington works. I know what's best for South Dakota."
This incumbent's lament was given voice recently by former Democratic Party chairwoman Judy Olson Duhamel. In an Open Letter to Democrats, Olson Duhamel defended Congresswoman Herseth-Sandlin's opposition to the House health reform bill: "I'd ask you to consider the fact that her comprehension of the complexity of health care issues is far greater (my emphasis) than the understanding that most of us have." Really?
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In the end, Herseth-Sandlin is in trouble with her base because she has never had to develop a relationship with her base. In six elections she has never had a primary, and as a result, she has never been tested as a Democrat. She does not owe allegiance to the base on any core values. She operates on the assumption that the base owes its allegiance to her.
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Okay, I left out the really hot stuff. Be sure to go to Dakotaday.com and finish reading the essay there.
Sam has a great website. I encourage you to bookmark it and check in on him from time to time. Unlike me, Sam holds his fire until he has something really good to say. I think that's what they call a... ummm.. good writer.
14 comments:
The perception that she, and the senator, could do far more to assist the local party - is also not helping her with the base she lacks.
Too bad Sammy boy can't check his facts for veracity!Some time back he wrote a story about a bridge in this area. He couldn't even get the facts right. Sorry, I will never trust his writing again.
Good memory JB. Did you get that new bridge yet? If memory serves, you and your neighbors could hardly live without it.
Here's the URL for the bridge story Jinglebob mentions. (Copy the entire next paragraph and paste it into the location bar of your browser.)
http://www.dakotaday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27:south-dakotas-bridge-to-nowhere-the-debate-no-one-wants-to-have&catid=13:news&Itemid=19
With what did you take issue, Jing? I'm not disputing your statement, but it might be helpful if we knew where Sam made mistakes with the facts.
I thought this was a very good story, but I could be persuaded differently if I were to be shown distortions of the truth.
Forumpians take note, if you want to read some of the most pathetic and preposterous rural whining and caterwauling ever posted on line, take a look at what happened when Sam Hurst had the effrontery to suggest that federal dollars allocated to build a new bridge out Red Owl way could perhaps be better spent if the locals put their minds to it.
To catch the brouhaha in full swing click here.
Bob, Sam made several claims that were not true, such as the road over the bridge going one mile north to a dead end. It goes to a Tee in the road and connects that road with many others. It is a 6 day a week mail route and a 5 day a week school bus route. I never took exception to Sam's idea of not spending the money on this bridge. As it stands the locals didn't ask to have the bridge re-built, it came down from above. Safety and the country or state not getting sued when it does collapse, and all that.
Sam never tried to interview hardly any locals, but took the word of a couple people who had no idea what they were being questioned about, and neither live anywhere close to the bridge. So thanks, but after that story I would consider Sam's info to be totally inept.
And Bill knows nothing about it, yet as is typical, hollers and moans to the sky and claims to know it all.
Sad little men, in my opinion.
And yet, Jingleberry, we're not afraid to use our own names when we write our opinions.
Hey Bill, as you should now know, my name is Robert Dennis. I live close to Red Owl SD. I have a blog http://dennisranch.wordpress.com/ where you can find out more about me, where I live and what I do.
The only reason I go by Jinglebob on here as that it is what my google account is under, that allows me to sign in here. Happy, Bill?
By the way, your childish way of changing my name is really cute and mature. Fit you to a tea, evidently.
If you have a problem with me or anything I write or represent, please tell me where you'd care to meet and we can discuss it face to face as men do. I would be more than happy to try and oblige you in any way you choose.
Just because you choose to hit and run on some of these blogs, does not mean we all think you are cute or funny. Were you the class clown in school also?
Sad Bill, really sad.
You are shining light for all who are Liberal by definition or choice. You and those who do as you do make me glad that I am not.
Thanks for the ID, RD. Yes I know who you are. I just thought the readers here might like to know too. Nice to see you could summon the intestinal fortitude to share your info.
As for the rest of your comment, you know what they say. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you don't care for what or how I write, please, by all means, feel free to ignore it.
What's sad in all this is that rd and his neighbors have chosen to attack Sam instead of grasping his larger point. But hey, it's the right wing Republican way these days, I guess.
No wonder your party's numbers are shrinking, Michael. Who want's to be bullied around by that kind of obnoxiousness?
I know lots of Repubs (with brains) who are just plain fed up with it.
Good for them.
It's about time.
Bill, I grasped his point. Pointed out I had no problem with and maybe even partially agreed with it, but no, that isn't enough for you or him or those like you. Unless we fall in lockstep with you and your ideas and bow and scrape and tell, everyone how smart you are, we are considered stupid or evil. If you guys are always right and have such good ideas, why doesn't everyone agree with you?
I refuse to agree with a liar. And when you point out facts and people try and refute them with no inkling and will not turn from their lies, they are liars. I'd say on this matter Sam is one.
By the way Bill, all anyone had to do was click on my name and a link would be provided to find out who I am. Just like your name. Pretty simple huh, tho' not nearly as much fun as trying to make a joke of someone or trying to make them feel small or not up to your level?
So did you get your new bridge yet, rd? Did it save the neighborhood?
The only thing my neighborhood needs saved from is people like you and Sam. Mostly Liberals, if you guys are. :)
Why don't you come visit and see for yourself if the new bridge is done yet? :P
Not sure I'd much enjoy the company, rd.
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