The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Litmus Test


I'm not big on litmus tests for political candidates. I figure I don't have to agree with every candidate on every issue in order for them to earn my vote.

But, I do have one litmus test. If a candidate is endorsed by right-wing, power monger Bob Fisher of our own Fisher Furniture, they do not get my vote...ever. In fact, I feel so strongly about Mr. Fisher that I've told my wife of 35 years that if she buys anything from this man, I will divorce her; if my children buy something from this man, I will disown them.

So, okay, I really Really REALLY don't like the guy. He is what he is and he cloaks himself in righteousness and God's name and some very uneducated people believe he is a good man. I disagree.

So, gentle readers, if Bob Fisher allows a candidate to post a sign on his property, it is my not-so-humble opinion that not only is a vote for somebody else is better, a vote for ANYBODY else is crucial.

I do not know Deb Watson. But I know enough about her to know that she has passed Bob Fisher's litmus test, which tells me she fails mine.

I know Elizabeth Kraus. I ran into her when she, Jean French and Ellie Schweisow were doing Bob's bidding and pressing for heavy restrictions on strip clubs and adult oriented businesses. My agency was hired by her victims.

I watched her stand before the Rapid City Common Council and lie through her teeth about the dancers she and other "experts" had interviews with. Each of the dancers she claimed to have "counseled" signed sworn affidavits declaring her reports to be fiction.

It was apparently Kraus' opinion that it was her duty to God to lie to the council in order to advance her higher moral position.

That's shaky ground. Kind of like how Gordon Howie thinks it is okay to tell local clergymen to blatantly break established law to advance his candidacy, or that it is okay for him to not pay his taxes because he's doing God's work.

The alternatives to Watson and Kraus may not be the exact candidate you would choose. But, to my knowledge, J.P. Duniphan and David Lust are not bald-faced liars with a secret agenda. I'd vote for them.

5 comments:

Bob Ellis said...

Yeah, it's long been pretty clear that any candidate a decent, moral person could support is someone that wouldn't be a good fit for you.

You're probably better off with J.P. Duniphan and David Lust; they're liberals like yourself.

Thad Wasson said...

All the government rules couldn't do what the Internet did - remove Video Blue from a downtown address.

Bob Newland said...

Thad, that was an astute observation. Bravo. (not sarcasm)

And Bob E., until you endorsed Duniphan and Lust, I was wavering. Now, they're my choices. (sarcasm)

larry kurtz said...

Great post, Mike.

The handwriting on the wall outside the Fischer of Pockets has been the 800-pound white guerrilla in the bathwater.

"milition," Bill.

Michael Sanborn said...

Bob,

Always nice to have you drop by to call decent, moral conservatives indecent, immoral liberals.

Have a lovely day.