A Progressive on the Prairie

Atrios and his readers join the Herseth bashing, calling her statements "offensive and legal gibberish." While he pays lip service to "all politics is local," my response appears below. Again, withdrawing support from Herseth not only guarantees a vote in favor of the constitutional amendment the bashers oppose but plenty more votes toeing the Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft/conservative line.
0 comments

Kos is upset that Stephanie Herseth didn't condemn the idea of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife. Stephanie said she "agree[s] with the president on this issue. Marriage should be between a man and a woman." According to Kos, she subsequently backed off a bit, saying she doesn't want it to distract from important issues. (Interestingly, I do not see either statement at Stephanie's web site.)

Kos and others are thinking of viewing this as a litmus test. Hey guys, face reality. The simple fact is one of the quickest ways to start tanking Herseth's campaign is to come out now and oppose the amendment. For the last two years, she's been hit repeatedly because of contributions from Emily's List (in South Dakota, that makes her an "abortionist"). Coming out against the amendment now would simply add a boulder to that side of the scale (I can already imagine the "she must be a lesbian" whispering campaign that would start).

Stephanie's right that there are a helluva lot more issues out there of crucial importance. Viewing the amendment as a litmus test is the last thing to do. Not supporting Stephanie is a negative on a whole range of issues. If the issue is that important to you, look at her opponent. He co-sponsored proposed state legislation that would have made civil unions, domestic partnerships, or other "quasi-marital relationship" invalid and provide that any such relationship "does not confer any legal benefit or privilege of marriage allowed under state law." While that bill was killed in committee, with Stephanie you at least may have a chance of fighting the amendment in Congress, an option that absolutely will not exist if her opponent is elected.

Those of you who don't live here don't understand how truly outnumbered a "progressive on the prairie" is. Picking the battles to fight and how are key to survival.
0 comments

As you can tell from the list at the right, I read a bit. While much is enjoyable, there isn't a tremendous amount that really, really draws me in. That's particularly so with non-fiction. That said, go buy The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler.

I have not read any of his work before but this is tremendous. It really brings home the reality of what our minimum wage service economy is doing. It is not as personal as Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed but I think it is a stronger and better work. There's favorable "professional" reviews at NY Times and BookPage and a less favorable one in The Austin Chronicle .
0 comments

I know it's probably all in fun but still, now that Atrios has blogged Herseth's picture, the "hottie" comments continue. As one noted, some of these commenters really need to get out more. They're starting to sound like Beavis and Butthead.
0 comments

Returning once again to my prior statements that life since 9-11 and Bush has seemed like being in a bad science fiction novel, let's add this from Sunday's New York Times. "Day by day, the nation's capital is becoming a fortress, turning a city known for graceful beauty into a virtual armed camp."
0 comments

I (and others) noticed that when Kos posted something about visiting Stephanie Herseth's campaign, he ran her picture with it. That is not disturbing. What is somewhat irritating is all the "she's a babe" comments showing up in connection with the post. Hey guys, believe it or nor, those of us who will actually go into the voting booth to vote for her (and did in her race against Janklow in 2000) didn't base our votes on her looks. Our votes were based on her political views.
0 comments

As I've blogged before, I like Tom Daschle. He's my Senator and was truly one of the few politicians I actually had a lot of respect for during the days I was covering them. But the upcoming race against John Thune appears to be affecting his public discourse already. According to the Rapid City Journal, Daschle "has no serious concerns about the lack of weapons of mass destruction." (Via Dakota Today)


That is not a direct quote from Daschle and there's no quotes in the story that really seem to support or contradict the assertion that is his position. If it is true, though, I don't want Tom bailing on issues like this. That race is a no-brainer when it comes to voting but this is not encouraging.

Besides Tom, I just signed your nominating petition this morning!
0 comments