It's Awfully Quiet. Too Quiet.
Maybe, we're holding out for a hero.

I had a conversation recently with a politico who was commenting that (politically), things are pretty quiet within the GOP. Sure, we're just coming to the end of Lincoln Day Dinner season. But it seems as if a lot of people are chomping at the bit for something.

Things are deathly quiet, and if it's true what was noted - that "blogs are the only action out there," then were either in really big trouble, or Republicans are at a crossroads there they feel they need a cause to champion. Maybe, we're looking for a new hero (if you will allow the metaphor) to get behind

I think it's evidenced by the unabashed frothing that everyone did at the prospect of a congressional candidate as we did when Dusty Johnson noted he was thinking about it. After the beating the GOP took nationally and in the legislature this past election, people are itching for a cause they can sink their teeth into. They're looking for hope.

With Dusty being a young energetic candidate who has shown he can deliver at the polling booth, people were bellying up to the bar to take a drink of what he was serving. But now that he's turned off the tap, we might still find ourselves thirsty.

For the moment, we're still holding out for our hero.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Talk to Volesky.
Anonymous said…
"chomping at the bit"

champing

http://www.langston.com/English/
Anonymous said…
Pronunciation: 'chämp, 'chomp
Function: verb
Etymology: alteration of champ
intransitive verb
1 : to chew or bite on something
2 : CHAMP 2 -- usually used in the phrase chomping at the bit
transitive verb : to chew or bite on
- chomp noun

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/chomp
Anonymous said…
As the online poll clearly indicates, Larry Russell is the man to run for the House.

He has broadbased grassroots support across the state.

GO LARRY!
Anonymous said…
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night
he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
and gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero till the morning light
He's gotta be sure and he's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
Larger than life
Anonymous said…
Did you ever know that your my hero?

You're everything I wish I could be.

I can fly higher than an eagle.

Cuz' you are the wind beneath my wings.
Anonymous said…
I need a hero sandwich.
Anonymous said…
Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day-,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true-.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.
Anonymous said…
anon 3:17,

You go right ahead and keep using "chomping at the bit." And keep speling judgment with an extra e (judgement). And keep using it's and its the wrong ways. You go, girl.
Anonymous said…
RUN it's the punctuation police!!
Anonymous said…
4:07 ...and keep spelling "spelling" with one "L".
(don't you hate when that happens?)
Anonymous said…
"Billie, don't be a hero..."
Anonymous said…
Hero-shima.
Anonymous said…
Look, it's a bird, it's a plane no it's...
DYKSTRAMAN!
Anonymous said…
There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes

There goes my hero
He's ordinary

--Foo Fighters
Anonymous said…
Enough spelling and bad song lyric silliness. Time for a serious response.

Face it, now is the perfect time for PP to step up.

The hero is: PP!
Anonymous said…
The dems have squat in the lineup. The talk about Brendan running in 08 is bunk. He's not.

So, they have Sandlot-Herseth and lets be realistic (God bless him) Tim Johnson will be out. So, Sandlot moves up and that creates an open House seat. That's my prediction.

Let Joel Dykstra run against her. He's toast and we're done with him. But if Gov Rounds runs against her, he takes it, although it'd be close.

The Repubs can take the House seat. Who is that now that Dusty is out? Dusty do you have any endorsements or ideas? You know who can get the job done. Does the party even care? Dang it...who's on deck?
Anonymous said…
Not Russell. Please No.

I know some names but i am not telling!
Anonymous said…
Dykstra would give Herseth a race. I would like to see that match up.
Anonymous said…
So here we are back to Kristi Noem.
Anonymous said…
"I Like Dyk".
Anonymous said…
I don't think Dykstra has the political base statewide to beat Herseth. In fact, I think she has the job for as long as she wants it if Rounds doesn't run. He is only person who has even a remote possiblity of winning. Face it folks...Herseth is in for life.
Anonymous said…
$10 says Daschle runs when Johnson steps down.

Nothing would motivate the party like Daschle running again.
Anonymous said…
Interesting. Could Rounds beat Daschle?
Put it another way, could Rounds beat Thune?
Johnson did.
Anonymous said…
A Democratic name not included on PP's poll is Mel Olson. Mel was the best orator in the legislature - bar none - for over 10 years. He has a way of destroying anyone else's argument on any topic. He's a moderate with the respect of Republicans, and still has considerable support in the Democratic party. With Ed Olson term limited Mel could walk back into the Mitchell senate seat he held for 8 years. But he may move on to bigger and better things. His kids are older now, and that political itch just doesn't go away.
Anonymous said…
We're suffering from 1) a lack of a compelling field for President in 2008, and 2) a lack of a compelling field for House/Senate in 2008.

With two of the top tier candidates admitting that they gave money to Planned Parenthood, and new information showing the so-called conservative savior (Fred Thompson) once advocated that all abortions should be legal in the first part of pregnency, it's pretty hard to get excited about any of these guys. The only ones running like true conservatives are the outsiders who the media won't let win. Worse yet, none of them beat someone as divissive and liberal as Hillary Clinton in a general election matchup. It's pretty depressing on the national scene.

In South Dakota, unless Mike Rounds gives up the job of Governor (which might be fun politics, but would be a net loss for the state), Johnson wins reelection if he runs, or Herseth takes the seat if he doesn't. We don't have anyone outside of Rounds who can knock of either one of them. When Larry Russell, Joel Dykstra and Kristi Noem start popping up as our top candidates, it's no surprising that we're a bit demoralized. I like each of them personally, but they aren't a match for someone with a pretty face, a big war chest, and few stumbles like Herseth.
Anonymous said…
“I think ‘rape and incest’ is a buzzword,” said Rep. Joel Dykstra about not including those conditions in the abortion bill. “It’s a bit of a throwaway line and not everybody who says that really understands what that means. How are you going to define that?”
Anonymous said…
Anyone know why Dykstra got a "D" rating from the NRA in 2002? He upped it to a "B-" in 2004, and an "A-" in 2006... but Herseth Sandlin has always had an "A" rating.

I'm not sure we ought to be nominating someone with a weak commitment to the 2nd Amendment (or at least a commitment weaker than Sandlin Herseth).
Anonymous said…
Shooter -- I don't think you have to worry about Joel not being a conservative. Look at his record from the same website you linked to. He graduated from Oral Roberts University, founded by the great evangelical leader Oral Roberts. He was leader in the fight to pass HB 1215. He supported abstinence only education in our schools. He is proud to be a good Christian and he brings those values with him to Pierre.
Anonymous said…
Count me out on Dykstra. I'm a conservative that believes government should be less intrusive in our life, not more intrusive. Keep your hands off my guns, and practice your morality in your church, not my government.

We followed the holy rollers like Dykstra into the last election with their brilliant plan to pass HB1215. What did we get? Tom Katus! The only way a guy like Katus can get elected in a place like Rapid City is by the Republicans thinking evangelicalism equals conservatism. That might work out east, but it doesn't work in the libertarian West.

You'd think we'd have learned our lessons in 2006. Among the conservatives I know, talking about going to a college founded by a televangelist is not going to make them feel any better about his low NRA ratings, or give them hope that he's going to be a small government conservative.
Anonymous said…
Looks like Larry "Maka Duta" Russell has been doing some opposition research...
Anonymous said…
It's easy to get a bad rating with the NRA... I'm sure every legislator that voted against giving 10 year olds hunting licenses this year will get a downgrade.

That's the problem with organizations like the NRA who put out those sort of ratings. Even if the bill is extreme, they expect 100% loyalty to their cause.
Anonymous said…
11:46am -- "Larry 'Maka Duta' Russell" is the funniest thing I've read in a long, long time.
Anonymous said…
11:48pm - if it's so hard to get an A rating, then why does Herseth have a lifetime A rating?

It's not hard. You just have to vote against gun control.

Dykstra's got some 'splaining to do.
Anonymous said…
Some people actually think Dykstra is a good choice? Hahahahahaha! That's a good one.

He'd be a good choice if we want the Dems to keep that seat.
Anonymous said…
I know a lot of voters who wait until they get their NRA scorecard to make their decisions about how to vote. If Herseth has an A, and the Republican has an B, they'll vote for Herseth (or Herseth Sanlin or whatever her name is).

I know it's not the smartest thing in the world, but that's the only issue they care about. And they listen to the NRA.

How do we go about convincing the NRA to drop their grade for Herseth? And what exactly did Dykstra do that got him that D? Herseth will jump all over him for that...
Anonymous said…
"[Dykstra] He is proud to be a good Christian..."

Can someone please tell me what "good Christian" means?

Are there bad Christians?

Or are non-Christians bad?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thx in advance.
Anonymous said…
It's pretty tough to get a D from the NRA if you're a sportsman with reasonable views (i.e. a South Dakotan). The 2002 D rating was from before he got elected, so he must have had some very bad survey answers.

I guess the NRA wants more than just an R from Oral Bob U.

I wonder if Dykstra was at Oral Bob U. when Oral Bob himself claimed he saw a 900 foot Jesus who told him to raise $8 million in 2 months or God would call him home? Of all the fundraising ploys in the history of the world, that one takes the cake. You would think that if Jesus was 900 feet (like King Kong or Godzilla) others would have seen him too - but nobody did except Oral Bob. But a good Christian wouldn't make up something like that would they?

What say you, Joel Dykstra? Is the founder of your alma mater a prophet, or a fraud?
Anonymous said…
11:56 Anon

There's a lot more to it than voting against gun control. Last legislative session there was a stupid bill in play that would have lowered the legal age for hunting to 10 years old !!!

The NRA was behind the bill. That's the only reason it ever got out of committee, cause people were afraid to vote against the NRA. Thankfully, it got killed on the House floor, but I bet all those people who voted against the biggest moron bill of the session will get a black mark from the NRA.

So - Is that voting against gun control. I think not, it's about legislators who had the common sense to not put a high-powered rifle in the hands of a 10 year old.

Seems to me, things like that should cast a huge shadow over the validity of the NRA grading system.
Anonymous said…
3:50, NRA doesn't give you a D unless you say something they really don't like, so Dykstra isn't completely solid on gun issues.

Likewise, NRA doesn't keep elected officials at an A rating unless they do everything NRA wants them to (especially true for Democrats) - so Herseth has toed the NRA line well.

Dykstra did vote AGAINST giving 10 year olds high powered rifles without any firearms training. He'll probably take a hit in the NRA ratings for that, but the hit hasn't come yet. If the NRA is wise, it will give legislators a pass on that vote because the bill was so crazy. The sponsor's explanation for why not require firearms training for 10 year olds was that the test is geared for 12 year olds and they didn't want to dumb down the test (so just throw safety efforts completely out the window instead). That argument was too much even for Larry Rhoden who noted that he finally found a gun bill he couldn't vote for.
Anonymous said…
Isn't it scary, though, that the fear of that NRA ratings system caused enough legislators to vote in favor of the bill to even get it out of committee.

They had to recognize the bill as being ridiculous, but still voted yes out of fear of that dumb grading system.

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