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Billie Sutton Speaks in Aberdeen Wednesday, Oct 17, 5 p.m.!

Kristi Noem came to Aberdeen last week Thursday to hold a “parent-teacher conference“… at Ken’s grocery store… at 2 in the afternoon, when a majority of parents and darn near every teacher was at work and thus could not confer with Kristi.

Teachers and everyone else, if you’d like to meet the other gubernatorial candidate, the one who’s not a Washington politician with a bad sense of timing, this Wednesday is your chance. Billie Sutton will be in Aberdeen this Wednesday, October 17, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., at our splendid downtown Democratic headquarters at 220 S. Main St.

You can shake Sutton’s hand, ask him how he’ll fix Pierre, and tell he should avoid the one impossible promise he makes in his latest video:

“As Governor, I’ll work anyone to grow South Dakota’s economy, including President Trump”—come on, Billie! We Democrats can talk compromise and bipartisanship, but we should at least stick with the basic fact that Donald Trump doesn’t play well with anybody, and that our success will be built despite him, not in any semblance of intelligent, good faith, public-minded cooperation.

But I get my say every day here on the blog. I step back, and you all can line up in front of me at Democratic headquarters, downtown Wednesday, to shake hands with our next, best Governor.

37 Comments

  1. T

    He just saying he is able to work with all parties all personalities
    He didn’t say work “like him”

  2. Debbo

    Yeah, I think Sen. Sutton pretty much had to say that, cut Noem off at the pass, before she could claim a Huge Advantage of working with Pernicious Pukeface.

    The thing is, doesn’t matter who it is or how skilled a negotiator they may be, Pernicious Pukeface can’t be trusted. He’ll renege on anything at any time. NEVER make any promises to him. EVER.

  3. BlackHills76

    If Trump comes up with an idea that helps us then I don’t see any issue in working with him. If he comes up with ideas like tariffs that hurt us, Billie will fight for SD. I don’t see any issue with this. It actually shows he’s above the silly Washington DC antics that are happening on both sides of the aisle right now.

  4. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,

    Do you think it is smarter to reach out to gun enthusiasts by calling yourself “pro-NRA,” as Bjorkman did in a recent ad, or is it wiser to call yourself “pro-gun” as Billie does in this ad? And do you think that the passive aggressive hint “that you went to church on Sundays” is better or worse, than a previous commercial where the same gubernatorial candidate mentioned their religion, as if it was a necessary qualifier?

    Now, before you answer these questions, keep in mind that we now live in the Age of Trump, but then again, does that, or should it, itself justify either a positive proactive position on guns or ones approach to religion in a political setting, especially if you are a Democrat in a red state once led by McGovern Democrats on one side of the aisle?

  5. jerry

    Governor Sutton, I say beer. It isn’t gonna make many jolly good fellows without South Dakota producing a whole lot of barley. Say buh bye to soybeans and hello brewing barley.

    “Trouble is brewing for the world’s beer drinkers, with climate change set to cause “dramatic” price spikes and supply shortages, according to new research.

    Extreme heatwaves and droughts will increasingly damage the global barley crop, meaning a common ingredient of the world’s favourite alcoholic beverage will become scarcer. Key brewing nations are forecast to be among the worst hit, including Belgium, the Czech Republic and Ireland.

    The researchers said that compared with life-threatening impacts of global warming such as the floods and storms faced by millions, a beer shortage may seem relatively unimportant. But they said it would affect the quality of life of many people.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/15/climate-change-to-cause-dramatic-beer-shortages-extreme-weather-price

    First things first, admit to climate change and then go for broke with the beer tag line, cheers.

  6. Drey Samuelson

    John Kennedy Claussen–just so you know, Tim Bjorkman never said he was “pro-NRA,” he said that he was “pro-second Amendment,” which is obviously very different.

  7. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,

    Drey, for some reason I can no longer find the orignial ad on YouTube or the Bjorkman website. I recall it as “pro-NRA,” but I do apologize for the inaccurracy, if I am wrong. But regardless, is there really a difference in a contemporaneous sense, if you respect the historic capability or limits of the 2nd Amendment before the passage of the 14th Amendment, and then further more the stare decisis history of the 2nd Amendment prior to the 2008 Heller decision? Because the 2nd Amendment that we now know is one that has been written by the NRA and not our founding fathers, if you respect the history of the 14th Amendment and recognize the warpness of the Heller decision.

  8. Drey Samuelson

    John–Tim’s ad definitely didn’t say that he is pro-NRA (I’m advising the campaign, and I would definitely remember if it did!). In answer to your point, though, the 2nd Amendment obviously says exactly what it always said, and still has the overwhelming support of the American people. You’re arguing about the way the Supreme Court has interpreted it, not the Amendment itself. Obviously, interpretations can and often do change when members of the SC change, and I won’t be surprised down the line if the current interpretation changes. In any case, Tim’s stated support for the 2nd Amendment was in no way an endorsement of the NRA, believe me!

    Hope everything with you is good–I haven’t seen you in decades! –Drey
    ith

  9. If one must pander to the ammosexual crowd, “pro-2nd Amendment” formulates that “stance” more morally than “pro-gun,” although “pro-gun” is shorter, more Anglo-Saxon, and more likely to cause more lasting arousal for the one-note ammosexuals whose votes we’re seeking.

    For fuller context, saying “pro-Constitution” would be more appropriate, since it expresses the real principle we should seek in all elected officials, a commitment to defend all Constitutional principles equally rather than promoting the sloppy thinking that excuses basing one’s vote on a single issue.

    It would be more informative and more practical to campaign as “pro-shovel,” since we can solve a lot more of the problems that actually face our state with shovels than with guns. Consider also “pro-pen,” “pro-Internet,” “pro-books,” “pro-immigration,” “pro-compost,” “pro-wind turbine,” “pro-nuclear power plant,” “pro-spaceship,” “pro-garden tomatoes”….

  10. mike from iowa

    Moar edited/fake/lies videos from James O’Keefe who has less credibility that Jason. Don’t bother to watch.

  11. o

    Has anyone else noticed a huge uptick in e-mails from Representative Noem from the @mail.house.gov account since the race got tighter?

  12. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,

    Drey, I appreciate your insight on this and your right, it has been decades since we have crossed paths. We’ll have to touch base sooner, than later.

    Honestly, my obsession on the gun issue right now stems from the fact that my neighborhood in Sioux Falls experienced a drive-by/vandalism caused by gunfire last Saturday night. Drey, you are familiar with this neighborhood, its the one you use to live in with Marion and Cliff, when you were my neighbor back in ’78 and working in the infancy of the Daschle campaign and era. I still live in that neighborhood. It was a good neighborhood then (still is, more or less), a good middle class neighborhood, where railroad clerks like my father lived next to a bank president, with a plumber, and a hamburger franchise owner living across the street. In fact, Dick and Nancy Kneip became our neighbors after they returned from Singapore, but sadly they don’t make neighborhoods like that anymore, where people of different social and economic classes live together. Yet, the neighborhood over the years has held together quite well, but when you all of sudden have a shooting in it, then it speaks of a change in the air, a change brought on by the inability I believe for our political leaders to adequately deal with the issue of guns in our society today, and given that, I think it is necessary for leaders, and especially Democratic leaders, to not become flippant on the issue of guns and resigned to the other sides political narrative on it…. So forgive my frustrations and lashing out, but frankly it is becoming a world that Marion and Cliff would not know, but I don’t think it has to be that way…. But do take care and thanks for your political leadership over the years, and your mentoring back in the day…. JKC

    Cory, does “pro-gun” mean “pro-plastic guns?” Because to be “pro-2nd Amendment” may still mean you will accept some limits, but with “pro-gun” haven’t you offered a blank check? Plus, the NRA came out against plastic guns or 3D guns, so we already know that they have limits, but “pro-gun” could be limitless, couldn’t it?

  13. jerry

    As a former judge, why wouldn’t he be pro all Amendments, the 2nd included. I know I sure am and have voted for Tim. The last thing in the world I want is to be against something that could very well save my life.

  14. Drey Samuelson

    John–wow, that’s shocking that that neighborhood, which I’m pretty familiar with for the reason you cited, has had a drive-by shooting! And I can well understand your reaction, too–that would be disturbing in the extreme! But the 2nd Amendment simply ensures the right to own firearms, and could easily include background checks to prevent guns from being owned by convicted criminals and the mentally ill, which Bjorkman favors. That provision isn’t in conflict with the Amendment itself, the NRA’s view, notwithstanding.

    .My email is dreysamuelson3@gmail.com and my phone is 605-906-2023. Call me, let’s get lunch!

  15. Sorry, Jason and OS: you don’t get to pigeon-hole Sutton into any lazy national-press talking point. He’s not Hillary Clinton, Claire McCaskill, unknown troublemakers in Minnesota, or anyone else for whom Fox News provides pre-fab talking points. He’s Billie Sutton, experienced South Dakota legislator, non-Washington politician, and more qualified policymaker and problem-solver.

  16. JKC, I agree that calling oneself “pro-gun” offers no information on what one would do to solve the practical problem of gun violence in South Dakota.

    But I’ll also ask: how frequent is that gun vandalism? Is it more frequent than the countryside version of that violence blasting holes in road signs?

    I have no easy solution for idiots shooting guns in town… but I’m pretty sure the NRA has no effective solution. Kristi Noem would bleat something about needing more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens, but would we really want a hail of gunfire to erupt from every window on the street in response to vandals? All of us shooting each other is not a civilized response to most social problems.

  17. Jason

    JKC,

    You don’t have a gun problem. You have a drug and crime problem in your neighborhood.

  18. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,

    Jason, can I build a house without a hammer?

    Cory, in my neighborhood, it is far less frequest than on a county road, but I remember as a kid being out in the country and seeing “those blasted holes on road signs.” Yet, I don’t remember any gun fire in my neighborhood as a child, except for the time a police officer sadly had to put a horse out of its misery after having been hit by a car on 41st Street, and that’s a true story (1971). Fore, there use to be a family that lived on 41st Street with a horse back during the “Wonder Years”, but that’s a story for an other day.

    I would also argue, that “blasting holes in road signs” out in the country speak of a criminal empowerment, that is less likely to happen in the city, because of the fear of getting caught, yet, when it begins to happen in town, then that fear, or deterence, is being lost and in the process so is our neighborhood…

  19. Jason

    You can build a house with a stone instead of a hammer.

    A criminal can use a bomb instead of a gun.

  20. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,

    Actually, it would be stones, but they still hammer or tap them into place. Your rebuttal analogy misses the point, because you place your emphasis on the material of the house and not the manner, which a house is built or comes into being….. And a manner is like a weapon of choice….

    The problem with your bomb theory is, that it is just not as practical. Plus, I am old enough to remember an old Crest toothpaste commercial, that claimed, “Nine out of ten dentist prefer Crest.” My guess is that 999 out of a thousand criminals prefer a gun to a knife, too, or what was your alternative?…. Oh yeah, a bomb….

  21. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,

    Oh, I am sorry, I was trying to help you save face…. Did you mean the means and not the material? If so, a stone is a hammer, but a hammer is more effective just as a gun is relative to a knife or your other idea of a bomb….

  22. Jason

    A bomb is more effective than a gun.

    It’s physics and common sense.

  23. mike from iowa

    Imagine the looks the Troll would get with a MOAB shoved down his shorts.

  24. JKC

    Jason, maybe in a war, but not with a drug deal, huh? Isn’t that the premise we are working from?

  25. mike from iowa

    Specifications
    Weight 9,800 kg (21,600 lb)
    Length 9.1885 m (30 ft 1.75 in)
    Diameter 103 cm (40.5 in)
    Filling H-6
    Filling weight 8,500 kg (18,700 lb)
    Blast yield 11 tons TNT (46 GJ)

    You think the Monkees got funny looks walking down the street.

  26. T

    I c where in-law grandma is voting republican and donated over 9 g’s to her
    Makes for a cold thanksgiving …….
    C’mon billy ….vote for the man not the party

  27. I got off work at 5:15, biked down to the show, got there after Sutton finished his remarks and he begun doing the one-on-one convos. People tell me there were perhaps 200 crowding our Dem HQ during his speech. Lots of people walked out with campaign lit and smiles on their faces.

    Two more people walked out with Heidelberger campaign signs for their yards.

    Coattails.

  28. T

    Awesome news CH for you and Senator
    Every vote and sign matters

  29. T

    Matter ……too early yet

  30. Jason

    JKC wrote:

    Because the 2nd Amendment that we now know is one that has been written by the NRA and not our founding fathers,

    That is false.

  31. Jason

    JKC wrote:
    Jason, maybe in a war, but not with a drug deal, huh? Isn’t that the premise we are working from?

    A drive-by shooting is not a drug deal. It could have stemmed from one, but the real issue is the drug problem and crime.

  32. Debbo

    It’s seems so weird.

    People were dying in car accidents so we addressed cars and made them safer. Deaths decreased.
    People were dying in work place accidents so we created OSHA, which instituted rules for hard hats and other issues. Deaths decreased.
    People were dying from lead paint related causes. We banned lead paint. Deaths decreased.
    People were dying of smoking related issues. We tightly restricted and regulated smokes. Deaths decreased.
    People were dying of gunshot wounds. We should not look at making changes regarding guns?

    See? So weird.

  33. Robin Friday

    I was scheduled to be there, Cory, but yesterday Old Sol in the Sky decided to cooperate with harvesters on very short notice, for the first time in weeks. So I got stood up. 🤔 I’ll make it another time.

  34. That’s all right, Robin. There will be more chances to see Billie Sutton than there are perfect days to harvest.

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