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Guest Column: Cliff Notes for Kristi’s Covid Con-ference

By Cory Allen Heidelberger on 2020-11-19

Ah, there’s some of the neighborly concern I’ve felt lacking here in South Dacovid: my fellow Aberdonian Dani McQuillen spares us the pain of having to sift through Kristi Noem’s torture of language and fact and writes up the Cliff Notes version of the Governor’s bull session with reporters yesterday:

Dani McQuillen, Facebook post, 2020.11.18.
Dani McQuillen, Facebook post, 2020.11.18.

Published in South Dakota

17 Comments

  1. Jeff Stanley 2020-11-19 18:04

    South Korea
    Population: 51.64 million
    Coronavirus Deaths: 498

    South Dakota
    Population: 0.899 million
    Coronavirus Deaths: 674

    Think about this Kristi

  2. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-11-19 18:21

    Jeff, you’re asking Kristi Noem to think? What do you think this is, a Jeffersonian democracy with educated leaders engaged in civil discourse?

  4. Norma Wilson 2020-11-20 09:00

    Thanks so much Cory and Dan. I needed a laugh this morning, and so did my husband Jerry. I read it aloud to him and hope you can share these Cliff Notes with that stubborn group of South Dakotans who refuse to think and act responsibly. They need to be educated, and I think your analysis can help more of us test negative.

  6. Mark Anderson 2020-11-20 10:40

    There’s a good article on NPR today comparing the response of Republican governor’s in South Dakota and Vermont to Coronavirus. You all should read it and weep.

  8. mike from iowa 2020-11-20 11:23

    dailywire/Ben Shapiro is not the most reliable source of blogs and Redstate is much worse. This story likely will be fact checked by a reliable org or two in a few days.

  9. bearcreekbat 2020-11-20 12:08

    If Steve’s link with the caption asserting that the nurse had “embellished” her experiences actually had a ring of truth, then that gal must be pandering for either of a job in the Noem administration or as a guest on Hannity followed by lucrative gigs prevaricating for the daily wire/Ben Shapiro, Red State and other Trumpist sources of propaganda.

    But by simply reading the linked report it becomes clear that the “embellishment” was in the link title. According to the linked story the Redstate propagandist didn’t claim to have found an iota of evidence that the nurse embellished anything.

    Rather the body of the link reveals that contrary to the link title,

    RedState was not able to determine whether or not Doering [the nurse] was working at the time of any of the deaths. She could have been there for all five, or there for none of them. . . . (italics added)

    The body of the story also backed off any accusation that the nurse embellished anything. Instead the author claimed CNN “blew up” the nurse’s unfortunate experiences with Trumpist COVID deniers that were sick and dying from COVID.

    . . . While Doering may have witnessed her described situation once or twice (or at the most five times over eight months), the way the media blew it up made it seem like she was in a full COVID-19 treatment ward that was encountering this situation multiple times a day. . . .

    Hope that helps clarify the the nurse’s credibility and rebuts any implied attack on this compassionate health care provider by those who would post the link without revealing the misrepresentations in the link title.

  10. Jenny 2020-11-20 12:16

    This dailywire article didn’t really say anything to dispute Jodi Doering’s account. Six patients dying in a tiny SD hospital is heartbreaking enough. If those six people had died in a tornado, SD Republicans would take it far more seriously.

    Until one works as a nurse in a critical care unit, one of the most stressful places to work in a hospital, we shouldn’t really judge what nurses go through. I am sure Jodi wishes that her Governor would grow up and quit playing politics with Covid. When you see the pain and suffering, blood and sputum and heavy breathing patients go through everyday in a critical unit like nurses do and then not really being able to do anything about it, it can be traumatic. I wouldn’t want the job, but my goodness give the healthcare workers a break! They deserve our support always and especially during this pandemic.
    Why don’t you go work in a Covid unit, Steve? Would you still be a denier then?

  11. Mark Anderson 2020-11-20 12:32

    Steve has the Randian republicans down well, deny and lie, what else can they do?
    Vermont has a Governor who calls it correct. “please don’t call it patriotic or pretend its about freedom. Because real patriots serve and sacrifice for all, whether they agree with them or not.” He is a Republican too but one who serves his people and not himself. Vermont has under a million people also but only 62 deaths. How about that Kristi?

  12. MD 2020-11-20 17:50

    Just because she lives in Woonsocket doesn’t mean she doesn’t work in a larger hospital.
    I can think of 4 nurses that live in Northeast South Dakota and regularly drove to Fargo or Sioux Falls for work as nurses. Nurses also frequently work multiple jobs, particularly during the pandemic when the need is high and lots of nurses have wide skill sets and have since gone on to become nurse practitioners, where the job market is much more slim.
    That is some sloppy fact checking.

  13. mike from iowa 2020-11-21 13:25

    drumpf noem body count keeps rising like yeast dough in a warm place…

    United States
    Coronavirus Cases:
    12,346,783
    Deaths:
    261,101

  14. Mark Anderson 2020-11-21 15:09

    Good job South Dakota, I see your at 777 deaths from covid. How lucky can you get.

  16. mike from iowa 2020-11-22 19:53

    drumpf/noem body count for slow Sunday…

    United States
    Coronavirus Cases:
    12,588,661
    Deaths:
    262,696

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