This is a governor that the leftist
media like -- at least as long as he follows the left's bidding on the coercive Coronavirus lockdown.
Maryland's Covid-obsessed Governor Hogan: Jabba without the charm
He is Larry Hogan, a porcine, left-leaning RINO Republican, with all the constitutional sensibilities of Jabba the Hut. Nonetheless, he passes the only test the political and media left consider really important at this moment of history: He has imposed, maintained, and expanded a crude, totalitarian lockdown on the liberty of his state’s citizens in the name of copycat Corona Conformity.
(As this post is drafted, Gov. Hogan has announced a blueprint for gradually "re-opening" Maryland in three stages -- if, but only if, the rate of Covid hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care units both trend downward for at least 14 days. Putting aside that Maryland's extremely harsh restrictions should not have been imposed in the first place, it very much remains to be seen whether, and to what extent, Hogan will actually authorize the "liberation"of Maryland from its Covid containment -- the proof will only be in the actual pudding.)
He is Larry Hogan, a porcine, left-leaning RINO Republican, with all the constitutional sensibilities of Jabba the Hut. Nonetheless, he passes the only test the political and media left consider really important at this moment of history: He has imposed, maintained, and expanded a crude, totalitarian lockdown on the liberty of his state’s citizens in the name of copycat Corona Conformity.
(As this post is drafted, Gov. Hogan has announced a blueprint for gradually "re-opening" Maryland in three stages -- if, but only if, the rate of Covid hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care units both trend downward for at least 14 days. Putting aside that Maryland's extremely harsh restrictions should not have been imposed in the first place, it very much remains to be seen whether, and to what extent, Hogan will actually authorize the "liberation"of Maryland from its Covid containment -- the proof will only be in the actual pudding.)
This is a governor that the leftist
media loathe.
South Dakota's intrepid and sensible Governor Kristi Noem
She is Kristi Noem, a slim, lovely, intelligent female who would be the media's very model of a modern, independent, and assertive woman -- if she did not fail the above-noted Corona Conformity test (and if, of course, she were not a conservative Republican). Not only has she refused to retain or extend the soul-crushing personal and commercial lockdowns that most other governors have slavishly imposed, but she simply declined to impose any lockdown on South Dakota in the first place.
Instead, she has placed her trust in the people of South Dakota to act responsibly in protecting themselves and each other against the Covid-19 contagion, rather than imposing the totalitarian stay-at-home orders imposed elsewhere.
As Governor Noem explained in an interview with Laura Ingraham: "I believe in our freedoms and liberties. . . . What I've seen across the country is so many people give up their liberties for just a little bit of security, and they don't have to do that. . . . If a leader will take too much power in a time of crisis, that is how we lose our country."
Completely crushing her critics' charges that her refusal to lock down her state is irresponsible and unsafe, Noem's South Dakota has actually resisted Covid-19 more successfully than all but three other states. As of this writing, there have been only eleven total Covid-caused deaths in South Dakota; only Alaska and Wyoming have less. And South Dakota has experienced lower per capita deaths from Covid-19 than all but three states (Alaska, Wyoming, and insular Hawaii).
In comparison, Hogan's strict lockdown state of Maryland has experienced a reported 910 Covid-caused deaths, with a per capita rate of 150.5 such deaths per million population. Compared to South Dakota's 11 total Covid deaths at a rate of only 11.3 per million population! Even taking into account Maryland's obviously greater population density and proximity to other Covid-19 centers, the enormity of South Dakota's superior resistance to the Covid contagion gives the lie to the left's spurious attacks on Governor Noem's sound and sensible policy.
To paraphrase comedian W.C. Fields' notorious putdown of Philadelphia in the Covid context, "On the whole, I'd rather be in South Dakota."
Not only has Governor Noem's steady leadership protected her citizens' constitutional freedoms, it has done so even while establishing an astonishingly effective record of avoiding the Covid ravages experienced by lockdown states like Maryland, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey.
South Dakota's intrepid and sensible Governor Kristi Noem
She is Kristi Noem, a slim, lovely, intelligent female who would be the media's very model of a modern, independent, and assertive woman -- if she did not fail the above-noted Corona Conformity test (and if, of course, she were not a conservative Republican). Not only has she refused to retain or extend the soul-crushing personal and commercial lockdowns that most other governors have slavishly imposed, but she simply declined to impose any lockdown on South Dakota in the first place.
Instead, she has placed her trust in the people of South Dakota to act responsibly in protecting themselves and each other against the Covid-19 contagion, rather than imposing the totalitarian stay-at-home orders imposed elsewhere.
As Governor Noem explained in an interview with Laura Ingraham: "I believe in our freedoms and liberties. . . . What I've seen across the country is so many people give up their liberties for just a little bit of security, and they don't have to do that. . . . If a leader will take too much power in a time of crisis, that is how we lose our country."
Completely crushing her critics' charges that her refusal to lock down her state is irresponsible and unsafe, Noem's South Dakota has actually resisted Covid-19 more successfully than all but three other states. As of this writing, there have been only eleven total Covid-caused deaths in South Dakota; only Alaska and Wyoming have less. And South Dakota has experienced lower per capita deaths from Covid-19 than all but three states (Alaska, Wyoming, and insular Hawaii).
In comparison, Hogan's strict lockdown state of Maryland has experienced a reported 910 Covid-caused deaths, with a per capita rate of 150.5 such deaths per million population. Compared to South Dakota's 11 total Covid deaths at a rate of only 11.3 per million population! Even taking into account Maryland's obviously greater population density and proximity to other Covid-19 centers, the enormity of South Dakota's superior resistance to the Covid contagion gives the lie to the left's spurious attacks on Governor Noem's sound and sensible policy.
To paraphrase comedian W.C. Fields' notorious putdown of Philadelphia in the Covid context, "On the whole, I'd rather be in South Dakota."
Not only has Governor Noem's steady leadership protected her citizens' constitutional freedoms, it has done so even while establishing an astonishingly effective record of avoiding the Covid ravages experienced by lockdown states like Maryland, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey.
* * *
The presidential election campaign
has already gone too far for either party to change horses at this stage. The democrats are stuck with the
dementia-addled Joseph Biden, and the Republicans are irrevocably committed to
the re-election of Donald Trump.
Like Obiwan Kenobi, Trump is presently “our only hope” to defeat the utterly disastrous prospect of prolonged totalitarian democrat rule in this country. If a Democrat wins in 2020, along with a Democrat congress, there can be no doubt that they will so distort and corrupt the nation’s election process to make a Republican return to power flatly impossible in the foreseeable future. Under these dire circumstances, Republicans have no feasible alternative to strongly, even ferociously, supporting Mr Trump's re-election.
Like Obiwan Kenobi, Trump is presently “our only hope” to defeat the utterly disastrous prospect of prolonged totalitarian democrat rule in this country. If a Democrat wins in 2020, along with a Democrat congress, there can be no doubt that they will so distort and corrupt the nation’s election process to make a Republican return to power flatly impossible in the foreseeable future. Under these dire circumstances, Republicans have no feasible alternative to strongly, even ferociously, supporting Mr Trump's re-election.
Were it not for the clear
impracticability of a viable Republican alternative, however, events of the past
week would give even longstanding, die-hard Trump supporters a degree of cause for concern.
Trump’s continued commitment to the
oppressive Covid policies and pronouncements of Dr. Fauci and Scarf-Lady Birx have been deeply concerning to
Covid Lockdown skeptics like me. Nonetheless, political and practical realities force
one to concede that the President has little room to maneouver away from
those tunnel-visioned Corona conformists. Removing or severely censuring either of them would surely result in another harsh media and political firestorm that the President simply does not need right now.
Far less excusable, however, was
Trump’s recent gratuitous condemnation of Georgia
Governor Brian Kemp’s admirable
decision to re-open Georgia to some degree of commercial and
social freedom from oppressive Covid-19 constraints. Trump, after all, had effectively encouraged actions like Governor Kemp's with a series of tweets urging the "liberation" of various states chafing under the constraints of Covid-19 lockdowns.
As the cynical French diplomat Talleyrand would have put it, Trump’s attack on Kemp was "worse than a crime;
it was a blunder." It
gained him absolutely no credit with his implacable democrat and media opponents; indeed, odious vice-presidential aspirant Stacey Abrams immediately bellowed that Trump deserved "zero credit" for his rebuke of Governor Kemp (who, incidentally, defeated Abrams in the Ga. governor's race). Meanwhile,Trump's repudiation of Kemp's entirely reasonable action has infuriated, or at least severely disappointed, many of his strongest
supporters.
Were it not for the obvious impracticability of opening up the GOP presidential selection process at this late stage -- let alone doing so when there is an incumbent Republican President with a seemingly unshakeable base -- at least some disappointed Trump loyalists might start contemplating the heretofore unthinkable: An appealing, attractive political alternative to Mr. Trump. And the conservative Republican leader who most readily fills that bill right now is none other than Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota.
Addendum: Further corroborating the wisdom and popularity of Governor Kristi Noem's freedom-respecting management of the Covid-19 crisis, the article and video at the link show the people of South Dakota expressing their support and affection for their attractive governor in a tribute caravan at the capital. The nation sorely needs more sensible and constitutionally sensitive leaders like Gov. Noem in this troublesome time.
Addendum 2: The following excerpt from a Powerline article of May 7 ("Coronavirus in Five States") confirms the great effectiveness of Governor Kristi Noem's measured and constitutionally sensitive handling of the Covid-19 crisis; she managed to maintain South Dakota's lowest-in-the-nation unemployment rate, even while keeping Covid cases and deaths to a minimum:
"So, as Isaac pointed out, Governor Tim Walz has achieved the exacta of misery: Minnesota has both the highest unemployment rate and the highest COVID death rate in its region. South Dakota, on the other hand, has both the lowest unemployment and the lowest death rate. Minnesota’s per capita COVID death rate is 2 1/2 times that of South Dakota. An observer afflicted with common sense might infer that shutdown orders are a poor idea, and compliment Governor Noem on her successful policy. Rest assured, though, that no member of the national or local press corps will succumb to such logical thinking, even for a moment." [emphasis added]
Were it not for the obvious impracticability of opening up the GOP presidential selection process at this late stage -- let alone doing so when there is an incumbent Republican President with a seemingly unshakeable base -- at least some disappointed Trump loyalists might start contemplating the heretofore unthinkable: An appealing, attractive political alternative to Mr. Trump. And the conservative Republican leader who most readily fills that bill right now is none other than Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota.
Addendum: Further corroborating the wisdom and popularity of Governor Kristi Noem's freedom-respecting management of the Covid-19 crisis, the article and video at the link show the people of South Dakota expressing their support and affection for their attractive governor in a tribute caravan at the capital. The nation sorely needs more sensible and constitutionally sensitive leaders like Gov. Noem in this troublesome time.
Addendum 2: The following excerpt from a Powerline article of May 7 ("Coronavirus in Five States") confirms the great effectiveness of Governor Kristi Noem's measured and constitutionally sensitive handling of the Covid-19 crisis; she managed to maintain South Dakota's lowest-in-the-nation unemployment rate, even while keeping Covid cases and deaths to a minimum:
"So, as Isaac pointed out, Governor Tim Walz has achieved the exacta of misery: Minnesota has both the highest unemployment rate and the highest COVID death rate in its region. South Dakota, on the other hand, has both the lowest unemployment and the lowest death rate. Minnesota’s per capita COVID death rate is 2 1/2 times that of South Dakota. An observer afflicted with common sense might infer that shutdown orders are a poor idea, and compliment Governor Noem on her successful policy. Rest assured, though, that no member of the national or local press corps will succumb to such logical thinking, even for a moment." [emphasis added]
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