Again, MSNBC trots out Tom Brokaw to the glass trapezoid overlooking the ice rink for a boring analysis of this election, while the members of "The Cycle" tried to appear interested. Toure got the honor of asking the leading questions to get Brokaw revved up for a lengthy bloviation.
Brokaw [and the rest of the Republicans] keep insisting that all voters want is for politicians to get along and work together. Uh huh, they keep saying that. Then Tom lays out the basis for this discussion citing his home state of South Dakota and his immersion therein. "South Dakota has low unemployment, agriculture is booming, those great plains states yanno, they aren't in this mess like the rest of the country......"
Well wait a damn minute. South Dakota doesn't even have 900k people in it. There are five cows for every person and the state is freaking huge. And yes, 98% of the farms are family owned, which is great, but South Dakota is ground zero for exceptional and extreme drought. Only Nebraska is worse, and I would assume Nebraska qualifies as one of those "great plains states of rugged individualism" the righties are always talking about. Those great plains full of "values", just not rain.
And wait another damn minute, Ellsworth AFB is the second largest employer in the state. WAIT! What? Government jobs?!?????
South Dakota boasts "favorable banking conditions", those attractive to credit card corporations type of lax regulations Republicans love. The mothership of Citibank, among others, resides there or rents, depending on how you look at it. Think of it as the "Caymans of the Plains" for large lenders.
The largest sector of employment is service, then Ellsworth AFB. There's some mining, but these are large operations with large equipment that doesn't utilize a great work force. South Dakota isn't making much, manufacturing is not a driver. Farmers are looking at lean times with the drought and their favorite Republicans dragging their feet with farm bills. The crop farmers got theirs [subsidies, insurance], but beef/other livestock operations are in dire straits looking to sell off because they won't be able to afford winter feed.....because---Republicans!
South Dakota is NOT indicative of any sort of national opinion. It is one of the states that has been steadily losing population, not gaining. It is not a state that faces the issues that others with larger more diverse populations do, you know, the Blue states, where people actually interact with each other because there aren't that many cows.......or that much empty real estate. Oh and it has the most impoverished NA reservations but that's ok, because----INJUNS!!
I get the message that South Dakota and Virginia are really liking their Military Industrial Gubbermint welfare GDP boosters. That's fine. I don't think Obama is coming for your stuff. You might want to talk to the Republicans about their intransigence. I'm sure the Pentagon won't be relocated and Ellsworth is going to be just fine.
So MSNBC, put Brokaw back in mothballs. He can't even do a good Les Nessman, he doesn't have his facts straight and doesn't know the actual farm report, so any opinions issuing therefrom are just crap. It is Republican crap that is hurting Tom's own beloved state and the rest of us. Please.Stop.Now.
So even the farm report is bogus, big cable news outlet pundit factory......clean up your act.
Update: got the video
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