"Yesterday’s Washington Post carried an attack on South Dakota and its governor, Kristi Noem, under the headline South Dakota’s Governor resisted ordering people to stay home. Now it has one of the nation’s largest coronavirus hot spots.
The Post’s article is popular on Twitter, as liberal “blue checks” use it to express their hope that lots of South Dakotans die as punishment for their temerity in electing a Republican governor.
As governors across the country fell into line in recent weeks, South Dakota’s top elected leader stood firm: There would be no statewide order to stay home...
The entire point of the article is that the Smithfield experience proves Governor Noem was wrong not to order a mass closure of businesses.
But wait!
It is obvious even to a casual reader that the Post’s attack makes no sense.
The article acknowledges that the Smithfield plant had already “been deemed essential by the federal government,” so no order Noem might have issued would have applied to it in any case.
The Smithfield experience had nothing to do with Noem’s policy.
It is obvious even to a casual reader that the Post’s attack makes no sense.
The article acknowledges that the Smithfield plant had already “been deemed essential by the federal government,” so no order Noem might have issued would have applied to it in any case.
The Smithfield experience had nothing to do with Noem’s policy.
One is tempted to stop there.
The Post’s attempted smear obviously missed its mark.
But let’s continue.
The Post’s attempted smear obviously missed its mark.
But let’s continue.
The point of the Post story is to convey the impression that Governor Noem’s reliance on voluntary measures, education, persuasion, and close cooperation with federal agencies, other governors, and the private sector is a failure.
Strikingly absent from the Post’s hit job, however, is the bottom line: how many South Dakotans have actually succumbed to COVID-19?
The answer: 6, and none have been reported within the last week.
Here is Governor Noem on Fox News, talking about South Dakota’s Hydroxychloroquine trial:
Today South Dakota is the target, but really, they hate all of us who don’t toe the party line.
PAUL ADDS: John has written another superb post.
PAUL ADDS: John has written another superb post.
