Point-Counterpoint Comments

Due to a few highly inappropriate comments, we’ve moved the comment space to  the blog so we can have a dialogue instead of name-calling.

To be a bit clearer about my counterpoint: I participated in the Strollers Show for 4 years as a guitarist in the Phi Delta Theta band. I did it to support my fraternity rather than party. I should note that bands are not closely affiliated with casts and largely do their own thing. I partook in responsible alcohol consumption. And for the record, I’m not aiming my counterpoint at casts, I’m aiming it at the Strollers organization itself.

Now, let’s get to the real issue. Post your comments below.

Cheers,
Matt Hittle

Ahead … a great awakening for USD

The new student union will be open soon. Woot! Technically, however, it’s not a student union, but a “university center.” So, we dropped the clams to build that post-modernist heap of granite and glass, shouldn’t our name be there along side the Muensters’? Sarcasm aside, the new MUC will, I repeat, will revitalize this university.

Right now, USD is dead, and the MUC is just what this campus needs.

Go ahead, Laugh. Sounds like I’ve taken a massive gulp of the U dot Kool-Aid, right? Rest assured that is far from the case; however, I am right.

We have been waiting years for this building. Some of us, anyway.

The old Coyote Student Center was razed the summer of 2006, the summer I moved to Vermillion. Actually, I was quite glad to see that building planned for replacement. Yet, having spent some time at another university with a centrally located Memorial Union, I was concerned about the campus experience. My concerns were proven. This has lacked soul–a soul that only a bustling student center can provide.

Freshmen and sophomores stay on the north end of campus. Juniors and seniors only come to campus for class, then go back to their apartments and houses. Those that do spend the day on campus for different events or happenings are only those actually participating. Currently, a student has to greatly go out of their way to partake in campus events.

With the MUC, we will be able to congregate in open spaces with our friends and fellow classmates. We will actually know where the SGA offices are and maybe who our SGA officers are. Student organizations will have a place to show off their groups and host events. Additionally, there will be a place on campus to eat.

This is just a short list, but the main point here is that the human circulation on this campus will once again return. Instead of just showing up for classes-when we show up for classes-we will stay and hang out. Maybe some of us will even stick around for the weekend, possibly taking our cloths out of the suitcase.

With students on campus, more students will be cognizant of the concerns of the student body. We might even pay more attention to what the university administration may be up to-nefarious or otherwise. Along that same line, maybe the administration officials will come out of the Slagle office and get to know the very students they are meant to serve.

The last three years have been a painful slumber. Some of you don’t mind the sleep. You’re only here for a few years and the quicker you can leave Vermillion, the better. Yet, college is supposed to be more than classes. A small percentage of the student body has rebuffed the repose. We have chugged back an extra Red Bull and tried to make our USD experience noteworthy, both for ourselves and our fellow Yotes. Now, it’s time to throw back the covers and bring the life back to this storied institution. A new age at USD is dawning. Take advantage of the MUC. It may not say student on the facade, but that building is yours. This university is yours. Reclaim it as such!

election 2008 losers

Losers

Northern Republicans:

While republican Susan Collins held her senate seat in Maine, New Hampshire republican senator john Sununu lost his senate seat. Chris shays lost in Connecticut, and with that, there aren’t any more house republicans in New England. An area that was once a haven to moderate republicans has become toxic to all but the most popular and moderate republicans. Look for democrats to target Judd Greg in 2010, and a possible cabinet position or party change for Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Republicans in New York lost three house seats, and are now left with the same number in the state. They also lost the New York senate, depriving them of any power within Albany. Republicans failed to win any house seats in Pennsylvania, losing one in the process, along with losses in New Jersey, Maryland, and the loss of electoral votes in Indiana. Of the four house seats the republicans gained, three came from the south. Being a regional party (especially one primarily in the south) is never an advantageous place to be.

Bill Clinton:

Bill’s legacy will take a beating over the next four to eight years. Aside from Hillary losing the primary, despite all of his efforts, there’s the inevitable comparisons between Obama’s win and Clinton’s wins. While Clinton won more electoral votes than Obama, Obama has the mandate that Clinton never did. Obama won a majority of the vote, turned three states blue that Clinton never did, and unlike Clinton, Obama had gains in the house and senate when elected. If Obama governs better than Clinton, then people may start to forget the good times during the Clinton years and focus more on the scandals and impeachment. One good piece note for Clinton is he no longer holds the record for worst performance in the south for a winning democrat. Obama only won three southern states to Clinton’s four.

Missouri

As this is being written, McCain holds a 6,000 vote lead in Missouri. Should this hold, it would mean that Missouri’s record of always voting for the winner of the presidential election since 1956 would be over. This may not bold well for Missouri democrats, but considering they took the governor’s seat, they probably don’t have to worry about that.

Wave prognosticators

Almost every media outlet predicted a wave election with +30 democratic gains in the house and 7-9 senate seats gained. While the senate is still up in the air, it is unlikely that democrats could get more than seven seats. It appears the democrats will be victorious in a net total of 17-20 seats. It was a good night for dems, but not a wave. The media was way off on this.

Gay rights activists.

Gay marriage bans passed all over the country and one such ban is likely to pass in California. Arizona, which in 2006 voted against such a ban, reversed course, voting to ban gay marriage. While democrats won big in the election, they’d be wise to avoid issue of gay marriage, or at least tread cautiously, lest they incur the publics wrath.

Clean government fans

Convicted felon Ted Stevens appears likely to win re-election in Alaska, along with Alaska house rep Don Young who’s being investigated by the FBI. William Jefferson, the democratic Congressman who was caught with thousands of dollars in his fridge is likely to return to congress. Seriously? A CONVICTED FELON??!!??!! What the hell Alaska, what the hell?

Turnout.

While results are still coming in, it doesn’t look like turnout was that much higher than it was in 2004. It might increase by one million votes or so, but at the moment, the number votes in 08 look the same as in 04.

Dubya

There are so many reasons why he lost, but here’s a big one. Bush lost the distinction of having the votes for president, and unless McCain gets a lot of votes, he will keep the distinction of having being elected, but still have more people voting against him than any other person elected president.

election 2008 winners

The media are going be stating and restating over the few months who won tonight, but they’re going to make the most obvious choices. What about the not so obvious winners and losers. There are those who won big silently, or lost big and are in hiding. It’s time to bring these winners and losers into the light to get the full picture of what election night means for the next four to eight years. 

 

Winners:

Historians:

Between the historic nature of the primaries, and the election, not to mention the thrills of the campaign, this will talked about by historians for years. First African American president, first potential female nominee, republican vice presidential nominee, first potential Italian nominee, there were a lot of firsts. Looking beyond labels, the election was the most exciting in years. While 2007 will likely be glossed over, everything from Iowa on will be meticulously examined and debated in political science classes, and will provide easy work for plenty of political advisors, analysts and professors.

Howard Dean and the 50 state strategy:

Dean argued in 2004 that democrats needed to expand beyond Ohio Pennsylvania and Florida. Dean lost, then Kerry lost in 2004, but Obama learned from their mistakes. Obama adopted the 50 state strategy, and reconfigured the electoral map. Obama won States that haven’t gone democratic since 1964, like Indiana and Virginia. Republicans also lost North Carolina for the first time since 1976. Margins in strong republican states diminished greatly, nearly costing McCain Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and possibly Missouri (the results are still out). Democrats gained house and senate seats in Virginia, possibly Maryland, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida Nevada, New York and others. Democrats won democratic and republican districts, in democratic and republican states. Republicans retook three very republican districts and one seat from a scandal plagued incumbent. The fifty state strategy worked.

Rasmussen Reports

This polling firm correctly pegged the final result at 52-46 for Obama. Unlike zogby, Gallup, and all the others that gave Obama a larger lead, Rasmussen was dead on.

Southwestern democrats.

Democrats made major gains in the southwest, McCain’s region of the country. New Mexico democrats gained two house seats, and now have an all democrat congressional congregation. Democrats in Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona all gained a house seat, along with a senate seat in Colorado and New Mexico. Starting with making Nevada an early primary state, and choosing Denver as the convention location, to election night, Democrats are laying down roots in the south west.

Oprah

Her endorsement helped Obama in Iowa, gave him some much needed extra star power in the beginning, and the sudden camera shot to her in the crowd during the speech was hilarious. Oprah in 2016?

Saturday night live.

Rather than explain it, just go here 

 

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/episodes/

Election night almanac

Here’s a link to a great election night alamanac written Xiao Xi Zhang and myself (Taylor Poro).  it’s provided on the college democrats web blog, feel free to comment.  The whole thing should be up soon (it’s big).  It should provide a lot of useful information for tonight, and don’t forget to check out my liveblog starting at 5:30 on the volante website.

 

http://blogs.usd.edu/usddems/entry/the_election_guide

Matt Hittle and The Volante

It appears there is some concern that Matt Hittle is a columnist and blogger for The Volante, while at the same time he is the president of College Republicans.

The Volante’s policy is not to restrict any student from writing columns at The Volante. The obvious and only conflict in this respect is the prohibition of “reporters” engaging in opinion. Our “reporters” or “news editors” are not involved in the opinion/editorial process; hence, keeping a separation between opinion and news.

Matt Hittle is not a reporter. Certainly though, all opinion columnists have a journalistic responsibility in terms of what they opine on, but mostly they are relying on personal opinion of a particular issue. It is this sometimes gray area which ruffles many feathers. However, Matt is a student just like anyone else and began writing as a columnist for The Volante one year ago. Since then he has actively participated in other student organizations, namely, College Republicans, where he is now their president.

Simply because he is the president of another student organization, in this case a political organization, he should not be barred from publishing as a columnist with The Volante. This same ability would be extended equally to the president of the College Democrats as well, or any other student organization, political or otherwise.

What The Volante failed to do was provide a disclaimer stating that Matt is both a columnist for The Volante AND president of College Republicans. You will notice on all of his blog posts and comments (and future print columns) there is this disclaimer.

If you are interesting in becoming a “regular” columnist for The Volante, contact our editor, Lauren Hollister at Lauren.Hollister@usd.edu. With our expansion online, if you would like to write as a columnist for The Volante, we have plenty of space on the Internet. Again, talk to Lauren if you are interested in becoming a regular Online Opinion writer. Also, guest columns are accepted from time to time.

David Whitesock
Online Director
The Volante

More ruminations on Blake’s reply

Also posted on the USD College Republicans blog

1) Mr. Blake made it sound as if Nesselhuf actually had an active role in the USD money. He had absolutely nothing to do with the bill, other than voting for it like every other senator

2) Mr. Blake said that Nesselhuf is the first Senator from Clay County in 100 years to hold a Senatorial leadership. That is about as much of a stretch as possible. There is absolutely no statute or Senate rule mentioning a “Caucus Chairman.” It is a title made up by the Democrats to make him sound important. If he were something like majority or minority leader, whip, or president pro tempore, he would be a Senate leader. But he isn’t any of those.

Matt Hittle is President of USD College Republicans and Secretary of USD Political Science League

A hit-by-hit response

To Matt Blake’s response to my Nesselhuf column last week:

On the minimum wage and pre-K education

-Of course Mr. Blake is happy Nesselhuf supports these. Increased government meddling in citizens’ lives is a valuable tool for the Democratic Party. 

-Blake makes a knee-jerk assumption that the minimum wage is beneficial (it isn’t) and that pre-K education is a good investment for taxpayer dollars.

On Hyperion

Nesselhuf’s failed bill  would have allowed the state government to write incredibly strict environmental regulations, leaving the door open for opposition to essentially write Hyperion out of existence, by, say, regulating so strictly that Hyperion could not operate.

“I took the laws straight off the books in California…” said Nesselhuf at one of the hearings on Hyperion.

-Also, Nesselhuf was so anti-Hyperion that the Hyperion people don’t want to work with him. Hyperion IS coming. Nesselhuf is not ready. 

My “hard core partisan” stance

-Apparently Mr. Blake knows me…despite the fact that we’ve never met. 

-His claim that I am a hardcore partisan is untrue. Though I am president of a partisan organization, I remove that hat when I write. The Volante hired me to write Matt Hittle’s opinions, not the College Republicans’. There are several issues in the Republican Platform with which I don’t agree.

-It’s smart for Mr. Blake to paint me as a radical, though. It erodes my credibility in the eyes of readers. Both he and Bill Muller, the Nesselhuf campaign manager, have done this now. Muller did it in a press release in which he falsely claimed that my Nesselhuf column was a product of the College Republicans. When asked to correct this mistake, Muller became angry and refused to change the blatant error (or lie, depending on your view).

Nesselhuf voted _____ times for _____

-And? What’s your point? So he voted a bunch of times for bills that don’t pass. Shouldn’t his effectiveness be measured not by the ideas he supports, but by his ability to get those ideas codified into law?

-What do you mean by “helped secure” dollars for USD? You mean he “voted for” the bill that gave dollars to USD. Blake makes it sound like Nesselhuf took the lead, valiantly “securing” money for USD. In reality, Nesselhuf merely voted for a Regents-supported bill. That’s a no-brainer.

Nesselhuf is popular

-No argument there, he’s a nice guy and his father is a nice guy. But you can’t ride the amiability of yourself and your family forever. Eventually, you’ll have to face your record, whether it’s in 2008 or in the next cycle.

Matt Hittle is the President of the USD College Republicans and Secretary of the USD Political Science League

Comments

I think the comments on Volante political columns are hilarious- case in point, my most recent column.

Instead of addressing the issues at hand, the vast majority of the commenters (who are too cowardly to use their real names) use ad hominem attacks.

As you can see from the Wikipedia article on ad hominem, it is almost always invalid. It doesn’t further your argument, nor does it make you look good.

Stopping Muller’s and Nesselhuf’s spin

I’ve been detached from the uproar over my last column, as I’ve been out of town. But I’m pleased as punch!

Bill Muller, the Nesselhuf campaign manager sent out a press release after my column went to print.

Here it is:

———
Friends of Nesselhuf,
With a mere 48 days until election day, the Republicans have begun their attacks on State Senator Ben Nesselhuf. Recently on campus, posters have surfaced against Ben and then in the current issue of The Volante there was an opinion piece personally attacking Ben. Both of these pieces originated with the College Republicans.
The attacks do not change the facts. The fact is that Ben has been a powerful voice for USD in Pierre.
- Since 2001 Ben has co-sponsored, sponsored, or voted upon legislation that would create, expand or fund a scholarship program over 21 times.
- Ben has voted 9 times to reduce tuition for specific categories of students, such as members of the National Guard.
- Ben helped bring $4.3 million in construction money to USD, including $1.8 million for the new medical school.
- Ben obtained special clearance for the Board of Regents to bond for almost $16 million for lab upgrades at USD.
His voting record shows that Ben understands what is important to USD and has provided a powerful voice for students and employees in Pierre.
It is clear that the Republican Party will go to any lengths to take down Ben, so please donate $25 to help defend Ben against these baseless attacks.
You can donate by clicking here.
———

I’ve got a few things to say about this:

1) My column did not originate with the USD College Republicans. In an on-the-record phone call, Mr. Muller refused to fix this error and became quite angry when I said it was wrong.

2) The Republican Party will go to “any lengths” to take down Ben? I’m discussing his legislative history. It seems that the Nesselhuf campaign needs to learn the difference between issue-based and ad hominem attacks. I will VIGOROUSLY attack Mr. Nesselhuf on his legislative history, but I will ALWAYS refrain from attacking his personal life. The Nesselhuf campaign is again trying to squelch discussion of his legislative history.

3) Almost everyone who has been in the legislature for nearly a decade would have sponsored, co-sponsored- or voted upon USD-related legislation. Just the Opportunity Scholarship legislation was proposed several times, was funded by a separate bill, and there have also have been votes to change it. That amounts to several votes on one USD-related issue. Image all of the scholarships that USD provides, then imagine voting on changes to those scholarships. That amounts to tons of tiny votes- that the Nesselhuf campaign spins to appear important.

4) Mr. Nesselhuf may have voted to reduce tuition for specific categories of students, because these bills often arise in the legislature. However, they are typically opposed by the Regents because they rarely include funding to pay for the loss in tuition revenue – the burden is simply thrown back onto the other universities. Leave it to a Democrat to mandate that something occur, but not fund it!

5) As for the USD construction and lab upgrades, these were part of Regents-pushed bills that were supported by the governor. When Mr. Muller says that Mr. Nesselhuf “helped,” that merely means he voted for it, not that he played an active role!

And I think we all would like to know what “special clearance” means.

——-

As you can see, the Nesselhuf campaign states facts in such a way that pumps up the Senator’s resume. They may be true, but when you dig a bit deeper, you’ll find that Mr. Nesselhuf isn’t a leader, but merely follows.