The Volante's Political Blog

Sarah Palin will be at the monster bookstore in Sioux Falls on Sunday, Dec. 6 for a book signing, an event to promote the release of her new book; and I will be there to cover the story. In preparing for my weekend excursion to the metropolis to the north, I brushed up on my Palin facts and began to ponder a few things about the winking snow queen.

In this post I’m not going to discuss specific policy positions that the former vice presidential candidate from Alaska may or may not have. What I will say is this:

Palin is gracing the television talk show world with her presence, but not as a politician. She seems like a typical celebrity talk show guest and nothing more. If there is an ulterior motive to simply selling books, which many think is the case, I can’t see it. It seems that in every instance when  she is asked about the father of her daughter’s baby, Levi Johnson, posing in Play Girl magazine, she initially says she isn’t going to “talk about that.” However, Palin immediately delves into her feelings about it. In my opinion, this is something a savvy politically ambitious person would not do.

If I could give the controversial self-proclaimed soccer mom a bit of advice, it would be to avoid the subject altogether. Palin should acknowledge that Johnson is her grandchild’s father and refuse to say anything more.

As a conservative who put stock in the family values rhetoric during, not only the 2008 presidential election, but also her other public office elections, Palin is walking a very fine line. One oral slip up and her adversaries will have talking points for days, and if they’re good at what they do, a bit more job security if Palin does have hopes of holding another elected position.

Happy Thanksgiving

I’d like to say thanks to my family and friends for all your support and generosity through the years. I’d also like to thank you for reading my posts.

Other things I’m thankful for:

Sarah Palin

President Barack Obama

Representative Ron Paul

Pearl Jam

Britney Spears

Cucumbers

Adolf Hitler

Carpet

Water

Shoe laces

Tab keys

Grass

Istanbul

David Duke

Malcolm X

Tennessee

Gov. M. Michael Rounds

Representative Nancy Pelosi

Automobiles

Texas

Climate Change

Al Gore

SD Sen. Ben Nesselhuf

It’s not that I am necessarily a fan of all the things listed, and the list could have been much longer, but these are just a few things/people that help or have helped to keep the world and the media on its toes. For that, I am thankful.

Cheers,

Joe

Technically, journalists don’t have a “right” to talk to anyone, let alone public officials; however, civic leaders have a responsibility to the people who elected them to speak to the press. The press is how people get the information they need to be informed citizens. Without informed citizens, democracy can’t exist.

When gathering information and setting up interviews for three different stories during the last month, I had attempted to get in touch with a certain state senator from Vermillion. After a number of unanswered phone calls and more than a couple voice-mails, I began to think that the 2010 Democratic Secretary of State candidate was ducking me.

By now if you haven’t figured out whom I am speaking of, it is the honorable Sen. Ben (BJ) Nesselhuf.

I understand the man is busy attempting to further his political career, something he said a year ago he wouldn’t do, but he is still the representative of District 17, Vermillion and the University of South Dakota.

When a story is written about the economic climate in South Dakota and what is going to be done about it in Pierre, our senators are the ones we turn to.

I’m not sure if the senator IS avoiding me intentionally, but I wonder if I was not seeking information as a journalist if he would talk to me. Is he accessible to others?

When I first met Nesselhuf during the 2008 election season, he was very likable and very accessible. I got to know the senator quite well when I went to Pierre the following January to cover the legislative session. We had drinks from time-to-time and discussed contentious issues off-the-record.

A seasoned politician such as Nesselhuf wouldn’t, one would assume, hold any differences in personal opinion against anybody, would he?      

The intention of this post is not to be in any way detrimental to Nesselhuf or his campaign for state secretary. It is merely me contemplating through Microsoft Office Word.

It might take a lot of effort on my part, but I look forward to speaking with the Sen. Nesselhuf soon.

During yet another night of enjoying myself at the fine establishments Vermillion has to offer, a few people approached me with dissent to some of my news articles. Apparently many of Vermillion’s residents think Joe Sneve is another liberal media tool.

I’m going to set the record straight. I write news stories. I present facts, and only facts, to the readers. If someone doesn’t necessarily like the “facts,” thats OK, but please do not accuse me of misrepresenting them.

Of course, mistakes arise from time to time for journalists; however, this is not unlike any other profession in the world.

I obviously have opinions, some very strong, about certain issues. Every journalist does. Enabling people to be journalists is a fiber in our mental make-up that allows us to put aside our opinions and beliefs and just tell the story. From there, letting the reader apply what they’ve just learned any way they see fit. That is journalism!

Is the media pushing an agenda?

Mainstream and not-so-mainstream media outlets are often accused of being “liberal.” This is not a fair accusation in most cases. Sure there are exceptions. It doesn’t take a political science major to know where MSNBC and FOX News stand on many issues, but for most other news sources it’s not so simple.

The world we live in is, by its very nature, becoming more liberal. It’s evident in the crap we see on television and the Internet. Cultures are mixing and diversifying faster than ever, and it’s all we can do to try to keep up. The injustices in the United States and the world are being erased. Erased can mean change and change is not conservative. The news media, if it’s doing a good job, has no choice but to cover these “liberal” changes in society.

That’s where I see this misconception of a “liberal media” beginning.

What do you think?

When interviewing freshman to get their take on what it means for the university and the class itself to have zero freshmen representation in the Student Government Association for my story that ran in this week’s print issue, I was amazed to find out very few students actually knew the group existed, let alone what SGA’s main function is.

In the interview process, I asked students if they knew what SGA was. None of the 11 freshmen interviewed were familiar enough with SGA to recognize the acronym, except for Christena Georgas, who was offered a senate seat but declined due to a conflict of interest. Well more than three quarters of the freshmen were not aware USD had student government that actually dealt with significant issues.

Georgas said students fresh out of high school perceive collegiate student government to be as uninteresting as student government was at the institutions they just left.

But I’m not sure Georgas is entirely correct. She is right in that the majority of students I spoke with expressed absolutely no interest in the topic at all, but it goes beyond mere interest. They didn’t seem to think that student government was vital to the makeup of the university. Many appeared bewildered that a lack of freshmen representation in SGA was even news worthy. It just wasn’t important. If my analysis of the interviewees is even close, then let me just say this: If this is as civic-minded as these students are going to get, then we are in big trouble.

SGA needs freshmen representation in part to bring fresh ideas to the table but also there are certain issues that relate mainly to freshmen. SGA President Blake Alberts has told me more than a few times the dorm decoration ban would not have remained intact as long as it did if any of the senators or SGA administration had been aware of it. And because hardly any freshmen knew what SGA was, not one of the disgruntled students, and there were many, thought of bringing concerns to their senators.

Alberts has said he hopes to avoid occurrences such as this one and is hopeful SGA will have freshmen senators in the spring. Many freshmen aren’t sure how much they can handle when they first get to college, Alberts said.

If Mr. Alberts hopes to come through on his claimed ambitions, he is going to have to recruit like the SGA has never seen before and I hope he does.

Good luck!!!

Let me start this long overdue blog post by expressing my gratitude to those who encouraged me to get back on the horse; but I never really fell off the beast that is blogging, just gracefully hoisted myself off and away from it.

While attempting to resurrect my blog, I hope to tap into some newly acquired knowledge obtained at student government meetings and through interviews I’ve conducted for Volante stories. Local, state and federal legislation is still fair game as well.

Posts should be coming steady from here on out and I look forward to giving you some fat to chew on soon.

Cheers