An e-mail blast went out today from former US Senate Candidate Rick Weiland and Drey Samuelson’s organization Takeitback.org announcing the posting of a “humorous” video, noting in part:
“Party Wars is an endorsement of South Dakota’s Amendment V,” Samuelson said, “a ballot initiative that will change the State’s partisan election system to the same nonpartisan system that Nebraska uses for its legislative races.
The video got me to click, but it was so awful and unprofessional, I went back to work. But this afternoon, one of my readers pointed out something I missed because I wasn’t interested in sitting through it.
At 1:05 there is a glaring typo “weak” vs. “week,” then, at 1:20, they light the flag on fire! They actually burned a flag and filmed it!
Wait, what? Rick Weiland and crew actually burned an American flag as part of their “humorous video?” I had to look, and by God, they did:
Wow. Rick Weiland and crew actually burned an American flag as part of their “humorous video” in support of Amendment V.
Somehow, I’m not seeing how they derive humor in burning the American flag. The flag burners might think it’s an endorsement of Amendment V. But the rest of us might have a more visceral reaction.
Maybe the lesson to take away from this is that Rick Weiland and Drey Samuelson don’t really care what they burn down in their pursuit of their liberal ballot measures this election.
Because burning the American flag certainly didn’t give them any pause.
Good Grief!!
Its not even funny or clever. It is bitter, cynical, and calumnious.
I want 2 minutes of my life back. And, whoever put this together needs to get out of their parent’s basement.
It sounds like a couple of seven-year-olds playing war with play soldiers, and I thought the Dems were anti-war and anti-gun. If you aren’t with us, you are the enemy? And if you aren’t with us, we will shoot you (after we burn the American flag)? Shades of desperation?
Serious question: why should burning a flag give anyone pause?
Same reason NFL ratings are down this year:
Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football (not counting debate night) down 20%,
Monday Night Football down 25%
Even regional action (local teams broadcast) is down 10%.
Diss the flag and the national anthem at your own risk.
There’s no evidence that any NFL boycott related to the anthem has made any difference in lower ratings. The NFL is an overexposed TV franchise – we will see games on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturday this year, but NFL ratings still blow just about everything else out of the water. MNF was up against a debate, and the SNF games have been awful. NFL ratings overall are similar to those in 2000, when we had another close race. The loss in ratings in the last few weeks corresponds to a rise in ratings for Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. It’s the election.
John, there is a great deal of initial evidence. The magnitude of the drop is unprecedented in any sport at anytime.
Whether the drop is coincidental with the kneeling is debatable but the assertion it is because of the election is crazy as the increased viewership of those networks when NFL games is not 5% of the drop in NFL viewership as I referenced.
NFL management is hoping by letting the dopes kneel will fizzle out. They are dangerously close, if it continues, having to refund hundreds of millions to the networks/advertisers.
P.s. I didn’t include debate night in the drop as I said.
I am not aware of any organized boycott. I decided on my own that I would not watch this year. Tired of their shenanigans in general, but when I heard about Kaopectate sitting for the anthem I decided enough was enough. I won’t miss it.
I heard that Kaopectate asked Cam Newton to join his protest by growing his hair out like Kaopectates. Cam’s reply: “Can’t do it bro, I have to wear a helmet.
So its just the flag, then? What if they said that our president hates America? Is it purely the symbols that we’re defending or is it what those symbols stand for?
They wouldn’t say that because they think Obama is Post-toasties!
What if we burned somebody’s mother in effigy? It is offensive because that is someone they hold dear. Same with the flag. What it represents means something to a lot of people, but Rick Weiland doesn’t like America as it is, so he doesn’t give a flying crap about it. He is a deplorable by my definition (Hillary is as well).
It’s disrespectful.
Well I think some one should go on tv and oppose them just for this reason.
To anyone who has not watched the video be sure to click on it and watch it. It is so bad it cannot be described accurately until you watch it for yourself. It is a terrible video as far as production quality goes.
Poor quality, disgusting, no class. And the video’s awful too.
Really thats why we served in the Milatary to protect those rights.Burn the flag your right ,I am against it but thats what freedoms are.
However, I have the right to think Weiland is a jackass, and I do.
Completely agree. Maybe boycott Parkers on Main in Sioux Falls as well.
I find it humorous, as well as indescribably hypocritical, for Drey Samuelson, Rick Weiland, and Steve Hildebrand to attack or decry the “establishment” in their campaign efforts. In South Dakota, you can’t get more Democrat establishment than the former Johnson Chief of Staff, Daschle State Director, and Daschle AND Johnson campaign manager, which were respective positions of those three. If anything, the battle over some of these ballot measures is the GOP Establishment vs. the Dem Establishment.
It is a train wreck, I wanted to look away, some how I just couldn’t.
um, The lighting was good, That is all the good things I can say about it.
The facts are distorted,
There is no real action, just a buch of still shoots with a voice over.
I want to end this on a high note. The lighting was good?
This entire thing is interesting. Honestly if this passes it will completely change the GOP race for governor. Let’s say Kristi Noem runs then she and Mark and Marty and some random Democrat (maybe Huether or SHS or Billie Sutton) would be fighting over two spots for the general election.
If SHS were to run then I suspect most Democrats would vote for her and she would make it out of the first round and then the Republicans would probably nominate the same person they would in a primary.
But if the Democrats nominate a weak candidate like Billie Sutton who isn’t going anywhere then I suspect a lot of Dems would go vote for a Republican that was moderate like Mark Mickelson. Kristi Noem might be the most popular in a primary with the base but with Independents and Democrats able to throw their hat into a primary that makes it more likely she would struggle because I’m guessing a lot of them would show up just to vote against her.
With that said Dusty Johnson visited with my uncle recently who used to own a bank and told him that he was running for Congress.
Keep it on topic, please.
Follow the money, folks. I have no doubt that some loyal Dem operative put this together, with the help of a growler or two, in his spare time. The campaign will be writing said operative a very nice check for “creative services” thus propagating the endless cycle of 1) creating an emotional issue, 2) raising money to somehow address said issue and 3) taking a nice percentage of the cash raised for your time and expertise.
Anonymous 12:07,
I have no idea what you are asking. The “symbol” is representative of what it satands for as you can see from the definition of symbol is “a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.”
Nobody cares about a piece of cloth or a song. They care about what the flag and national anthem represents.
…and what *does* the flag represent? What does the president represent?
The current president represents the fact that someone without meaningful experience or a love of country can rise to the highest office in the land thanks to a bunch of people who chose being historic over what would have been better for the country.
Ah, yes. The ol’ “Obama hates America” saw. Are you stupid enough to believe that, or do you more likely (hopefully, at least) think that he doesn’t love America like YOU do? If it’s the former, please get back on the short bus with your helmet firmly attached. If it’s the latter, so what? He’s not you. Does he also hate golf because he stands on the opposite side of the ball you do? Does he hate music because he thinks Hank Jr. is a lesser hack from a greater sire?
Obama’s ideas for what’s best for America may differ from yours. Those ideas may even be flat-out wrong. But to suggest he “hates” America is utter, complete, and total bullsh!t. NOBODY would take on the job of POTUS out of hate. Stop the damn hyperbole already.
:He took the job because he wanted to “fundamentally transform the United States of America,” (his words, not mine), and he is well on his way to doing that; and if Hillary is elected, it will be even more true. He has apologized for America’s actions in the world to the world, he continued that mantra with his speech to the UN last month, he prefers globalism to nationalism. He might not hate America, but he sure as heck hated the way America was before he “transformed” it.
Reagan also wanted to transform America. So did Lincoln. So did FDR. So did Nixon. So did every president. We ALL want to transform America. There are parts of it that we don’t particularly like – that doesn’t mean we HATE it. Nobody’s advocating throwing out the baby with the bathwater, FFS. Obama has said far more positive things about us as a nation than negative, and you dang well know it. Just because you don’t agree with direction doesn’t mean the map is wrong.
Wait for some NFL National Anthem kneeler to get released and the ACLU sues the Team Owners for not allowing them to show their feelings.
Anonymous 8:45,
Why don’t you just say what you want to say? Trying to discern your point via rhetorical questions is banal.
Heh, no need to feign ignorance. Y’all seem to get your patriotic shorts in a twist over flag desecration and “disrespect”. As Anonymous 9:29 said, that’s what the brave men and women of this nation died for – the freedom and liberty to speak our minds, even if that speech is not what we ourselves might say. It should also be apparent that if you’re worried about “disrespecting” the symbol of the flag, why there is no outrage over “disrespecting” the president, a person who is also a symbol representing American values.
There is a big difference between respecting the office of the Presidency and vs disrespecting the President. Obama has shown little respect for those who disagree with him and his policies, he has apologized to the world for the United States, he has ignored the Constitution with many of his executive orders, he has encouraged racism and division with his comments, and I do not have to have respect for him as a person.
No, he doesn’t. He is not an honorable person who is deserving of any more respect than any other person. He is not a symbol, he is a person abusing the office of the presidency and trampling over the Constitution. He was voted in because it was historic, not because he was capable or experienced or intelligent. Was that simple enough for you to understand?
You can dislike the man, but respect the office. Respect of that office requires a minimum level of decorum, which I don’t actually see a lot of. But you do you. It is, after all, your right to be backward flag-waving inbred putz.
I just love it when a poster is left with no argument except to all a person names. Got any more? You might as well get them all off your chest.
That *wooosh* sound you heard was the irony flying right over your head.
IMO the flag represents freedom, which is what this country was founded for. It represents the hundreds of thousands of people who have died to preserve this ideal for the rest of us. They died to give us the right to protest, but a protest should also be done with respect – respect for the ideals this country was founded on, respect for those who have given their lives to protect us and preserve our freedoms, respect for the people of this great nation. To desecrate the flag or to dishonor our national anthem is to disrespect all the above. If a person feels this nation is so bad that they can’t honor or flag or anthem, then maybe they should tell us what nation they would prefer to live in. Many nations would not allow them the freedoms that they find here, and I doubt many of them would really want to live anywhere else anyway. Instead of disrespecting our values, how about putting their “money where their mouth is” and do something to fix what they think is wrong? But that might take a little more effort and not get as much notice.
Springer the true patriot.We served in the Milatary for freedom.Yes I am against burning the flag,they have rights because of freedom get over it.
Yes, they have the right. Should they do it? I have the right to call you a name too, but is that right? Is that respectful? Is there a better way to discuss an issue or get a point across – YES!
Better way? Like sitting on your computer grousing about it on the interweb? Maybe you could double your patriotic output and share crappy pictures of “true patriots” on Facebook, too!
So, Springer, according to Anonymous 10:47 it’s okay to burn the flag and spend time on the internet defending it, but it’s not okay to spend time on the internet saying that you disagree with it and think it’s idiotic, but par for the course for Ricky Weiland. I support your right to grouse on the internet and to think that Weiland is a dirtbag for burning the flag, even though he has a right to do so.
Sorry, “you’re” in the last sentence.
So you think Rick Weiland hates America, too? Or do you simply disagree with how he loves America and his agenda for making it better in his eyes? Does burning a flag as a form of free speech mean that Mr. Weiland wants to destroy America or does it mean that maybe you didn’t watch the video and realize that the flag burning is something that he’s showing party apparatchiks symbolically doing?
As dumb as I find the video, those who didn’t understand the not-so-subtle and poorly produced apologue are perhaps even dumber.
It says a lot about him and his family.
His kids hate America, too? How about his cousins? His Great Aunt?
Anonymous 10:41,
Thank you for finally saying what was on your mind.
I support the right of athletes to make any statement they want. I support the right of their employers to allow them to make that statement when they are on the clock. And, I support the right of people to respond as they choose in support or opposition to the statement OR the place it is made. If the NFL ends up giving money back to the networks/advertisers because of the drop in ratings and there is less money for player salaries, I wonder if their teammates will be sanguine.
Yeah, player salaries are going to plummet. Geez. Nah, bruh. Player salaries will continue to climb, and YOU, the fan, will pay the price regardless.
Anonymous 11:52:
Players get 55% of TV & Radio revenue. If the NFL gives $100 million back to the networks/advertisers because of the lower ratings, the player pool has $55million less in it. But, if you are right and NFL ratings recover, these kneelers are making a statement which has no cost (or maybe benefits them financially).
Wouldn’t their statement be deserving of greater respect if it had a cost?
If the source of respect in your world is $$$, I surely don’t need yours. If you’re instead saying that any respect comes with some sort of cost, money, social, whatever, then I’d argue that guys like Kaepernick are already paying that cost having to weather the storm of faux patriots crawling out of the woodwork to disparage him.
Anonymous 1:23,
And sometimes one gets disrespect and bears a cost (money, social, whatever).
I’m sure you disagree so I expect you’ll be advocating all Democrats from Hillary down to dogcatcher make a similar statement.
It’s been a long day, and I can’t at this point make much sense out of what you just said… forgive me if I misinterpret you.
You’re saying that taking a knee during the national anthem should (or might?) result in lower pay for a football player? Should would violate the contract. Might probably will be forgotten long before he has to or wants to renegotiate. Socially I’m not sure he cares much about us burbling along on a mostly un-read political blog. He’s pretty much said that whatever happens, happens. I think he’s prepared for the cost and that his statement (whether or not you agree with it) has gained some traction and is arguably working as intended.
I would argue that whatever the disrespect has cost him, he was more than willing to pay. I’m also willing to argue that you should respect the idea of non-violent protest as enshrined in our constitution, but that cost is apparently too much for you to pay. So who is the bigger “loser” in this scenario?
Re-directing the conversation back ….No on V and these disrespectful fellows who want to change our state clearly for the worse!
Or for the better. Unless they hate America? Or South Dakota in particular?
Anonymous 4:42:
1) I’m saying it might cost all NFL players salary if the ratings stay down and it is because of this.
2) If this is all forgotten by the time he negotiates his contract, it obviously didn’t have much long-term impact.
3) I don’t know how many times I have to repeat myself but I’ve said nearly every post that I recognize his right to free speech. And, I recognize the NFL (like all employers have the right to restrict speech while on the job which the NFL has chosen not to do which is also their right).
4) Personally, I don’t care what athlete’s babble about besides their sport whether I agree with them or not. But, I acknowledge they think they matter besides being an athlete so I guess it feeds their ego.
1. “…and it’s because of this” – Something about correlation and causation, yeah? Even if individual players are blackballed (un-freakin-likely if they have any talent) over “this”, I don’t remotely think you can link a 2nd string QB with an overall drop in ratings…. but then again, I think professional sports are stupid to begin with.
2. Are you sure that’s his intent, or are you just putting words into his mouth. Even if it doesn’t have long-term impact, it has helped jump-start discussion of the issue independent of the BLM movement… so IMO that’s *something* at least.
3. Want a cookie?
4. Are you a professional political analyst? If not, your babble (and mine) are ultimately only ego-stroking, right?
It is not one person. Denver has players making a protest. Miami also has players protesting. I believe Seattle does as well. And I think there are others. On the other hand, the team I dislike the most, the Dallas Cowboys, owner has said his players will stand for the national anthem. Good for him. It would be nice to see some other owners step up.
Is viewership down because little guys like me are fed up with seeing a bunch of overpaid spoiled brats protesting the anthem of the country that gave them the opportunity to be overpaid? Who know? But there is a decrease and if it continues there is a good chance there will be a decrease in revenues and if that happens, salaries will decrease. Not necessarily in current contracts, but looking ahead it will happen.
Yes, they have the right to protest. And I have the right to choose how I spend my time.
I think you should encourage your Democrat candidates should kneel during the national anthem or burn a flag to jump start their campaigns.
Or maybe sit in the front of the bus or at a lunch counter, right?
Troy that would be their right this is still America.How about republicans who wear a flag on their lappell and ducked milatary service in the Vietnam War.
As hard as you try to deflect and equivocate, you do nothing to justify weiland’s video which is blowing up in his face.
Or how about just boycott Parkers On Main AV in Sioux Falls, his families business. We all can vote with our wallets. After all, it’s a free country.
You failing to acknowledge Troy’s well laid out pitfalls of a protest that impacts other people’s lives is selfish. He did what he wanted with no thought to his team mates or other players in the league. Typical progressive.
But jacking up the price of an epipen after you’ve greased the pockets of your congresspeople and made them nigh-on ubiquitous in public spaces isn’t selfish? Progressives don’t have a lock on selfishness, but it’s telling that you’d think so.
Biden’s daughter was the CEO of one of those companies that jacked up these drug prices. Democrats had the chance to allow re-importation of drugs which would have drived down prices along with tort reform when they rammed through the “Affordable Care Act” but instead protected the drug companies strangle hold on American health care as they do take far less for their meds in other countries. Dems own this unstable health market that is blowing up before our eyes. Their solution is VA medicine for all. Rationed health care, lines and un-fireable bureaucrats. No thanks progressives. You break it and offer a worse solution.
Deflector shields at maximum!
Great zero reply. Drink much? Dems broke it, Dems own it. Ask Bill Clinton hahahahahaha
Stellar detective work there, Inspector Clouseau. So I guess yours was a zero reply to a zero reply pointing out a zero reply? How very… meta… of you.