Referring back to the SD News Watch article where the SDGOP’s New Chairman Jim Eschenbaum discussed his support for former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012:
Eschenbaum voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because he thought electing the first Black president would help address racial tensions. He was ready to vote Republican in 2012, upset with runaway spending following the Great Recession but was unimpressed with GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign and supported Obama again.
..I thought there were a couple of items worth pointing out.
Back when he was running for the chairmanship, in his letter to Central Committee members dated 1/4/25, Eschenbaum discussed how as part of his chairmanship, he noted his intent to create a conservative scorecard for telling Republicans how to vote:
7. If the State Central Committee is on board with it, and approves it by vote, I would like to put together a committee to create a Conservative scorecard.
and..
A scorecard would inform Republican voters Statewide about who is aligning with, and protecting our Constitutional Rights and Freedoms, and who isn’t. There is no reason to keep electing politicians who don’t follow their oath and the platform.
1/4/25 Eschenbaum Letter (you can read at link.)
But given Eschenbaum’s past support of President Obama, I also am reminded of what one pundit had to say about the 44th President:
Rush Limbaugh noted in 2015 of Eschenbaum’s guy “Barack Obama’s number one enemy is the Republican party and the Conservative movement.“
So, if Jim Eschenbaum thought so much of former President Barack Obama, who was noted as the #1 enemy of the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement, and Eschenbaum could not figure that out.. does he have the qualifications to cast judgement over who is and who is not protecting freedom as determined by the South Dakota Republican Party in South Dakota?
Just askin’
not another cent of my money is going to the SDGOP
With this dum@ass in charge of the SDGOP, the democrats are starting to sound sensible.
Vote with your dollars.
Remember any money given to this leadership crew will be used against Republicans.
Good sense county organizations should not send in their ‘quota’ $$$
Well, even the bad sense county organizations haven’t been sending in their quotas for a while now.
He’s our GOP chair now. Rhoden would be wise to call him and welcome him into the fold.
Eschenbaum is an idiot.
An idiot teering a ship of fools.
steering…
He voted for Obama after they passed Obamacare and even after we elected Noem. This is crazy.
So in 2004 was he supporting Daschle or Thune?
In 2010 was he supporting Noem or Herseth?
In 2014 was he supporting Weiland or Rounds?
Kind of hard to call them rinos if he was voting dem.
Embarrassing. Another scorecard? Private organizations put out scorecards. Parties create platforms. Organizations use scorecards as a fundraising tool, not a tool to tear their own group apart. If they’re not uniting the party, and they’re not raising money, WTH are they doing???!!!!
IMHO, they’re opening the path for Democrats to start winning legislative seats & statewide elections.
They hate the SDGOP more than they oppose the Democrats, and on many of their positions, there’s no real difference between them.
So maybe EschenBAMA (who btw is a true RINO changing parties to get elected) is a plant by the Dems to destroy to GOP and create a way for Dems to reach statewide office in SD.
There it is. Never admit fault. Blame, no matter what. Ignore the fact that there hasnt been a Dem who held national office since Herseth. Ignore the fact Dems haven’t held a majority in either the state house or senate since 1994. Ignore that the Republican Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature. THIS IS THE DEMOCRATS’ FAULT!
SD Canvassing will lose it when he comes out in favor of voting tabulators.
I love that even though the GOP dominates state politics all the way from municipalities to national office, this blog somehow tries to make it about the democrats. Never, ever accept responsibility. Always blame others. Maybe the GOP and Dems are indistinguishable in this way.
The article even mentions the populism movement emerging from Trump’s rise to completely control the GOP – I think some self reflection around this notion is due.
One thing can’t be denied though, people were pissed about Summit’s behavior and didn’t buy the “landowner bill of rights” misnomer. Legislators should’ve listened to constituents, at least this time.
Misnomer? It was landowner protections
Don’t bother them with facts, they only see false talking points and are swayed by emotion.
Except that it was rights….. for ……. landowners. Say it slowly. Sometimes that helps my very young children understand things. And not just landowners. Schools. Counties. Property tax relief. But the fear mongering far, off the cliff, “right,” who are actually coming around left, made everyone believe that it was all about eminent domain. Even though the bill had absolutely nothing to do with eminent domain. That’s the only misnomer here.
This isn’t the GOP. This is the populist party, that has taken over the GOP apparatus.
I wonder how that got started…?
How do we start a ‘parallel” statewide true, traditional, conservative republican organization for polling, GOTV, messaging, research, publicity, fundraising, etc.?
Does an adequate, strong enough statewide PAC already exist that can be expanded organizationally and prioritized by rank & file Republicans for this purpose?
Not one that is just for that purpose that I am aware of. There are several individual PACs that use funds to help traditional conservatives, but we could really benefit from one that was focused on helping fund good conservative candidates and their causes. I’d give my money to that before I gave to the current GOP
Wasn’t it reported by War College that the fund raising by the SDGOP was less than $50 this last reporting period?
Invoking a pill head who smoked himself to death isn’t exactly the burn you think it is.
Rush was funny back in the day but he became a sad parody of himself.
Drugs are bad kids, mmkay.