Gov. Noem enters old arena as a "hottie"

SD Governor Kristi Noem

Bob Hope used to trot out women who fit the mold for "good-looking," years ago. So he'd bring out someone like Raquel Welch in front of a sea of servicemen in Vietnam. Those were the Christmas TV specials. So odd a place to suggest the joy of Christmas, eh? 

The specials just sort of disappeared as the U.S. got further mired into the conflict and had to draw up a way to get out. Does history repeat itself, now in 2021? 

I haven't noticed anything like the Hope shows emanating out of the Mideast during our protracted conflicts there. Let's see, it was to avenge 9/11. Well, it seemed a proper thought at the start, I guess. There were formal protests against it. I remember being out at Oyate on the U of M-Morris campus with my camera for one. The effort was quite futile vs. all the flag-wavers. 

So we never learned the lesson of Vietnam? After 20 years in the Afghanistan quagmire. The decision to get out was quite bi-partisan: Biden and his predecessor calling for such. 

I wonder how Raquel Welch felt about being the epitome of female attractiveness. Mind you, the title was bestowed her by men, not by her own kind. We all should have wondered: how did women everywhere really feel about the likes of Bob Hope and Dean Martin suggesting a standard for women? Did women just act like they were humored by it all? 

Raquel Welch in Vietnam

What about the women who knew they were rather the antithesis of the Raquel Welch ideal? We all could have shown principle and just rejected it. When confronted, we'd say in a sober way that it really was just foolishness. But the mass populace did not stop tuning in to the likes of Dean Martin and Bob Hope. 

I have previously written about the time when a Star Tribune reporter wrote that "a few wolf whistles" greeted Judi Dutcher at the podium for a national Democratic convention. The Internet allows me to call up the scene of Dutcher coming forward to speak. There was a vocal acclamation, yes, including a whistling sound or two, like the sounds at a sports event, but nothing that I would describe as a "wolf whistle." 

The reporter made his own judgment with a grin of course, figuring his readers would think it charming or something like that. It would not fly today. And we are not just pretending to have more reasonable or civilized attitudes about women's appearance. We really have adjusted. I doubt that any Star Tribune reporter would even consider writing like the example I cited. But if he did - would be a male of course - he'd get grilled internally. There would have to be demonstrated evidence of "wolf whistles." 

I was suspicious of the reporter's account immediately - I wouldn't buy the behavior in that setting. 

The reporter might feel that Dutcher would be flattered by the account. And maybe the woman would be inclined to notice him, to pay some attention to him? Lecherous man. No, the writing would not pass muster today and probably did not even then. 

However, in the past we'd be inclined to shrug and give a pass. Our culture gave a pass for a lot of what would be condemned today. 

So how should we react to this little back-and-forth between South Dakota Kristi Noem and the right wing podcaster guy? And hey, is it really so special to be a podcaster? What does it take? Hey, it takes nothing in our rapidly-evolving media world. Yours truly has an "Anchor" podcast which I set up for free. I was quite active with it for a time. I put it on hold beginning about four months ago. It was a bit of a burden in addition to my online writing (blogging). 

As with many new tech resources, the novelty can wear off some. But I won't rule out jump-starting it.  So, I'm a podcaster! And so is Matt Walsh. Matt is identified as a "right wing blogger and podcaster." He has an outlet with the conservative Daily Wire. 

Noem has quite definite conservative "creds." She is also capable of independent thinking. So even though she started out rejecting mask mandates - quite in line with her herd - she recently refused to stop private businesses from implementing vaccine requirements. This got her the displeasure of the herd including Walsh. 

Walsh was true to form for the herd as he got personal and nasty with put-down talk, rather than to try to exercise reason. Oh, he called Gov. Noem "attractive." It was really a way for him to try to cheapen her.

Noem has long gotten attention on the "attractive" front. Is it just male journos who do this? What presumptuousness it is. Walsh said on his podcast "Kristi Noem is a very attractive woman. So she's got that going for her. As far as I can tell, that's the only reason why she was ever looked at as some sort of 2024 potential (presidential) frontrunner." 

The nasty streak of conservatives or right wingers is hard to countenance at all sometimes. We rather have to put up with it. So Walsh discounts Noem's potential for exercising reasonable discretion as SD's governor. It all becomes ad hominem. Kristi Noem is just eye candy, I guess like Raquel Welch before the sea of salivating U.S troops at Christmastime in the hell hole of Vietnam. 

Matt Walsh added that "the hype and everything that she's gotten from conservative media is entirely based on the fact that she's an extremely attractive women, which she is." 

Well. . . 

Noem is certainly slender. I don't think society prioritizes thin-ness like it once did. One might suggest that Noem actually looks a little anemic. In a spirit of levity I have given her the name "Governor Tight Fittin' Jeans." (Remember the Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn song?) I hope that's considered innocuous. If not, I get a frowning face on this assignment for misogyny. 

As a kid I never heard the term misogyny. Come to think of it, never heard autism, Asperger's or the whole raft of such problems either. Us kids were "mainstreamed" for better or worse, and it was actually worse for many of us. And we went along with wolf whistles. Talk of an "attractive woman" got everyone to smile. I wonder how women actually felt. 

Noem rebutted Walsh's statements most eloquently. 

So, Walsh admitted his shortcomings? He apologized? He's a right wing pundit so what do you think he did? Well of course he turned into even more of an a-hole. 

South Dakota is an odd place now. We have Gov. Noem with her suggestion or hint that Donald Trump should have his face on Mount Rushmore. We had the attorney general thing, Jason Ravnsborg, details of which you've probably heard ad nauseam. And then there's T. Denny Sanford in the news too, quite the notorious context. Can his money offset that? He's quite the Scrooge McDuck.

Our one-time MN governor Rudy Perpich said South Dakota was "50th in everything." Think about it.

Former Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich said South Dakota was "50th in everything."

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com