South Dakota Bloggers Break Through

The blogosphere strikes again. Bloggers like South Dakota Politics have done a great job of exposing the incredibly biased reporting of the state’s dominant newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. In particular, they have discovered a 35-year relationship between the Argus-Leader’s political columnist David Kranz–the only such regular columnist in the state–and Argus Leader “home boy” Tom Daschle, going back to their days as college students, when Kranz and Daschle worked together as Democratic activists.
The controversy has finally become public, as reported here. So far, the Argus Leader’s Executive Editor, Randell Beck, hasn’t gotten past the point of hysterical attacks on the paper’s critics. (“It is a well known political ploy, when you have nothing important to say, attack the media.”) But now that the issue has surfaced, the Argus Leader’s value as a cheerleader for Daschle in particular and the Democrats in general will be reduced.
Way to go, South Dakota bloggers!
UPDATE: For an example of the loyalty to Tom Daschle that permeates the Argus Leader’s coverage, see this silly column by Executive Editor Beck, in which he tries to justify his paper’s decision not to cover the financial corruption scandal that threatens to engulf Daschle. South Dakota Politics is all over this one, pointing out the double standard that the Argus Leader applies to lobbying by Republicans. But the more fundamental point is this: Beck trots out the shopworn excuse that Linda Daschle “doesn’t lobby the Senate.” Let me repeat this one more time; watch my lips move, Mr. Beck, and maybe you’ll be able to follow along: Linda Daschle doesn’t have to lobby the Senate. She has a joint bank account with the Minority Leader. The issue that needs investigation is not improper lobbying, it is bribery.
How, exactly, does Mr. Beck think Daschle paid for the $2 million house he just bought in Washington? And why does he think Daschle has for many years refused to disclose his tax returns? The issue of Daschle’s corruption is finally beginning to be aired, no thanks to the dominant South Dakota newspaper, which assigned the task of covering Daschle to the Senator’s crony of 35 years, David Kranz.