From the site: No one seemed to know for sure on Wednesday as South Dakotans reacted with varying degrees of offense and humor after Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., told a magazine reporter that the Mayo Clinic “is worth a hell of a lot more than the whole state of South Dakota.”
It seems odd that Senator Dayton would bad mouth our innocuous neighbor to the southwest. Oh, sure, they’re known for faces on mountains, a big motorcycle rally, great pheasant hunting, and for being the birthplace of Cherl Ladd, but it still wasn’t very nice–nor even accurate if you read the article.
But then again, he may be on to something… If you figure out the taxes paid by the people that work at Mayo Clinic, they probably are ‘worth’ more than the entire State of South Dakota.
Oh yeah, he was going to be a one-termer regardless of the fact that he already said he won’t run again.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that while MN has the Mayo, which is one of the pinnacles of modern medicine, SD has taken steps backwards in regards to abortion that make it seem like they have gone back into the dark age?
I don’t know why he’d be a one-termer just because he dissed the Sodaks. Everyone disses the Sodaks. And lately, they deserve it. How does dissing Sodaks equate to political suicide?
It isn’t. Nobody ever lost any votes in Minnesota by dissing the Dakotas. There’s actually something of a history of back and forth japes between the two states. From the linked article:
Thune just makes himself look like a humorless tool with that kind of response. He should have made a Love Boat joke or something.
Them’s fighting words, lady. We need South Dakota to buffer us from Nebraska. What, you’ve never seen The Children of the Corn? Between the 'Huskers and the Idiots Out Wandering Around, it’s too damn much corn to trust.
I loved South Dakota when I lived there. I had hoped to spend the rest of my life there; to die there and be buried there. Even though I don’t live there now I’ve given a lot of thought to going back there when my darling Marcie is ready to retire. This latest thing re abortions has caused me to scratch SoDak off my list. I only hope it is a momentary abberation.
I’ll admit that Nebraska is a bit ominious, but I’m nicely buffered by Iowa, so doesn’t matter to me.
The only place I have ever felt claustrophobic was NE. True story. We were driving through NE on our way to Utah. At any given moment, one of our three kids either needed to pee or have a diaper changed. We got off I-80 and drove, looking for a (my dad used to call them filling stations) gas station. None. We drove and drove and drove thru miles and miles of corn; the monotony not even broken up by soybeans. Just corn–corn a mile high, or at least 8 ft. Suddenly, a Walmart appeared, literally rose up from the corn. No town-dunno where the town was, but there was Sam Walton’s edifice for all to see.
I felt so trapped and hemmed in by the corn, I couldn’t wait to get out of there! And I come from a farming state with tons o’ corn.
:eek:
I’ve never been to South or North Dakota and I won’t go now–why give them my tourist dollars? Let them secede and live life as they nostagically think it should have been, circa 1950. What’s next, rolling back civil rights as well? Can women still vote in SD?
While I know you’re stating this from your own personal point of view, if we want to actually delve into reasons why Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn. made his statement, the correct term is, indeed “backwards”. Feel free to inject your own personal opinion all you want, but remember what the subject here is.
Yea, this is how I feel. I was raised in South Dakota and have been there once more when I was ten. It’s a beautiful State and I have a special fondess for it. I guess that can’t be helped given that a good portion of my childhood was spent there. Heh.
