# Minnesota Senator Farts in the General Direction of South Dakota **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 3, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853 "2006-03-03T01:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/1 "2006-03-03T01:51:58Z")
[Senator Dayton disses SoDak.](http://www.startribune.com/484/story/279339.html) 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. Buh-bye. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/2 "2006-03-03T01:57:59Z")
Angry South Dakotans? Does that even work? ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/3 "2006-03-03T03:56:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/4 "2006-03-03T04:07:19Z")
I don’t know exactly what Dayton meant but the statements by Thune are ridiculously over the top. Don’t expect Dayton to care much. His term is up this year and he’s not seeking reelection. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/5 "2006-03-03T04:07:49Z")
> [@Rysdad](#): > > Oh yeah, he was going to be a one-termer regardless of the fact that he already said he won’t run again. > > Buh-bye. 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? ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/6 "2006-03-03T04:24:06Z")
That’s it! I refuse to shop at Macy’s! ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/7 "2006-03-03T04:55:40Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Angry South Dakotans? Does that even work? Is South Dakota even still a state? What about Vermont? When is the last time you’ve heard the name Vermont? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/8 "2006-03-03T04:58:18Z")
I think we could do quite well without South Dakota. What’s it for, anyway? Why not combine the two and just make one big Dakota? hee. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/9 "2006-03-03T05:01:19Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I think we could do quite well without South Dakota. > > What’s it for, anyway? Why not combine the two and just make one big Dakota? > > hee. Because we’d have to take stars off all the flags. Unless we make New Mexico a state at the same time or something. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/10 "2006-03-03T05:02:50Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > 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: > [@](#): > > Shane said the upset over Dayton’s remarks reminded him of the long-running feud in the early 1980s between former Govs. Rudy Perpich and Bill Janklow. Perpich said South Dakota was “50th in everything” among states, and Janklow criticized Minnesota’s professional sports teams and tax system. Perpich said businesses looking for low wages should go to South Dakota while “brain industries” should look to Minnesota, and Janklow said Perpich’s spouting off only helped his state. A few years later, the two became good friends. > > Shane said Thune should “give it the response that it merits, and that is sort of a tongue-in-cheek response like Janklow and Perpich used to do.” > > Thune, however, said Dayton’s remarks were “unconscionable, offensive and wholly unbecoming of a United States senator.” Thune just makes himself look like a humorless tool with that kind of response. He should have made a Love Boat joke or something. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/11 "2006-03-03T05:47:27Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I think we could do quite well without South Dakota. > > What’s it for, anyway? Why not combine the two and just make one big Dakota? > > hee. 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. We’re here to serve you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/12 "2006-03-03T05:52:05Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Thune just makes himself look like a humorless tool with that kind of response. He should have made a Love Boat joke or something. Of course he could have riffed on the classic north Dakota joke: Q: Why doesn’t North Dakota have a professional football team? A: Because then Minnesota would whine for one as well. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/13 "2006-03-03T09:15:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/14 "2006-03-03T13:25:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Psycho\_Pirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Psycho\_Pirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Pirate)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/15 "2006-03-03T13:29:26Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > 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? You misspelled ‘forward’. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/16 "2006-03-03T14:11:18Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > You misspelled ‘forward’. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/17 "2006-03-03T16:11:23Z")
> [@](#): > > This latest thing re abortions has caused me to scratch SoDak off my list. I only hope it is a momentary abberation. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/18 "2006-03-03T16:25:49Z")
> [@Walter Windchill](#): > > Because we’d have to take stars off all the flags. Unless we make New Mexico a state at the same time or something. Whoa, slow down there, maestro. There’s a _new_ Mexico? > [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > You misspelled ‘forward’. Fair enough. They’ve gone forward into the Dark Ages. I fail to see how that’s much better. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/19 "2006-03-03T18:13:25Z")
I never plan to run for anything in Minnesota, so I should feel free to dis SD? Ok, here goes: . . . . . . . . . Sorry, completely blank. Much like South Dakota. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853/20 "2006-03-03T21:02:27Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > 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? You do realize we are seperate states and SD law doesn’t apply to ND. Right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-senator-farts-in-the-general-direction-of-south-dakota/346853.md?page=2)