Leftists always tell us whom they worry about as a Republican presidential candidate, by running hit jobs well before the campaign begins.  And the New York Times, which functions as a pilot fish for the rest of the propaganda apparatus that we still mistakenly call the mainstream media, is off on a campaign to demonize South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem, who must be giving them nightmares.

Imagine, if you will, a series of 2024 presidential debates between Noem and then-president Kamala Harris, as transparent a phony as one could imagine, so unappealing that she was the first Democrat to drop out of the presidential field despite an expensive and well planned kickoff rally, a "person of color" claiming to be (part) Black who couldn't find much support among African-Americans.  Governor Noem exudes sincerity, competence, and an iron will.  Under her stewardship, South Dakota has mightily prospered due to no lockdowns.  The regrettable incidence of the China virus among Native Americans whose living conditions make them particularly vulnerable, is a big part of the COVID story there, and that is an issue that is not limited to South Dakota.  South Dakota's rate of new infections per 100,000 population may be second highest in the nation, true, but its rate of death is number 6, well below that of New York's Governor Cuomo, who is being sainted by the media.

Eddie Scarry of the Washington Examiner does a good job of critiquing a six-minute hit job video that the New York Times has just put out on Governor Noem.  I recommend that you read the whole thing to see how unfair it is.  But here is an excerpt:

It shows a clip of Noem publicly stating, "We all know that the science tells us we cannot stop this virus." After that quote, the New York Times inserts a buzzer sound and the voice-over goes on to list several Asian countries (including China, where the numbers cannot be trusted) with "such low infection rates that people are living normal lives."

They got her!

Oh, wait — no, actually, they didn't. The liars didn't even provide the full context of Noem's quote. What she says in full is, "We all know that the science tells us we cannot stop this virus. Our goal from day one was to slow down the spread and to free up hospital capacity for those who need higher levels of care."

To "slow down the spread" is the same thing as having "low infection rates," which is exactly what those Asian countries mentioned by the New York Times were able to do. None were able to "stop" it.

Presuming that Kamala Harris will be the incumbent in 2024 seems like a good bet, and the left is scared silly that the GOP will come up with a more appealing female candidate, which, considering Harris's personality, is not a high bar.  Thus, expect more hit jobs on Noem, Nikki Haley, and other possibilities.

Photo credit: Matt Johnson, CC BY 2.0 license.