Dakota War College continues its fluffery to protect sponsor Marion Michael Rounds from criticism and scrutiny. Blogger Pat Powers speciously conflates U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Stace Nelson's criticism of Rounds with refusing to help a stranded motorist, while at the same time prominently promoting Rounds heat shield Annette Bosworth's latest melodramatic fundraising letter, in which she criticizes Republican leaders for trading "conservative values for pork barrel projects".
DWC has cited "Reagan's 11th Commandment"—Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican—to justify speaking ill of Republicans who disagree with him. Let us turn to blogger and Nelson supporter Ken Santema for some straight talk on Reagan and criticism on the campaign trail:
...[Reagan] was constantly questioning and attacking the political policies of other Republicans. This was especially true after he started to follow the ’11th commandment’. Reagan had no problem at all questioning the philosophical problems with Ford’s brand of conservatism or Ford’s less than conservative actions taken as President. But there is one line he did not cross when battling it out with Ford: Reagan never made any personal attacks upon Ford. All of Reagan’s attacks at Ford were based upon actions taken by Ford or policy stances touted by Ford. These were NOT personal attacks and thus did not break the 11th commandment....
During the current US Senate race in South Dakota I have seen many people invoking the 11th commandment in regards to Stace Nelson’s attacks upon Mike Rounds record and actions. I believe invoking Reagan’s 11th Commandment in this situation is completely unfounded. Yes, Stace is attacking the record of Rounds during his tenure as a legislator and Governor. However none of these are personal attacks; Rather they are invoked in much the same way Reagan did against Ford. As long as Stace keeps these attacks about policy, actions, and records it would be hard to say he is speaking ill of Rounds [Ken Santema, "Reagan's 11th Commandment and the US Senate Race in South Dakota," SoDakLiberty, 2013.11.25].
Santema is not afraid of hearing criticism of his preferred Senate candidate. He's not afraid to have an honest discussion about the voting records of all Republicans on the ballot. He sees that Stace Nelson is acting very much like Reagan, criticizing the performance of a former executive who lucked into office, achieved little, and failed to uphold the true ideals of his party.