Political attack ad rips candidate for studying, traveling abroad

[UPDATE: Sadly, it seems this video was so hilariously embarrassing, even for the Kristi “Wrong Way” Noem, that it has been thoroughly scrubbed from the internet. I can’t find it anywhere. Little help?]

Yes, this video is more than a year old, but with US elections coming up next week, I’m newly pissed off at how easy, and apparently successful, it is to tear down a candidate who had the audacity to leave the US to study and travel, when they should have gosh darn well been at home baling hay and balancing the checkbook, like a good American.

In short, South Dakota incumbent Republican Congresswoman Kristi Noem, in one of the most Bizarro ads I’ve ever seen, attacked opponent Matt Varilek for living, studying and teaching in such radical places as Glasgow, Cambridge, and Milan. Well, she may have a point about Milan…

The ad exhaustively illustrates Varilek’s impressive education, teaching credentials, international greenhouse gas work, political experience and aptitude for throwing great parties. Meanwhile, Noem apparently never left the state, received the South Dakota Young Leader Award from the Soybean Association and (presumably) drank copious amounts of milk.

You’ll also notice that the words “environmental study” and “cap and trade” are repetitively associated with Varilek’s name, which in South Dakota is code for “black magic” and “baby-eating demon.”

The kicker: Guess who won that election?

No really, guess.