Boy, Senator Thune is PISSED! I watched on Lou Dobbs...

[FormerRepublican]

...while they discussed the base closures. When Lous Dobbs said "and you won't be leaving the Republican party over this" there was a LONG pause, and then Senator Thune finally said the usual political BS. During the whole interview, I almost thought Sen. Thune was going to cry - I swear! He's very upset over this base closure.

Something tells me that his votes could be co-opted for our side if anyone cares to work on him.

For those of you not up on the story:

"The story is about Sen. John Thune (R-SD), a "national Republican poster boy" after defeating Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) in last year's election. Thune staked much of that campaign on his close White House ties which would allow his state to keep Ellsworth Air Force Base open. However, by the end of the week, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission is likely to recommend closing the base forever.

"The resulting closure demolishes Thune's home-state prestige and threatens Republican domination of western South Dakota (where Ellsworth is located) by eliminating 6,000 civilian jobs. Local political setbacks may be reversed, but damage to Thune as a national fund-raiser and candidate-recruiter seems irrevocable. He has been transformed from regular to maverick." "

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/08/22/thunes_prestige_plummets_with_base_closure.html

I don't know what Thune did to piss of the 'pukes, but they burned him BAD! Senator Thune had said he was going to vote against the Bolton nomination because of this, but we know what happened there. Maybe we can get him to vote against Roberts. :evilgrin:

[madeline_con]

1. Yes, he sounds like an excellent candidate....

to turn against the "dogs of war".

Losing the base means losing any future aspirations of remaining in one political job or another and hanging around for decades, like so many do. At least in a job for the Repugs.

[WhiteTara]

2. hope comes from the damndest places eom

[caligirl]

3. go cry to Guckert/.Gannon and his radio palsThune. guess thats as far

as far as your influence goes buddy.

[Carolab]

6. That or his idiot pals over at PowerWHINE. n/t

[RevCheesehead]

4. I saw that earlier this evening.

I was shocked at the long, L-O-N-G pause after the question about leaving the Republican party.

Maybe after they decide to close the base, he can convert.

[autorank]

5. Very insightful on playing with fire. Get too close and you get...

...burned big time!

He deserves this. I think he has a wonderful career as a male model if this doesn't work out.

Ellsworth is a monster base. The community near by, Rapid City, is a really great place, sort of an Oasis. They will be devastated.

Thune got in and first lost subsidies to real farmers. Few complained. Now he loses Ellsworth. People rightfully ask, what good is he?

Should have counted all the votes out there! It DOES make a difference!

[WCGreen]

17. I loved what they have done with Rapid City.....

We stayed at one of the converted old Hotels downtown and had a wonderful two day rest on our way to Denver....

BTW, Thune will never leave the GOP.... Not going to happen....

[autorank]

19. Friend of mine moved there recently. He raves about it.

There are enough smart people there to make it work w/out Ellsworth but it will be a tough road.

Thune, leave the party, you are so right...when pigs live in trees!

[LTRS]

7. Thune is one of the GOP's biggest scum bags

Which means, of course, no matter what the vote on the panel, the WH will save his ass at home in the end.

[Supersedeas]

32. they will find some pork for the water boy...someway/somehow

[ecoflame]

8. South Dakotans rue the day

I'm pretty certain there are many South Dakotans who rue the day they voted to oust Daschle. If nothing else, Daschle had seniority!

[Justice]

23. They ought to feel ashamed is what they ought to be doing

I believe Daschle could have fought better - could have made the base closing into a political issue.

[kentuck]

9. Is that anyway to treat the person that beat the Democratic Leader...

Tom Daschle?

[Telly Savalas]

11. South Dakota just doesn't have enough electoral votes

to justify keeping the base open.

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. You can bet that the GOP thugs have some dirt on Thune that they will

threaten to reveal if he dosen't follow orders no matter what. They wouldn't have stolen the seat for him if they couldn't be sure of controlling him. This base closing scheme - and believe it, its purpose is NOT to save money - has been in the works for a long time - they lied to Thune and they had to be sure he couldn't burn them for it.

[gratuitous]

12. Thune hitched his wagon to the wrong star? Poor baby

On the other hand, why in the world do we need an air force base in South Freakin' Dakota? No offense to anyone who lives there, but I really don't think of Pierre as the first line of our national defense against an attack by air.

[yojon]

13. That was from the days when the commie ruskies

would lob ICBMs over the arctic and Canada into the heartland of the US. Doesnt make much sense now.

[gratuitous]

15. So I guess North Dakota could go suck eggs, huh?

Yeah, I know the historical significance, but nowadays, 15 years after the Soviet Union has ceased to exist, maybe it would be a better use of our defense dollars to, I don't know, guard against a real threat instead of an extinct one?

[HereSince1628]

26. Seems to me that China (and North Korea) would use a similar trajectory

to lob missles at the midwest and east coast.

The world isn't flat...its spherical.

[Neshanic]

14. Bush screwed Thune ROYAL! Thune went a begging to Democrats!

That was the Bush promise. You win election, your base is safe.

Someone forgot to tell Thune about basic Republican values.

You could see him seething on screen.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

16. Huh. I thought this was gong to be a Rovian-style ploy

to make Thune a hero. (You know: save the base at a midnight meeting and make Thune look like Superman)

Too bad for South Dakota (my home state)

but like a friend of my father told me last Thanksgiving:
"Tom Daschle served the people of South Dakota for twenty-four years, authored or co-sponsored over 400 bills that directly benefitted the state, and they vote for this yahoo who sat on his ass for six years in the House and didn't do shit. What they hell do they expect?"

Daschle was not a good choice for Minority/Majority leader, but he was very, very good for his state. That's why he won for so long. (Until Rove figured out how to slime him and make his home state forget all he's done for them.)

Again, I say "too bad for South Dakota but what the hell did you expect?"

On Edit: The loss of six thousand jobs in western South Dakota will KILL that part of the state for quite some time. There's less than a million in the entire state!

[MaineDem]

24. It still may happen

As much as "everyone" says these closings aren't poltical, I have to doubt that.

Two of the three facilities in Maine on the list for closure were saved. This looks good for Olympia Snowe's reelection bid. The same could happen to Thune.

I don't want to see him get any credit but it would certainly benefit the state to keep the base open. Good luck to SD.

[CityDem]

18. Thune is not progressive

He will stay a repuke and hope the people forget before his next election in 2010.

[Dogmudgeon]

20. I live near Willow Grove Naval Air Station

The local economy has already taken a hit; if it closes, as BRAC recommends, there will be 1300 direct and up to 5000 indirect jobs lost. The economy will be decimated overnight. Hundreds of businesses will close.

The politics of my area? Republican, of course. But not for long -- people have been registering Democratic in record numbers, and changing party from R to D.

I suspect that the base closing is both a punishment for our area changing to Democratic politics, and part of a ploy to allow Santorum (currently trailing Casey by a HUGE margin) to "save" the base at the last minute and make hay with it in the election campaign.

Of course, once he's safely re-elected as Senator, the base will be shuttered and abandoned.

--p!

[librechik]

21. I read somewhere they promised Thune to keep Ellison open

for a Medicaid Bill vote.

Live and learn, hugh pukkke?

[High Plains]

22. Tough shit for South Dakota

That's my home state and it's where I'm registered to vote. As a progressive, I had my problems with Tom Daschle, but I voted for him last time anyway.

My fellow South Dakotans, in all their wisdom, decided to throw out the Senate minority leader for this empty suit. His campaign was basically that Daschle would make us have mandatory abortions, marry gay guys and burn American flags at the ceremony.

Tough luck, South Dakotans. Hah hah.

I don't spend much time there. It's too depressing.

[theHandpuppet]

25. Sounds to me like the Dem folks in South Dakota...

... need to print out some bumper stickers, "Don't blame me, I voted for Daschle!"

[hatrack]

27. Well geewhiz Holy John, what did you expect?

Guess those intimate dinners at the White House don't seem so dreamy and wondrous now that you've been FUCKED by your own administration?

Asswipe!

[mandomom]

28. Let him rot in the stew of slander that he threw against Daschle.

Our best position is to openly expose the deceits used by the gop in elections.

[Roland99]

29. I have but one thing to say to Sen. Thune:

BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!

[MintOreoCookie]

30. Me too! Sorry, I can't like a man who pushed Dashle out of his job.

[peekaloo]

31. boo feckin' hoo....wake up and smell the bullshit ye Toad!

*harumph*

[McCamy Taylor]

33. Violin music for poor Thune. The WH screws its allies regularly.

[tx_dem41]

34. Ahem....Ellsworth was saved this morning....

but maybe the Dem Senator (Johnson) can get some credit for it.

[prairierose]

35. Has anyone seen on 8/26....

the news that Ellsworth has been taken off the BRAC list? A friend saw it on AOL news this am but I can't find it anywhere else.

If anyone finds a story from a more credible source, could you please link it here?

If this is the case, it had to have been planned to give Thune credibility.

[suegeo]

36. ok here is your link...Ellsworth spared

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050826/NEWS/50826002/1001