The Daschle holdouts can't seem to accept the fact that the war is over and are scorning Senator Thune's efforts to save Ellsworth Air Force Base at a time when every South Dakotan who cares about saving Ellsworth should be pulling together. Amazingly, people who are directly under Daschle's imprimatur promote "F--k off, John Thune" t-shirts, openly admit they are bitter about the last election, publicly muse about "ripping Thune's n--s off," and yet for some reason are taken seriously by the local press when they issue releases attacking Thune. The vicious nature of the Daschle campaign that hid behind humbug about "startling meanness" in politics has finally been unmasked.
By the way, isn't it remarkable how the Daschle holdouts are implicitly stating that someone who has been in the Senate for five months has more capability to lead on the BRAC issue than Senator Johnson, who has been in the Senate for eight years? In the Daschle holdouts' rush to descend on Thune at a moment of perceived vulnerability, Daschle's contempt for Johnson has also been unmasked.
Anyway, earlier this week, Senator Thune attended a hearing held in Washington by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission at which Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper testified. The AP recorded the Thune-Jumper confrontation in a couple of photos, as seen below.
On Thursday, Senator Thune introduced legislation to postpone the 2005 round of defense base closure and realignment. You can read the contents of his bill (S. 1075) at this link.
Here's a photo of Senator Thune's press conference on Thursday promoting his BRAC postponement bill, at which several co-sponsors of his bill also appeared.
The Washington Post reported on this press conference yesterday, noting particularly that several of these senators praised Thune's leadership on the BRAC issue. Excerpt:
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said in front of the seven television cameras in the gallery: "Senator Thune has done us a great service by offering this legislation." Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said: "Let me start by thanking you, Senator Thune, for your leadership." And so it went as each senator spoke.
Clearly, any reasonable observer can see that Senator Thune is working very hard at all levels to save Ellsworth.
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