RedState is writing about Senator Thune's appearance today on "This Week with George Stephanopolous":
THUNE ON TW. Steph talked to Senator John Thune of South Dakota, and the senator indicated that "Joe Biden speaks with great passion." He agreed with Biden that we don't know what is happening on the ground, it changes by the minute, and "birthing a democracy is a painful process." (Which comment struck me as neatly appropriate this weekend.)
Steph insisted that we were not making progress and that the new constitution would deepen the divisions and cause civil war.
Steph asked Thune if his constituents "had the stomach" to "stay the course," to be in Iraq "10, 15, 20-years." Thune indicated that the people in South Dakota to whom he talks are concerned, but "at the same time they realize" that we don't have any other options.
Steph asked if Rumsfeld had become a "liability to the President." Thune said it was the President's call, and that his problem with Rumsfeld was "over the BRAC process." Steph said that Thune must be hoping that the President did not have complete confidence in Rumsfeld, because Rumsfeld said that it was dangerous to tinker with the Pentagon's recommendations for closure and the President could listen to Rumsfeld not the BRAC on Ellsworth.
Steph was clearly stretching, pretending to know what Rumsfeld would tell the President, in order to get Thune on board his OUST RUMSFELD! love train. Thune had introduced legislation to hold base closures until our troops were home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Steph asked if he now was going to withdraw the legislation now that Ellsworth had been saved. Thune indicated that his cosponsors might have changed their minds after the thoughtful way in which the BRAC had acted.
-----One has to wonder if Steph sees a Cindy-spawned opening to blatantly smear the President yet still appear "mainstream." It was something of a meltdown, however, and it makes me question his current fitness for his job; by that, I mean that we can detect bias, or think we do, in Russert or Schieffer, in Wallace or Blitzer, but it's never that bold.
Thune impressed me.
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