Rewind: Jealousy

Let's take a stroll down Memory Lane and watch John Thune act like a 13-year old girl:


h/t: Timothy Donovan

- JP

Downsizing the GOP's slate of 2012 contenders

Thune, Daniels and Barbour, oh my!
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John Thune made it official yesterday: he's not running for president in 2012:

"... I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America’s future here in the trenches of the United States Senate."

Mitch Daniels did not issue such a statement, but he made it clear yesterday that he's not a serious contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Dan Spencer summed it up succinctly via Twitter:

"I've said it before ... I've had it with Mitch Daniels from abortion to VAT to defense cuts and now right-to-work."

Jim Geraghty is also disappointed in Daniels:

I had been open-minded about Daniels’ “truce” talk — no matter how much a Republican presidential candidate talks about the importance of social issues, 75 to 90 percent of the president’s time from January 2013 to 2017 will be spent on economic and fiscal crises and managing a dangerous and rapidly changing world. But a concession to Democrats on major reforms like these will spur a lot of talk about Daniels’ toughness, or whether he’s too conciliatory to an opposition that has gone completely off the rails, or more accurately, out of the state….

Add Mike Flynn to the list of those who had viewed Daniels favorably, but are now backing away from supporting him:

Leaders seize a moment, not let a moment seize them.

Which goes to the foundational flaw of any Daniels for President campaign. Herman Melville’s ‘Bartleby the Scrivener’ famously said-at every point of decision-”I would prefer not to.” Daniels was just given an unprecedented opportunity to promote liberty and leverage a public zeitgeist to make a profound change to public policy. Rather than seize the moment, as all great leaders do, he shrugged and said, “I would prefer not to.”

I forever apologize for anything I did to promote a “Daniels for President” meme. From now on, “I would prefer not to.”

We never had any such illusions about Indiana's governor. We recognized early on that he's not a movement conservative. Perhaps it was the eagerness of the GOP establishment to embrace Daniels that first made us suspicious of him. We don't remember exactly because it was so long ago that we decided that he was more Vichy Republican than Reagan Republican.

We will admit that we once had a favorable view of Haley Barbour, even with the knowledge that his time as a lobbyist was a considerable load of baggage for the Mississippi governor to haul around. He was outstanding in his state in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and he had done solid work at the RNC and the RGA. But further investigation into his lobbying activities revealed that he's lobbied on behalf of the Mexican government for amnesty, and in a recent interview, Barbour spoke out in favor of federal intrusion into markets via farm subsidies. No wonder that despite his reputation as a conservative, the establishment lies him so much.

Scratch Thune, Daniels and Barbour from the list of serious contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

- JP

Stacy McCain: John and Lisa, Sittin’ in a Tree...

...K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
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Stacy links to Alex Isenstadt's 2009 Politico article which shows how Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-AK) were able to rise in the ranks of the GOP leadership as former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) fell from grace:

A little birdie — my, how these birdies love to sing! — points out that this seeming coincidence might help answer a question we asked last week: Which Senators Are Protecting Backstabber Lisa Murkowski?

It also seems that others have begun to notice that Thune doesn’t much care for his conservative colleagues:

The other day, Thune went on record dinging Jim DeMint for helping conservatives get elected. Thune also sided with Lisa Murkowski on her keeping her Senate seat.

So here we have two new data points in a scatter-chart, and we are beginning to see a pattern that doesn’t seem purely coincidental. Who is the Palpatine who dreams of exchanging the dignity of a senator for imperial power?

Stacy says the Thune presidential bandwagon appears to be headed for a ditch. Good thing, too, considering that the Senator from South Dakota has demonstrated poor judgment in his choice of political pals. Read the full post at The Other McCain.

Related: This diary from Erick Erickson at RedState.com

- JP

Thune: Sarah Palin changes 2012 equation

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From Politico, we learn that Sen. John Thune said today that whether or not Sarah Palin decides to run for president will “change the equation” for all other potential GOP contenders, including himself:

“She is someone who has a tremendous following out there, particularly in some of the early states,” the South Dakota Republican said in an interview with CNN that will air later Thursday.

“This is not a campaign where you start out and you run nationally right away,” Thune said. “It's all sequence, and you have to get through certain states. She has a big following.”

Thune told CNN that he will decide early next year whether he will seek his party nomination, but he added that the possibility of a Palin run will be an important factor in his decision:

“I think that if she were to get into the race, it would clearly change the equation for a lot of people,” he said.

Ah, the power of Palin... Keep 'em guessing, Sarah!

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 7, 2009)

Sen. John Thune (R-SD):

"I think that [Sarah Palin] is someone who is sort of a bigger-than-life presence and obviously has a big following. She's one voice of many in the Republican Party, but certainly one that has a large following and a large audience, and I think brings a lot of energy. So, more power to her."

- JP