As DougJ noted, the campaign to launch John Thune into the spotlight continues. I know Chris Cilizza has been applying suction lately with several posts, David Brooks has chimed in, CNN has tried to get to second base, and now this at Politics Daily.
What I find the most amusing is that there is rarely any commentary about his governing philosophy or his voting past, but instead nothing buut straight up HoYay! Brooks:
The first thing everybody knows about him is that he is tall (6 feet 4 inches), tanned (in a prairie, sun-chapped sort of way) and handsome (John McCain jokes that if he had Thune’s face he’d be president right now). If you wanted a Republican with the same general body type and athletic grace as Barack Obama, you’d pick Thune.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune has $5.5 million in the bank, a handsome face, hoop skills that rival the president’s and an upward trajectory in the U.S. Senate.
A couple of things:
1.) Have you seen any mention in any of those regarding Thune’s political philosophy?
2.) Any mention of his signature issues?
3.) His voting record?
I can’t be the only one to note that most of the articles about Thune read like the introductions to Penthouse Letters. After Rich Lowry’s starbursts and the tingling leg of Chris Matthews over Obama and the general sighs of longing over Commander Codpiece, is it possible that the only thing that can save this nation is a shot of ass for our political scribes? If Tiger Woods truly wants to repent, maybe he will pass on some phone numbers to our national press corps, although if the coverage of Thune is any indication, Tiger’s choice of partner might play for the wrong team for these guys.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
asiangrrlMN
So John Thune is the new Dan Quayle/Sarah Palin? Ew. He’s not even good-looking. Ugh. Whatevs.
General Winfield Stuck
Are you kidding me. If I want straight news I go to the National Equirer or Globe, or if in the mood for pizzaz -TMZ..
NYT’s CNN pfft!
beltane
Amanda Marcotte has a post up about the Tiger Woods “scandal” called something like “Americans Need to Get Laid More”. There may be something to this.
Scott
Part of the problem with a celebrity press corps is they start judging everyone’s worth by appearance alone.
Splitting Image
6’4″?
Wow. He’s a Republican John Kerry.
Now that ought to make everyone here quake in their boots at the thought of him challenging the incumbent president. Next they’ll be calling him “one of the best closers in politics”.
AhabTRuler
It’s the establishment puke funnel…and Thune is the puke.
And let me just add this.
NickM
And they’re not even self-aware enough to joke about their “mancrushes.”
dSquib
Remember that this is a center-right nation, so the election of a man who is not, to the right wing, a center-right politician, is some kind of aberration that must be explained by something other than his political leanings. Perhaps this is where the obsession with his b’ball skills come from. So you see any politician who is both in line with the country’s center right leanings AND has a handsome swagger, and athletic grace, must be a shoo-in.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN:
Are they ever?
Seriously, all it is is they want their own Obama, and they’re trying to find someone that can take on the great soshulist beast before too may monied interests lose their shirts. It’s kinda pathetic honestly.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Golden Boy Hope for the Future replaces Golden Boy Hope for the Future. It’ll be interesting to see if the rest of the pattern repeats itself.
(And maybe I’m just picky but Thune is not what I’d describe as handsome.)
Notorious P.A.T.
I love our media.
freelancer
@AhabTRuler:
Given the joke that is the establishment propping Thune up to try and make him an eventual “star”, you’d have been better off going with “The Day That Never Comes“.
Max
It’s all optics and bullshit with this crowd and it always backfires.
They wanted a JFK, but they got Ronald Raygun.
They wanted an Al Gore, but they got Dick Cheney.
They wanted a Hillary Clinton, but they got Sarah Palin.
They wanted a black guy, but they got Michael Steele.
Notorious P.A.T.
That’s funny, coming from someone who is anti-man. Or is that my “male privilege” showing?
Chad S
Backbencher Senator from a tiny state with a murky voting record and no signature achievements(or any achievements)! Championship!
I’m guessing Thune is the flavor of the month of those who realize that The Mormonator-5000 and Governor Fuck Me Boots would be the GOP Mondale.
Taylor
What about his manly smell? Does he smell manly? How does his smell compare to Fred Thompson?
Doncha love the political discourse in this country?
Did someone say, puke?
asiangrrlMN
HE’S NOT FUCKING ATTRACTIVE, PEOPLE!
Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. I would only fuck him with a rusty pitchfork (eleven billionty ways of Sunday).
Yutsano
@Chad S: Oh man. I got it. I just figured it out. Remember that Senator who put his hand on Brooks’ knee and made him feel a bit uncomfortable? I GOT IT! IT WAS THUNE! Thune sent a tingle right up his leg and he saw the light. Man why didn’t I make the connection before?
Jim
Similar to the Meghan McCain phenomenon: She’s the “new face” of Republicanism! Not your father’s Republican! (which was first said about Torie Clarke, the Bush I staffer who wore zany miniskirts and had a stylish haircut!) Meghan always dutifully babbles about a fresh voice for the Republican message, moving beyond homophobia, blahblahblah. And for this she got two book contracts and a column at Tina Brown’s I’mJealousofArianna. com
Maybe he won’t get to smell, but I courageously predict Tweety will say something about Thune’s “heartland masculinity”, some variant on each world will be used, before the new year. Especially if he has La Nooners on his show.
Feebog
Actuallya in Wingnuttia Land, Thune is a natural. All he needs is a horse and a ten-gallon hat, and they could be calling him “Big John”, oh wait, they did that already…
ACS
It’s the same sort of thing that Glenzilla was talking about recently here, except even more shallow. Instead of the personality-at-the-expense-of-policy stuff we’ve all had to endure over the years, now it’s starting to become appearance-driven instead. Kill me now.
smiley
This isn’t coming out of no where. There’s something/someone(s) behind this. Look for Thune to be a player in 2012.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@asiangrrlMN: You only say that because you’re a liberal. ReaLAMEricans know craggy, son-of-Lurch looking SOBs are the epitome of good looks.
New Yorker
Because the reason people voted for Obama is that he’s young and handsome. It has nothing to do with the desire to make a clean break with the worst administration this country has seen since the Civil War.
I wonder what color the sky is in Village-land?
joe from Lowell
The phrase you’re looking for is “the Great White Hope.”
I am so glad to hear that someone else remembers Chris Matthews weird habit of speculating what Republicans smell like. That boy ain’t right.
asiangrrlMN
@kommrade reproductive vigor: That might be true. Thank FSM I am not a real ‘Murikan.
Liberty60
What else could they possibly write about?
We are at that brief moment when the tides are turning, th winds shifting and the political parties are being realigned.
Both parties are fractured coalitions, and neither one has a strong governing identity and purpose.
So without a ideological battle with clearly drawn outlines, what we have is TweedleDemocrat and Tweedlepublican, separated only by the most slender wisps of policy differences- This one voted for the banking overhaul, but only with loopholes, that one wanted it without the loopholes, and both are on the payroll of Goldman Sachs.
Really, aside from the ten gallon hat and flag lapel pin, what separates John Thune from Ben Nelson, or any of the Blue Dogs from their GOP counterparts?
And finally, what separates any of them from the writers at Politico, WaPo, CNN or Fox, since they all graduated from the same schools, go to the same clubs, send their kids to the same prep schools?
I think thats why the reporting has this weightlessness to it, a feeling like it is all a TMZ celebrity gossip article, abut who has this handbag and who got invited to that party and who was totally dissed on a tweet.
For the reporters, there isn’t a real consequence to any of it, they are isolated from how …yeah, I’ll say it…the Real Americans live or die and work or don’t work.
If there is one point on which I will credit Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin it is that they made the gap between the Beltway clique and the rest of us a legitimate topic of discussion.
Of course, for them it is a handy red herring, to turn the wrath of the crowd on immigrants or poor people, away from the bankers and “malefactors of great wealth”.
The Republic of Stupidity
There… isn’t that what you really meant to say?
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@asiangrrlMN:
I agree, he looks more like what would happen if Herman Munster got plastic surgery and the surgeon was drunk.
The pundits need to start the 2012 fluffing now if they want to snag the choice seats during the Palin/Thune campaign. Remember, it’s not about any real kind of news but rather it’s all about sucking up for that good seat so they can make it look like what they say actually matters.
IOW, it’s all about them and what they can get out of it for themselves. We just get to stand back and watch the political circlejerk.
El Cid
Mitt Romney’s good lucks, shoulders you could land a 747 on, and huge bank account and stellar political legacy makes him the odds-on favorite in the 2008 Republican presidential race.
AWL
Are these people ignoring his vote on Al Franken’s recent bill and his comments about it afterwards on purpose?! He voted not to cut the funding of a group that willfully hid the rape of one of their employees!
Dear god, if a Democrat did it the MSM would’ve mentioned it right away!
VOR
Thune’s signature issue?
“Between 2002-2004 Thune worked as a lobbyist for the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad.” – Wikipedia
“Soon after arriving in the Senate, Thune wrote language into a transportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for small railroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion in government financing for its project.” – Wikipedia
“As a U.S. Senator, Thune also took a leading role in formulating energy policy. He pushed for the final passage of a comprehensive energy bill, which finally overcame a series of Democratic filibusters and passed the Senate in 2005.” – Wikipedia. yes, the 2005 Energy Bill.
Legislative accomplishments? “Thune also sponsored an amendment (No. 1618) to a troop support bill (S. 1390) in the Senate in July, 2009 that would have created a federal law allowing concealed carry weapons owners to enjoy interstate reciprocity of this right.” So right to bear arms trumps state’s rights.
“The American Conservative Union gave Senator Thune a rating of “100” in 2006.”
“Thune has described his religious faith as the most important aspect of his political career…”
“In a 2005 interview with Christianity Today, Thune supported invading Iraq, expressing a hope that this would result in greater religious freedom…”
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@asiangrrlMN: And eyes tightly closed.
He’s only attractive compared to Mr Muppet standing in front of him.
http://www.examiner.com/x-19823-PostPartisan-Examiner~y2009m11d13-Senator-John-Thune-2012-meet-the-Republican-Obama-and-your-next-President
According to the brilliant author of the piece, “Meet the Republican Obama (And your next president)”.
Kill me now.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@VOR:
“Thune has described his religious faith as the most important aspect of his political career…”
Ok, so no problem. Just need to locate the live boy or dead girl.
asiangrrlMN
@SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta: Aaaaaaaagh!
Deep breath
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGH!
Chad S
@Yutsano: Nah. It was probably the same Senator who once put his hand on my leg back when he was a congressman for a certain southern state.
No follow questions.
hal
Just make sure we don’t talk about what one has to actually do to be nominated in today’s Republican Party. Let’s just talk hair and height. BTW, the man far more reminds me of John Kerry than Obama, but who wants to be compared to John Kerry?
El Tiburon
Sarah Palin sans boobies.
If he’s not a pederast yet likes to teabag, he’s in.
But is his chest broad enough to land a predator drone on?
dSquib
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0c2K6P3aQY43J/340x.jpg
Thune has the, err, rudiments of handsomeness or something. Were you to try to describe him he might sound handsome if you hadn’t seen him.
Which is more than enough for the Republicans to assume he’ll make all American women weak at the knees come election time.
b-psycho
Because the closest thing they have to elected blacks is sunburnt white dudes.
dSquib
Thune was also one of the prominent Senators embarrassed after being “cheated” into revealing their secondary interest in protecting rape victims by that crafty comedian Al Franken, who apparently didn’t get the memo about covering up for your fellow senators’ dubious priorities.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@asiangrrlMN: My other theory is the Cons are so fucking insane they look at him and see something we can’t.
Considering they look at Palin and see a U.S. President, that must be it.
I’m stocking up on nets and straight jackets and Thorazine against the day they start babbling about John McCain’s striking good looks.
asiangrrlMN
@kommrade reproductive vigor: Ick. Just–ick. I need to scrub my brain out with lye after reading your last line. Ew.
Oh, it’s the same thing they say about Ratface Pawlenty–how the ladies luuuurrve him. Ugh.
joe from Lowell
El Cid
Truly a classic. My God, these people are bizarre.
different church-lady
Hey, it worked for Bobby Jindal.
Oh, wait…
FlipYrWhig
Why is it that John Edwards’s appearance made him swishy and effeminate but John Thune’s very similar appearance triggers manly cowboy fantasies?
tavella
I think you are right. My guess is that the Republican money boys, or at least a faction of them, are looking for their horse to ride in 2012. They’d use Palin, but she’s too erratic for them — they need someone who will follow the script, like Bush. Romney fit most of their requirements, save for that niggling little problem of not being Christian and they’ve realized they can’t get him through the primaries.
So, they are trial-ballooning Thune.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@FlipYrWhig:
Edwards primped himself up for the liebrul ladies, Thune does it for the manly men of the right. The repubs are worried now that Palin has stepped up and has the party boys drooling all over her so they are rolling out their manly man for the men to go gaga over.
Won’t work though, Palin’s boobs aren’t sagging. Yet. Also. Once that happens then the men can take over once again, with Thune having a firm grip on the ahem… tiller.
Ubetcha.
RadioOne
Despite the hype you mentioned in the beltway press -John Thune just strikes me as incredibly boring for a Senator. And given the Senate, that’s an extraordinary achievement.
Little Macayla's Friend
@AWL: @dSquib:
Glad so many are keeping track of the vote on the Franken amendment,
Senate Amendment 2588.
Thune is a moral runt.
FlipYrWhig
Sometimes I look over the list of Senators and try to figure out if I can match a face to a name. There are some long-timers I totally can’t do that with. Thad Cochran? Jeff Bingaman? 25, 30 years in office and you still are utterly obscure? Weird.
El Cid
@joe from Lowell: Not only are they bizarre, either they have no memory or they expect no one else to, either.
bago
Like a lollipop.
Mike G
This isn’t coming out of no where. There’s something/someone(s) behind this. Look for Thune to be a player in 2012.
It’s not August, so they’re launching a new product. Mitch Daniels seems to be getting a marketing push lately as well.
bago
Alright, try not to freak out Enjoy every inch of leverage
Ian
1. The only thing remotely close would be the politics daily where they mention
NRA crazy law. The article doesn’t mention it failed.
2. Accomplishment=Beating a Democratic congressional leader in a republican leaning state during an extremely powerful republican year.
3. Voting record= obstructionist.
Nancy Irving
Since the last two GOP great white hopes have been Mark Sanford and John Ensign, if I were Republican I’d be very worried about a Thune walk-down-the-Appalachian-Trail sometime very soon…
Chuck Butcher
@Ian:
The original version allowed CCW in states with CCW other than the issuing state. As it stands an OR CCW is only good in OR and no other states whether it meets their requirements or not.
It would probably be better to have State legislators have their State recognize CCWs that at a minimum meet their standards. The problem is the patch work that would exist and the diffculty in keeping oneself legal.
I will add that CCW holders are virtually never involved in problems, well, other than in places like NY where money is the rule and mafioso/power types have no problem and regular citizens cannot – period.
kid bitzer
and is there even the slightest evidence that he has “hoop skills that rival the president’s”??
bad hammock
no, but the word on the hill is that his fidelity rivals Tiger Woods
Ash Can
@smiley: Seconded. And it’s no surprise that a party that’s all about appearances (as opposed to substance) would be pushing someone who’s all appearance. A clean slate, like tavella said, will stick to the script, will stand in front of the cameras and look good and do and say what he’s told. Plus it gives both the party and Palin an out — she’d want top billing if she ran, of course, but would find the actual job too much work. So she can take her ball and go home, and tell her fans that she didn’t run because she was shut out by the party bosses. Maybe she’d run a half-assed third-party campaign, cleave off a bunch of teabagger votes, finish a distant third, and not have to worry about having to do real work as an elected official. And the GOP bosses can run the candidate they want. Everyone wins (except for those Republicans whose objective is to actually win the election).
Xanthippas
In the very next paragraph after that quote from above, Lewis writes this:
As a reminder:
So when the “national media” starts telling us all about the handsome basketball guy, I guess Lewis can write another column disparaging their turn to caricature.
Michael
If you really want amusing, look at Andrea Mitchell’s Facebook fan page.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=andrea+mitchell&init=quick#/AndreaMitchellMSNBC?ref=search&sid=651605346.3592363672..1
She doesn’t seem to be encouraging interaction or comment.
Michael
Lardboy Luke is a bit less aloof.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=luke+russert&init=quick#/pages/Luke-Russert/22283766943?ref=search&sid=651605346.4242550762..1
If you’ve got a desire to have conservative nutjobs root through whatever part of your profile you’ve made accessible, you could become a fan of Michelle Malkin and call her out on her bullshit.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-Malkin/269123710083?ref=search&sid=651605346.3939066306..1
George Will isn’t interested in hearing from you.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=george+will&init=quick#/pages/George-F-Will/64739570248?v=wall&ref=search
Scarborough may be a little more open…..
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=joe+scarborough&init=quick#/MorningJoe?v=wall&ref=search
Mike in NC
Sanford narrowly avoided being impeached by a Republican dominated state legislature, though Mrs. S. has called for a divorce lawyer. Ya win some, ya lose some…
Chad S
@Mike in NC: Well, the State GOP wanted to impeach him, but they just didn’t see much point in impeaching a governor who will out of office in a year regardless. And the Lt Gov is a closeted jackass.
Alan in SF
Just imagine the John Thune/Fred Thomspon dream ticket. The halls of big media would be awash with jiz.
IndieTarheel
@New Yorker:
Depends. What color contrasts best with green balloons?
Matt
@FlipYrWhig:
It’s probably just because I’m a New Mexico blogger, but I’ve noticed that Bingaman has his hands in a lot of things; climate change (chairs the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources), health care (he was part of the disastrous Group of Six, though a basically silent member), etc.