Note to John Thune: If You're Going to Run For President, Leave Imus Out of It
Senator John Thune insisted he did not take a shots at anybody on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, and he definitely did not target Mitt Romney, who Imus has suddenly taken to referring to as “my guy.”
“There’s been a lot of sniping about this tax agreement that’s been reached, and most of it’s from people who are not here, and are not in a position to actually have to make a vote,” Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said.
Thune had meant no disrespect, and was merely trying to explain to those who, like Romney, have been critical of the compromise why it’s so important to get it done now, and not let the tax cuts expire on January 1st, 2011.
“We can only hope they do take it personally,” Imus offered.
Republicans, in Thune’s view, likely won’t get a better deal from President Obama and the Democrats than the one presently on the table. “We’ve got to move forward, and I think we have in front of us a proposal, although not perfect and there are parts of it I don’t agree with either, that in its totality does the right things in terms of extending the rates, and providing some relief for people with small businesses,” he said.
As for why he can’t apply a similar line of thinking—that an imperfect bill that achieves a goal is better than no bill at all—to the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which failed to pass in the Senate earlier this week and would fund health care for the first responders at Ground Zero on 9/11, Thune blamed the lack of a looming deadline.
“We wanted to have, obviously, some amendments to improve it,” he said. “We think it ought to be paid for, we think it’s too big in its current form.”
He added, “Obviously everyone here supports providing the assistance and relief that’s necessary to people that were impacted by 9/11, and their families.”
All evidence, however, to the contrary. And as Imus pointed out, few people in this country deserve or require the support of the federal government more than these heroes. “I know there’s a deadline on the tax situation, but there’s also a deadline on the health of these firemen and police officers,” Imus said, and wondered if Jon Stewart was right in saying that Republicans, who largely voted against the bill, should no longer be entitled to use the attacks of 9/11 as campaign propaganda, as they have for years.
Thune promised the bill would get done “in the appropriate way,” and that Congress cares about New York as much as any other part of the country. He chastised Democrats for “jamming these things through” at the end of the session. “It’s not doing this in the right way, and the correct way,” he said.
The House will vote today on whether to repeal the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell rule, and Thune thinks it will probably be approved there. He was less sure about what the outcome in the Senate might be, but supposed such a vote wouldn’t happen before year’s end.
“We need to make sure we are not in any way undermining or impairing our ability to get the job done for this country,” Thune, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
Listening to military leaders along with the rank-and-file is key, he noted, especially considering a recent survey showed 57 percent of them think repealing the rule would have “a negative or very negative” effect on combat effectiveness. “That’s what’s going to impact my thinking on this,” he said.
Rumors have been swirling for months about whether Thune, a dapper, inoffensive type, will run for president in 2012, and he dodged the question by saying an “I-Man/Thune” ticket would be “great for the country.”
“You could stand the vetting,” Imus told his guest. “But I couldn’t.”
-Julie Kanfer
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