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You are here: Home / Good news for John Thune

Good news for John Thune

by DougJ|  November 10, 200911:08 pm| 107 Comments

This post is in: Good News For Conservatives

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Look out Tim Pawlenty, MItt Romney, David Petraeus, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Haley Barbour, and Roger Ailes!

GOP sources say Thune plays the role of the “regular guy” in the leadership and warns against “Washington-speak.”

[….]

At 6-foot-4, Thune is considered one of the best basketball players in the Senate.

[…..]

There’s buzz in some corners about Thune running for president himself in 2012.

It’s a good thing those GOP sources made those “regular guy” comments anonymously. That stuff is exposive!

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Reader Interactions

107Comments

  1. 1.

    Perry Como

    November 10, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    At 6-foot-4, Thune is considered one of the best basketball players in the Senate.

    1v1, Thune and Obama.

  2. 2.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 10, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    Damn, I thought you were going to say that Thune was challenging Obama to a game of hoops.

    GOP sources? Let me guess, the “GOP sources” pulled this out of their asses too?

    Something about straw and grasping it comes to mind.

  3. 3.

    dfd

    November 10, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    But does he play basketball with women?

  4. 4.

    SpotWeld

    November 10, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    Sounds like that politician from “The Dead Zone”

  5. 5.

    DougJ

    November 10, 2009 at 11:17 pm

    But does he play basketball with women?

    I meant to ask that, but I forgot. I got distracted trying to remember all 20 of the Republican candidates for 2012.

  6. 6.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 10, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    You all shouldn’t laugh. Of all the wingers on the bench, he is prolly about the best they could throw up for presnit, now that he has a few years in the Senate. Palin and the rest of the wingnut clown princes makes him look like a tall handsome Socrates.

  7. 7.

    DougJ

    November 10, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Palin and the rest of the wingnut clown princes makes him look like a tall handsome Socrates.

    You know what we do to Greeks in this country.

  8. 8.

    Midnight Marauder

    November 10, 2009 at 11:24 pm

    It is disturbingly hilarious how low the threshold is for someone to be considered a “presidential candidate” on the Republican side of things. I mean, who is the better namesake for their Mendoza Line equivalent? There’s a pop quiz for you. Who from this list is the most shameful, at one point “legitimate” Republican presidential contender:

    Fred Thompson
    Mitt Romney
    Rudy Guliani
    Sarah Palin
    John Ensign
    Tim Pawlenty

    It’s a murderer’s row of fail.

  9. 9.

    PeakVT

    November 10, 2009 at 11:31 pm

    Did Atrios name a wanker of the day? Bash should get it for that pile of steaming fluff.

  10. 10.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    November 10, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    Anybody but me old enough to remember the “Seven Dwarfs—the Democratic Lineup from 1988? What do we call this pack of 20 or 30 zeros in 2012? If there were 24 of them they could be a “case of ZIMA”—Zero Information Malevolent Assholes.

    And yes, I know the proper plural is “dwarves”—that’s a pet peeve of mine, too.

  11. 11.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 10, 2009 at 11:35 pm

    @Midnight Marauder:

    The way we’re going, by the time 2012 rolls around, the first to bite the head off a chicken should get the job.

  12. 12.

    Joshua Norton

    November 10, 2009 at 11:36 pm

    You know what we do to Greeks in this country.

    Actually, his fellow Greeks weren’t too nice to Socrates in Greece, either.

  13. 13.

    JK

    November 10, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Doug,

    Does Thune agree with Palin that there’s a conspiracy to remove In God We Trust from US currency?

    @Midnight Marauder – I enjoyed Fred Thompson’s work on Law and Order.

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge – I’ll sign on to ZIMA (Zero Information Malevolent Assholes) as a tag for this motley crew of clueless buffoons.

  14. 14.

    handy

    November 10, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    Look out Tim Pawlenty, MItt Romney, David Petraeus, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Haley Barbour, and Roger Ailes!

    Had I not known it from the title, I would have sworn this would have been the opener to an epic Alan Keyes-related post.

  15. 15.

    handy

    November 10, 2009 at 11:47 pm

    Also, if it’s good news for John Thune, how much more excellent news is it for John McCain!

  16. 16.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 10, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    You think they would nominate Ozzy?

    Thune would only get initial consideration since everyone else in the party has gone screaming batshit insane.

    Thune is just batshit insane and the teabaggers won’t like that one bit.

  17. 17.

    Corner Stone

    November 10, 2009 at 11:51 pm

    @DougJ:

    You know what we do to Greeks in this country.

    Kick them off CBS Sports?

  18. 18.

    Scott de B.

    November 10, 2009 at 11:52 pm

    And yes, I know the proper plural is “dwarves”—that’s a pet peeve of mine, too.

    Technically, ‘dwarfs’ is the ‘correct’ plural. Tolkien invented ‘dwarves’ to parallel ‘elves’ and to reflect the original plural ‘dwarrows’. Since Tolkien, however, everyone has followed his lead.

  19. 19.

    C Nelson Reilly

    November 10, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    I drove within a 7 mile radius of a Mike Huckabee book signing (Borders) tonight. Curse my birhtday gift card!

  20. 20.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 12:01 am

    OT:

    Via Wonkette: Idaho GOP leader fertilizing his ex-girlfriends lawn for free.

    I guess he was pissed because she wouldn’t let him cum over anymore.

  21. 21.

    Mark S.

    November 11, 2009 at 12:05 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Thune is just batshit insane and the teabaggers won’t like that one bit.

    They also won’t be wild about statements like this:

    We’ve got to be able to accept the fact that a senator from the Northeast, for example, from the New England states, isn’t going to be the same as a senator from the South.

    That’s just asking for a teabagging. As we learned from NY-23, if you are not as crazy as Glenn Beck, you have no place in the GOP.

  22. 22.

    Davis X. Machina

    November 11, 2009 at 12:23 am

    Is Thune a hater? Nixon’s Law says that ceteris paribus the nomination goes to the best hater.

  23. 23.

    asiangrrlMN

    November 11, 2009 at 12:30 am

    Oh, good grief. And they saw the Dems are the party of affirmative action.

  24. 24.

    Anne Laurie

    November 11, 2009 at 12:33 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:

    What do we call this pack of 20 or 30 zeros in 2012? If there were 24 of them they could be a “case of ZIMA”—Zero Information Malevolent Assholes.

    Even if there are fewer, I am totally stealing your acronym! We can assume there will be at least a six-pack of ZIMAs… cheap, tasteless, and transparent (or at least colorless), but very marketing-panel-approved…

  25. 25.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 12:37 am

    @Anne Laurie: Zima with a little lime does actually work as a mixer with vodka.

  26. 26.

    Roger Moore

    November 11, 2009 at 12:39 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:

    And yes, I know the proper plural is “dwarves”—that’s a pet peeve of mine, too.

    Sadly, no. The traditional plural of dwarf was dwarfs. Tolkien made ideosyncratic use of “dwarves” instead, but he had to fight his copy editor to keep it from being changed back to the standard “dwarfs”.

  27. 27.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 12:41 am

    @asiangrrlMN: White men need AA now?

  28. 28.

    IndyLib

    November 11, 2009 at 12:43 am

    @Yutsano:
    Well the GOP ones do anyway, Assholes Anonymous.

  29. 29.

    asiangrrlMN

    November 11, 2009 at 12:44 am

    @Yutsano: Apparently.

    @IndyLib: I like your response!

  30. 30.

    asiangrrlMN

    November 11, 2009 at 12:45 am

    @asiangrrlMN: Say. They say. EDIT!

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 12:47 am

    @IndyLib: That would require them having enough self-knowledge that they are indeed assholes and need to change. Nahgunahapn.

    @asiangrrlMN: In answer to your previous question re: esposuing Tunch: Shouldn’t he make the first move re: marriage/adoption? That was my understanding of how cats worked.

  32. 32.

    MBSS

    November 11, 2009 at 12:48 am

    they do not still sell ZIMA.

    do they?

  33. 33.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    November 11, 2009 at 12:48 am

    @Scott de B.: @Roger Moore:

    Oh, I know “dwarfs” has been standard for a good long time—I just think Tolkien was right, etymologically. The only plural that really grinds me is “persons.” There is no such word as “persons”!! The plural of “person” is “people.”

    @Anne Laurie:

    “Cheap, tasteless, transparent, and colorless” adds so much to it, I will give you the credit if anyone asks.

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 12:49 am

    @Yutsano: One comment about mixing zima with vodka and now all white men are alcoholics? That’s a little harsh. I can’t dance either, want to make some snarky comments about that as well?

    {/pointless rant}

  35. 35.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 12:51 am

    Does “regular guy” = Neanderthal? Thune for pete’s sake? I suppose he looks smart standing next to Sarah and reasonable next to TommyTantrum

  36. 36.

    Mojotron

    November 11, 2009 at 12:53 am

    they do not still sell ZIMA.

    do they?

    Only in Japan.

    and by that I mean “offer it for sale”, whether they actually sell it is a different matter….

  37. 37.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    November 11, 2009 at 1:00 am

    I once discovered…accidentally; yeah, that’s the ticket…that you can mix vodka about half-and-half with apple juice and not know you’re drinking anything until you’re leaning against the wall wondering when they carpeted it and why the chandelier’s jutting out at you from across the room.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 1:03 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge: I hate it when that happens.

  39. 39.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 1:05 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge: I learned this lesson the hard way about long island iced teas. The ones I had were mixed perfectly. You could barely taste the booze…until you stood up and the floor was suddenly inexplicably sideways.

  40. 40.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 1:07 am

    @Yutsano:
    Funny thing about me and iced tea, I aways seem to leave in the same condition I arrived in.

  41. 41.

    Josh

    November 11, 2009 at 1:12 am

    Know what word makes me mad?

    Irregardless. That’s not even a real word. Think about it.

    The mind boggles.

  42. 42.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 1:14 am

    @Josh:

    Irregardless

    Heh. Well the damn dictionary has it as a synonem of regardless. I know…

  43. 43.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 1:17 am

    @Yutsano: The Vulcan Mind Probes from Pirates’ Cove in Appleton, WI were the same sort of thing. Tasted like Sprite, punched like Tyson. Don’t know if the place or the drinks still exist.

  44. 44.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 1:20 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: One step down from a pangalactic gargle blaster eh?

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 1:22 am

    @Yutsano: More a lateral move. But I was young then, so who really knows…

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 1:23 am

    @Josh:

    Know what word makes me mad?

    Mad or angry?

  47. 47.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 1:28 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: BTW could not find the bar in teh Google, but that doesn’t mean anything one way or the other.

  48. 48.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    November 11, 2009 at 1:29 am

    People have been using “mad” to mean “angry” since before I was alive, so it doesn’t bother me. But when did people start using “jealous” to mean “envious?”

  49. 49.

    Martin

    November 11, 2009 at 1:32 am

    @JK:

    We’re replacing ‘In God We Trust’ with ‘Jesus is Our Co-Signer’. Seems appropos after the last 8 years.

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 1:33 am

    @Yutsano: At least Cleo’s still exists.

  51. 51.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 1:34 am

    @Martin: Shouldn’t that be “Chang is our co-signer”? Or maybe that should be underwriter…

  52. 52.

    theturtlemoves

    November 11, 2009 at 1:34 am

    As a former South Dakotan, my dislike of Thune is fairly visceral. He’s a walking haircut.

  53. 53.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    November 11, 2009 at 1:36 am

    A saloon I used to go to (I know for a fact it’s not there any more) had a special Christmas drink involving 151 rum and peppermint schnapps that went down deceptively easily, too.

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 11, 2009 at 1:38 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge: I’ll just go ahead and recommend absinthe then.

  55. 55.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 1:39 am

    When I was a lot younger one of our (my buds and myself) favorite drinks was ‘appleJack’ (apple juice and JD). Good stuff and easy to overload on. One of our hangouts was out on Lake Coeur d’ Alene (northern Idaho panhandle area) where there was a bar that served a drink called “The Derailer”. It was essentially a huge tub of alcohol, maybe a quart and a half, that everyone would assemble straws and drink from.

    The fun part was that most people got to the bar by boat. Good times! One guy took off out of there one night and ran his boat over some barrier logs near the floating golf course. At high speed. Nighttime piloting on the lake could be a blast, especially on brightly moonlit nights. Nothing like hauling along at 60+ on a night like that.

    Good times indeed, especially if you were familiar enough with the lake to pilot it at night.

  56. 56.

    asiangrrlMN

    November 11, 2009 at 1:46 am

    @Yutsano: It is true what you say about cats. They pick you and not vice-versa. So, I will have to wait to be acknowledged by his Tunchiness. In the meantime, I’ll just have to make do with you and TattooSydney. Yum. Gay-boys sandwich.

  57. 57.

    Martin

    November 11, 2009 at 1:46 am

    @Yutsano:

    No, we’re in debt to China, so they wouldn’t be our co-signor. But if we just trust Jesus to bail out our national debt, everything gets much easier.

  58. 58.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 1:50 am

    @asiangrrlMN: With a nice Asian filling!

    BTW calmly awaiting BoB’s response to his macho posturing about the Marines one post below. It should be quite delicious and/or entertaining.

  59. 59.

    Rathskeller

    November 11, 2009 at 1:51 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal): Thanks. My wife and I were just crying with laughter at that story. Top criminals do not tend to toss bags filled with their DNA at the scene. Go-go-go-GOP!

  60. 60.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 1:51 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Lake Nagawika – Delafield, WI there was a bar on the lake. Frequently accessed it by speed boat, night runs – yep. Also by snow sled over the ice, the draw back was the couple of warm springs that kept the ice melted off over them. Hit that with a snoot full cuz in the dark it looks like ice. Yes, at full tilt boogie a sled will run on water for aways. I never put one on the bottom but there were some down there. I did throw rooster tails a couple times. ooops. Schnaps was popular as were brandies. I like Jack and Millers.

    I did have some standards, I wouldn’t drink Bud if it was free. Hitting about 70 mph in a Suburban and throwing it into spins on the lake had a certain fun aspect, also. Crank the wheel all the way over, stomp the binder on and see how many revolutions you could get. There’s a knack to it. A certain level of stupidity, as well.

  61. 61.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 1:52 am

    @Chuck Butcher:
    like = liked, 21 yrs w/o mind altering substances.

  62. 62.

    Calouste

    November 11, 2009 at 1:56 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:

    If you ever get to Normandy, you’ll find pommeau, which is a handily bottled mix of apple juice and calvados which taste almost exactly like it just has one ingredient, and not the calvados.

  63. 63.

    The Populist

    November 11, 2009 at 1:59 am

    Brick Oven Troll needs to apologize for the lie of Obama watching the documentary.

    Balloon Juice readers with brains: 1,000

    BoB: 0

    http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/americandebate/69302282.html

    Sincerely,

    The Populist
    Your friendly neighborhood liar policeman

  64. 64.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    November 11, 2009 at 1:59 am

    I really like how a thread that started with Republican presidential hopefuls has morphed into a discussion of the most efficient methods getting plastered. Reminds me of how I shut out the Reagan years. Hope it’s not prophetic!

  65. 65.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 2:03 am

    @The Populist: Right now I think he’s trying to claw the image of a big strong Marine making out with another man. Or he’s titillated, it’s really hard to tell with BoB.

  66. 66.

    The Populist

    November 11, 2009 at 2:09 am

    BTW calmly awaiting BoB’s response to his macho posturing about the Marines one post below. It should be quite delicious and/or entertaining.

    We all know he talks the talk. His screwy posts show he has no honor. People with honor do not accuse others of being un-American.

    Disagree with me all you like, but NEVER call others un-American. I call people like him un-American because people DIED defending the rights of a-holes on the right to say such stupid crap but they are being dishonored by these jerks by calling others out, wrongly, as America haters.

    If liberals and Dems “hate” America, I have to wonder why the pot is calling the kettle black.

  67. 67.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 2:12 am

    @The Populist: I know several Marines that could kick BoB’s ass up one side and down the other without breaking a sweat. I also know they’re honorable men who would never assault a civilian regardless of how much they might deserve it. BoB thinks of them as meat puppets to do his conservative bidding, to me they’re some of the greatest men I know. Oh yeah did I mention they’re gay?

  68. 68.

    The Populist

    November 11, 2009 at 2:16 am

    I know several Marines that could kick BoB’s ass up one side and down the other without breaking a sweat. I also know they’re honorable men who would never assault a civilian regardless of how much they might deserve it. BoB thinks of them as meat puppets to do his conservative bidding, to me they’re some of the greatest men I know. Oh yeah did I mention they’re gay?

    Gay Americans, Straight Americans have died for this country. God bless them for fighting hard to allow the likes of Bachmann, Rush, Beck, Hannity and other idiots to use them like pawns when making wrongheaded, disingenuous and downright idiotic points so they can defend the status quo.

    I firmly believe idiots like BoB want socialism because this way the rich will stay rich while the rest of us fight for whatever scraps are left when these scumbags are done dismantling the middle class.

  69. 69.

    asiangrrlMN

    November 11, 2009 at 2:27 am

    @Yutsano: Taste like chicken!

    I don’t read BoB. He pisses me off. I hope TattooSydney comes along and discombobulates BoB some more.

    I am so freaking tired. Only wrote 4,000 words today. Will try to make up the other 3,500 tomorrow. Night, bitchez.

  70. 70.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 2:32 am

    @Chuck Butcher:

    I ice skated on a very frozen Horseshoe Lake (eastern Washington) once and that is all the ice/lake adventures I have ever engaged in. I was about 10 at the time and it was so cold that the lake cracked across it while we were on it. The ‘snap’ was loud as hell (at least to this 10 year olds ears!) and you could feel it through the ice when it happened. Our uncle drove us nuts teasing us about falling in. Since then I have left ice over deep water to others more adventurous than I. :)

    We used to do brodies in the huge parking lots in and around Spokane during the winter. The winter before my then girlfriend and I got married we were turning brodies in the big parking lot at St. Thomas Moore church. The snow was deep and pristine as it was early in the morning after an all night snowfall. The parking lot is like a paved yard, small hills and all, the temptation was too great and so off we went in her ’77 Celica. We were having such a good time we missed the Spokane County Sheriff that had parked on the street about a half-block away. We had been sliding around for about ten minutes but how long we had been being watched was unknown. When I saw the law I said ‘Oh shit’ (as I saw him while we were in mid-spin/slide) so when we came to a stop we sheepishly and slowly putted out of the lot.

    The law turned on his headlights and followed us to the stop sign on Wall Street though he turned north instead of following us south. That was a very nice cop. :)

    Sliding around on an uneven paved lot is damn fun! You get that stomach lurch when you go over a hill sideways while spinning, and the hill shape imparts speed and alters your direction in interesting ways.

  71. 71.

    Yutsano

    November 11, 2009 at 2:36 am

    @asiangrrlMN: I’m afraid the other hubby is busy working his tail off. Too bad, we have such an opportunity to tag team him. Although The Populist seems to be on a mission to make BoB crawl back into his hole.

  72. 72.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 2:45 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    I learned to drive in the north. First winter involved a lot of parking lot brodies and etc – best way to learn how to handle shit going wrong. By 17 yrs I was driving a ’63 Impala SS409 / 4 speed, posi. Very strange car in snow, very.

    You might appreciate this one, though
    A rotten snow plow

    425HP Chevy small block, 3spd auto, posi, baddaaasss

  73. 73.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 2:48 am

    @Rathskeller:

    I used to live in Spokane and Idaho is a great place to visit but don’t move there. One place we used to party there was at the Rathskeller’s Inn in Coeur d’Alene.

    The comments at Wonkette about that GOP semen slinger were hilarious. One Wonketeer(?) found another article from the Idaho Statesman that had a line in it that said ‘there still more juice in this guy’. It was from an article about his downfall that was written last summer. I guess he was showing them that they were right, he has so much ‘juice’ in him that he is throwing it around.

    Damned showoff!

    If he wants to keep delivering his packages he’s going to need a slingshot. The restraining order says 900 feet.

  74. 74.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 3:09 am

    @Chuck Butcher:

    Same here, I grew up in Spokane and I am a damned good winter driver. Sliding all over the place teaches you how to recover from a slide and other sweet little tricks in handling a car/truck.

    Talking about sweet, that Chebby is just that! Nice ride there, and I bet that engine moves it along quite nicely. As far as it being a ‘snow plow’ right now, boy can I relate to that. Our Mustang was a pig in the deep snow with the V6 and four speed, ground clearance being pretty much nonexistent on the car (four inches, maybe). Putting the 351 in it solved the problem to some degree. Well, I never got stuck again but I sure burned up lots of fuel plowing along in deep snow. I did have to stop one time when I plugged the front end up with so much snow that the engine started overheating.

    I know what that oil pan ‘path’ looks like in the snow…lol! Boy do I. My winter skills are probably a bit rusty having lived on the Oregon coast for the last seventeen years but the last time I was in Spokane (two winters ago) I didn’t have any problems and even hit a couple of parking lots in our Olds. :)

    When I was managing a mobile home park & campground on the north side of town in the late 70’s/early 80’s, the owner let me build up his 77 1/2 Ford F-150 for the job. We pulled the 400M and dropped a rebuilt 460 out of a ’69 Lincoln, adding an Erson TQ30 cam, headers, 2 1/2″ exhaust, Edelbrock intake and a Carter 625 AFB. We had the truck resprung to support the plow, rebuilt the transfer case and diffs, built the tranny up and added a shift kit plus a lot of other mods like a 3″ lift kit and related suspension mods.

    The boss let me go full out nuts on the mods because I talked him into letting me go out during the winter and plow lots and anything anyone needed done for cash. The winter months are the lean months in that business and we made so much extra cash that he had me take the truck home every winter for the five years I worked there. If I needed cash I just went out and ‘scraped’ it up. I split it 50/50 with the boss and that was more than fair.

    Operating a plow is a blast. One hell of a lot of work but I sure enjoyed it a lot. Plus I had good, reliable winter transportation for five winters. For free. And I made money doing it. Worked for me!

  75. 75.

    Tom Betz

    November 11, 2009 at 3:19 am

    @MBSS – DOn’t worry. Zima will be back by 2258.

  76. 76.

    El Cid

    November 11, 2009 at 3:21 am

    What? 6’4″?

    Well I’m 6′ 5″ and I eat punks like Thune for breakfast.

  77. 77.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 3:22 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Bad trucks are a blast, I’ve got a HP350/4spd man tranfer/man hubs ’74 K5 with the full removable top. Front bumper is a log truck boom section closed off with storage hatch where I keep tire chains/etc. Top speed in granny 4 low is about 7mph and that’s wound tight. It gets about 15mpg @ 65mph.

  78. 78.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 3:34 am

    @Chuck Butcher:

    A buddy of mine back when had a K5 that we used for just about every off-road disaster you could come up with. Dave was just crazy and aI am talking about full-speed in reverse crazy. He ran that poor rig right into the ground. One night he rolled it and crushed the top. Luckily he had installed a good roll bar and that saved his bacon. He tossed the top and it was a fair-weather rig from then onward.

    I won’t even tell you what he did (and could do) with his CJ-5. I would be surprised to find out that he is still alive, I should look him up…lol

    That plow truck was the ultimate (for us anyway) off-road rig. It had huge tires with a nice gnarly knobby tread on it and while I couldn’t thrash the truck we did have a lot of fun off-road with it. Put that sucker in low lock and stomp on it just to watch the roostertails of earth fly. It just shredded the ground if you wanted it to.

    It’s the torque baby!

  79. 79.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 3:42 am

    If you like torque, the Harley is an ’09 Screaming Eagle Springer Soft Tail with 110 cid Screaming Eagle motor. The bike is 725# and the motor makes 110 lb ft @ 3200rpm, about 90 HP at the rear tire. There are V-Twins with more butt, but that ain’t a little bit.

    This is Harley Porn. (work safe)

  80. 80.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 4:15 am

    Hog pron is good pron! :)

    I would love a Harley but the $$$ is too much to shell out for one. I have to suffer along on my XS850SG Yammy Special but since it was given to me by a friend that retired from riding, the price was right. Nothing sounds better in the motorcycle world than a well built Harley though. They are the sound of torque, so to say.

    Hey DougJ! “That stuff is exposive!”  Please define “exposive” for me. If it means that we are going to start seeing nekkid repubs running around then count me out.

    OT: The Daily Show points out that Faux Nooz decided to ‘pump up’ the Bachmann Wingnut Overdrive rally of the Marching Morans by substituting footage from the September 12th Teabagapalooza to make it look better attended than it was. Nothing like Faux pumping up faux outrage.

    H/T to the GOS

    On another note, I see that Taco Bell now has a taco with a black shell. I wonder if they might consider selling pink tacos.

  81. 81.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 11, 2009 at 4:23 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    We probably ought to get together for a putt sometime – well I’ll putt you’ll vrooom. I get over that way. Email addy is at the site. I doubt I’ll be crossing any mountain ranges before next year, though.

  82. 82.

    Gravenstone

    November 11, 2009 at 4:42 am

    Ah, youthful misadventures with alcohol. The great downward spiral began on my 21st birthday, when my buddies gifted me with a fifth of Everclear. From there, it became a somewhat alcohol soaked haze for much of my junior year. I think our favorite drink was a little something we called the Black Mamba – one shot each JD or Yukon Jack, 151 and Everclear, cut with two cans Pepsi to make it drinkable. We built up a fair tolerance for bombs like that, much to the chagrin of several underclassmen who would drink with us on occasion.

  83. 83.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 5:21 am

    There are some poker runs that I have been looking at that run out of Medford/Grants Pass. One I want to go on for sure next year is the Crater Lake run. Some other ‘triplers’ (nick for three cylinder owners) make the run every year and I had to miss the one this year due to trip conflicts.

    I’ll give you a heads up when my bud in GP lets me know when the first spring run is, it would be cool to meet another BJ’er from Oregon. We are on the lookout for wheels for the wife. She wants me to restore a Maxim 650 for her so we are looking around for a good deal over this winter. The 850 is a tall bike and too much for her to lift (a precondition for owning a bike in my book). The thing weighs just over 700 lbs. with the fairing, and it is a top-heavy bike. The Maxim fits her (a bud rides one) and she can pick it up (from a very careful laydown of his bike!) without a problem.

    I am not sure I am going to winterize the bike this year as last year I was able to ride pretty much all winter. I don’t like to miss out on a good ride when the weather is good. Hell, I don’t mind a ride in the rain either!

    Damn internet connection keeps dying out. Must be that storm stretching over the ocean, us, eastern Oregon, north Idaho and western Montana. It’s a long, thin stream of a storm and right over us. Monsoon season sux but at least I don’t have to shovel rain!

  84. 84.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 5:26 am

    Sheep dip, my response was modded due to the p o k e r word. Let’s try again…

    There are some p o k e r runs that I have been looking at that run out of Medford/Grants Pass. One I want to go on for sure next year is the Crater Lake run. Some other ‘triplers’ (nick for three cylinder owners) make the run every year and I had to miss the one this year due to trip conflicts.

    I’ll give you a heads up when my bud in GP lets me know when the first spring run is, it would be cool to meet another BJ’er from Oregon. We are on the lookout for wheels for the wife. She wants me to restore a Maxim 650 for her so we are looking around for a good deal over this winter. The 850 is a tall bike and too much for her to lift (a precondition for owning a bike in my book). The thing weighs just over 700 lbs. with the fairing, and it is a top-heavy bike. The Maxim fits her (a bud rides one) and she can pick it up (from a very careful laydown of his bike!) without a problem.

    I am not sure I am going to winterize the bike this year as last year I was able to ride pretty much all winter. I don’t like to miss out on a good ride when the weather is good. Hell, I don’t mind a ride in the rain either!

    Damn internet connection keeps dying out. Must be that storm stretching over the ocean, us, eastern Oregon, north Idaho and western Montana. It’s a long, thin stream of a storm and right over us. Monsoon season sux but at least I don’t have to shovel rain!

  85. 85.

    salacious crumb

    November 11, 2009 at 5:36 am

    I still find it to be mind boggling/numbing that Davis Petraeus, after all the incompetence he has seen performed by Bush nd his GOP cronies, is a Republican.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    November 11, 2009 at 6:27 am

    @Scott de B.:

    Tolkien invented ‘dwarves’ to parallel ‘elves’ and to reflect the original plural ‘dwarrows.’ Since Tolkien, however, everyone has followed his lead.

    I think the idea that Tolkien invented dwarves is something of an Internet myth. The word dates from at least the early 1800s (and probably much earlier). But Tolkien did deliberately use it rather than dwarfs in The Hobbit (1937).

    And a quick Google search returns about 5.6 million hits for dwarfs and 2.3 million for dwarves, which argues against the idea that “everyone has followed” Tolkien. Maybe in fantasy novels, although I note that Terry Pratchett uses dwarfs in the Discworld novels. But not in astronomy or botany, certainly.

  87. 87.

    Bobby Thomson

    November 11, 2009 at 7:30 am

    You know why those sources are anonymous? It tends to be counterproductive when your own staff fluffs you in public.

  88. 88.

    Xenos

    November 11, 2009 at 7:52 am

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:

    What do we call this pack of 20 or 30 zeros in 2012?

    A googol of goners.

  89. 89.

    toujoursdan

    November 11, 2009 at 8:20 am

    Quote from his Wiki entry:

    “Liberating Iraq from decades of tyranny and dictatorship, bringing about political freedom, will create an atmosphere of where religious freedom will come to Iraq. And that opens the door, obviously, for the Christian faith there as well.”

    He’s just a better looking Huckabee. These people are generally spectacularly poor in debates and even worst at governing.

  90. 90.

    Svensker

    November 11, 2009 at 8:20 am

    @El Cid:

    Well, Thune is handsome enough, I wouldn’t mind him for brekkie meself.

    Repubs usually aren’t very good looking. Something about being crazy combined with lotsa fried food.

  91. 91.

    Svensker

    November 11, 2009 at 8:24 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Damn internet connection keeps dying out. Must be that storm stretching over the ocean, us, eastern Oregon, north Idaho and western Montana. It’s a long, thin stream of a storm and right over us. Monsoon season sux but at least I don’t have to shovel rain!

    I have a friend who is stuck out on the ocean on a boat off the Oregon coast. Seas are too rough to come in to port. She’s been there quite a few days, and starting to get a little antsy.

  92. 92.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 11, 2009 at 8:35 am

    @Svensker:

    We were getting slammed with 25-35 foot waves last weekend but all we have been getting is a lot of drizzle, no real monsoon as of yet. Usually we are swimming all winter but the last few have been pretty dry, just lots of drizzle and not the usual floods.

    I hope your friend and everyone else gets in to port safely! It would suck to be out there right now. The storm track I mentioned earlier has moved up so it is now over the Eugene area, streaming from about 300 mile out over the ocean and all of the way across Montana. Right now we are in a bit of a trough but from what I can see at NOAA it looks like another bunch is heading right at us.

    If you want to see what I use for weather, check this NOAA link out. You can zoom into your property and get the nearest data and estimated forecast for your property…lol. This link is my town but not my area of town. The radar maps are useful as the forecasts for our area change by the hour in lousy weather. I am pretty good at figuring out what we are facing at any given time.

    Great web site and it’s ours, so use it! ;)

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 11, 2009 at 8:44 am

    Just testing here. Have tried thrree times to submit a message.

  94. 94.

    soonergrunt

    November 11, 2009 at 8:52 am

    Why do some people continue linking GEN Petraeus with right-winger presidential candidates?
    He has shown no inclination towards electoral politics, has shown no enmity towards his current CinC, no special affinity for his last one. Note for the record that Rumsfeld had a policy of purging the Army of generals that disagreed with him, and that Petraeus survived this.
    All generals are politicians to some extent. They wouldn’t have made it into the general officer ranks if they weren’t, but that’s not even remotely the same thing as having the aspirations to which you ascribe him, and for which he has never shown any inclination.

  95. 95.

    soonergrunt

    November 11, 2009 at 8:52 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: you got it.

  96. 96.

    Legalize

    November 11, 2009 at 9:09 am

    John Thune IS a regular guy. I know it’s true because I saw a picture of him wearing a work shirt and denim jacket.

  97. 97.

    BillCinSD

    November 11, 2009 at 10:42 am

    @toujoursdan: no, Huckabee actually has a brain. Thune is a prettier GW Bush

  98. 98.

    Corner Stone

    November 11, 2009 at 11:09 am

    @Gravenstone:

    The great downward spiral began on my 21st birthday,

    What the hell took you so long?

  99. 99.

    Corner Stone

    November 11, 2009 at 11:14 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Nighttime piloting on the lake could be a blast, especially on brightly moonlit nights. Nothing like hauling along at 60+ on a night like that.
    …
    Good times indeed, especially if you were familiar enough with the lake to pilot it at night.

    We used to do something like this too. Have a couple then go water skiing after midnight. On the San Jacinto river near Houston, TX.
    Not really good times when I think about it now, more like “death wish”. It was a blast then, but damn that was stupid.

  100. 100.

    Svensker

    November 11, 2009 at 11:25 am

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):

    Great web site and it’s ours, so use it! ;)

    It was weird — the general forecast for my neighborhood was 56, but when I clicked down to my street, which is at the top of a small hill, the temp dropped down to 55. Guess they really do have us all mapped out. Should I be expected the FEMA Camp knock any minute now?

  101. 101.

    DanF

    November 11, 2009 at 11:47 am

    So the average age of a senator is what – 63? Yeah – I’m sure he’s a monster on the court… ‘You’re goin’ down Orrin! In your face Lugar! Don’t bust a hip McCain!’ Awesome …

  102. 102.

    BillCinSD

    November 11, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    @DanF: Thune was a very good player in high school. He made All State and played in college. He’s not exactly Bill Bradley, but he at least was a pretty good player.

  103. 103.

    Pangloss

    November 11, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    I’ve got Thune Mania!! America is due for a Thune-Up!! He’s Thunerific!! And that’s the name of that Thune!! You can’t spell “Thunder” without T-H-U-N-E!!

    Meh…. I got nothin’.

  104. 104.

    noncarborundum

    November 11, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    @The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:

    I just think Tolkien was right, etymologically

    I don’t think so. Etymologically, the change of -f(e) to -ves happened only to words that ended with -f in Old English (and not all of them). Examples are: knife (<cnif), leaf, life (from <lif), sheaf (<sceaf), wolf (<wulf). The reason for this was that the letter -f- between vowels or voiced consonants was actually pronounced like our “v”, and the Old English plural suffixes started with vowels.

    Dwarf, on the other hand, was “dweorg” or “dweorh”, with a final sound like that in German “durch”. The Old English -f to -ves variation didn’t apply.

  105. 105.

    noncarborundum

    November 11, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    @noncarborundum:

    I don’t think so. Etymologically, the change of f(e) to -ves happened only to words that ended with -f in Old English (and not all of them). Examples are: knife ( between vowels or voiced consonants was actually pronounced like our “v”, and the Old English plural suffixes started with vowels.

    WordPress fails again. Shall I try with equal signs where I had hyphens, and “from” where I had less-than?

    I don’t think so. Etymologically, the change of =f(e) to =ves happened only to words that ended with =f in Old English (and not all of them). Examples are: knife (from cnif), leaf, life (from lif), sheaf (from sceaf), wolf (from wulf). The reason for this was that =f= between vowels or voiced consonants was actually pronounced like our “v”, and the Old English plural suffixes started with vowels.

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