Not sure if everyone noticed this, but David Brooks’ latest mancrush, John Thune, finished second in a recent “Republican Insiders’ Poll” of who would be the Republicans’ strongest nominee in 2012. This surprised me, since he seems marginally less impressive than Tim Pawlenty and much less impressive than Mitt or Haley Barbour (I’m not claiming that any of these people would be great nominees, but I think that Mitt and Barbour have legitimately accomplished things during their lives).
Since everyone loved the former Dakota Senator staffer’s take on Dorgan, here he is on Thune:
To understand Thune, you need to realize that South Dakota tends to elect dumb, good-looking Republicans to the Senate when they get sick of smart, homely Democrats. The last dumb looker was closet case named Larry Pressler (we called him “Princess” in the office where I worked). Larry got a little PR for refusing an ABSCAM bribe, but he was a pretty obvious empty suit, so homely Tim Johnson beat him out in 1996.
Other than being a little more butch than Pressler, Thune doesn’t have much to offer. Pressler was a Rhodes Scholar*, a lawyer and a Vietnam Vet. Thune went to a fucking bible college and got every job he’s ever had through Republican connection. He started out as a legislative aide, got some bullshit state jobs, and finally won a House race. He lost a Senate squeaker to none other than Tim Johnson — pretty boys just can’t beat him. He only beat Daschle because the Republicans threw everything they had at Tom.
That all said, I hope Thune runs for President. He’s far too much of a bible banger to win a general election, but he’ll set himself to lose his seat in 2016. The “too big for his britches” issue brought down McGovern and Daschle, and it would be great to see Thune get a dose of that medicine. If Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin is done pumping out Max’s blue dog babies by 2016, I’d love to see her foot in Thune’s ass. (My guess is she’ll run for an open seat when Johnson retires.)
—–
* Yet not at all smart. In fact, he was one of the most wooden and unimaginative politicians I’ve ever seen.
David in NY
Well, that’s a pungent assessment, anyway.
clonecone
Anyone who loved Bush will love Thune. Same lack of IQ. Same vacant stare. Same butchering of the language. I could easily see him clearing brush every few months for two very long terms.
SpotWeld
Sounds like a perfect match for Palin
Notorious P.A.T.
It’s great he went to a bible college! Finally we could have a religious person in government!
Mark S.
Well, that’s what the question was, not “Who has the most impressive resume?”
I think Romney is a virtual lock for the nomination. Have the Republicans ever nominated a dark horse? Maybe Goldwater could be considered one, but I can’t think of anyone else in the last sixty years.
saucy
As a native South Dakotan, I find that every word of this assessment rings true.
MattF
Now, it’s important to be careful here. The only major Republican politician I can think of offhand who was known for his intelligence was Nixon. Richard M. Nixon, the person who thought up the Southern Strategy, who spent time making up enemies lists, who gave us Watergate– Nixon, the psychopath. So, I’m just sayin’ that when you hear that a Republican politician who isn’t so smart is being prepped for higher office… you should feel grateful rather than smug.
flavortext
Those insider quotes are a hoot. On Gingrich:
Jeb Bush:
The Republican primary looks like it’s going to be loads of fun!
inkadu
That description was the most engaging bit of political writing I’ve read in a very long time. Tell your friend to get a blog.
dmsilev
Read this at first as ‘last dumb hooker’, and thought that he’d definitely be in high demand among the GOP congressional delegation.
-dms
policomic
Like Saucy, I’m an SD native who finds these comments (not just on Thune, but on Pressler, and SD politics in general) to be spot on.
Mark S.
It’s interesting how little these guys think of both Palin and Huckabee. I’m not surprised about Palin (everybody except her fan base realizes she’s an airhead after the big bucks), but Huckabee did amazingly well last time.
inkadu
DougJ- Not sure you’re reading the poll right . There seems to be a Democratic response to the poll which is:
1. Mitt Romney 29 percent
2. John Thune 15 percent
3. Tim Pawlenty 13 percent
4. Mitch Daniels 11 percent
5. Newt Gingrich 6 percent
and a Republican response:
1. Mitt Romney 81
2. Tim Pawlenty 46
3. John Thune 38
4. Haley Barbour 28
5. Mitch Daniels 25
The different response were based on slightly different questions and the numbers behind them mean different things, but it looks like Romney is far ahead of the pack, as you’d imagine, and Pawlenty and Thune are quarelling over second. Democrats are slightly more intimidated by Thune but Republicans think Pawlenty has a better shot at the nomination.
But small sample sizes and theoretical questions, so whatever.
inkadu
[Repeat Post]
theturtlemoves
@saucy: I concur as another native South Dakotan, now ex-pat. When Thune beat Daschle, I was amazed at the stupidity of the electorate, but shouldn’t have been. Every time I go home to visit the parents, the letters to the editor scare the living crap out of me. Not sure if I wasn’t paying attention growing up or if it really has gotten more tea-baggy.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio
Good looks are important to me, inasmuch as I don’t personally have them. Therefore the better looking a politician is, the more I like and respect him. Or her.
Duh, that’s why there will never be a President Abzug.
Ella in NM
My fear is that he might actually be just slick enough to con people. Let’s face it–we could have had Sarah Palin as our VP if they had just trained her from earlier on in the race.
inkadu
@Ella in NM: Yeah, we could have Sarah Palin for VP.
Or we could have had a vaccuous, corporate evangelical in office. For Eight years. Named George W. Bush. That would have been really bad.
Mike Kay
Dougj said,
Please. Thune is a good looking man. Hence the mancrush.
The thing is Thune has no personal charisma. Just think about it, have you ever seen Thune on tee vee — no (not even on fixxed news).
He’s basically Harold Ford. A good looking guy, with the charisma of dried cement.
Mike Kay
@DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio:
it’s a shame that it’s true, but would Palin had ever been elected anything if she looked like Bella? She sure didn’t get in on her wreadin and riding abilities.
cleek
11/2012 – 1/2010 = 2.83 years.
please, do not start this fucking horserace bullshit while there are still 34 months before the election.
Paul L.
Progressives seem to be forgetting everything they said before 2008.
Remember progressives were claiming George W. Bush was a Theocon?
How did he get reelected?
Time to use the Ezra Klein “I was joking” defense?
Econwatcher
@MattF:
Reagan was also very smart. By most accounts, he was never the same after the Hinckley shooting (which occcurred very early in his first term), and of course the Alzheimers had probably already set in later in his presidency. So for most of his presidency, he was very unimpressive in unscripted appearances and got a reputation as an airhead.
But if you read from some of his debates and unscripted interviews in the 1970s, the guy was bright and surprisingly immersed in the minutiae of policy. Very right wing, yes. But stupid, no.
bemused
@Mike Kay:
Funny thing about those good looking guys. If they are raving wingnuts, they suddenly look like lounge lizards to me
I expected cable news to ignore this for awhile longer but I guess this was just too hard to resist. I glanced at the tv & Hardball was showing Brown’s old Cosmo photo spread. Hmm, I wonder how the senior citizen conservatives in Mass will react.
inkadu
@cleek: Yeah, but Obama’s already a lame duck. What else is there to talk about?
Zifnab
@MattF:
Dick Cheney is no fool. Newt Gingrich had a bit of political genius about him. Hell, no one should underestimate Trent Lott or Mitch McConnell either.
But I agree, they haven’t had anyone intelligent as President since Nixon.
Zifnab
@Paul L.:
TERRORISM! TERRORISM! TERRORISM!
WINDSURFING! SWIFT BOAT VETERANS! TERRORISM!
That, plus a little voter suppression in Florida and Ohio did the job nicely.
Irrelevant,YetPoignant
@Econwatcher:
President Nixon: What’s your evaluation of Reagan after meeting him several times now?
Kissinger: Well, I think he’s a–actually I think he’s a pretty decent guy.
President Nixon: Oh, decent, no question, but his brains
Kissinger: Well, his brains, are negligible. I-
President Nixon: He’s really pretty shallow, Henry.
(cf.)
RSR
If you quote this source again–and I hope you do–it’ll need it’s own tag.
Lines like “we called him “Princess” in the office where I worked” make me long to send this off to some non-blog reading polticially involved friends. Just for the guffaws.
Update: in fact, if a tag is deemed necessary, I nominate “we called him Princess”
danimal
@Zifnab: Sorry, Zifnab, but I’m going to have to be the one that underestimates Mitch McConnell. He’s shown little in both the political and policy arenas. He can barely get himself reelected in Kentucky.
R. Johnston
@Zifnab:
Cheney and Gingrich are dumb as rocks. They have literally no understanding of policy at all. What they are are driven bullies who have the skill of being able to superficially sound informed. They distract you with bullying and insanity so you lose sight of the fact that they’re morons. But the fact remains that they’re morons.
Econwatcher
@Irrelevant,YetPoignant:
It’s of course commonplace that Kissinger was a complete sycophant, but that exchange you quote is hilarious in showing how obvious he was. You can just see him searching Nixon’s face to find out what Nixon thought so that he could say whatever Nixon wanted to hear.
Paul L.
Thank Gaia Obama is fighting againstvoter suppression.
Unless it is performed by the Black Panthers.
“Stonewall” Holder and Barack Milhous Obama
cleek
somehow i turned off my copy of GreaseMonkey, which rendered my pie filter impotent. and i was exposed. i saw it. and now i remember the horrible truth: holy fuck, Paul L is an idiot.
Midnight Marauder
@Paul L.:
You are running on fumes here, chief.
Ailuridae
@MattF:
Err, Bullshit. George HW Bush was an exceptionally bright and accomplished man. Remember, when it came time to govern, he governed. He raised taxes and closed military bases despite knowing there could be very bad personal consequences for the country by him doing so.
I read something recently and its pretty much true the Republican Presidents post WW2 have either been incompetent with ties to movement Conservatisim (Nixon, Reagan and the more recent Bush) or very competent without ties to movement Conservatisim (Eisenhower, The first Bush and to a lesser extant Gerald Ford).
Thune, well BOLA where he went to college is movement Conservatism in a nutshell. I can’t believe that the likes of Brooks are pretending that someone who went to the equivalent of Liberty University is middle-of-the-road or pragmatic.
Eric S.
@cleek:
No kidding! I can’t remember ever being this burned out on politics before. I’m trying to muster the energy to see what offices I’m supposed to be voting for in a primary in 3 weeks. I’ll figure out the candidates after that.
Zifnab
@R. Johnston:
Wow. I disagree completely.
Cheney understood policy with crystal clarity. He didn’t agree with them and he didn’t respect them, but he was looking to conquer the Middle East and set up military dictatorships, not set up peaceful trade alliances and diplomatic affairs.
Gingrich has turned demagoguery into a freak’n art form. He knows all the right keys to hit to bring himself to power and rally the public around him.
Cheney did an excellent job of funneling billions of dollars into friendly coffers. Gingrich took a battle-axe to the social safety net. Given that these were their goals, and given that they succeeded brilliantly, I’d say they were smart enough.
gex
@Mark S.: The reason the elite Republicans conveniently forget Huckabee’s strong showing is that he’s the wrong kind of Christian. Sure he’s a Christianist and is okay with alienating Muslims, gays, and secularists, but he also read the parts in the Bible about helping the poor. That isn’t in the mainstream GOP Bible/playbook.
xian
shouldn’t that be “a rare and different Thune”?
matoko_chan
The single simple reason they can’t run Palin is that the “no-follow-up-questions” was a onesie.
That will never happen again, and she simply can’t do follow-up questions. Profound lack of substrate.
It is her achilles heel.
heh.
eemom
@cleek:
what are you, sane or something? Sheesh.
prairiedaag
I am another So. Dak. native / resident who finds your associates analysis spot on. (I also get the “closet case” reference to Pressler, who according to the story once walked into a closet off a hearing room in the Capitol, that he thought was an exit…good times. Old Larry also gave us the Telecommunications Act of 1996).
It’s also interesting that the Politico piece mentions the proximity of NW Iowa with the Sioux Falls media market, and his support from their congressperson Steve King, who in my book could give Michelle Bachman a run for her lunacy money anyday. So King represents the mostly wingnut batsh*t crazy corner of Iowa, across the border in So. Dak they have the same attitudes, and that part of our state is the liberal area.
As Theturtlemoves noted above (#15), the letters to the editor around here can really scare the crap out of you.
And don’t forget, Thune’s daddy was a war hero (that was his primary qualification for a number of years, sounds like now he’s learned to remember names and anecdotes now, Karl Mundt’s m.o.)
eemom
@xian:
dunno, I’m Thune-deaf.
Kathy
@saucy: Ditto
Platonicspoof
@Ella in NM:
Well, let’s keep reminding people of things like Thune’s vote on the Franken Amendment, in case he at least gets slick handlers.
asiangrrlMN
Man, your friend is great, DougJ. I definitely think he should do a guest post once in awhile.
Mattsky
After the fiasco the Obama Administration has turned out to be having legitimately accomplished things might be a good criteria in choosing a future POTUS.
bob h
* Yet not at all smart. In fact, he was one of the most wooden and unimaginative politicians I’ve ever seen.
David Vitter was also a Rhodes Scholar.
Paul in KY
From what I’ve read, I think Reagan was alot sharper (when he was younger) than GW Bush.
Reagan also had more political savvy.
gf120581
In more ways than one, since Pressler was the Senator who infamously walked into a coat closet thinking it was an exit and then hid out in their until his colleagues left and he could slip out with embarassing himself further (unfortuanately, his colleagues were well aware of him and elected to wait him out).
Pressler, now just look at what a couple of his fellow Senators had to say about him:
Ted Kennedy: “Has he had a lobotomy?”
Tom Daschle: “A Senate seat is a terrible thing to waste.” (Which may be why Daschle had his protege Tim Johnson replace Pressler in 1996.)