SD Senator John Thune announced today that he is dropping out of a possible run for President in 2012, creating a deeper quandary for the old guard GOP, in my opinion. Thune was a solid conservative that also has Teaparty appeal in many states, expecially throughout the West/Midwest regions. While many big name Republican leaders encouraged Thune to run for President in 2012, I felt from the start that Mr. Thune was just not comfortable with this situation. His speech at CPAC was very well-written, and tough on all the right issues, yet I saw a man that just wasn’t tough enough to muster up the enthusiasm to rally and energize the nation. Today’s announcement didn’t catch many off guard, but will surely leave many supporters wondering what would have happened if he had given it a shot. How would he have affected the primaries? Now we shall never know. Senator Thune released the following statement today:
“For months now, my wife Kimberley and I have received encouragement from family, friends, colleagues, and supporters from across South Dakota and the country to run for the presidency of the United States. We have appreciated hearing their concerns about where the country is headed and their hopes for a new direction.
During this time, Kimberley and I and our two daughters have given a great deal of thought to how we might best serve South Dakota and our nation. That process has involved lots of prayer.
Along the way, we have been reminded of the importance of being in the arena, of being in the fight. And make no mistake that during this period of fiscal crisis and economic uncertainty there is a fight for the future direction of America. There is a battle to be waged over what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren and that battle is happening now in Washington, not two years from now. So at this time, I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America’s future here in the trenches of the United States Senate.
I want to thank those who have encouraged us and prayed for us during the past several months. We are forever grateful for all the support.”
John and Kimberley
Senator Thune is rumored to be eyeing up a Senate leadership position when/if the republicans take over the senate in 2012 as expected. This was brought about by Sen John Kyle (R-AZ) announcing his retirement earlier this month. The reshuffling will probably involve John Cornyn (TX) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn), and certainly looks to have played a part in Thune’s decision today.
Senator Thune has solid conservative ratings across the board, with the America Conservative Union giving him a rating of 100 in 2006 and 2010.
Senator Thune’s ACU lifetime rating is 88.97.
Senator Thune is a strong supporter of both current wars, cutting spending within our Federal Government, and voted against all forms of the Democrat’s proposed Socialised Healthcare bills. After being called one of the biggest earmark offenders in the Senate, Thune supported the current 2 year ban on earmarks. He correctly calls himself a “fiscal conservative.” One knock on Thune, used by leftist media misinformation spreaders was that Thune’s voting for the Federal bailouts would hurt him too badly for him to be a successful candidate for President in 2012. That wasn’t necessarily true to those who truly understand the DC climate at the time of those first bailouts.People were lied to and bullied for those votes, with probably less than half the truth being told to the voters. If we listen to the leftist media misfits, we don’t have a viable candidate for President in 2012. Boy are they in for a surprise!
GodSpeed Senator Thune, to you and your family. Keep up the good work in the U.S. Senate.
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If Senator Thune doesn’t feel that he is ready then he should know better than anyone else. The person who will be elected President in 2012 will have a tough job ahead of them cleaning up the Obama mess.
I agree 100% Carol. I find him hard to gauge right now on possible reasons behind his decision. O one hand some folks want us to believe he wants to become entrenched in the old guard GOP power structure in the Senate after Kyle retires. yet to listen to him at CPAC he came across as a strong fiscal conservative that the Teaparty would certainly support. One does not go with the other here, in my opinion. That is why I allude to his seeming to be “uncomfortable” with the talk about him running for POTUS in 2012.
Thanks again for joining in the conversation here at CDN. W need to get a hell of a lot more folks talking about this stuff if we are ever to get the Marxist Community Organizer in Chief out of office in 2012.