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Thune Joins Camp Romney, Despite RomneyCare Criticism; Quid Pro Quo?

Last updated on 2014.07.18

Shad Olson
Shad Olson

Shad Olson is an arrogant blowhard suffering from lexical hypertrophy. He also makes a point about Senator John Thune's shoulder-to-shoulder endorsement of Mitt Romney that has thus far escaped the somnolent sycophants at Dakota War College.

Olson notes that two months ago, Senator Thune told Laura Ingraham that he wanted to see Romney disavow his Massachusetts health care program:

"Would you advise Mitt Romney to say something different today on RomneyCare than he has?" Ingraham asked.

"Well, I think it would be great, I suppose if he would come out and, I mean I think there are a lot of people who over the years who have, since this thing passed in Massachusetts, have looked at it and said gosh I wish he would come out and then disown it or disavow it," Thune said. "It doesn't sound like he is going to do that."

When Ingraham pressed, asking, "Should he?" Thune answered, "Well, frankly, I would like to see that, but I am not advising the campaign" [Maggie Haberman, "John Thune: Mitt Romney Should Walk Back RomneyCare," Politico.com, 2011.09.21].

Thune is advising the Romney campaign now. Six days before Thune joined Team Romney, Mitt made clear he is not going to walk back RomneyCare (though eleven months remain for that position to evolve). If Thune is bent out of shape over a more active government role in making health care affordable, he doesn't think that's enough to keep Romney from beating Barack Obama. Thune soft-pedaled the language Olson cites the day after the Ingraham interview, and, as Romney stands now, Thune will be soft-pedaling that language on his coming trips through Iowa.

Olson asks the same question that The Displaced Plainsman posed three days ago: what did Thune get for his endorsement? LK speculates that Thune at the very least is dealing for dibs on Romney's extensive Rolodex for 2016. I'll buy that thesis sooner than I'll buy any suggestion that Thune is angling for a Cabinet post or (gasp!) Vice-President. I'm going to speculate that Thune is weighing potential gains and losses very carefully. He's on a steady upward trajectory in the Senate (number four man now, aiming for number three). His current job and power are safe until 2016. A Cabinet or VP slot are far from sure bets, since they hinge on Republicans winning the White House in 2012. If Thune believed those odds were better than 50-50, he likely would have jumped into the race to take President Obama's job himself (and Mitt Romney acknowledged that had Thune run, Thune would have been the man to beat).

Thune doesn't expect to be on the ballot next year or in the Cabinet in 2013. All he's after is the clearest, most concrete benefit he can capture from any of the current candidates: campaign connections for 2016. Some minor triangulation on RomneyCare is a small price to pay for that big national network of donors and doers.

p.s.: Radical wingnut Bob Ellis thinks (I use that term loosely) Thune's endorsement of Romney warrants this grim graphic:

Dakota Voice Screen cap 2011.11.23: Thune Endorsement of Romney = Republicans shoot selves in foot
Dakota Voice screen cap 2011.11.23

34 Comments

  1. troy jones 2011.11.27

    Or how about Senator Thune thinks Romney will be the best President for the times and issues that face our nation. Must we be so cynical?

  2. LK 2011.11.27

    Troy,

    I wish you would run for something; I'd vote for your idealism because I believe that you really believe that Thune endorsed Romney because he thinks Romney is the best choice.

    I am a bit (ok a lot) more cynical. I'm on the wrong side of 50, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a politician do something without the thought of political consequences/gain. In short, no politician, Thune included, does nothing for nothing.

  3. Bill Fleming 2011.11.27

    Cory, the problem with criticizing "ObamneyCare" is that the only better solution would be Universal Health Care, and I think everybody is finally starting to figure that out. Medicare for everybody. If you're going to really reform the American Health Care System, that's the way to do it. Time to stop thinking of it as "insurance" and start thinking of it as Health Care service delivery. A fundamental human need.

  4. Roger Elgersma 2011.11.27

    talks very right wing but supports rinos. Hum, wonder why he 'quit' seminary. Inconsistencies show up again you know.

  5. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.11.27

    Thune did seminary?! He got his undergraduate business degree at a fundie college in California, but he didn't actually do seminary, did he?

    Troy, you dare suggest that a politician's statement means exactly what it means, no more and no less? Oh, the audacity!

    Bill, Dennis Kucinich sold me on that seven years ago. That's my real hope for ObamaCare, that it paves the way for America joining the rest of the industrialized and civilized world on health care.

  6. Jana 2011.11.27

    The latest CNN/ORC poll has some good news for both Obama and Romney as far as health care reform goes. The survey actually carves out the number of people (35%) who oppose "Obomney care" because it isn't liberal enough. So as it stands now, more people favor healthcare reform.

    He're another link for you Corey:

    http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.11.27

    I will give credit to Thune that I will never give to Noem: Thune thinks these things through. Perhaps Thune has recognized that the health care reform battle is not a winning issue in 2012, and so the GOP doesn't need to nominate someone who wants to fight that 2010 battle over again. In other words, sit down, Tea Party. Occupy is closer to the narrative of jobs and economy that will dominate the 2012 campaign.

  8. Brett Hoffman 2011.11.27

    It's hard to say if Senator Thune would turn down a VP position if offered--it may the kind of thing that's hard to turn down in any circumstances. Still, I think you're right in that it's not really what he's after. Is he stronger if he is the VP on a losing ticket, or if he keeps his powder dry? Better to be a loyal soldier and have his own run in '16.

  9. Charlie Hoffman 2011.11.27

    Whew; we just followed the whole free world into the toilet if we do what FB and CH stated above.

    Bill; a fundamental human need? Like water, and food, and shelter I assume is your thinking. OK ; great, then lets figure out who ends up paying for it. Are Marlboro's, Diet Coke, and Hostess Twinkies on that list too?

    CH; "That’s my real hope for ObamaCare, that it paves the way for America joining the rest of the industrialized and civilized world on health care." {{And Cory; Obama Care is two words.}} Honestly Cory do you understand even a shred of evidence coming out of the EU? Their socialized medicine is killing them. Canadians with money come to America for their health care needs. And you honestly want to follow the rest of the world into the toilet? Unbelievable! My only hope is that you are keeping your subjective stupidity to yourself in all your high school grammar classes and not corrupting any of our finest young people in SD.

  10. mike 2011.11.27

    Thune is a crafty fella. I really find him impressive and articulate. He has a very moderate low key personality so he fits with the centrists rather than the wingers. He is also very intelligent.

    Noem is an image riding on Thune's coattails. In the election a lot of Thune's people mocked her intelligence before and after debates. Trust me even Thune's people think Noem is a hick (which is not true) she is actually fairly intelligent she just lacks political experience. She'll grow or she'll lose.

    I prefer she loses to Rounds in 2014.

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.11.27

    Mike: why not run Rounds in 2012 for that House seat, get him warmed up for Senate?

  12. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    Charlie, it's Obamney Care. A bi-partisan deal.

  13. troy jones 2011.11.28

    Please tell me people really don't think it significant what someone might have entered college to study or that they might have changed majors.

  14. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.11.28

    (Troy: I've changed majors and universities, so I have no beef there. I'm just curious: did Thune study toward entering the clergy?)

  15. Charlie Hoffman 2011.11.28

    OK Cory that was a bit of a low blow. I am sure that in your professional nature none of the liberal agenda you have set forth in your life comes into play in the classroom. I trust everyone gets to voice their opinion differing with yours while you pleasantly stand down and allow them their 20 seconds of fame. You let me ramble on here so all must good.

    We have universal health care currently in America. No one can be denied the emergency room visit; even if for a sniffle. Also one only has to pour over the commission meeting minutes in every local paper in every county every month to find tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of indigent care the county ends up fighting the hospital over with our property tax dollars paying the bill. If we are going to continue allowing folks the option of requesting indigent care and having the public pay for it maybe we need to set some standards into play for those who partake of the free health care. Number one become tobacco free. Number two a required drug test before any public money goes out into fixing the lifestyle of folks who cannot afford health care costs making sure their behavior does not contribute to our public payments to them.

    What Romney stated in Mass. was that kids are the easiest and cheapest people to insure and if their health care needs are met early in life their entire lifetime of health care costs become much less than the average person. In South Dakota over one half of all babies born and one third of all our citizens are on Medicaid. One of the reasons there was not enough money to give to schools was because of the enormous dollars spent on Medicaid. The future looks grim. $100 million more in eight years of Medicaid costs coming to SD. Where is that going to come from and what other programs are going to be affected when the pie is diced even further?

    Now to answer the LK dilemma above of not ever finding a politician doing what is right instead of what is politically correct? You have obviously been only watching and reading what the Liberals are saying and doing. For many of my counterparts tell the truth even when it hurts them at home. Does everyone who runs for public office lose their identity and become a politician? Or do we get to remain a husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter first without getting mixed into that horrible smelling bath water by folks like you?

  16. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.11.28

    Charlie, you tend to decorate your arguments with some odd red herrings. I cite facts, and you cry "low blow" and go on about my French class? I see no underhanded argument in my comment above, and I see no connection between the various methods by which I teach verb conjugations and the fact that the French, the Canadians, the Brits, and the rest of the civilized industrial world get at least as good if not better health care results than we do while spending half as much.

    We could save a whole bunch of money by putting everyone on real universal health care, Medicare for Everyone. We could cut all sorts of fat (like extravagant hotel-style hospital rooms). We could help people before their condition deteriorates to emergency status (more cost savings). We could end the haggling the county commissions go through deciding who gets indigent help and who doesn't. We could recoup and reallocate the 20%–30% wasted on the inefficient bureaucracy of the hodgepodge private for-profit insurance system.

    I'm not challenging RomneyCare; Thune is (or was, until he jumped on the bandwagon). My beef with RomneyCare and ObamaCare [and I consistently see both written as one word] is that they don't go far enough.

  17. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    Charlie is right, we already have a form of universal health care. That means the moral imperative I mentioned above (healthcare is a fundamental human need) has already been recognized and is being acted upon.

    The problem is, this "default" system is the least intentional and the most expensive form imaginable. What's conservative about that?

    Cory and I are simply arguing that the system needs to be retooled to maximize quality, efficiency, economy, and sustainability. It seems we all agree that the status quo is unacceptable.

  18. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    p.s. Charlie, pretty sure you'll want to reconsider your "eligibility" requirements in light of the 14th Amendment.

    Maybe think on the positive side in terms of wellness incentives, (credits, discounts, etc.) In any case we need to move our thinking away from the "risk based/profit driven" insurance model, at least in terms if primary health care.

    It's foolish to think that only healthy people who don't health care should be the only ones who can get it.

  19. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    (...above should read: "It’s foolish to think that only healthy people who don’t NEED health care should be the only ones who can get it." Sorry.)

  20. Charlie Hoffman 2011.11.28

    Bill I honestly believe we can do better than what we have today in our health care system. That said I also believe that if the government has anything to do with fixing the problem it will become less cost effective, more bureaucratic with huge deficits, a sink hole of taxdollars and worse health care for everyone overall. The Federal Government can't even purchase a toilet at the right price and we think they can properly manage a trillion dollar business?

  21. larry kurtz 2011.11.28

    Mexico recently adopted universal health care for pregnant women. IHS should consider a similar plan 'cause ya know Avera ain't gonna do it.

  22. Jana 2011.11.28

    Charlie, glad you think we can do better. Just a couple of questions though. What insurance company or healthcare firm will accept not seeking great profits? How do you suppose Wall Street would respond to United Health if they said that they were going to have their earnings remain flat or go down? If the private sector is so efficient, why does healthcare now make up 19% of our GDP?

    As far as your statement that the Federal Government can't even purchase a toilet at the right price...but it can negotiate better prices for pharmaceuticals...right?

    What are the administrative costs of Medicare vs. say a Blue Cross, Aetna, United etc.?

    We subsidize crop insurance, right? Why not health insurance?

  23. Steve Sibson 2011.11.28

    "A fundamental human need."

    Just as long someone else pays for it, right covetor?

    And Charlie, did you not vote for RoundsCare (SB 38 & SB 43). Two reason why you only supported the SDGOP platform 37% of the time durintg the last legislative session:

  24. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    Promoting the general welfare is a legitimate function of government, as per our Constitution, Sibby. Your claim of "coveting" is way off the mark here. If you get sick, we all want you to be well, so as to not make the rest of us sick. It is in everyone's best interest to have all of us be healthy, not just the person being healed.

  25. Steve Sibson 2011.11.28

    Passing on the debt to our children to pay for our health care now is coveting. Massive debt is not promoting the general welfare, and it is not in the best interest of America's posterity.

  26. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    Passing costs from generation to generation is part of the social contract, Steve. Do you resent having to help your fellow American citizen seniors, widows, and orphaned children with their survival, retirement and health care needs? I don't.

    Maybe you would the government sent you a bill for the services you received when you were growing up?

    Just because you haven't raised any children, Sibby, doesn't mean there weren't any costs incurred by your parents and the rest of society to raise you.

    I don't understand where your selfishness comes from, man.

  27. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    Above: "Maybe you would PREFER the government sent you a bill for the services you received..." Sorry. Left out a word.

  28. Steve Sibson 2011.11.28

    " don’t understand where your selfishness comes from, man."

    Bill, I am against taking money from other people's children. Not sure what kind of logic you used to come up with the above conclusion. But yes we all are inherently bad and tend to be selfish. With that said, correct logic says that those who want future generations to pay for their lifes today are the selfish ones. Coveting does make for a united monistic Kingdom of God on earth today. Check out James Chapter 4.

  29. Bill Fleming 2011.11.28

    Are you sure you're a fan of Jesus, Steve?

  30. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.11.28

    Charlie, are you making a general observation about the inability of the state to provide services as efficiently as the private sector? Or are you contending that the United States federal government is uniquely incompetent in being unable to manage the sort of cost savings and health outcomes that other industrialized nations have done? (See Bill's link: it's remarkable!)

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