From today’s KCCR, South Dakota’s US Senator John Thune isn’t going to give his nod yet to any of the candidates running. Probably because it’s still ridiculously early:
South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds has endorsed Mike Huckabee. Representative Kristi Noem has endorsed Marco Rubio.
and…
Thune says he is not endorsing any candidate at this time. He believes that the candidate field will narrow down soon…
and…
Thune is considered to be a highly sought after endorsement by the candidates in the Republican primary race.
He wants to endorse Bush, but has to see who will become the most viable liberal in the race. He will endorse Bush, Rubio or Kasich.
I think it has less to do with it being early and more to do with him being in leadership in the Senate. There are 4 Senators running and if he were to endorse now he would piss off at least 3 of them (if not all 4) by not endorsing them. McConnell is the only member of leadership in Congress and that’s only because Rand Paul is from the same state and helped him win reelection last year
If his party keeps giving the not to the likes of Trump, Thune’s going to have to endorse Hillary, and that’s gonna be… um… awkward. 🙈🙉🙊
I don’t think Thune would go to the Dark Side like that.
I think he will if the dark side is the candidate for his side. Or, he may just not endorse at all. Biggest mistake the GOP made was getting Trump to say he would support whatever Republican gets the nomination. That makes everyone honor bound to support him. Dumb. He’s a one man wrecking crew for the GOP and he’s going to take it down one way or the other. Spooky actually.
Bill is right this one time. Thune may actually support Hillary. They have more in common than Thune and Trump.
Yes, the Trump campaign is GOP dumpster fire.
^^^ ‘the nod’ not ‘the not’
I think Rounds will regret his endorsement as meaningless since Huckabee has less than a snow cone’s chance in you-know-where of getting the nomination. I could live with Rubio, and I do hope that as things go along Thune will not back Jeb as Jeb is not the type of leader we need right now. (No, I don’t think we need Trump now either).
Huckabee also paroled murders who then took the opportunity to murder again.
If Sen. Thune were to ask me for advice (he won’t because in the end I’d say I’d defer to his judgment), I’d advise him to not endorse so long as there are more than one of his colleagues in the race. If it gets down to one Senator, he should then endorse the candidate he believes will be best to be President without political considerations for himself or South Dakota. There comes a point where leaders lead and that is when I think it prudent for Senator Thune to do so.
With regard to Senator Rounds (who is not in Senate leadership), when Huckabee drops out, I think he is free to endorse as he sees fit.
With regard to Anonymous @ 12:55 who said “Bill is right this one time. Thune may actually support Hillary. They have more in common than Thune and Trump.”
People wonder why a certain crowd who call themselves conservative are ignored. The statement Thune is closer to Hillary is flat out nuts.
With regard to Bill’s statement: “If his party keeps giving the not to the likes of Trump, Thune’s going to have to endorse Hillary, and that’s gonna be… um… awkward.”
Bill, very funny and a nice try. Anyone in the race is preferable to Hillary just on the measure of character. Because of Hillary’s recent race to the left of Bernie, on policy I can’t see any light between them.
Okay, I’m game, so let’s call your bluff. If the candidates were Trump and Bernie, Troy, where would your vote go?
Troy,
I agree 100%. Some of the people on here just keep posting the same lies or slights to any and all Republicans. it is getting old. They apparently go with the theory if they keep telling a lie somehow it will stick and we will wake up and question the judgment or conservative nature of the members of our party.
Bill,
Currently I rate the candidates from worst to fourth worst as follows:
1) Hillary
2) Bernie
3) O’Malley
4) The Donald
Everyone between #5 and #18 is not a big delta. However, the distance between #2 and #3 is pretty wide. #1 & #2 are both crazy in policy and Hillary is a liar.
That’s the same as saying you are so blindly partisan you’d rather vote for the Devil than a Democrat. Pretty funny actually, Troy.
p.s. by my read of him, Troy, Pope Francis would only endorse one candidate. And it wouldn’t be The Donald. Just sayin’. 😉
Bill,
#1: Since only HC and BS are likely the only candidates who are overtly contrary to the Bishop’s letter on Faithful Citizenship, I don’t run any risk of voting contrary to the Pope.
#2: Since my priorities on the economy, social policy and foreign policy are better represented by every candidate than HC and BS, my ranking isn’t partisan but policy driven.
From the letter you mention:
“Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care…”
Trump gets an “F” on every single issue addressed, Troy. Every. Single. One.
Bill,
It is my prudential judgment that governmental action on everyone of those issues proposed by HC and BS will make the problem worse. Thus, I grade Hillary and Bernie F’s. Every. Single. One.
And, that doesn’t address the stance of HC and BS that the Bishops says is always intrinsically evil which trumps those issues.
Finally, liberals too often mistake the Church’s teaching on social justice issues as mandating a governmental solution. That is incorrect exemplified by the Bishop’s who got spanked for judging Paul Ryan’s budget as being contrary to Church Teaching.
The very idea that you think you and Trump have anything even remotely in common when it comes to human rights and dignity sends shivers down my spine, Troy.
p.s. One doesn’t even have to read the Bishop’s letter to intuit this. All they have to do is watch Trump on the news on television. It’s that transparent. No nuance there. One would have to tie one’s mind, heart, and soul into pretzels to perceive him as being anything other than completely apathetic to the ideas of human dignity and human rights if not downright opposed to them. Long and short of it, if good Catholics (like you are) think they could seriously endorse Donald Trump, something’s gone seriously haywire with our understanding of the doctrine.
p.s. Your statement “liberals too often mistake the Church’s teaching on social justice issues as mandating a governmental solution” is of course ridiculous, unless you oppose all civil and human rights legislation. Pick a lane, Mr. Jones. 🙂
p.s You can have the last word, Troy. It’s your website. Besides the Trump/GOP dumpster fire is not my circus, not my monkey. Thanks for the chat, my friend.
Another commenter beaten down by the trolling le pape de la prairie.
sidenote: All of my and Troy’s comments were on topic. Yours is not. We use our own names. You don’t. So, tell us again who the troll is here.
Hipsters like Hillary and Bernie and The Donald and Sir Paul should have just caucused in Denver with a Pounder Bong and figured out who would waft up into the winners circle.
Seriously all this media drive by BS is horribly boring.
I have no doubt that Thune will eventually have to choose between two fellow Senators. Republicans want to win and they may not be able to do so with either Trump or Carson.
Rubio or Cruz? I am going to guess that, in the end, he will join Noem and side with Rubio. He is smart and likable. Cruz, in my opinion, has only one of those qualities.
Thune has such a great deal of difficulty with this because it is not an emergency he can manufacture to show his sheeple back in South Dakota how effective he is.
Trump will be the Republican candidate because the majority of Republicans think like he thinks. One of these days you are going to have to realize that.
Or you can continue to live in the make believe world of how you think things should be. I have never seen a large group of people in such common denial.
The oddsmakers have Trump at about one in four chance of winning the nomination. I am not the only one who thinks that might be a little optimistic for him.
I actually have a greater fear that Cruz wins the primary. He strikes me as a Barry Goldwater type candidate which, in my opinion, results in a loss to Hillary Clinton in the general election. Fair or not, Cruz comes across to many people as a bit slimy. Some conservatives can overlook that but I doubt that the rest of the voting public will.
Jimmy James,
Thanks for the reminder to watch the betting odds vs. polls.
Current odds to win the primary and general:
Rubio: 41%/18%
Trump: 20%/10%
Cruz: 18%/6%
Bush: 9%/4%
Christie:4%/2%
Carson: 3%/2%
Clinton: 89%/54%
Sanders:7%/4%
O’Malley: 1%/3%
I see Trump won another poll today. Candidate who is most likely to ruin Thanksgiving dinner poll… 46% gave it to the Donald. (PPP)