John Thune on the Hugh Hewitt show

South Dakota Senator John Thune hints that there might be a tinge of regret among the Senate GOP over yesterday's Warner-Frist vote.

HH: I am now joined by Senator John Thune of South Dakota...We've got to throw hammers at your colleagues today, John Thune. What happened yesterday? You were on the right side of that vote, as were a lot of the freshmen. Richard Burr joined us yesterday, Tom Coburn joined us yesterday. You guys got it right. What happened to your colleagues?

JT: You know, I really think, Hugh, there is so much concern about public opinion polls, and that sort of thing, around here now, that people just got sort of hoodwinked into going along with that. And it essentially was a Democrat amendment that we modified a little bit, and watered down a little bit. But essentially, it said the same thing. And I think it was just absolutely the wrong message to send to our troops, and to the people who are trying to win the War On Terror, that we've got deployed in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. And also the wrong message to send to the people that we're trying to libertate, the Iraqis, and clearly the wrong message to send to the terrorists, because essentially what we said was that our resolve is weakening and softening. And if you mess around with us long enough, we're going to go away. And that is not what we have to convey. The only way that we will win this War On Terror is to project strength, and that's what we should have been doing.

HH: It seems very clear to me that the reaction has been overwhelmingly, even brutally negative on your colleagues who voted, in effect, to undercut the war effort. Have they been hearing from people today?

JT: They have, and I've got to tell you, I've talked to a number of Senators today, Hugh, who were on the other side of that vote yesterday, who if they had a do-over, would have changed. I mean, I don't think anybody anticipated the blowback that they would get. And I don't know why, because you know that was the way the media was going to spin it. But there's been a tremendous, I think, amount of resistance coming in from people around the country, who see this as a signal and a sign of weakness, which again, you can argue that it was a sense of the Senate resolution, which may be meaningless and non-binding, but nevertheless, it is symbolic, and it makes a statement about where the United States is, puts us on the record of where the Senate is, with respect to the War On Terror. And I think it sends entirely the wrong message, and I think there are a lot of people who given another chance, would vote differently.

HH: Are your colleagues listening? Will there be another chance to vote differently?

JT: I hope so. This will get discussed again when the Defense Bill gets into conference with the House. My sense is that this is...I would hope this is the kind of thing, although it's been now such a...there's been such a public view of this, in terms of the visibility that it had when the story came out this morning, it may be hard to reverse course. But I think when it goes into conference, I hope that the House insists on striking that provision, and I hope that our Senators will realize they made a mistake, and let's knock that thing out of there, and again, do what we should have been doing in the first place. And that is expressing support for the hard working men and women who are fighting freedom's cause over there in Iraq.

HH: Senator Thune, just a suggestion. Why is it impossible to go to the floor with a resolution that says we know what we did, and we made a mistake, and we wish to correct it on behalf of the men and women in the American military, our Iraqi allies, in order not to send the wrong message. Why not own the mistake like New Coke, and just get it out of the record?

JT: That's...there's been some discussion about that, frankly, Hugh, and I've been...and even suggested that that might be something we should do, just to get people on the record. Now maybe that sends a mixed signal or a mixed message, based on the vote yesterday, but I do think that people really underestimated, miscalculated the effect that this would have on the American people. And again, this is the trap you fall into when you start paying attention to public opinion polls and the leftist media, because there is absolutely no reason we should have taken that step yesterday. And I think people now realize it. So you may see something along the lines of what you're suggesting. That at least is being discussed and kicked around right now.

HH: Now clearly, the leader has taken a big blow, especially if he does intend to run for president. He is taking most of the harpoons, but walk us through where this came from. Was this John Warner's idea? Or was it Bill Frist's idea?

JT: I think what they were trying to do was give Republicans in the Senate something to vote for, that wasn't the Democrat approach, which was essentially a timetable for withdrawal. And so, they struck a few lines, and finessed and massaged a little bit of the language. But with the exception of the specific timeline language on the end, it was still very much the same resolution. And if you went back and read it, and a lot of us did, it still did...there were intimations in there about '06, and I think it just did do exactly what we shouldn't be doing right now, and that is telegraphing to the terrorists that if you mess with us long enough, that we're going to go away. And right now, the message we need to be sending to the terrorists is we are here to win. And that is where our troops are. That is where our commanders are. That is where the young men and women in uniform, when you talk to them, they believe in this. And what this did, I think, is just undermine their morale, and give more boldness to the enemies. So it was the wrong step to take, but I think when you ask what was the origin of this, I think it clearly was an attempt by our side to give Republicans something to vote for that...so they could feel comfortable voting against a timeline, which, frankly again, I don't know why we had to do that. We could have cast a no vote on the timeline and moved on.

HH: You know, Senator Thune, we don't want cover, we want victory, and I'm wondering if, in fact, there is concerns about morale, why we didn't get it done today. But I'll leave that to you to persuade your colleagues. I'd like to ask you, though, Richard Burr yesterday, your colleague from North Carolina, said that you and he and the other freshmen got this right, because you were closer to the people on the war, and that...I mean, you went toe to toe with Tom Daschle and the entire noise machine of the left, day after day, for two years. You know what people think about this war, and I don't think the American people are where the polls suggest they are. What say you?

JT: I agree. I think that people in this country understand whether they agree with our going there in the first place or not, is irrelevant at this point. At this point, we have to win. Not finishing the job, and not prevailing, is just not an option. And that's why the vote yesterday in the Senate was so disconcerting, and I do think that the freshmen, as well as some members of the Armed Services Committee, of which I'm also a member, saw this for what it was. And I remember we were having this discussion on the floor, and I think that you did. You saw a very strong vote from the Republican freshmen, suggesting that this is not the message we want to send to our troops, and it's not the message we want to send to the terrorists. And I wish that...frankly, there were others I talked to. There was one member I talked to today, a Senator friend of mine who voted the other way, and we had this discussion before the vote yesterday, and he said I wish I had listened to you. That was the right vote. But you know, I think there's a lot of that going on now. Unfortunately, that vote's been put up there, and the interpretation has been attached to it. It's exactly what the Democrats wanted to see happen, and now we have to live with the consequences of that. But you're right. It's not too late for us to send a much clearer message, and I hope we'll be able to do that.

HH: First rule of holes...stop digging. John Thune, thank you for making time for us. Go back and call your colleagues, and get them to undo the damage significant that they did yesterday. Always a pleasure.

I don't understand the folks here who rip Hugh as a RINO. He's been a great advocate of everything right and simply stood behind the Miers nomination UNTIL hearings could be held.

He's done a tremendous job holding the GOP Senators' proverbial feet to the fire, especially on this issue.

Just as there is a leftwing feverswamp there is also a rightwing feverswamp. For some on our side if you doon't believe exactly as I do then you're a commie-treehugging-RINO-raghead loving-troll-traitor.
The main difference is we (the right) don't elect ours to congress.

Bennett has had some play but Hugh is the guy who gets the other blogs revved up and running. Moreover, he's been the most vocal about it and had an OPEN INVITATION to any Senator to appear on his show to discuss it. Frist reneged.

"JT: That's...there's been some discussion about that, frankly, Hugh, and I've been...and even suggested that that might be something we should do, just to get people on the record. Now maybe that sends a mixed signal or a mixed message, based on the vote yesterday, but I do think that people really underestimated, miscalculated the effect that this would have on the American people. And again, this is the trap you fall into when you start paying attention to public opinion polls and the leftist media, because there is absolutely no reason we should have taken that step yesterday. And I think people now realize it. So you may see something along the lines of what you're suggesting. That at least is being discussed and kicked around right now."

How I wish Thune was the Leader BUMP!

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