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Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is a prime example of such perceived slights. He was handpicked by the White House to challenge then-Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in 2004. Thune entered the race under heavy White House pressure and won in part by promising to protect South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base from being closed.

But when the Pentagon targeted Ellsworth for closing, Thune's complaints to White House senior officials were coldly dismissed, according to people familiar with the conversations. "Why are you whining?" was how one person familiar with the session paraphrased the White House response.

To John Thune's credit, he didn't take it...he fought 'em.

Why are you whining?" was how one person familiar with the session paraphrased

When did "unnamed source", "one person familiar", "a person close to", "an official who asked not to be named" ETC become the basis for entire msm reports? Ever so often, yeah, I can see it. And "paraphrased"?? What ever happened to real reporting?

Speaking of rumor(?), Thune spokesman said that Thune would vote against Bolton if the closing of Ellsworth went forward. Thune later denied it saying that Bolton was just the man to shake the UN up.

All that said, I donated to Thune and would have voted for him had I lived in his state.

Thune's a hypocrite like so many that get to the Senate. He ran as a "cut government spending" conservative, gets elected and, when it comes time to prove his "small government" rhetoric, he backpedals.

The reality is the Cold War is over and there's no need for a huge air base in South Friggin' Dakota. And keeping it open for local jobs is not really that much different than the usual Democratic social programs that we've been saddled with from years of that party's control. Couple that with agricultural subsidies to SD and you've got a rather low populated state getting a whole lotta money from the federal government, aka taxpayers.

BTW...Thune was not "handpicked" by the White House. He ran against Tim Johnson two years before and lost. "Handpicked" is an exaggeration. He already had an organization in place so anyone else would have had to start from scratch. The idiot reporter that wrote this article threw that in there simple to paint the Bush Administration in a negative light. Imagine that...a Washington Post reporter slanting an article against the White House.

Look, this "news story" is propaganda from the ComPost to cause friction in the GOP, not report on it and, judging from some of the posts on this thread, it appears it's accomplishing its' desired result. I find it interesting that some folks who would normally dismiss the Post or the NY Times can be so quick to embrace them when they print propaganda like this. There's no question that occasionally the GOP has some disagreements and the MSM is quick to report on them. But tell the last time they reported about any infighting in the Democratic Party.

Yeah, that's what I thought. It doesn't happen much, does it?