Remembering how repulsive Daschle was though, gives JT a few merit points IMO.
What disappointed me most about Thune is he seemed to continue Daschle's "obstructionist" policies once he took office. Sure, he was 50X more conservative than Daschle when it came to floor votes, but his routine of riding the government gravy train to funnel pork his way, cutting deals behind closed doors, and blackmailing people to get what he wanted was very Daschle-esque.
The low point for me is when Thune joined the RATs in opposing Bolton's nomination and promised to vote against Bush's priorities until the defense department kissed his butt. I'm amazed how many freepers sweep this under the rug and still touted Thune as a wonder principled "christian conservative leader" after Bolton's career was ruined.
Seems to me alot of freepers have their priorities wrong. They crusify conservatives Senators who vote the "wrong way" on a bill that doesn't even pass (e.g. Jon Kyl), while dismissing problems with conservative Senators who have successfully scored a victory for the RATs and screwed over the GOP base multiple times (e.g. John Thune).