Thune complaining about CPAC poll validity, his relevance

John Thune's comments following his 2% showing at CPAC bring to mind Rule #329 of Presidential Politics: If it takes you longer to explain why a straw poll should be ignored than it took to count the votes for you in the straw poll itself, you're losing.

Thune, who says he will make the decision on running for president by the end of the month, came in 10th at 2 percent. He tied with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

When respondents were asked to list only their top two choices, Thune came in 11th at 5 percent.

Thune told the Argus Leader on Tuesday that he's not dismayed by the findings, which he thinks were "engineered" by supporters of certain candidates. Scores of Paul supporters, for example, could be seen packing the conference, and few political experts give the libertarian-leaning congressman much a chance of winning the GOP nomination.

"I think that poll is receiving less and less credibility and legitimacy because it's engineered by people who ship folks in for that," Thune said.

Also, Thune pointed out that ballots had to be submitted by Friday afternoon, about the time the senator was on the CPAC stage giving a speech, so many of them probably were cast before people had a chance to hear him.

"The more important issue is the overall reception you get in response to your message," Thune said of his CPAC appearance. Former Alaska Gov. "Sarah Palin got 3 (percent), so I don't think that is a very good metric to go by. But getting the chance to get in front of that audience and see how it responds, that's an important part of the process."

Shorter John Thune: my inability to navigate political conferences is evidence that others are better presidential candidates than me.

Look if you have to make the case in the press that you're more relevant than the activist base thinks you are, you're probably Bill Richardson. Which is to say, you're not going to be the contender that you should be based on Beltway Conventional Wisdom. Of course, Conventional Wisdom is often wrong, though learning this can be hard for people who are making decisions based on what they hear over cocktails at The Palm. Read More......

Thune silent on SD bill to legalize killing abortion doctors

This pretty much describes Thune's career in the Senate.

John Thune doesn't have anything to say about an abortion bill working its way through his home state's legislature that abortion rights groups say could make it legal for a woman's family to harm her abortion doctor.

And what bill is that again? This one:

A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of "justifiable homicide" to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. The Republican-backed legislation, House Bill 1171, has passed out of committee on a nine-to-three party-line vote, and is expected to face a floor vote in the state's GOP-dominated House of Representatives soon.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Jensen, a committed foe of abortion rights, alters the state's legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person "while resisting an attempt to harm" that person's unborn child or the unborn child of that person's spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the bill passes, it could in theory allow a woman's father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion—even if she wanted one.

Heaven forbid Thune way in on a bill which is the talk of the nation and another key example of how conservatives in America are seeking to implement their version of Sharia law and honor killings in the USA. Read More......

Afternoon Remainders

Rick Santorum staffs up in Iowa

The Hill profiles Tim Pawlenty... he's nice but tough or something

Tim Pawlenty wants to destroy Social Security and turn it into a tax instead of a retirement system

Romney set to host a call with donors

McConnell supports a Thune WH bid

Sarah Palin leaves the spider hole to throw stones at Obama Read More......

Thune looks to jump into the race

His proximity to Iowa, right-wing voting record and advocacy for Ethanol poke really complicates the issue for the anyone not named Romney and makes Iowa far more interesting. If Thune splits the votes on the right it may create space for establishment types like Romney, Mitch Daniels and Pawlenty. The threat is obviously that Thune could become the establishment vote and take a chunk of the right-wing tea-party vote. From Political Wire

In an interview with ABC News, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) sounds like he's increasingly likely to run for president.

Said Thune: "I think that these are interesting times. You always want to look at where you can best serve your country and make a difference and, obviously, there's a big opportunity on the national field. There are a lot of good candidates out there. I don't know, at this point, whether I'll be one of those, but I want to be in a place where I can make a difference."

Read More......

No 'new tone' at CPAC

TPM has a story up about a panel on CPAC called "Ground Zero Mosuq: Second Wave of the 9/11 attacks."

At the Conservative Political Action Conference next month -- the one decried as being "infiltrated" by the Muslim Brotherhood by the likes of sharia alarmist Frank Gaffney -- an event will be held titled, "The Ground Zero Mosque: The Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks."

The event is a movie premiere, hosted by mosque opposition leader Pamela Geller and her partner Robert Spencer. It will be followed by "a question and action and strategy session on how to stop the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero."

I think we can note that even conservatives think that Pam Geller's brand is a toxic form of bigotry and she's dabbled in birtherism and she spread Malcom X was Obama's father smear. Here's the thing, a series of Republican presidential candidates are about to speak at CPAC. You expect partisanship at events like this but to conflate an Islamic center in Manhattan to a repeat of the 9/11 attacks is not only extreme but offensive. But this is what Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney and John Thune have signed up for in February. So much for Republican and the new tone. Read More......