By Denise Ross

No doubt you’ve seen the ads running on SoDak news and blog sites, and they sound pretty good. South Dakota’s own John Thune wants you to help him ”Stop the bailouts.”

Personally, I would like to have a direct hand in reversing the Wall Street bonuses, but I digress. Here’s one of the ads:

I wrote about Thune’s anti-bailout passions in a recent newspaper column:

I was puzzled by the ads. Didn’t Thune vote for the $700 billion bailout, the Troubled Asset Relief Program? Yes he did. So why is he now campaigning to stop something for which he voted?

Thune campaign manager Justin Brasell offers an explanation - that the Bush administration did a bait and switch. And while they certainly did do that, I’m still puzzled that Thune would choose this as a campaign theme. (To be fair to Brasell, he was puzzled that I was puzzled. It all makes perfect sense to him, so perhaps I am missing something or being unnecessarily obtuse.)

Perhaps Brasell and I see things differently because the Mississippi native wasn’t yet on South Dakota soil when Thune defended his pro-bailout vote with passion equal to that with which he is now fighting federal bailouts.

From the Oct. 1, 2008, press release:

It would have been easy to do the `politically popular’ thing and vote against this bill, but for me it would not have been the responsible thing to do.

(The underlining is Thune’s.)

I know Thune’s “end-the-bailout” line is resonating. I’ve heard folks talking about it. (See the page about this on Thune’s campaign website.) So perhaps the collective amnesia is suffient, or perhaps there have been too many big federal spending packages greased through the pipe for them to care about a vote on the original bailout. But I still struggle to see how a principled stand 11 months ago can turn into campaign fodder in the opposite direction.

Should this be a case of, You’ve made your bed; now ly in it? Am I wrong to wonder whether this would be the tone if Bush or some other Republican still held the White House? Will voters ponder which one of Thune’s pronouncements is coming from a place of principal?

To read the full column, click “CLICK HERE” below.

Thune campaigns to end bailout he voted for

Senator says Bush administration misled him on TARP.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., doesn’t yet have an opponent for his 2010 re-election campaign, but he does have a message. “Stop the bailouts,” read the ads running on newspaper websites and at least one blog.

I was puzzled by the ads. Didn’t Thune vote for the $700 billion bailout, the Troubled Asset Relief Program? Yes he did. So why is he now campaigning to stop something for which he voted?

Thune campaign manager Justin Brasell says it’s because TARP as it exists today is not what Thune voted for last fall.

“What was done with the TARP money and what he was told are two completely different things,” Brasell said. “The Bush administration sold the bill on purchasing toxic assets and getting them off of the balance sheets of these companies. Instead, they turned around and took ownership in these companies. They turned it into a revolving slush fund of bail-out money.

“He feels like the Senate was deceived on what this would be.”

If you’re not sure you remember which bail-out bill TARP was, you’re not alone. It was the original bail-out, targeted to Wall Street banks, passed last October in a panic. It was followed by a proposed bail-out for the auto industry, which failed, and then by the $787 billion stimulus package passed in January at President Obama’s urging. (Brasell notes that Thune is sour on all the bills targeted at economic recovery and voted against the auto bail-out and the stimulus.)

In Thune’s campaign ads, he is addressing the TARP bill, as he has introduced a bill to get the government’s money back from Wall Street. The bill, called the Government Ownership Exit Plan, would bar the federal government from taking any further ownership in private companies. In addition, it would give the government until July 1, 2010, to sell its stake in private companies and would prohibit the government from influencing management decisions of private companies. (Read more at http://www.johnthung.com/exitplan)

When he voted for TARP, Thune issued a press release saying that “the sober facts” were that without it, the economy would collapse.

“It would have been easy to do the `politically popular’ thing and vote against this bill, but for me it would not have been the responsible thing to do,” Thune said after his vote. “I am frustrated that the government is being forced into this position, but the authority this bill provides is temporary. It also ensures strong oversight and strong taxpayer protections and it prevents Wall Street executives from walking away from their failed companies with golden parachutes.”

Nearly a year later, the sober facts have changed.

Short of a time machine that could take him back to change his vote, Thune’s exit plan bill is as close as he can get to undoing his bail-out vote. Because Democrats control Congress and are unlikely to give Thune’s bill a hearing, he almost certainly won’t get the chance to cast a redeeming vote.

Spread the word

Hide Sites