Thune to Unemployed, Highway Contractors, Homeowners: Drop Dead

Remember Senator Bunning's block on extending unemployment benefits? His obstructionism, motivated by his personal grudge against his own party leaders, put unemployment benefits, road projects, and even flood insurance on hold at a crucial time. Bunning offered us the most blatant example yet this year of Republicans putting politics ahead of solving real problems.

And our Senator John Thune thinks that's just great:

"It's probably not the way I would have handled it tactically," Thune said.

But Thune says Bunning was well within his rights of objecting to the spending bill, especially on the grounds of it adding to the federal deficit.

"And I think the point he was trying to make was a valid one and that is we continue to spend money for things that we don't pay for," Thune said [Perry Groten, "Thune Defends Effort to Block Spending Bill," KELOLand.com, 2010.03.03].

Of course, as Thune tries to shift the discussion away from Bunning's sandbagging of the economic recovery, what really matters is how Thune voted. On Tuesday night, Thune endorsed Bunning's tactic, voting with 18 other senators to continue blocking the extension.

Whatever he says to the home crowd, Thune apparently thinks endorsing a bitter old man's petty obstructionism is more important than protecting jobs and homes and American families.

Dems, we had better have someone circulating a petition. Thune is leaving too big a trail of mistakes not to challenge him in November.

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Update 2010.03.05: Funny: conservative pin-up boy Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is talking like Thune...

But the newest Republican senator, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, said Bunning had done the right thing in holding up the measure. "I don't think it's about party, it's about good government," said Brown, who was elected in January vowing to promote fiscal discipline. "The perception in Massachusetts and other parts of the country is that Washington is broken. And if it takes one guy to get up and make a stand, to point out that we need a funding source to pay for everything that's being pushed here, I think that speaks for itself" [Ben Pershing, "Days Later, as a Deal Emerges, Bunning Backs Down," Washington Post, 2010.03.03].

...but Brown voted for the extension. Talk about trying to have it both ways.