Cannon and Ellsworth Air Force Bases to remain open

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/26/base.closings.ap/index.html

[seasat]

1. A South Dakota base is very necessary.

We never know when Canada is going to attack.
:evilgrin:

[brentspeak]

2. This is both good and bad for South Dakota

Good, because those military jobs won't be lost; bad, because Thune is now practically guaranteed reelection.

[calimary]

17. Yes, but so is Stephanie Herseth.

The lone Democrat in the House for South Dakota. I contributed to her campaign when she was in a special election and she won, and then she won again during the general election. So, while I hate the idea that thune can claim a victory, Herseth can, too.

[bushcrab]

3. Ellsworth never was going to be closed down

Thune obviously requested that it be put on the original list of planned base closures so that he could later proclaim himself South Dakota's greatest hero of all time by single-handedly persuading the military to reverse "their" decision to close it.

This one was so predictable from the start.... :puke:

[CityDem]

18. A bone for Thune

Nothing more than a political stunt by Bushco to help a fellow repub.

[dethl]

4. Glad Cannon is staying

It is the heart of Clovis, New Mexico. WIthout it, the economy there would go to pot. I'm glad the stupid higher ups have the sense to keep it open.

EDIT: ugh, Bill Richardson is gonna get credit for this....he's a democrat, but I wonder what his agenda really is. He's DLC right?

[DeepModem Mom]

5. WP: Thune Delivers on Campaign Vow

Thune Delivers on Campaign Vow
Senator's Future Brightens as S.D. Base Survives the Cut

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 27, 2005; Page A06


Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) sat tense, crouched and glowering as the base-closing commission delivered its verdict about Ellsworth Air Force Base in the ballroom of a Crystal City hotel yesterday, then leapt up gleefully when the bomber base's death sentence was commuted.

The 44-year-old's political career may have been spared as well.

Last fall, Thune unseated Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in part by claiming that a Republican tight with the White House would have a better chance of saving the perennially impaired Ellsworth, a Cold War arsenal in the middle of the prairie. So it was potentially calamitous for Thune back home in May when the Pentagon put Ellsworth on the list of closure recommendations for the independent Base Realignment and Closure commission.

Thune, a former House member whose status as the Daschle slayer has made him a popular speaker before GOP groups, had long told the White House that losing Ellsworth -- South Dakota's largest employer after the state government -- was the one issue that could make him a one-term senator.

"There's something about my Scandinavian heritage that knows that life shouldn't be easy -- life's got to be hard," a relieved Thune said by telephone shortly after the commission's 8 to 1 vote to discard the Pentagon recommendation to close Ellsworth and move the base's B-1B bombers to Texas....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/26/AR2005082601599.html

[MisterP]

6. I like that first clauses

is he squatting in a cave at the time?

[Erika]

7. Idaho just lost 659 jobs due to military reductions

Bush knew he had Idaho in the bag and hurt them knowing the GOP sheeple elitists would vote for him regardless.

[FredScuttle]

8. Must instill a sense of pride in SD voters

to see their golden boy played like a marionette by these crooks. And his claim to fame is now being tight with a President with a 40% approval rating....nice job, John! Don't mind the waves as you get pulled under!

[xxqqqzme]

9. he is celebrating

his toadyism? He wants the world 2 know he's an ass kissin', boot lickin', koo-aid drinkin' b*sh bot? R they that hard up 4 qualified people 2 B senators?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

10. I knew they'd spare Ellsworth.

The whole thing smacks of theater. And what's more disgusting is they're using the people of South Dakota as their pawns.
And Thune looks like the fucking hero.
Even though it was Tim Johnson who probably did most of the work.
I haven't lived in S. D. for nearly fifteen years, and the state's changed drastically since I left.
I hate the way they used my home state to prop up Thune.

I have no facts that they did this, but it sure stinks. Besides, there's another article where the committee decided to keep the base open because it they wouldn't save any money.

"In the end, though, the issue came down to money.

The commission found that closing Ellsworth wouldn’t save any money over 20 years, and that it actually would cost nearly $20 million to move the planes to the Texas base. The Pentagon had projected saving $1.8 billion over two decades with the closure."

www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050826/NEWS/50826002/1001

Now I have a question: if closing Ellsworth wouldn't save the government any money, why did they put the base on the list in the first place? Although "the Pentagon had projeted saving $1.8 billion" it's indicated that this committee discoverd that closing Ellsworth wouldn't save any money. You'd think the Pentagon would have noticed that in the first place, huh?

South Dakota is a red state, and closing the air force base would seem to be an odd thing to do to the GOP's new poster boy.

This whole thing smacks of theater. And notice the difference between the Washington Post's article and the local one from the Argus Leader (In Sioux Falls.) Notice how it's THUNE that's saved the base according to the Post, while the local paper attributes it to Johnson, Herseth, Thune, and Governor Rounds.

[Cornjob]

11. Maybe it's just me, but...

the cost of maintaining thousands of military and civilian support personnel to service and fly 40-odd subsonic, non-stealth, Cold-War era bombers makes absolutely no sense!

To my knowledge, the B1-B's have never been used in critical combat situations. As I remember, they were axed from the first Iraq war due to reliability problems, and have been sitting around ever since.

I guess I must try to understand the fantastic waste of public resources on this type of futility.

[rodeodance]

12. the headline feeds into his big ego.

[leetrisck]

13. Thought it was a set-up from the beginning

now Thune looks good. Has he given any credit to the Dems who stepped in to save it. I think not.

[Justice]

14. Thune did give credit to Johnson and Herseth, this is the WP

spin. I read several articles yesterday were Thune repeatedly was quoted as saying this was not political, it was bipartisan - even the republican governor said so.

[suegeo]

15. Thune is Scandinavian?

Could have fooled me. I thought he was a prominent member of the Wehrmacht.

I agree with anyone who thinks this entire Ellsworth thing was set up to make Thune look like a hero to the rubes.

[Skarbrowe]

16. I don't think Cannon is a win. They are getting rid of the wing, the F16.

It will be nothing more than a "warm" base with what I suppose will be minimum personnel until December of 2009. I think it's a stall to keep Clovis, which votes pretty much Republican, in line for 2006 and 2008. Clovis is literally out in the middle of nowhere. Personally, I think it's a great place to have an airbase. They are going to try and find a mission for it by 12/09, since it's mission, the F16's, will be realigned and sent eslewhere now. If they don't find one, they will close it then.

It's just a stalling tactic. I don't know this for sure, but it appears to me that they will still lose the personnel and area jobs very soon, but they won't have the closed air base to attract something else to come and use that facility. Maybe I'm wrong. But this doesn't look like a win for Clovis, New Mexico to me.