ELLSWORTH SPARED: Ellsworth removed from base closure list

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

<snip>

WASHINGTON - Ellsworth Air Force Base has been taken off the Pentagon’s recommended list of closures.

The nine-member independent commission voted 8 to 1 on Friday to reject the Pentagon’s recommendation to close the Rapid City base as part of the Defense Department’s plan to restructure the military.

The panel’s decision on Ellsworth had serious political implications for the state’s freshman senator, John Thune, who promised voters his Republican connections would help him save the base.

Thune, who defeated Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle last November, made Ellsworth his biggest priority once he took office.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050826/NEWS/50826001

[ewagner]

1. Fair trade?

Let's see....Thune promised his soul, his wife's soul, and all his childred's souls to the Bush* administration in exchange for the base....

wonder if it's worth it?

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. Wonder if Santorum won't get his "save" now?

:shrug:

[rkc3]

4. I keep hoping against hope he loses this fight.

I have visions of Casey running ads reminding Pittsburghers that the #3 man in the Senate couldn't keep this base open. The third most powerful man in the Senate, in the same party as the president, couldn't keep the base open.

I guess we'll know in the late afternoon.

[Rose Siding]

3. Good for SD, but who do they think they're fooling?

Move over Madison Avenue; players all.

And the prize delivered? What you already have!

[Kolesar]

5. Home of the pathetic B-1B bomber

The airplane without a mission.

[TwilightZone]

6. Oh, what a shock. They were NEVER going to close Ellsworth.

The whole thing was a political ploy to make Thune look like a hero.

[cindyw]

7. Oh , like we didn't see this one coming. It was all to make thune look

good. They never intended to shut it down. They just had to make thune look like the hero.