john_thune

Republicans for Rape

But he doesn’t seem to be to happy about it;

“I don’t know what his motivation was for taking us on, but I would hope that we won’t see a lot of Daily Kos-inspired amendments in the future coming from him,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in the Senate Republican leadership. “I think hopefully he’ll settle down and do kind of the serious work of legislating that’s important to Minnesota.”

What about your fucking TEABAGGER inspired legislation, Johnny Boy?

18 Thoughts on “We should be sooooo proud as South Dakotans, it seems Ironic Johnny has made another prominent list

  1. Thune and the other stupid r’s can’t understand why Franken and the rest of us with brains find rape abhorrent. Perhaps they should think how they would feel if it happened to their daughter.

  2. Costner on December 3, 2009 at 7:25 am said:

    This is why Thune is so clearly out of touch with reality. He thinks this is a Democrat vs. Republican thing and that Fraken was “taking him on”.

    Sorry John – it isn’t. This is a bill which should have appealed to 100 out of 100 Senators, and 10 Republicans agreed. Just because you have your partisan blinders on doesn’t mean everyone else does – and we can see right through your constant stream of bullshit.

    What a douche.

  3. Besides, what is wrong with Daily Kos? I wish more senators would take their advice.

  4. Jesus H. Christmas, you kneejerk-offs really lapped up the spin on this one.

    Here’s some reality for you:

    1. Both the Defense Department and the Obama Administration opposed Franken’s Amendment. Any of you asking Obama if he’s pro rape too? He has young daughters just like Thune, don’t ya know.

    2. Being written as broadly as it was, it opened up a can of worms to where it would ban arbitration in cases where employees would benefit.

    3. It’s virtually unenforceable.

    4. It has nothing to do with criminal charges, and in the Jones case, she had a signed agreement, took it to court, and won. So the system actually did what it was supposed to do.

    Franken was either too incompetent to author an Amendment that actually did what he claimed, or he was simply being what most people outside Minnesota thought he was, a partisan hack using an emotional issue to play “gotcha”.

  5. Sy-

    So we should do nothing to help protect people from sexual violence when they work for contractors that receive federal dollars? Sorry, you can John Thune this up all you want, but I think most women and sane people would disagree with your argument.

  6. L3wis,

    Sure they would if they aren’t using their brains and basing their opinion on the spin. Do you think most women and sane people believe Obama, Thune and the others who opposed this are actually in favor of more sexual violence?

    It’s already illegal and for the most part the system is already tilted toward the victim, as it should be. This amendment would do nothing to prevent sexual violence. It’s like expecting murders to go down if we force the perp to pay the bill for the electric chair.

  7. Anthony on December 3, 2009 at 2:43 pm said:

    Just a quick comment on your four points:

    1) The Defense Department came out against the bill. The White House Explicitly said that they were supported the intent of the amendment.
    2) It was written broadly – my question is why didn’t any of the Republicans who voted against it offer a counter amendment that narrowed the scope?
    3) It will be difficult to enforce…but again, why didn’t the people voting against it come up with something better?
    4) Yes – she won…it was appealed, she won again…now KBR is appealing to the Supreme Court. They are doing everything within their power to keep this woman from having her day in court.

    And to be clear on what happened: The 19 year old girl was gang raped and when she reported it, her bosses locked her in a shipping container. She was there for over 24 hours before a guard was kind enough to give her a phone so she could call the state department. They then hid and “lost” the physical evidence taken at the scene(pictures and a rape kit) for years. After the fact she found that six other women had reported rapes and that to the best she has been able to find out (what with the previous arbitration records sealed) nothing had been done to the rapists. Because it happened outside of the United States, our Criminal Justice system does not have jurisdiction. Because of when it happened, the Iraqi government does not have the right to prosecute those involved. Her only recourse would either have been arbitration or a lawsuit – and KBR’s successes in arbitration cases have been well above average. Even when one of the men confessed to the crime, KBR prevented her from taking legal action against the confessed rapist. We are four years after the rape. KBR still hasn’t admitted fault, is still fighting to keep from having to go to court. We are up to eleven confirmed rapes, and KBR is now even trying to fight to keep from paying some of the settlements that were awarded by arbitration.

  8. Costner on December 3, 2009 at 5:29 pm said:

    Sy: This amendment would do nothing to prevent sexual violence.

    I don’t recall anyone saying that it would, but it sure as hell gives the victim a greater chance at justice than the present system (which as Anthony pointed out is a nightmare of appeals and years of legal system abuses just to determine if she even has the RIGHT to sue the employer who wronged her).

    Leave it to Sy to defend Thune’s actions here.

    Sy: the Obama Administration opposed Franken’s Amendment.

    Bu, bu, bu Obama.

    Good defense Sy, but if the Obama administration really opposes it, I guess Obama doesn’t have to sign the bill. Let me know how that turns out.

    Not that I trust you are being sincere here. If the Obama administration did in fact come out against the ammendment (which I’m not even sure is the case), I’m sure there was a very specific reason relating to a portion of it. That seems to differ from Thune’s statement that attempts to turn this into a Democrat vs. Republican “daily-kos” ammendment.

    I guess there are two douches who don’t support worker’s rights. Shocker.

  9. Jesus H. Christmas Sy, you kneejerk-offs really lapped up the spin on this one. You copied and pasted the right wing talking points really well. As usual no reason, logic or actual facts were used to support your BS. But then what else is new, you wingers have never let facts get in the way of your baseless arguments.

    Tommy Vietor speaking for the White House said: “We support the intent of the amendment, and we’re working with the conferees to make sure that it is enforceable,” spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

  10. Thune should just admit it, he looks like a complete jackass for voting against it.

  11. In the immortal words of Bartcop.com
    “Franken didn’t make you sons of bitches look bad – you did it to yourself
    when you sided with Halliburton over the women they drugged and raped.”

  12. Ghost of Dude on December 4, 2009 at 11:05 am said:

    The only way it’s possible to say the Obama administration supported this is buy pointing to the defense department, which is part of the administration. Remember, though, that Gates is a holdover from Bush and may not see eye-to-eye with his boss on everything. Obama is for it, Gates is not. Very important distinction.

  13. Costner:

    “Not that I trust you are being sincere here. If the Obama administration did in fact come out against the ammendment (which I’m not even sure is the case), I’m sure there was a very specific reason relating to a portion of it. ”

    Exactly…except with Obama, you all hack mofo’s automatically give him benefit of the doubt that of course he wants to support it, it just needs some tweaking. Thune & the Repubs all obviously want to promote more employer sponsored rape. If that ain’t tin foil hat material, than what is?

    Like I said, the amendment was poorly written from a guy who’s never been a legislator, and quite frankly hasn’t been all that good at anything else. The man ran Air America into the ground for fux sake during the height of the Bush Admin.

    One huge issue with this amendment is it puts billions of dollars of signed contracts for the DOD at risk, which is why Gates opposes it. He has bigger fish to fry than to go back through that whole process, as out CIC just committed to at least 2 more years of Afghanistan.

    If Rush Limbaugh were to become Senator from Missouri or Florida, would that magically make him someone who everyone should take seriously and who’s motivations instantly go to genmuine from being politically motivated?

    Franken is nothing more than a hack who’s trying to atone for his past record of sexist jokes (ask Lesley Stall if it’s funny to joke about being dugged and raped) tax evasion and just being an all around jackass.

  14. Costner on December 4, 2009 at 12:12 pm said:

    Sy: Exactly…except with Obama, you all hack mofo’s automatically give him benefit of the doubt that of course he wants to support it, it just needs some tweaking. Thune & the Repubs all obviously want to promote more employer sponsored rape. If that ain’t tin foil hat material, than what is?

    Once again I feel it is important to point out there there are different people posting here – so your generalizations are grossly innacurate. I made the comment about there being a very specific reason the Obama admin wouldn’t support the ammendment (although I also said I wasn’t convinced that they didn’t support it in the first place and was merely giving you the benefit of the doubt). I don’t recall anyone else making that statement, so I don’t think it is fair to say “all you hack mofos” when in reality you are just talking about me. 🙂

    As it turns out my hunch was right – and the Obama Administration does in fact support the ammendment. Unless of course you feel one member who is in dissent speaks for the entire administration.

    Second, I’ve never said Thune wanted to support employer sponsored rape. However, due to his statements and actions surrounding this ammendment, it seems clear he doesn’t have any significant desire to provide justice to the victims of such abuse. He would rather protect the interests of a large contractor rather than the rights of the workers… so how can I commend him for his actions?

    In short – he might not want “more rape”, but he also doesn’t seem to give a rats ass about the particular case that stated all of this and instead continues to drive the wedge between himself and the Democratic party. He can attempt to blame Franken for that… but that is merely an excuse.

    Seems to me that the right is pretty upset with Franken because Franken is making them look like assholes. If I recall Sy, you felt the reason the media and the left were targeting Palin is because they feared her… and if that is true, the right must be running scared knowing Franken is making quite a name for himself.

    I’d say Al needs to keep up the good work.

  15. No, costner..you fit the hack definition in that you refuse to acknoledge what this amendment truly is.

    Your Palin analogy is bogus as well. Palin lost, and is currently not running for anything, yet the attacks on her have been non-stop since she came on the scene. Rememeber, she’s still barely over a year in the spotlight.

    There was and is no “Franken Phenonenom”. He can’t sell a book to save his ass, and he barely won in one of the more Liberal states out there. The machine in MN is more responsible for his seat than the voters are, but that is what it is.

    Like I said, Franken has a history of being offensive and crude, and unapolgetic as he “was just doing his job”. Well, so was Michael Richards. A lot of women didn’t think a joke about drugging and raping Lesley Stahl was all that funny, and he knows that if MN slides any deeper into the funk he’ll be one and done.

  16. Costner on December 4, 2009 at 2:47 pm said:

    Sy: No, costner..you fit the hack definition in that you refuse to acknoledge what this amendment truly is.

    It is ensuring workers aren’t forced into idiotic concepts like binding arbitration for things like GOD DAMN RAPE. I can see arbitration over contract disputes, performance evaluations, or job specific items, but for criminal activities I fail to see how this should be something that is somehow protected by an employment contract.

    It isn’t like this ammendment gives the worker the upper hand or promises they will win a lawsuit… it merely gives them the RIGHT to sue their employer and seek justice.

    I guess for some (such as Thune and apparently yourself), justice is a dirty word.

    Sy: Your Palin analogy is bogus as well. Palin lost, and is currently not running for anything, yet the attacks on her have been non-stop since she came on the scene. Rememeber, she’s still barely over a year in the spotlight.

    Palin running for office, or quiting her office, or writing a book has zero to do with it…that is a rather pathetic excuse even for you.

    The fact is this woman puts herself in the limelight. She runs around giving interviews to every television show or magazine that will take her – and then she goes on a book tour, so clearly she puts herself in the public eye and as such she is free game is she not?

    I also don’t buy into the “attack” bullshit. Palin hasn’t been attacked any more than any other public figure. Hell, in recent days there have been far worse things said about Tiger Woods than I ever heard about Palin. The difference is Tiger doesn’t have every Republican in the nation saying “Oh poor Tiger…the media is so unfair”.

    Get a grip – if she wants to be left alone all she has to do is shut her trap and she will be forgotten. However, as it sits her fans are still pushing the notion of her running in 2012 – and as such the spotlight will continue to shine on.

    Sy: There was and is no “Franken Phenonenom”. He can’t sell a book to save his ass, and he barely won in one of the more Liberal states out there. The machine in MN is more responsible for his seat than the voters are, but that is what it is.

    Not sure what your point is here – but based upon the press Franken seems to be getting and the number of name mentions he gets on Fox and talk radio, he must be doing something right.

    Sy: Like I said, Franken has a history of being offensive and crude, and unapolgetic as he “was just doing his job”. Well, so was Michael Richards. A lot of women didn’t think a joke about drugging and raping Lesley Stahl was all that funny, and he knows that if MN slides any deeper into the funk he’ll be one and done.

    Franken might have a history of being offensive and crude….as a comedian. That doesn’t seem to be the case thus far in his political life. The fact that you have to go back to his days in SNL back in 1995 to some obscure joke is humorous in itself, but actions speak louder than words. Thus far, it seems Franken’s actions do a hellofalot more good for women’s rights than do Thune’s words doesn’t it.

    The simple truth is people like Thune and many other Republicans are upset at Franken because he isn’t even trying to make them look stupid… and yet they look stupid.

    Excuse them all you wish and attempt to use 15 year old jokes from a Comedian against him if you must – but it appears he is still getting things done is Washington and I’d be willing to bet if the election between Coleman and Franken were held today – Franken would win by a large enough margin that a recount wouldn’t even be required.

    Come check with me five years from now and we can see who is right.

  17. Costner on December 4, 2009 at 2:49 pm said:

    Sy: Palin lost, and is currently not running for anything, yet the attacks on her have been non-stop since she came on the scene.

    By the way… I’ll be sure and tell Al Gore that you get a free pass from the media and your political opponents when you aren’t running for office.

    Sure – no expectation of a double-standard there by any means.

  18. anominous on December 5, 2009 at 8:44 pm said:

    “West River values”, anyone?

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