A USATODAY report quotes Tom Daschle as he reflected on the 1995 BRAC process:
Fueling Republican resentment: The feeling that political favoritism was allowed to influence decisions during the last round of base closings in 1995, when Democrats were in charge. At the time, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota persuaded President Clinton to take Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota's second-largest employer, off the chopping block.
"I told him how critical this was to me," Daschle said Thursday. "I think it did make a difference that I had access to him."
To Daschle it is all about Daschle. "I told him how critical this was to me". Not about South Dakota. Not about national security. About me.
Then yesterday Tom Daschle downplays the importance of the Ellsworth issue. Excerpt from a Rapid City Journal report:
Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Friday that the debate over the future of Ellsworth Air Force Base during last year's Senate race was "overblown."
In downplaying the significance in last year's campaign, he said Friday: "I think that part of it was overblown from the very beginning."
But the report goes on to disclose what Daschle did during the 2004 campaign:
In the months leading up to the 2004 election, Daschle used radio, television and full-page newspaper ads to emphasize his leadership post, his past efforts to support Ellsworth and the power he would have in the coming BRAC round.
In a debate a few weeks before the election, Daschle revealed that he had convinced President Bill Clinton to personally intervene during the 1995 BRAC round and have Ellsworth removed from the closure list.
"I was able to demonstrate how important it is to be at the front of the line as the leader of, one of the two Senate leaders, when I was actually in the Oval Office and asked President Clinton to take Ellsworth off the base-closing list. He did. He did because I'm leader," Daschle said during the campaign.
Again Daschle says it’s all about Daschle. "I’m leader". In Daschle’s world, we need to keep Ellsworth because it’s good for Daschle. So did the economy benefit to South Dakota and the national security aspect to America matter to Daschle? I doubt it. Daschle’s selfishness was again evident with this quote from the RCJ report:
He said he would not be able to call Thune to congratulate him.
"I am in Western Montana, so I'm not in a very good position to make calls," he said in a telephone interview. He said he would be "contacting the delegation and giving them my best wishes."
Wow…in a phone interview Daschle was "not in a very good position to make calls". Or should we say calls to John Thune.
And this leads me to today’s column written by Daschle’s college buddy, David Kranz. Excerpt:
And it may have been the first step in putting an end to the cold war between staffers for Sen. John Thune and the staff of former Sen. Tom Daschle.
I say what. What did Daschle have to do with yesterday's results, other than downplaying them. Was David Kranz unaware of the statements issued to the press yesterday by Daschle? I think he had to be. Peter Harriman included the "overblown" statement in his page 4A Argus Leader report today, plus this:
Eric Bogue, R-Faith, South Dakota Senate Majority Leader, echoed that.
"From what I've seen, there is no partisanship when it comes to the effort to save the base," Bogue said.
But Bogue did draw a distinction between Thune and Daschle.
"Knowing John, I do not think he would be the one to say 'I saved Ellsworth,' which I think is a distinguishing factor between him and Tom (Daschle)."
But I found no mention of the Daschle phone call gaff in the Argus Leader. So this opened up the door for Kranz to blame Republicans for partisanship:
The unified front between national Republicans and Democrats fell at 12:24 p.m. with a press release from the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee that criticized Democrats.
After repeating a series of press releases pro and con on the issue of Ellsworth, it concluded: "But what do we hear from the Democrat critics now?"
Another pathetic job by David Kranz as he protects Tom Daschle from being exposed for the partisan political hack that he is. Again, Kranz helps the Democrats by blaming Republicans for what the Democrats are guilty of. It was the Clinton Democrats who allowed politics to enter into the BRAC process in 1995. It was Presdient Bush who did not allow it in 2005.
Bogue hit the nail on the head, the show of bipartisanship on the Ellsworth would not have happened if Tom Daschle was still involved. It would have been all about Daschle.
Let’s see if the Daschles stop and say Hi on their return trip from western Montana back to Washington DC.
