(Senator John) Thune: Johnson Is 'Making Progress'

[sabra]

http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=8187

Thune: Johnson Is 'Making Progress'

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- After talking with Senator Tim Johnson's wife, Senator John Thune says Johnson is making progress in the hospital.

Johnson is recovering from brain surgery at George Washington University Hospital in Washington. Surgeons operated a week ago.

Thune has just returned from an eight-day trip to Iraq and other Middle East hot spots. After landing, he went to the hospital and talked with Barb Johnson late yesterday afternoon.

Thune says he did not see the senator. But he says Barb Johnson and family are holding up well and are upbeat.

Thune says troops he talked with overseas were eager to know how Johnson was doing. So he says the support for Johnson's recovery is being felt all over the world.

[BayCityProgressive]

1. wow

that was surprisingly nice of him.

[aquart]

3. It was completely proper behavior.

It's shocking that it surprises us. Too much Bush for too long.

[Mike Daniels]

10. Until recently politicians could be civil and socialize with opposing party members

I've always equaled Congress to something like pro-wrestling. You have both sides blustering about each other on camera but once the cameras were off they sat down and got things done w/out demonizing each other.

Hell, even Jesse Helms went on record saying that he personally liked Clinton as a person but politically they couldn't be further apart.

This comraderie seemed to dissolve sometime in the last decade and it's been more all the pity.

It's time that the politicians stop throwing the red meat to their hard-core base and recognize that the majority of the country is tired of the partisan blood-letting and wants its leadership to act like adults and resolve things in a civil manner.

[babylonsister]

2. Very nice. Thanks for caring, Sen. Thune. nt

[mitchtv]

4. what makes you think he cares?

My bet , he was snooping.

[babylonsister]

5. He went to see him, is from SD, I can't imagine it was snooping.

Not all people are assholes, even rethugs.

[raysr]

9. Disagree, all republicks assholes.

[mitchtv]

11. he is a talibornagain Xian

I ascribe no higher motives to that type. They are on the wrong side of everything

[noonwitch]

8. Friends and colleagues

I'm sure Johnson's wife was glad to hear from him.

When former Detroit mayor Coleman Young died, the most touching speech I saw from his televised funeral was that of former Michigan Governor Milliken, a republican. After hearing all these overblown speeches about Coleman's legacy and such, Milliken talked about his friend and how much he would miss him.

[iamjoy]

6. I'll Give Thune Benefit of Doubt

as the two senators from South Dakota, they may feel a kinship that neither would have with members of their own party. Maybe they work together on things that will be good for SD - the way Nelson (D) and Martinez (R) work together to fight drilling off the Florida coast.

Sometimes I think some of the political rivalry is a farce. A friend of mine told me a little story once. He was in DC and went to watch the Senate in session one day. Well, Kennedy and (he thinks) Snowe were intensely debating something. And then there was a break called, and the two went off to the side, kind of away from the CSPAN cameras, but he could still see them. And they were laughing together and being all buddy-buddy.

Funny how they do that sort of thing.

[babylonsister]

7. Wasn't it Tip O'Neill and Reagan who were great friends? I think

this Congress has misplaced a lot of the collegiality that used to get things done. I can like or appreciate someone who I don't agree with (well, not often lately).

[307 MMS]

12. Rove

The Rove game plan calls for a "screw you" attitude to the "other side" a kind of "take no prisoners" ugly mind set. Such a frat boy approach. Rove hasn't grown up yet and neither has shithead. They're the perfect pair...but for themselves only...not for us! Hey, "I'm a uniter, not a divider". What a bullshitting piece of turd with legs.