Tim Pawlenty

Minnesota Embarrassment: Michele Bachmann And Tim Pawlenty!

Ronald 1 Comment

The state of Minnesota has had many distinguished public figures serve in its state government and in Congress.

Among famous Minnesotans in politics have been Harold Stassen, Henrik Shipstead, Orville Freeman, Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Walter Mondale, and Paul Wellstone.

Now, unfortunately, we have a Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, only in Congress since 2007, but already notorious for outrageous, divisive, and often crazy public statements and actions, including reasserting this week that President Barack Obama is “anti American”!

We also have outgoing Governor Tim Pawlenty, a likely seeker of the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012, who is wasting taxpayer money by signing on to a federal lawsuit being brought by at least a dozen Attorneys Generals, to prevent enforcement of the new Health Care reform legislation. Pawlenty is exploiting the situation, therefore presenting himself as a hard line conservative, joining mostly with southern leaders who want to promote “states rights”, an image that reminds one of slavery and segregation and nullification, terms that should be only referred to as part of our history’s sad record. Pawlenty has, apparently, no concern for people with pre-existing conditions, or for those dropped by their insurance companies, or those who receive a tremendous jump in premium costs, or for young people who will have no coverage after college, or for many others, altogether 32 million Americans, who do not seem to matter, as long as others have health care!

Minnesota cannot be proud of either Bachmann or Pawlenty, and hopefully, Bachmann can be removed from office as not being concerned that her district in Minnesota is the poorest, most deprived when it comes to health care and employment and foreclosures! And it seems highly unlikely that Tim Pawlenty will make very much progress in his quest to become our President! Certainly, Minnesota and the nation can do much better!

Purification Of The Republican Party: Is There Room For Olympia Snowe And Charlie Crist?

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It looks as if Republicans are ready to purify their party by pushing out anyone who is perceived as moderate.

There is already a movement by FreedomWorks, the radical right movement led by Dick Armey, former House Majority Leader during the 1990s and early 2000s, to create challenges in 2010 for moderate Republicans, with Florida Governor Charlie Crist, running for the Senate, as one of their main targets in his race for the nomination against Marco Rubio, the former Florida House Speaker.

Governor Tim Pawlenty, trying to outdo Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, his potential rivals for the Presidency, has questioned the loyalty to Republican principles of Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, who immediately responded that she has been a Republican all her life and had no intention of leaving the party.

It looks as if there will be civil war in the Republican party in 2010 to excise the “cancer” of moderation. How this will affect the 2010 election is unknown, but the possibility of a far right takeover of the party and its implication for 2012 is alarming and scary.

Hopefully, there will be enough economic progress in the next year so that the Democrats will retain most of their seats and overcome the extremist movement going on in the GOP.

The Further Narrowing Of The Republican Party Base: Prescription For Disaster

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It is absolutely amazing to see more and more Republican leaders backing the Conservative party nominee in the 23rd congressional district in upstate New York, instead of the Republican nominee, to fill the seat of a Republican who left to serve as Army Secretary under President Obama.

Hard to believe, but now Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Fred Thompson, Rick Santorum, and Dick Armey have all abandoned the GOP nominee as “too liberal”, forgetting this is New York, not the deep South or Great Plains that is being contested.

What does this say for party loyalty and for the rightward swing of the Republican party? Soon, NO moderate Republican will be able to feel comfortable in the party, and the GOP will be so marginalized as to lose opposition party status.

This seems to be a warning to moderates to look elsewhere, and it may be that the Democrats will benefit, or that a new party may emerge which will make the Republican party a fringe group outside of the political mainstream. IF that was to happen, the Republican party would have committed suicide and destroyed the historical image it has gained with such leaders as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan, who talked about the “11th Commandment”, which was NOT to attack any fellow Republican!

Only former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich so far has had the common sense to back the Republican nominee in this New York congressional race,  asserting that the party cannot be just right wingers, but must accomodate moderates as well.  For once, Gingrich is correct,  and yet the party seems to be ignoring his entreaties to their detriment!

The Values Voters Summit In Washington, DC

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This weekend, we are seeing the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC, a followup on the FreedomWorks/Tea Party protests of last weekend.

This group of social conservatives has welcomed various presidential possibilities to speak before their organization, but only four have done so–Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Mike Pence. Each, of course, is trying to outdo the other in appealing to this group, which is having discussions on such issues as: The Global Warming Hysteria; The Pro Death Agenda; Rationing Your Life Away with Obamacare; and Fighting the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.

It is hard to read this list of areas of discussion without guffawing like a hyena LOL 🙂 Does this group really believe that it is to be regarded as anything more than a group of right wing whackos with such titles and topics being employed, and no hint of any solutions to the many problems this nation faces?

The most interesting thing to come out of this series of meetings will be the straw poll of who is favored by this group, with the choices being the four mentioned above, plus Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Bobby Jindal.

As one looks at this group of contenders, all nine of them, it is hard to avoid big smiles and knowing looks, that ALL of them, with again the exception of Romney, would seem to the observer to have not a chance of seriously challenging President Obama in 2012. That does not mean that Romney does not have major weaknesses, but none of the others would seem to have any strength or backing that could possibly make them competitive.

Then again, however, it could be, as many are starting to observe, that the GOP nominee for 2012 might very well not come from this group, and may be someone that nobody has been taking seriously yet or even thought of up to this point. After all, at this stage in September 2005, who was thinking about Barack Obama?

So, as always, American politics is a stimulating and exciting sport, with the impossibility this far ahead of imagining what the final game in 2012 will be like!

Mitt Romney Versus Tim Pawlenty

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The debate over Barack Obama’s education speech has already led to what can be described as a split between two potential GOP candidates for the Presidential nomination in 2012.

Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota has taken the low road, claiming that the idea of a Presidential address emphasizing setting of goals, staying in school, and promoting responsibility among children, is disruptive, uninvited, and should not be forced on the nation’s children. Huh? How is it disruptive, Governor Pawlenty? Why do you think such advice from an authority figure such as the President of the United States is uninvited, and is forcing anything on the nation’s students? Why is it one gets the feeling that you are Tim Pawlenty speaking through the brain and mouth of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann? Are you so afraid of her and her loony followers that you can be so irresponsible, particularly in the light of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and George W Bush having similar contacts with students? Do you really think that all parents are doing their job adequately, and that therefore if the President speaks on the subject of education, that he is being harmful? Shame on you, Governor Pawlenty!

Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, on the other hand, is speaking responsibly at this time on this subject. His reaction, so far, has been to say that it is appropriate that the President encourage the nation’s students to be responsible and finish school. He does say that the President should not get into policy plans or politics, but it is clear that the President NEVER had the intention to do so in the first place. So Romney says the responsible thing, but saves his flank by just warning the President to avoid doing what he never intended to do!

So early on in the Presidential race, again, Mitt Romney looks a whole lot better than his opponents, including Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and now, Tim Pawlenty! I congratulate you, Mitt Romney! Keep up the responsible image that you now have! We need more GOP leaders to speak as you have!