Tuesday, February 16, 2010

ADDENDUM ON: PAWLENTY FOR PRESIDENT? A 2012 PRIMER

At the very bottom below, in bold italic, is an addendum from today on the post immediately below which I made last Sunday, February 14. Politicians should never be taken by what they say, but only by what they do. Wait until you read what Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has now done to the people of Minnesota...

I've warned you about this guy before, Republican Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and now I'm warning you again. He is sneakily but continually maneuvering himself behind the scenes to obtain the Republican nomination for President in 2012. Like most Republicans, the guy is short-sighted and wholly self-serving. He is also as deceitful as Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, albeit smoother and less confrontational. But he is arrogant, sneaky, and untrustworthy, and a political chameleon as well. At various times of his choosing, he has portrayed himself as a moderate as well as a conservative. He molds himself to fit his needs of the moment. You'll be seeing a lot more of this guy over the next couple of years as he'll try to sneak his way into the White House. But believe me, my friends: you will NOT want him in the White House!

Below is a descriptive piece on Pawlenty which just appeared in the OpEd section of today's Minneapolis Star Tribune by staff writer Nick Coleman. It sums up the devious and medicre Tim Pawlenty rather well. (Just so you understand some of the localspeak: "DFL" refers to the Democratic Farmer Laborer Party, Minnesota's version of the Democratic Party).


Nick Coleman: The state of the state? A stepping stone
Pawlenty flirts with far-right fringe as he tilts toward the Oval Office.
By NICK COLEMAN, Star Tribune

Last update: February 13, 2010 - 5:31 PM
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In his eighth and final State of the State address, Tim Pawlenty said he hopes not to put us through one of those endless and agonizing Minnesota "long goodbyes."

No need to worry, governor. We thought you were already long gone.

Pawlenty's State of the State address had an absent-minded and lackluster tone, which is understandable since it wasn't the most important speech he will give this month. Pawlenty, who spends more time on the road than Danica Patrick, has far more riding on a speech he will deliver this week to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. In that hotbed of right-wing activists Pawlenty will try to gain traction for his tilt at the White House windmill by appealing to folks who get passionate about the gold standard and government attempts to crack down on garlic supplements.

I'm not kidding: The John Birch Society, one of many fringe groups that will have a presence at CPAC, may be known for its pro-gun, anti-immigration efforts, but these days the Birchers are ticked off about a "freedom-destroying" effort in Congress to regulate the sale and use of untested health supplements. Saw palmetto tablet, anyone? The bill's author is that liberal kook John McCain, whom Pawlenty followed like a puppy in 2008 in the hopes of getting a vice-presidential rub on his head.

Two years later, Pawlenty has traveled far to the right of his erstwhile role model, and hopes to draw the spotlight at a conference where he will have to compete with deep thinkers Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Minnesota's own Michele Bachmann.

It won't be Pawlenty's first visit to CPAC. He delivered a coming-out speech last year, giving a humble-pie, aw-shucks, G-droppin' "I'm a bedrock guy from the Heartland" summary of the Conservative Catechism: "It all starts with acknowledging that God is our Creator and it is from God that we receive our values and our principles."

But Pawlenty's White House ambitions started earlier than most Minnesotans know, and coincided with his early disenchantment with being governor, a job that has become increasingly difficult as DFLers expanded their control of the Legislature while, at the same time, Pawlenty abandoned bipartisanship in favor of getting himself on the national radar.

David Schultz, law professor and political observer from Hamline University, recalls Pawlenty's out-of-the-blue demand in 2003 -- late in the first year of his first term -- that Minnesota revive its ancient death penalty after the murder of Dru Sjodin by a sex offender his administration had released. It was the start of Pawlentyism: Talk big and carry a small stick by proposing laws that have no chance of approval in Minnesota but will get you a guest shot on Sean Hannity. "He was looking for an agenda for himself, not for the state," Schultz says. "He throws out this extreme conservative stuff -- Bible-banging, anti-tax, anti-government conservative -- and takes a stand to try to get to the right of other Republican candidates."

It may be working for him. It hasn't worked for Minnesota.

"There is no (presidential) candidacy for Pawlenty if he doesn't move hard right," says Larry Jacobs, head of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. The activists who control the process in both parties are far more extreme than the public at large, Jacobs says. "The governor has become more conservative than any previous governor," says Jacobs. "And more effective than any previous Republican politician in rising onto the short list for his party's nomination."

The Republican governor who most compares with Pawlenty in terms of the national attention he received was Harold Stassen (another lawyer from South St. Paul), who was elected governor during the Depression, resigned to help fight World War II and helped establish the United Nations. That's where the comparison ends: Pawlenty's raw ambition has led him to play footsie with extreme right-wing forces who want to abolish the U.N.

A gifted politician who never won a majority but led Minnesota through a difficult decade of change and challenge, Pawlenty's legacy remains to be decided by historians. But there is little to brag about. And judging from his speeches this month, he remains devoted to sound bites, not substance.

"The only thing he can say he did is that he didn't directly raise taxes," says Schultz, who believes Pawlenty would not have won again had he chosen to run for a third term. "So that old Ronald Reagan line comes into play: 'Is the state better off now than it was eight years ago?' Unless your sole barometer is to say we have less taxes, the answer from most people is probably no."

Good luck and goodbye, governor. Wherever you are.

Nick Coleman is a senior fellow at the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy & Civic Engagement at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University. He can be reached at nickcoleman@gmail.com.

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Tim Pawlenty is a typically unoriginal "tax cuts [for the wealthy] will solve all problems" economic and social conservative Republican. Like most in his party, he does not undersatand, nor does he want to, the wants and needs of average everyday working Americans. His only "vision" is seeing himself as President. Somehow, at this point in our history, that's not quite good enough. Pawlenty has neglected the needs of his own state and put his quest for President far in front of them. In the best George W. Bush tradition, he is irresponsibly coasting his last year in office and leaving a myriad of problems for his successor to deal with. His old-fashioned, 1920s-style approach to economics may please the far-right conservatives of his exclusive little Republican party, but they are disastrous prescriptions for this country today and going forward, as the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2007 have abundantly proven.

But keep your eye on this snake-in-the-grass. He'll be rising high in Republican Party circles. As evidenced by their fascination with Sarah Palin and Michael Steele, they love medicre, ineffectual "leaders" of this sort.

But they, and all of us, deserve far, far better!

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Pawlenty just yesterday submitted his proposed state budget to the Minnesota Legislature. It is an absolute disaster. A typically regressive conservative Republican budget, it thoroughly screws the poor while giving tax breaks to corporations and business. It also screws local governments who rely on state aid for police, fire, and snow plow operation. The net effect, if adopted, will be layoffs in state and local government, as well as noticeable cutbacks in needed government services and an exclusion of nearly 40,000 needy Minnesotans from receiving state aid for health care. Call THAT aspect a Pawlenty Death Panel, folks.

Pawlenty's proposal would cut $347 million from health and human services, with cuts in programs for the SICK, MENTALLY ILL, JOBLESS, and DISABLED. He also proposes $47 million in cuts which target HIGHER EDUCATION. Also $191 million from state government, and $250 million from aid to cities.

Like the rest of the country, Minnesota currently faces a severe budget shortfall caused by the reckless conservative Republican economics of much of the past 30 years. This shortfall has prompted Pawlenty to make these cuts. But at the same time, he proposes $118 million in tax cuts for small business in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 as well as a $10 million corporate tax cut for this year which will swell to $150 million in the following years. That these cuts will further reduce state coffers drastiscally for his successor and will lead to huge increases in local and property taxes for Minnesota's citizens AFTER HE LEAVES OFFICE HERE obviously has little effect on the uncaring and self-centered Pawlenty, who apparently fantasizes that he'll be sitting happily in the White House by then.


RECKLESS, IRRESPONSIBLE, OVERLY AMBITIOUS AND COLD-HEARTED POLITICIANS LIKE TIM PAWLENTY DO NOT BELONG IN THE WHITE HOUSE. TAKE HEED, VOTERS!

9 comments:

Holte Ender said...

Thanks for adding that Jack, he is running for higher office by the sounds of all that.

Jack Jodell said...

I have no doubt at all about that, Holte Ender. It is an obvious ploy to garner the support of the far-right elements which now control the GOP and which he thinks will enable him to win the nomination. But with a budget submitted which is so blatantly pro-corporate and anti-people, I don't see any way Pawlenty could even carry his own state any longer!

Commander Zaius said...

Any chance the guy might be so egotistical that he might have taken a walk on the Appalachian Trail? Sure ended Sanford's chances.

Unknown said...

Keeping an eye open Jack... thanks for the update. :-)

Jack Jodell said...

Beach,
I'd be kinda surprized if he journeyed down that trail. He's a big time social conservative (a real one) and is squeaky clean; holier than the Pope.
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Gwendolyn,
Thanks. I knew I could count on you. :-)

Manifesto Joe said...

The nightmare GOP presidential ticket in 2012: Pawlenty-Perry!

There's talk that our state's longest-serving governor, "Governor Goodhair," may be interested in higher office, too. He's way up in the polls against Kay B.H., with just a couple of weeks to go until the primary. The thought of having this man as our governor for 14 years is repulsive enough. Now they're talking about higher office.

The Democrats in this state appear to be about to give the gubernatorial nomination to Bill White, mayor of Houston, who seems like a straight-up sort of guy. Unfortunately, he looks like Mr. Greenjeans (from "Captain Kangaroo"). Some matchup -- Governor Goodhair vs. Mr. Greenjeans.

Jack Jodell said...

Manifesto Joe,
Perry is definitely a wacko, and I'm sorry you've had to put up with him for so many years. He's so extreme, though, I can't see him progressing very high nationally. I mean, weird stuff happens all the time, but how in the world could a secessionist ever become President? It'd be Mr. Greenjeans forme, all the way---maybe a nasty GOP split will enable him to win by default?

Kentucky Rain said...

This guy makes politicians look like pikers. I have watched this guy for years and Jack, as usual, your fine piece sums up this clown in just a few paragraphs. We need not to worry about the likes of The Palin and start thinking more of Tim Pawlenty, who may well prove to be the Dark Lord himself.

Jack Jodell said...

MadMike,
It's up to us to call this guy out for what he really is: a social and economic conservative Bush/Cheney free market clone. Synonyms: authoritarian, corporatist, plutocrat, puppet. Definitely NOT what working and middle America needs!