March 7th, 2011 | 
Author: Tim Pawlenty | T-Paw | Iran | The Daily Caller
dailycaller.com12/13/11
Pawlenty: Time is coming when president will have to decide on strike against Iran | Says to allow Iran to get nuke risks 'a malfeasance in office of a historic magnitude'
Tim Pawlenty Endorses Mitt Romney For President In 2012 (VIDEO)
www.huffingtonpost.com9/12/11
WASHINGTON — Tim Pawlenty, who dropped his bid for the presidency last month, threw his support behind Mitt Romney Monday morning, saying the former Massachusetts governor "possesses the unique qualifications to …
This is Part 2 of a look at possible GOP candidates that might run well against Obama in 2012.
Part 1 looked at Mitch Daniels Part 2 looked at Tim Pawlenty
Part 3 looked at Chris Christie Part 4 looked at Mitt Ronney
Part 5 looked at Sarah Palin Part 6 looked at Mike Huckabee
Part 7 looked at Rudy Giuliani Part 8 looked at Michele Bachman
Part 9 looked at Donald Trump Part 10 looked at Paul Ryan
Part 11 looked at Ron Paul Part 12 looked at Newt Gingrich
Part 13 looked at Herman Cain Part 14 looked at Rick Santorum
Part 15 looked at Rick Perry Part 16 looked at Jon Huntsman
Unlike Mitch Daniels who shows no apparent interest in, or willingness to become proficient in foreign policy, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty launched an attack on President Barack Obama’s foreign policy at the 2011 CPAC meeting.
"So when the United States of America projects its national security interests here and around the world, we need to do it with strength!".
"We need to make sure that there is no equivocation, no uncertainty, no daylight between us and our allies around the world".
"The current administration doesn’t seem to understand this principle!".
"We undermine Israel, the U.K., Poland, the Czech Republic and Colombia, among other friends and meanwhile, we appease Iran, Russia and adversaries in the Middle East, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood".
"Mr. President, with bullies, might makes right. Strength makes them submit. So get tough on our enemies and not on our friends".
"And, Mr. President, stop apologizing for our country".
"The bullies, terrorists and tyrants of the world have lots to apologize for but America does not".
It has been noted before about how Obama seems to have a perverse policy of putting down America’s friends and appeasing her enemies and Great Britain and Israel, two of America’s staunchest allies, have repeatedly been the targets of Obama’s slights, and Obama’s dysfunctional foreign policy will no doubt be central to every Republican candidate’ campaigns, with the notable exception of Ron Paul, who is an isolationist.
* Slapping Friends Around And Kissing Up To Enemies Has Been A Failure!
In Egypt. Hosni Mubarak is gone, and although the Egyptian military is still firmly in control, the Egyptian people appear to be happy with that state of affairs, at least for now but this is no thanks to Obama, who was seen rightly as dithering and indecisive during the crisis and he’s now doing the same or worse with Libya, whilst the UK and France take the lead.
And where does Tim Pawlenty stand on domestic issues?
Well he just whole heartedly threw his support behind Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the people of Wisconsin in their battle with the unions.
Related posts:
- Would Mitch Daniels Have Been A Good Presidential Candidate?
- Should Rudy Giuliani Have Been A GOP Presidential Candidate?
- Should Chris Christy Have Been A GOP Presidential Candidate?
- Should Sarah Palin Have Been A Republican Presidential Candidate?
- Would Ron Paul be a good Republican presidential candidate?
Posted in 2012, administration, Campaign, economy, financial system, government, Middle East, politics, republicans, rogue states, terrorists, War
I didn’t like the way Tim Pawlenty handled the Norm Coleman Senatorial race. He showed no backbone. So, I am not that interested in him. Also, he is considered too liberal by conservatives.
If there’s one skill that a Republican presidential candidate with hopes of winning the New Hampshire primary needs to possess, it’s the ability to handle encounters with voters like Ray Shakir of North Conway.
Remember "Joe the plumber, and the ponytail guy?’.
Wearing a “Live Free Or Die” baseball cap and a wool sweater with the words “New Hampshire” scrawled in bold letters across the chest, Shakir made sure to carve out space in the front row Wednesday night when former Minnesota Gov.
A retired construction manager originally from New York, Shakir made the two-hour drive south to attend the Pawlenty event from the picturesque town in the White Mountains where he’s lived for the last fifteen years.
Shakir posed the question:
Can you please comment on ethanol?”.
Pawlenty responded to Shakir’s aggressive line of questioning by launching into a broad summary of his energy policy and generated applause from many in the crowd when he called for greater energy independence.
The former governor then pointed out that all American energy is subsidized by the federal government in some way and noted that Minnesota no longer provides direct payments to ethanol producers.
“But the bottom line is if the industry is going to change from what it is now and get to the next level they’re going to have a breakthrough on cellulosic biofuels, and they know that”, Pawlenty said in wrapping up his answer more than four minutes after Shakir asked his question.
Shakir hardly skipped a beat before launching his counterpunch, “However, there’s also a lot of other drawbacks of ethanol, including that it takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than it does to produce a gallon of gasoline”.
Pawlenty then expounded upon his answer some more, and even worked in a reference to his own snow blower in making his case.
An obvious hit with the standing room only crowd, Pawlenty later handled additional questions on foreign policy and the federal budget.
Many of the Republican activists Pawlenty shook hands with after he stepped away from the microphone offered him encouragement, and even Shakir was polite.
Well it’s official!
WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota became the first major Republican to enter the 2012 presidential race, announcing an exploratory committee on Monday that formalizes an ambition that has been steadily building for more than a year.
“There is a brighter future for America”, Mr. Pawlenty said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “We know what we need to do: grow jobs, limit government spending, tackle entitlements”.
Pawlenty has started putting together a sizable and very experienced team in Iowa that could make him an imposing figure in the 2012 Republican presidential nominating caucuses, and his own religious convictions could make him very attractive to evangelical voters.
Evangelical Christians comprise an important part of the Republican electorate in Iowa, and Pawlenty and several other prospective GOP presidential candidates are trying to convince faith-based conservatives that he or she is the one for them.
The power of these voters in the Republican caucuses is such that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney decided to shed his moderate image in 2007 and promote a somewhat altered platform of socially conservative views.
And it’s those self-same Evangelical Christians that put former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee over the top in the state’s 2008 caucuses.
Now however, Pawlenty is quietly reaching out to Huckabee’s network of pastors via his own church, in a serious effort to pull them into his fold.
I just say Pawlenty on Fox News’s “Hannity” show and he claims the the administration has devalued the dollar by injecting “fiat money” into the economy and forcasts a double-dip recession that he reckons could last all the way until the 2012 elections.
And that’s a pretty stern warning from somebody who’s looking to contrast his own economic program to that of Obama’s heading into the campaign season.
*Fiat money is money that only has value because of government regulation or law and the term derives from the Latin fiat, meaning “let it be done”.
If Pawlenty is to improve his name recognition among the large group of Republicans testing the 2012 waters, then he’ll have to start showing up in similar places to Ohio, which is a traditional battleground state that’s still suffering from 9% unemployment.
Pawlenty espouses common-sense Midwestern values of hard work and thriftiness, because he rose from hard beginnings to become the Republican governor of a typically Democratic state but he’ll have a lot of work to do against several better-known Republicans, such as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who may battle for the right to oppose President Barack Obama in 2012.
“I think I’m the one candidate in the race who can unite the entire conservative movement and still appeal to the general public and win the general election”, Pawlenty told reporters in advance of a dinner speech, at a Cuyahoga County Republican Party dinner.
And he brought up American concerns that the debt-ridden country is losing its global economic leadership role to China, a prospect he found worrying.
“Our place as the United States of America is not lagging behind China or anyone else in anything”, ” he said, “Our place is to lead the world in everything”, and he belittled Obama for declaring Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi “must go”, but not setting in motion a plan to make that happen and said he would support arming Libyan rebels.
“We can’t have a situation where we say Gaddafi must go and then he sticks around”, he told Reuters after his speech.
Talking to a crowd of Iowa college students last night (Apr 1, 2011) , Pawlenty said, “Barack Obama duped young people with a reworked Pepsi symbol and promises of hope!”.
“I’m going to spend my next year and a half trying to replace Barack Obama, and I think what the younger voters have figured out is that this is a broken relationship. He made soaring promises and grand expectations. He’s broken those promises”, he told the crowd of students.
“If this was a Lady Gaga song, the relationship between the youth vote and Barack Obama would be ‘Bad Romance’”.
Former Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told CNN’s Piers Morgan Tuesday (April 12, 2011) that he’s focused on running for the White House.
“I’m running for president”, Pawlenty said in an interview Tuesday on Piers Morgan Tonight. I’m not putting my hat in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for vice president. I’m focused on running for president.”
Pawlenty was responding to a hypothetical question if he would serve as Donald Trump’s vice president if Trump received the GOP nomination in 2012.
Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant later told CNN, “As the governor has said many times, he is not running to be anybody’s vice president”.
Tim Pawlenty is soft-spoken, low-key and restrained in his rhetoric, and that might well help in by the time next year’s election rolls around.
Why?
Because Americans might be so fed up with the “cool” president, and the wannabe presidents that they just might be in the mood for a dose of quiet competence.
The former governor might be light on sizzle, but he does bring with him a very meaty background however.
In spite of being the darling of conservatives, he’s managed to get elected twice in a famously liberal state known for putting Democrats in office, and that shows that he has crossover appeal.
He also has legislative experience, having spent a decade in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where he eventually became its House majority leader.
Tim Pawlenty may not be as glamorous as some of the others running for president next year, but he does appear to be authentic, capable and earnest, and with those qualities in short supply in the world of politics, Republican voters might just decide that he is just the ticket.
Trying to position himself as the model fiscally conservative Republican presidential candidate, Tim Pawlenty spoke at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute in Washington and refused to either endorse or reject the budget proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.
“In general the direction is positive, but I’m going to have my own plan”, the former Minnesota governor said. “We’re going to have some differences”.
Pawlenty says he will have a budget proposal in the coming weeks and plans a different Medicare overhaul than Ryan, and unlike Ryan would also reform Social Security by raising the eligibility age and blocking cost of living increases for wealthier seniors.
It’s been a bold rollout for Pawlenty.
He announced his presidential candidacy on Monday in Iowa and told Hawkeyes their ethanol subsidies had to be phased out, then on Tuesday went to Florida where he told seniors Social Security needed to be adjusted. Wednesday brought him to Washington to talk about cutting the benefits and pay of government employees and he will end the week on Wall Street by calling for an end to bailouts.
At a recent event in Manchester, Pawlenty was asked to explain his endorsement of a cap-and-trade anti-pollution plan for the Upper Midwestern United States. He said he “made a mistake in backing it”, pure and simple.
“Everybody’s got a couple of clunkers in their record. That’s one of mine. It was a mistake, I’m sorry. It was dumb”, Pawlenty said.
Pawlenty is often pigeonholed as the GOP establishment’s alternative to Mitt Romney.
He’s a two-term governor who typically emphasizes substance over style, and though he may lack the rhetorical sizzle of some of the more fiery White House aspirants, he’s recently been increasingly aggressive in his efforts to court the insurgent wing of the GOP, and he’s fully embraced the language of the tea party.
“God made us free, and the Constitution is designed to guarantee and maintain that freedom,” Pawlenty said at a tax day tea party rally last month in Concord, N.H. “The Constitution wasn’t written or designed to limit freedom. It was designed to limit government”.
Pawlenty’s campaign strategy hinges on making an impressive showing in the Iowa caucuses, where his socially conservative bona fides, evangelical faith, and residence in a neighboring state should work in his favor.
Until now, his reach among the party activist set in the first-in-the-South primary state of South Carolina has been decidedly more limited, but he plans to attend a rally hosted by the Greenville Tea Party, prior to Thursday’s candidates debate.
In his first economic speech as a declared presidential candidate, Pawlenty said Obama has discouraged innovation and that regulations have weighed down an economic recovery.
He added that, “President Obama is satisfied with a second-rate American economy, produced by his third-rate policies”.
The former Minnesota governor was in Obama’s hometown of Chicago on Tuesday(June 7, 2011) proposing an economic policy that would cut taxes on business by more than half and simplify the tax code to just three tiers.
Pawlenty is also proposing what he is calls “The Google Test”.
“If Americans can find a service on the Internet from a private company, then the government probably shouldn’t be providing it too”.
Pawlenty secured a major endorsement in the early primary state of South Carolina on Wednesday, picking up the support of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.
Wilson will serve as co-chairman of the former Minnesota governor’s campaign in South Carolina, which is traditionally a must-win primary state for any Republican candidate.
“Governor Pawlenty is the best man to get our nation back on the right track,” Wilson said in a statement provided to CNN. “As South Carolinians get to know Governor Pawlenty, as I have, they will see someone with a remarkable record of conservative accomplishments in a politically tough state for Republicans, and someone who has the kind of bold vision for America’s future that we need to defeat Barack Obama”.
Pawlenty called Wilson “A strong conservative voice for the people of South Carolina” and said he is “honored” to receive the endorsement.
Pawlenty talks the most sense so far and shows the most courage.
When you tell people in a corn-producing state like Iowa that you want to cut back on Ethanol subsidies, that takes guts, because Iowa will also produce the first results in next year’s primary campaign season.
And first results, like other first impressions, carry a lot of weight.
But somebody has got to talk sense about our dire economic problems, and it’s painfully clear that Barack Obama won’t be that somebody.
The fact that Pawlenty has put his neck on the line to do so is a big plus, and he cites his track record to back up his statements.
That includes reducing Ethanol subsidies when he was governor of Minnesota and cutting the growth of state government spending from just over 20% a year to under 2% a year.
Pawlenty fought Minnesota’s transit unions over runaway pensions and hung tough during a long strike.
“Today”, he says, “we have a transit system that gives commuters a ride, without taking the taxpayers for a ride”.
Some fear that Pawlenty doesn’t have the charisma and fireworks rhetoric that they would like to see in a candidate but charisma and rhetoric are what gave us the current disastrous administration in Washington!
Wrong direction!
Pawlenty has fallen from 6% in November, 2010 to 3% today
“Tim Pawlenty is a good friend and colleague who I have worked closely with over the years, including visiting our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a governor, Tim stuck to conservative principles despite leading a blue state like Minnesota.
He and Mary are true patriots who are committed to our country, and ran an honorable campaign that reflected their integrity.
Gov. Pawlenty’s common-sense conservative voice will remain prominent and influential as we work to beat President Obama in 2012 and get America working again”.
- Texas Gov. Rick Perry:
Democratic National Committee Communications Director Brad Woodhouse said:
“A former two-term Governor of a neighboring state, a social conservative, a person who on paper should be everything Republicans should consider in a candidate for president, was run out of the race because he wasn’t extreme enough. In the past 72 hours we’ve seen all the GOP candidates swear allegiance to the Tea Party in a debate, the national front-runner refer to ‘corporations as people,’ the two most extreme candidates in the field -– Tea Party favorites — come out on top of the Iowa Straw poll and someone once considered among the leading candidates for the nomination drop out of the race because he was not extreme or vitriolic enough for the Tea Party which now owns and operates the GOP. But, while protecting tax breaks for the wealthy and big oil while proposing to end Medicare, slash Social Security and pile additional burdens on the middle class might win plaudits with the Tea Party, it’s not remotely what the American people are looking for.”