[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: The Party's Over

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
The Party's Over
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1218176198.shtml


   Three years ago, Powerline's John Hinderaker and former Minnesota GOP
   chair Ron Eibensteiner said this via the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

     Gov. Tim Pawlenty is the best thing that has happened to Minnesota
     and our party in a long time. He is as smart as anyone in politics,
     and is a likable guy who has connected with Minnesotaâs voters. In
     challenging times, he is doing a superb job.

   I wonder if they still feel the same way, that Mr. Pawlenty is the
   best Governor in recent memory?
   I stopped calling him Governor some time ago when Eric Eskola so
   correctly observed that he was behaving more like a Prime Minister. He
   has had his moments, but his maverick ways and numerous unforced
   errors (always toward the Left) continue to frustrate much of the
   Republican base. His latest? Our Conservative ideas are old, tired,
   not workable in the Party of Pawlenty. We're too ideological
   (principled), too stuck in the past (educated), too inflexible
   (responsible).
   Details with appropriate reaction and scorn were posted at [1]Residual
   Forces, [2]Nihilist in Golf Pants and [3]Our House. Let me quote Lady
   Margaret in particular:

     Pawlenty says that the ideas "are tired." I'm sorry, but having
     watched his career for some time now, I can say with some degree of
     confidence that Tim Pawlenty wouldn't know an idea if it bit him in
     the ass. For Pawlenty, if the politics works, the ideas work.

   I do next to no graphics here at Speed Gibson, but I'm tempted to put
   up a picture of our Prime Minister with a big red FAIL in the corner.
   Yes, Tim Pawlenty is a failure. He has reached his level of political
   incompetence. Incredibly, some score him atop the Veep leader board,
   but then, look who's making the decision...
   Sure, he had a great opening two years, closing the mega-honking
   deficit, but really, what choice did he have? It was too soon to raise
   taxes, given the 2002 Convention where he pried the nomination away
   from Brian Sullivan, claiming he was a Conservative, too.
   Years three and four? He got rolled by the DFL, raised taxes, then
   openly and defiantly lied to us about it. And he got rolled by Dean
   Johnson, who has maybe a tenth the political skills of Pawlenty.
   Johnson simply lied his way through and Pawlenty couldn't find the
   words - or his spine.
   Years five and six? First, there really shouldn't have been more than
   four years of Pawlenty. He was barely re-elected and only because Mike
   Hatch fumbled on the goal line, over-reacting to a minor gaffe by his
   running mate. That said, yes he vetoed a lot of bad DFL legislation.
   Friends, even Hatch would have had to veto some of those bills. The
   real hero of 2007 was House Minority Leader Marty Siefert,
   incidentally. We also have to thank Larry Pogemiller for overplaying
   his hand.
   State spending is still shooting up faster than inflation, personal
   income or GDP, and faster than it did under Arne Carlson who was no
   Conservative, either. Meanwhile, we also got a junk science Smoking
   Ban to put dozens of establishments out of business and a stadium for
   billionaire Carl Pohlad. And we have his absurd and unworkable energy
   legislation that almost certainly will have to be repealed as the due
   dates approach.
   Can Pawlenty win a third term? Maybe if the DFL nominates Sonia Pitt,
   but with the base angry again, by his own words, a Primary challenge
   looms large, and defeat all but certain even if he makes it to
   November.
   The Party of Pawlenty is over. His future has to be in Washington now.

References

   1. http://www.residualforces.com/2008/08/05/pawlenty-throwing-unity-and-a-common-message-aside-for-personal-gain-again/
   2. http://nihlist.blogspot.com/2008/08/pawlenty-obamas-great-we-suck.html
   3. http://www.ourhouseblog.com/2008/08/after-pawlenty.html