Posted on 11/15/2008 11:29:10 AM PST by St. Louis Conservative
The Republican governor eyeing a presidential run in 2012 appears to be Minnesotas Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty used his time at yesterdays roundtable discussion to cast himself as the modern Republican while casting aspersions on the traditional conservative message, calling for outreach to the new demographics, deriding the GOP for allegedly being 15 years behind in the use of the Internet, and calling for the party not to be led by a crank. Pawlenty appears to have John McCains penchant for attacking conservatives rather than those in the other party.
Pawlenty in Miami was publicly angry, agitated, and even cranky, possibly because he found himself at odds with the far more conservative tone of every other speaker here. Hundreds of RGA members, who paid thousands of dollars to attend this Conference, wildly applauded red meat conservative pronouncements by speakers and not the more moderate and conservative-jabbing words by Pawlenty. And then theres his Palin problem, real or imagined, that hit the fan yesterday in front of the national media, possibly upon the insistence of Pawlenty himself, as the above-reported comments to CNN by an anonymous presidential aspirant indicate.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
Might I ask what it is, in your opinion, that makes W a failure?
If you don’t know by now, do I really need to tell you?
Nonsense.
Who leads our party should be based on a tough, no-nonsense record of true leadership and unyielding, unapologetic support and defense of CONSERVATIVE principles...NOT the region they come from.
NO MORE DEM-LITE RINOS!!!
How do you know that?
I am not a big fan of Pawlenty. I am not a big fan of another ‘McCain’like’ candidate. As far as Sarah is concerned, she advocates the practical common-sense conservatism of Middle America. The center-right.
She is capable of reviving a modern-era Reagan coalition of the entrepreneurial middle-class and blue-collar workers .... who unite traditional economic conservatives (that believe in smaller government and tax relief) with blue-collar workers who hold traditionalist views on culture or morality. I don’t believe Pawlenty can do this.
I dont even think Reagan was as fully conservative as might be ideal which is why he won over moderates. I also think that Sarah is the best, most moral and most focused leader with charisma that I’ve seen since President Reagan.
In 2008, voters who described themselves as liberal amounted to 22 per cent of voters, moderates to 44 per cent, and conservatives to 34 per cent. That is almost uncannily similar to a poll quoted by Mr. Reagan 30 years ago: “A Harris poll released Sept. 7, 1975, showed 18 per cent identifying themselves as liberal and 31 per cent as conservative, with 41 per cent as middle of the road.”
This is also a coalition that can be grown. You have to expect that Sarah with sound tempered at times to appease the moderate coalition which she will need to win in a general election. But without the conservative base behind any of these candidates then it is 2008 all over again.
I don’t get inspired by Pawlenty nor do I think he can attract the above mentioned coalitions. I hope we don’t make a mistake in the 2012 primaries again and nominate a ‘voice’ for the moderates.
Regardless, watch Sarah help candidates in 2010 first. She stated as such in her RGA speach.
How about Sean Hannity for President? Seriously.
So how would someone who signed up a couple of months ago know what happened 8 years ago?
How do you know when you just signed up for FR in May 2008?
I simply asked for your opinion.
If you’d rather not articulate your opinion, I understand.
That would be an empty suit calling himself a 'moderate' which means that he stands for nothing.
America would be very lucky to have Sanford of South Carolina as our next president, that is if there's enough left of America after Obomba and the communists get done draining the blood and whatever goodness still exists here.
I have seen Free Republic in the 2004 election and there was strong support for GWB on this site, not question.
Troll.
I was going to say why don’t we have a proven RINO list, with attached article for proof of RINOness, and just keep track of all these meatheads for the next election cycle? I’m really sick of these people.
Pawlenty is a too much get along kind of guy. Pawlenty could not deliver MN for McCain. Plus, the fact that Pawlenty never got above 46% of the popular vote in his runs for Governor. Its doubtful he can carry his own state.
Mitch Daniels might have potential. He is an aggessive campaigner. Unlike other conservatives, he learns from his mistakes and corrects them. In 2007, he looked vulnerable in his re-election bid. However he was able to repackage himself to a landslide re-election win.
These two are a couple of newbie trolls playing some incomprehensibly moronic tag-team game.
The odds were stacked so heavily against the GOP that no Republican could have won this year.
You can't seriously say that McCain means failure and that some other candidate could have won after that financial mess came to light back in October.
Obama may be a Carter and mess up so badly that he's defeated for reelection.
Or he may be a Clinton who wins a second term without much trouble.
In any case, right now it doesn't look like there's a Reagan waiting in the wings who can easily unseat Obama with a markedly conservative platform.
On what basis do you put forth such a fantastical assertion?
Hearing him talk about all that ‘green’ BS makes me ill.
Yeah, and John F'in Kerry was the opponent. Under the circumstances, who in their right mind would NOT support GWB?
I'll note also that although Bush's domestic policy is a glaring example of "liberal-lite" RINO-ism, his approval ratings are still higher than those of the very congress that has brought us our two most recent candidates, Obama and McCain.
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