Pawlenty knocked (again) for pandering to GOP base

Minnesota Independent ^ | November 12, 2009 | Paul Demko

[ejdrapes]

Pawlenty knocked (again) for pandering to GOP base

Gov. Pawlenty’s recent efforts to pander to the conservative GOP base is “Romneyesque,” observes veteran Washington Post political reporter Dan Balz. He warns that Pawlenty is in danger of losing his political compass as he attempts to position himself for a 2012 presidential bid.

In particular, Balz criticizes T-Paw for his awkward refusal to embrace Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe as a member in good standing of the GOP during a recent television appearance. He also dings Pawlenty for eagerly wading into the recent congressional contest in upstate New York and for criticizing President Obama’s address to students on the first day of school. The awkward attempt to reposition himself for a Republican primary reminds Balz of Mitt Romney’s (doomed) 2008 presidential campaign.

The real risk for Pawlenty, as Romney learned in his unsuccessful 2008 campaign, is losing his true voice and his authenticity. Romney spent so much time trying to reposition himself and picking narrow tactical fights with his rivals that the qualities that might have made him a more attractive candidate were lost in the smoke. But once a candidate starts down that road, it can be hard to pull back.

This year, Romney has generally kept a lower profile. The view among strategists is that Romney has been shrewd in staying out of these flare-ups and wise to try to focus on big-picture issues of national security and the economy when he raises his profile. Pawlenty, being less known nationally and looking to attract attention to himself, has been reluctant to stay quiet.

Last week, another Washington Post political reporter, Chris Cillizza, made similar criticisms of Pawlenty.

[ejdrapes]

MSM comparing Pawlenty to Romney. LOL I'm from Minnesota and yeah Pawlenty hasn't been the perfect conservative all the time. But you cannot compare him to Romney. He's always been socially conservative. That hasn't been the case with Romney.

[Graybeard58]

That hasn't been the case with Romney.

You're being too kind to the phony bastard Romney.

[BlueStateBlues]

Palin will eat both of them for lunch and have room for pie.

[eclecticEel]

He has a lot less pandering to do than Romney. And he’s starting it good and early, and at least comes off as less of a phoney than that other panderer from down south (Perry).

[stockpirate]

Well if we are talking about panderer’s don’t leave out Huckabee the carnaval barker salesman.

[jveritas]

You are bit overestimating Palin power. She did not fair that well in the debate against a brainless Joe Biden. The country is not yet ready to elect a woman President. The democrats, the home of feminists, chose a black man over a a woman. Outside the hard core conservative base Palin is not as popular as you think, she is damaged goods.

[BlueStateBlues]

She won 47% of the vote against a movement candidate. She also has the inside track in the primaries, has polished her speaking style (she won the debate with Biden, as I remember it). Romney, who has to control his speech because he’s like an actor playing a part, has no chance against an honest woman like Palin. And the country is not ready to elect a woman president? Of course it is, again, I repeat, she won 47% of the vote last year. I really don’t want to debate this, it’s like debating butter melting in the sun.

[jveritas]

Forget Romney but I bet you he will crush her in a debate.

[rbmillerjr]

We will get to see that debate so we will see if your opinion is correct.

The problem is that Pawlenty and Romney will want the other candidate to attack her and they’ll be judicious with their attacks...

They don’t want to inflame the conservative base...Romney has bonafides as a camelion already and like it or not he is a Mormon and that doesn’t play well from the beginning.

[BlueStateBlues]

I’ll take the bet. Romney might not even run when he crunches the numbers in 2011 and realizes that Palin has the nomination all but wrapped up.

[ansel12]

She did not fair that well in the debate against a brainless Joe Biden.

I watched that debate she beat him and then when the extraordinary list of lies he told during the debate were revealed it showed just how fraudulently he held any face at all during the debate.

[rbmillerjr]

I love that tagline...hilarious.

Kudos.

[jveritas]

May be Romney will not run but do not be so sure that Palin is going to be the nominee. The Republican base is not Free Republic.

[rbmillerjr]

“The Republican base is not Free Republic.”

A website full of conservatives is not the base of the Republican Party?

Who do you think is?

[GregH]

The problem is Palin did not corner Biden on the lies during the debate and polls after the debate showed Biden won it despite lying his way through it.

Ir wasn’t a great performance from Palin.

[ansel12]

The immediate polls were very good but as usual they dropped as the media did it’s spin, they always do for republicans, the first snapshots are good and then the talking heads start working the memories of those that saw it and creating an image for those that didn’t.

Palin did excellent in that the debate and the immediate polls showed that, it is amazing to think that she had never been on the national stage before those weeks.

[jveritas]

Free Republic is made up of the hard core conservatives who are a big segment but not a majority of the Republican Party. All the polls at the moment show that among Republicans voters Palin will lose to Romney and Huckabee for the Republican nomination. Thing may change but I doubt or Palin favor, i.e. some other person may become the candidate like Palwenty if he wants to run, Demint, Perry, etc...

[ansel12]

The Republican base is not Free Republic.

Close enough

[rbmillerjr]

“Free Republic is made up of the hard core conservatives who are a big segment but not a majority of the Republican Party”

You said base, not majority. Conservatives are the base.

As far as the debate and polls...who cares even Dukakis won one of his debates lol. Palin actually exceeded expectations. Why? Because the media sold the Dem narrative that Palin was stupid.

Btw, after the Biden/Palin debate, Independents broke 67 to 33 toward Biden. Independents will vote for the Republican this time.

Polls on the GOP Primary are literally meaningless now...care to look at the Reagan...Bush polls 3 years out. I think you get my drift.

[jveritas]

How about the Rasmussen poll that shows her third after Romney and Huckabee among Republican voters.