Posted on 05/25/2011 11:40:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
First he goes after ethanol in Iowa, now this. What’s next? Telling Texans it’s time to wean themselves off of barbecue? Good lord. This isn’t a campaign, it’s an intervention.
Alternate headline: “Tim Pawlenty now unelectable in not one but two early primary states.”
A day after telling Iowans their beloved ethanol subsidies will have to go, Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty used a stop in senior-heavy Florida to call for reining in Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees…
It’s part of a tough-medicine tour, designed to highlight Pawlenty’s willingness to tell “hard truths.” He’s also planning to visit Washington to call for less-generous pay and benefits for public sector employees and to New York to call for an end to Wall Street bailouts…
Pawlenty said Social Security’s retirement age must “gradually” increase for people who are not yet in the system. He also called for ending cost-of-living increases for wealthy retirees. He said he’ll release details soon and said the changes would not affect current retirees.
That’s from today’s Facebook town hall, where he also took a question that seemed geared towards winning a certain fiscal-con icon’s constituency:
“In the state of Indiana, our governor has been really hard on teachers,” asked one girl. “What is your view of education?”
Pawlenty voiced a position on education similar to the reforms passed by Daniels in the last Indiana legislative session: school choice and vouchers, support for charter schools, and saying that education policy should be geared to help children and should “put their needs first, rather than the interests of adults in public employee union movement.”
The choice of the question seemed deliberate, as a way to position Pawlenty as the natural alternative for Daniels’ supporters.
The straight talk on entitlements, I think, is mainly geared towards giving him cover with the base for when he starts inching away from Ryan’s Medicare plan. He praised Ryan’s budget when speaking to reporters after the Facebook town hall today but reminded them that he’ll be introducing his own plan in the coming months. With good reason: The more Senate Republicans bail on Ryan — Olympia Snowe is the latest — the closer we get to the sort of tipping point imagined by Nate Silver. It’s easier for the GOP to deflect concerns about Ryan’s Medicare reforms if they’re voting party-line, less easy when the RINO contingent of Snowe, Collins, and Brown defects and thereby implicitly signals to centrists that Ryan’s budget is “extreme.” T-Paw’s trying to massage both sides here (much as he did in Iowa), hinting without saying that he thinks Ryan’s plan is extreme too but not so much that entitlement reform should be avoided. Exit quotation: “What I know is this: There just can’t be any more sacred cows.”
RE: this has been proven twice in two weeks and we lost twice
Then don’t say you are cutting Medicare because THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH. Tell them you are SAVING MEDICARE. That’s what Paul Ryan is doing — saving Medicare, while at the same time saving our economy and making our entire budget SOLVENT.
Who is cutting Medicare? Obama of course. He is cutting Medicare to fund Obamacare ( which will include illegals even when he says it does not ).
Paul Ryan defends his plan very well and when people UNDERSTAND what he is doing, they are favorably disposed to it. Seniors support Ryan’s plan by an overwhelming majority.
Why? Well for one, if you are 55 and above, Ryan’s plan WON’T TOUCH WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE.
What we need is for a Presidential/Congressional candidate who can articulate Ryan’s plan as well as he does.
Pawlenty has repudiated his previous support for cap and trade.
RE: Pawlenty has repudiated his previous support for cap and trade.
Yes he did. I’d rather have someone own up to his mistakes and learn from it rather than someone who stubbornly insists that he made the right decision ( Mitt Romney on Romneycare anyone? )
wow, You can say what eevr you want but the fact remains that the left will state we are cutting their medicare and that is when people stop voting for you.
You’re over 55, you are ion SS and medicare and this won’t bother you so it must be great to have had it but when most are in their 40’s, 50’ 30’s and have heard about the new retirement age etc then you will lose their votes, AGAIN THEREFORE YOU WILL NOT GET TO CHANGE MEDICARE.
You have took SS and medicare so obviously you have no problem but many I know are younger than you and when they hear you they say no vote.
Ryan should not have come public, huge mistake and one has to look at this from not your own eyes but the eyes of others and the left who now have been given a gift
AGAIN
we have lost two elections in two weeks and it was because of the Ryan plan, how many more do you want to lose?
As for understanding his plan ,well most voters are dumb and all they hear is their so called medicare getting cut
As for saying most support this then where do you have that poll from please?
you are looking at this through our eyes not the average voter.
Both elections were lost because of the Ryan plan and the left used their usual scare tactics, Ryan helped them.
SO how many elections do you want to lose until you see we have to change this debate and say medicare will be killed by obamacare etc.
You tell the average voter they can get SS at 72 then you will not get their vote.
As for Pawlenty saying he does not now endorse cap and trade, well he would wouldn’t he.
He knows saying cap and trade should be passed now will not get him the election, it is called playing to the base but hey if you trust him then off you go I for one will wait till someone else who is more of a better conservative and has stuck with their views not flipped flopped comes along
RE: Only RON PAUL had the courage to stand up firmly AGAINST the bailouts from the get-go in ‘08. What’s more he’s the only GOP presidential candidate who actually voted against them!
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NOT IF YOU ARTICULATE AND EXPLAIN YOUR PLAN THE WAY PAUL RYAN DOES.
Every venue Paul Ryan goes, he just clobbers the opposition to his plan ( even on the enemy turf — MSNBC ).
The problem is not in the message, the problem is the inability to articulate and explain it.
then it is called sucking up to the base and flip flopping.
I’ll wait for someone who I trust and is known to be a conservative on social and fiscal matters like Allen West etc
you’re posting to the wrong person
RE: wow, You can say what eevr you want but the fact remains that the left will state we are cutting their medicare and that is when people stop voting for you.
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Sorry, I posted on the wrong post number, but getting back to what you said....
NOT IF YOU ARTICULATE AND EXPLAIN YOUR PLAN THE WAY PAUL RYAN DOES.
Every venue Paul Ryan goes, he just clobbers the opposition to his plan ( even on the enemy turf — MSNBC ).
The problem is not in the message, the problem is the inability to articulate and explain it.
it is not what he says it is what the left says and with the media they have the upper hand until the GOP calls them out and I will nto hold my breath for that
RE: you’re posting to the wrong person
See Post #69
RE: it is not what he says it is what the left says and with the media they have the upper hand until the GOP calls them out and I will nto hold my breath for that
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If you are afraid of what the mainstream media will say, you might as well shut up and not propose anything at all.
is that what you are proposing?
If so, we might as well let the MSM dictate what we can and cannot say.
Sooner or later we MUST, repeat MUST, implement a plan to reform Medicare. We don’t have much time left. It is going bankrupt in less than half a generation.
We either do it now with GREAT COURAGE, or we let this country go the way of Greece.
do you understand politics and the game?
It is not the afraid of the media, it is what they say.
The MSM does dictate politics and issues, you know I know what you have done for the right and I have defended you many times so I ma being very nice here but if you think telling people , the average voter that they have to wait till 72 to retire and then think they will vote for you then you’re wrong and way off .
Like I said you’re old and have been living on SS and medicare for many years, but many have not had what you have.
So when you tell them that they have to keep working etc then you lose them and we lose them and then nothing gets done for the better.
you’re not going to implement anything if you do not get voted in.
Again you’re old you have been enjoying SS and medicare but now you ask others to wait till retire, well you know what, they will say piss off you have had your life.
RE: you’re not going to implement anything if you do not get voted in.
Regardless of what you do, the simple fact that you are a CONSERVATIVE will make the MSM be against you.
What are you going to do if they ask you what your stance on Medicare is ?
You seem to be saying that it would be best for a candidate to hem and haw and say, “I have a plan but I won’t tell you the details, wait till I am elected and you’ll see”.
How’s that cowardly stance going to get you votes?
YOU CANNOT KEEP QUIET ON THIS ISSUE BECAUSE IT WILL BE ASKED IN THE CAMPAIGN!!
Better to take a stand on the right side and learn to articulate it.
RE: well you know what, they will say piss off you have had your life.
Not if you explain to them that if we don’t reform Medicare now, you won’t have a life to live when you reach retirement age because MEDICARE WILL RUN OUT OF MONEY.
look the media has been paid off by Soros.
We have lost two elections because of this.
The message will never get out due to the fact most are cowards or they cannot get the message out as the media does the message and we’re not calling them out
look again you seem to always ignore this
you are old so how long have you been enjoying SS and medicare?
What about 20 years about, so you’ve enjoyed the fruits of it but now you what to tell the average voter that they have to wait till they’re 72 to retire.
and then you think they look at you who has enjoyed SS etc and then they will say yea that’s great I agree, lets wait till I’m 72
no you’ve been enjoying medicare though for many years.
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