Pawlenty: "Obama continues to toe the line robotically"
By Soren Dayton Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Tim Pawlenty — Comments (40) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty lays the smackdown on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine on Barack Obama's far-left record:
The free exchange of ideas inevitably yields both heat and light.
Pawlenty cited McCain's work on climate change and the Gang of 14 as evidence of McCain's bipartisanship skills.
While at least half the GOP regards those things as evidence that McCain is a traitor to the cause of conservatism.
that and Pawlenty seems like a nerd to me
"A political party cannot be all things to all men."--Ronald Wilson Reagan
Pawlenty exposed all this crap about how Obama has "reached across the aisle" and "forged bipartisan solutions" and will "unite this divided country" and so on as an outright pack of lies, as he has NEVER tried to work with Republicans on anything of substance and has worked against EVERYTHING the Republicans had to offer.
We might say we do or don't like this or that that McCain did, but it seems a completely provable fact that McCain has worked on bipartisan issues and Obama has not. We don't want this lie about Obama to become a KnownFact as the Obama folks are trying to do.
The reason it's important that the GOP get the public informed on this is that independent and wavering voters need to realize that McCain really has worked both sides of the aisle, whereas Obama is a hard-left completely partisan divider on every issue of substance.
I agree 100%.
Some conservatives might want a conservative candidate to give them red-meat partisanship, but we have to listen to the majority of voters. If they truly want a little less red-meat partisanship and a little more bipartisanship, then McCain can certainly deliver. BETTER than Obama, in fact. Probably better than any other candidate for President this year from either party.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but what most (unaffiliated) voters want right now is someone who's going to lower gas prices. (Yes, most of us around here know that that's nonsense, but we're talking about "swing" voters here.)
I think the GOP ticket will be making a grave tactical error if they focus too much time on this line of "McCain is bipartisan, and Barry is not!"
All Obama is going to have to do is spin tales about how he and the Dems are going to "bring gas prices under control, no matter what it takes!" (emphasis mine), and no one is going to give a fig about McCain's "bipartisanship".
A lot of pundits get side-tracked on the "bipartisanship" angle (I'm looking at you, Mort Kondrake!!), but this is pretty much a non-starter against Obama, and is a tertiary issue to even swing voters.
If McCain wastes resources on this, he's going to lose.
He's got to take Barry down in much more substantive ways.
seems to be that he will raise taxes on oil companies, further restrict drilling and refining, and tighten environmental regulations on their existing operations. That should cause a steep drop in gas prices right?
God love you Soren, but this is exactly why Pawlenty will never get the VP nod. Yes, he's a smart and articulate man but when he gets out there talking about the wonderful work that JSM did on behalf of Judges with the "Gang-of-14," on behalf of mother Gaia with his economically-ruinous global-warming policies, not to mention the campaign finance regulations he loves - loopholes of which he's rightfully exploiting now - Pawlenty does not do what a VP nominee needs to do for McCain: namely, give conservatives an assurance that they aren't going to be swept under the rug and completely ignored. I'm in the bag for McCain, and I've been following Pawlenty since he was in the MN State House, but the two of them on a national ticket is not a recipe for success in November, even if Obama picks that wimp Gov. Kaine.
that at this point the campaigns will target people in the middle. If conservatives are so mad at McCain that they'll sit it out and let Obama shape the Supreme Court for the next generation then nothing between now and November will convince them apparently. Obama doesn't need to convince the "progressives" to vote for him. What's the breakout? 30-40-30? 40-20-40? In any case, the key is going after people in the middle. McCain needs to make sure the people in the middle know he's he candidate in the middle while Obama is a far-left partisan lying about his record.
However, I think JSM is more than well equiped to handle that project all by his lonesome. He does not need Gov. Pawlenty to walk along side him assuring moderates that they'll collectively work with the collectivists.
McCain already made that move years ago....he would have to go a little to the right.
Freedom of Religion NOT Freedom from Religion
we get a President that likes working with democrats. Great.
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
And those facts are that, barring a true Congressional miracle worthy of the great Obamamessiah himself, the next Congress is going to have more Democrats than this one. Facing stronger Democratic majorities, a Republican president is going to have to work with Democrats.
What emerges is certainly not going to taste very good, but the alternative - one-party governance - is far worse.
The solution, though, is to redeem the conservative brand by recruiting and electing more conservatives in Congress. Until we can do so and convince the public to go along, we're going to face this more liberal Congress that the public has elected, race-by-race.
It's not just recruiting candidates. It's also coming up with new ideas to win seats away from Dems.
I remember the late 1970s and 1980. Back then, conservatives were the idea people in America--they had novel, interesting ideas on economics, foreign policy, social policy, etc. Well, by now that well has run dry. This isn't 1980 anymore. The issues aren't the same.
Conservatives need to come to some consensus on some tough issues:
1. Freedom vs. virtue: How much should the Government be used to promote family values vs. maximizing personal freedom? Do we really want to write off the votes of gays, lesbians, and single moms and tell them they don't meet our high moral standards?
2. Globalization vs. sovereignty: Wall Street may want an unrestricted flow of immigrants and unrestricted trade with Islamist countries, but a lot of folks in Red States don't. Should Arab oil states be allowed to buy American corporations with their Sovereign Wealth Funds?
3. Wall Street vs. Main Street: The GOP is trying to reach out to blue-collar "Reagan Democrats." But their economic interests don't necessarily coincide with the interest of Wall Street brokerage houses. Can we really tell Joe Sixpack that it's important for him to support tax breaks for hedge funds?
These are not easy questions. Right now, I've heard Fiscal, Social and Foreign Policy conservatives arguing heatedly among themselves. We need answers so we can have a consistent message and stay on it.
They have to be running on SOMETHING (or else we're talking about "hope and change" fluff cake or incumbency as an end in itself, which is one key reson so many Republican legislators have "gone native"). Not to mention, a sound set of governing principles will be key to recruiting people to carry them out.
He/she must be capable of serving as the head hatchetman surrogate, attacking Obama's record with vigor so that McCain can appear above the fray and "Presidential".
"If all men were just, there would be no need of valor."
- Agesilaus
he worked with Republicans to find health care solutions for children?"
I don't think that Jodie Percival agrees with that too much.
http://redstate.com/stories/elections/2008/not_if_obama_had_his_way
The free exchange of ideas inevitably yields both heat and light.
The free exchange of ideas inevitably yields both heat and light.
Are my top two Vice Presidential candidates. While Fiorina is probably the more conservative of the two, Pawlenty is the go-to guy for Mccain if he wants to take advantage of Obama's white blue-collar voter problem.
About time a Republican shows up to attack Obama on his record.
If only McCain would spend less time trying to appeal more conservative than he is and spent more time attacking Obama on his bipartisan efforts.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if some conservative isn't willing to vote for McCain because he or she doesn't perceive he's conservative enough for them, then they'll get what they deserve if the Democrats end up controlling all three of the White House, the Senate, and the House.
Obama was one of only 22 Senators who voted against confirming Chief Justice John Roberts and he tried filibustering the appointment of Justice Samuel Alito and of course went onto vote against him as well.
This fact needs to be hammered home time and again. Had it not been for CJ Roberts and Justice Alito the fixed racial quota system in the Seattle schools would have been upheld and the federal ban on partial birth abortion would have been thrown out.
This needs to be a drumbeat theme between now and November.
I really like Pawlenty. He is young, well articulated, Catholic, he has a great background on dealing with tragedy and rising above it as a child, and is tried and tested.
I could see myself being motivated for him
looks like a used-car salesman? Not to dis used-car salesmen, though.
The free exchange of ideas inevitably yields both heat and light.
a used car salesman in Michigan who looks exactly like him. And he'll "bring the cars right to your door" for your viewing pleasure. Looks and sounds like a recent graduate of the State Prison for Southern Michigan.
He does and a little pudgy on tube too. How did the VA GOP let this guy get elected?
For being a "standard feature in Barack's DNA" he can only come up with 2 things. He's been in the US senate for 4 years. That's not like a weekend visit. Degrading his time in the senate to excuse his tow the line voting record? Some fantastic double talk, that is.
Also, voting in the same room on something as somebody does not equal "working with them." Yeah, technically you work with republicans all the day. That's a fairly empty phrase in this situation.
I don't even like McCain, but at the very least if the argument is bipartisanship, who can you really find that's led more bipartisan stuff?
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." - Ronald Regan
Joe Lieberman? Yeah, Obama really deserves to be aligned with the Ned Lamont wing of the Democrat party.
He'll be a good VP.
But I don't think bipartisanship is going to be the hot topic in November.
The question is going to be which candidate can lead us out of what looks to be a coming Energy-Employment crisis. Who has the stronger vision, and how painful is his program?
Voters may say that they want more civility in DC, more bipartisanship. But ask the question differently. Ask if they want more "compromise" and you start to hear a lot more anger. And then we're back to choosing sides.
The more things change; etc.
...is the left eyebrow. Whenever he starts saying something that he knows is a pile of crap, the eyebrow does what a college buddy said about an improvisational jazz musician - "It just goes off on its own".
Watch it for yourself in the video. He wouldn't last past nine o'clock at my poker table.
If Obama wants to demonstrate his willingness to work with others and listen to their views, here's a dramatic way he can do it:
Don't pick any running mate for VP. Instead, throw it open to the Dem convention and let them choose Obama's running mate instead by actual vote.
You think Obama would have the guts to let the convention pick his running mate for him?
Getting those surrogates out there is paramount to Republican success this year.
John McCain has to be shown to have not only the best personal story, the best resume and the best policies.
He must be shown to be a leader. A crucial distinction. Obama has led nothing other than a personality cult.
Who has Obama surrounded himself with, for decades and up to the present time including all of those under the bus?
Stark differneces. Made plain in the above video.
The free exchange of ideas inevitably yields both heat and light.