Pawlenty Goes Way Off The Talking Points
Posted by Ashish on 08.06.2008
Rumored McCain VP pick puts over Obama's positive candidacy...
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, rumored to be on McCain's VP shortlist and a guy who has been right on the McCain talking points for months now, went way off those talking points today.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said Wednesday GOP candidates would do well to adopt a positive tone like that of McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama.
"Say what you will about Barack Obama," the Minnesota Republican told a conservative group, "people gravitate when you have something positive to say." He added that McCain has been positive as well.
"People want to follow hopeful, optimistic, civil, decent leaders," Pawlenty said in a speech to GOPAC, which helps recruit Republican candidates. "They don't want to follow some negative, scornful person."
It is a hell of a time to say something like this since one of the main stories in the media right now is whether McCain has gone too negative. I doubt McCain wants his own rumored VP pick out there praising Obama by name for running a positive campaign while many in the media are questioning if McCain has turned his back on running an "honorable" campaign. Makes you wonder if Pawlenty has suddenly become aware that he is out of the VP running? It just seems very strange for him to go so far off the McCain talking points today. I doubt you'll see Mitt Romney say anything remotely resembling praise for Obama (and I'm talking about right now, not in the past as Romney has praised Obama before), and that's probably why he has managed to turn himself into the VP favorite.
...and palin praising obamas energy plan, think there narrowing down the shortlist.
Posted By: Guest#9074 (Guest) on August 06, 2008 at 05:54 PM
Word around the GOP is that these two are directly on script. Look for McCain to start to ignore Obama and start to focus on his bipartisan past.
Posted By: Chris Connolly (Registered) on August 06, 2008 at 07:18 PM
McCain is ignoring Obama? He just released a new Obama attack ad TODAY! You are hilariously stupid, Connolly. According to you, McCain has run the most perfect campaign in history and every single thing he has done so far has been exactly according to plan.
Posted By: Guest#8002 (Guest) on August 06, 2008 at 07:40 PM
I nominate Pawlenty as Secretary of Education (Evangelical outreach for schools, vouchers, all hot GOP hot buttons), ok not as Transportation Secretary (falling down bridges).
Palin as Secretary of Energy. Probably pissed at Exxon (as most Alaskans) are, despite being a Red State that Exxon weasled their way out of the Exxon Valdez oil mess to the tune of $5 Billion. The Conservative Supreme Court lowered the clean up litigation settlement from $5 billion to $500 million, and balked at paying the victims interest from two decades old accident. This from a company that will post over a $12 billion Quarterly profit, and is on pace for over $30 billion in profits alone for the year. No wonder MCcain is worried about the Obama tv ads linking him to Bush and Exxon. I can hear the back slapping and the Exxon tiger roaring with Bush, Cheney, Mccain and Exxon board of directors eating ribs at the Crawford ranch.
Posted By: Thomas Jefferson (Guest) on August 06, 2008 at 07:42 PM
Yeah, I am such a McCain cheerleader. I haven't written a single negative thing about him, have I?
Posted By: Chris Connolly (Registered) on August 06, 2008 at 08:42 PM
You havent written any articles about him Connolly....but you sure seem to run to defend him in the Comments section of damn near every Ashish post. Except for the Ashish's poll blogs.....I guess its hard to argue hard numbers.
Posted By: Aaron (Guest) on August 06, 2008 at 08:52 PM
I have written several articles about McCain, and not all of them have been positive. In fact in the one I wrote about him last week was pretty damn negative.
Posted By: Chris Connolly (Registered) on August 06, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Chris,
So I went and looked at your column from last week again just to make sure I didn't remember incorrectly, because when you said you were pretty negative on McCain last week, I thought, "really? I don't remember Chris going harsh on McCain at all."
So, here's how you slammed Obama: "One of the biggest problems with Senator Obama is his seemingly limitless inability to deal with facts. Like I said, this one is just the tip of the iceberg. We also have him saying 10,000 people died during a tornado (it was really 12), telling the Israeli media he is on the Banking Committee (he isn't), thinking the Joing Chiefs are in charge of their respective military branches (they're not) and saying the president picks what programming is on the Armed Forces network (he doesn't). "
Now, saying he has an inability to deal with facts is pretty hardcore; that's certainly negative.
What you said about McCain basically comes down to "I can't believe he went to CA, a liberal state."
That just doesn't sound negative at all. When I see you say McCain is out of touch with facts, then I'll believe you went negative on the man.
I'll start you off with two "can't miss" moments:
1. When he walked through the Iraqi market claiming the surge had worked and Baghdad is safe...all the while clinging on to that bullet proof vest.
2. recently, when he went to visit the Enrico Fermi nuclear plant in Detroit to tout how absolutely safe nuclear energy is these days...only he sent some dude through the plant first with a mega geiger counter before he would enter the plant.
Posted By: Brandon Crow (Registered) on August 07, 2008 at 01:49 AM
Chris defending McCain is bad to you, yet you are an admitted Obama fanboy and think he can do no wrong? Why is it Obama supporters feel this sense of entitlement?
By the way, how do you like that pair of Obama flip flops? They're all the rage when talking about energy plans.
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on August 07, 2008 at 09:21 AM
Michael,
To whom are you directing your comment? If it's me, then you'd better get your fact straight. I am not "an admitted fanboy of Obama" and I challenge you to find where I've said that. And I certainly don't feel this sense of entitlement you talk about.
If you're addressing your comments to someone else, then I'll let them speak for themselves. But you should make clear who you're calling out.
Posted By: Brandon Crow (Registered) on August 07, 2008 at 07:19 PM
Was referring to Aaron who thinks Obama shouldn't be criticized but believes McCain should be at every opportunity.
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on August 07, 2008 at 11:47 PM
STAY CURRENT