Tim Pawlenty: Profile In Courage
Tim Pawlenty is the Marshal Petain of American politics. Nobody surrenders his stated principles as quickly or as cheerfully as he does.
On Thursday he attended a D.C. fund-raiser, where he shared his vision of the Republican party's future:
He touted his ability to win in a state with a grand liberal tradition, briefly promoted his record in St. Paul and said the GOP ought not be in the business of ideological purification.
“We don’t have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard,” he said.
Later that night, he was asked to weigh in on the curious race in New York's 23rd Congressional district, where GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava is being challenged from the right by Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. The New York 23rd is a very conservative district, but the rift threatens to split the conservative vote and throw the election to Democrat Bill Owens.
Pawlenty was asked whether he stood by Skozzafava, the GOP nominee, or Hoffman
"I haven't been following that. I haven't studied the race at all. It's not that I would or wouldn't [endorse Scozzafava], I just don't know anything about it."
Within 24 hours -- and in spite of admitting that he didn't know anything about the race -- he was making it clear that he'd soon be part of the mob throwing Scozzafava overboard:
As a conservative I'm concerned about some of the alleged issue positions that she holds," said Pawlenty, R-Minn. "I want to be fair to both candidates and look at their records. But there are some things that [I] have been told that you know, she holds dear, that may not be consistent with conservative principles."
Translation: The Republican party might be big enough, Scozzafava might not be ideologically pure enough and throwing her overboard might be a good idea after all.
Pawlenty's "concern" seems to have more to do with the fact that conservative darling Sarah Palin has already endorsed Hoffman. Pawlenty, who needs to establish his right-wing street cred in order to hae a shot at the 2012 nomination, has got to get with the program.
This isn't the first time the Republican base has helped Tim see the light.
As governor of a state with a "grand liberal tradition", he used to express concern about global warming. But now that the Iowa caucuses loom, it's all a bunch of hippie alarmism. Last winter Pawlenty urged Congress to get the stimulus bill passed quick because the people of Minnesota needed it fast. Now, he's preaching the gospel of the 10th Amendment and telling the dadburned gummint to get off of his lawn.
Tim's flip-flop on Scoozzafava may not be his biggest, but it's certainly his quickest.
