Lord have mercy. Is there a worse public speaker in America? This isn't a partisan question. Tim Pawlenty would be bad no matter what party he is in.
Pawlenty makes Bobby Jindal's State of the Union response seem like Shakespeare in comparison. Republicans, please don't nominate Pawlenty in 2016. You don't want to listen to Pawlenty make speeches for a year on the campaign trail.
Tim Pawlenty's latest commercial portrays the candidate as "The Comeback Kid."
Not many candidates brag about creating a $5 billion deficit and shutting down the Minnesota government. The catch is Pawlenty was no longer governor during the shutdown. That is like Andrew Fastow bragging making making Enron go bankrupt after he was fired as CFO.
Not many presidential candidates 6 months away from the first primary and caucus points out that he is behind in the polls.
Anwar Richardson School of Economics Award: Tim Pawlenty
Anwar Richardson School of Economics Award is given to people that make economic claims that have no basis in reality. The award is named after sports writer Anwar Richardson making up stories about Brett Farve becoming a Tampa Bay Buccaneer and the economic impact Farve would have on Tampa. Richardson wrote these stories without citing any sources.
Tim Pawlenty is getting plenty of attention for calling President Barack Obama a "chicken." Pawlenty played chicken when Candy Crowley pointed out that "cut, cap and balance" is not going to pass in the Senate. Pawlenty avoids answering what concessions he would make in order to get the debt ceiling raised.
CROWLEY: Sure, but where would you -- what I'm asking is where we -- I think we know what you would push for, where would you compromise? Because "cut, cap, and balance" is not passing the Senate. You have to come up with something. And so I guess my question is, where do you -- where's the give here, if there is? Because you have to get it passed the Senate and the Senate is controlled by Democrats?
PAWLENTY: Yes. Well, first, let's -- I do want to say, let's remember how we got here. President Obama took office with a $500 billion or so deficit, and he ran it up the deficit to $1.5 trillion -- excuse me, $1.5 trillion.
CROWLEY: Can I just interject that he inherited two wars. He inherited an ongoing prescription drug plan that was passed under the Bush administration, and a recession that went deeper and deeper.
Troop levels are down in Iraq. Obama has increased combat operations in Afghanistan. Obama also authorize the use of airstrikes in Libya. Three wars cost money. Best of all is Pawlenty dodges the question of how he would break the Congressional gridlock on raising the debt ceiling. For someone who is questioning the courage of the President, Pawlenty isn't displaying his own courage.
Pawlenty repeats the line that Obama inherited a $500 billion deficit from President Bush.
PAWLENTY: The two wars were taking place under President Bush at a larger level in Iraq. So, again, when President Bush left office there was a $500 billion deficit. Now it's about $1.5 trillion under President Obama's watch. He tripled the deficit of this country.
Actually, Obama inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit from Bush. From the CBO January 2009 report.
CBO projects that the deficit this year will total $1.2 trillion, or 8.3 percent of GDP. Enactment of an economic stimulus package would add to that deficit. In CBO’s baseline, the deficit for 2010 falls to 4.9 percent of GDP, still high by historical standards.
Pawlenty is off by $700 billion from the CBO deficit numbers. The fact that Pawlenty repeats this means it is a talking point. Pawlenty receives a Joy-Ann Reid Award for knowingly lying. I could buy Rick Santorum being too stupid to know the real deficit numbers. Pawlenty does not get that free pass.
Pawlenty's support for the "cut, cap and balance" bill shows how unserious he is. It is impossible to get a balance budget amendment into the Constitution before August 2nd. It doesn't matter to Pawlenty because he refuses to acknowledge reality.
# Taxpayers with incomes in excess of $1 million would enjoy an average cut in personal income taxes of $288,822, a 41.4 percent cut.
# Taxpayers with incomes in excess of $10 million would enjoy an average cut in personal income taxes of $2.4 million, a 46.3 percent cut.
# The cost of the personal income tax cuts just for taxpayers with incomes in excess of $1 million would be $141.8 billion.
Pawlenty says he plans to eliminate capital gains tax, interest income tax, dividends tax, and the estate tax. I know this since Pawlenty said this in his speech unveiling his insane proposal.
In addition --- we should eliminate altogether the capital gains tax --- interest income tax --- dividends tax --- and the death tax.Government has no moral or economic basis to claim a second share of the same income. When you deposit a dollar in your bank account. Every penny should be forevermore yours and your children's. Not the federal government's.
The best way, and possibly the only way — to ensure fiscal discipline is to put the Congress in a spending straightjacket. That’s why I support a constitutional amendment. That not only requires a balanced federal budget, but also caps federal spending as a percentage of our economy. Around the historical average of 18% of GDP. Only a constitutional amendment has the power to bind future Congresses to keep their promises. Force decision-makers to finally make decisions. And give statutory reforms a chance to succeed. But passing a constitutional amendment will take awhile. And the crisis that we face is here now. And requires immediate action.
Pawlenty would need 67 Senate votes and two-third of the states to ratify the amendment for it to become law. If Pawlenty is successful the amendment would become law about 25 years after he leaves office.
How is Pawlenty going to keep the federal budget at 18 percent of GDP? Will Pawlenty and Congress throw themselves out of office if they pass a budget that is over 18 percent of GDP? I seriously doubt it. Congress could have dealt with the debt ceiling last year and put it off until it became a crisis. Pawlenty's constitutional amendment has no teeth.
Pawlenty is either pandering to the tea party or he is unfit to handle the nation's economy.
Update: This paragraph from Pawlenty's speech bugs the shit out of me. Pawlenty gives Congressional Republicans credit for President Bill Clinton's economic policies.
Between 1983 and 1987, the Reagan recovery grew at 4.9%. Between 1996 and 1999, under President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress the economy grew at more than 4.7%. In each case millions of new jobs were created, incomes rose and unemployment fell to historic lows. The same can happen again.
Every Republican voted against Clinton's Deficit Reduction Act of 1993. Republicans were not interested in responsible economic policy. Republicans also fought every Clinton proposal aimed at cutting the deficit and job creation.
"Yeah, well I think the situation now in Iran is such that Secretary Gates is negotiating with whether the United States military will be there beyond the end of this year. And they're looking to the Iranians to see if they invite the Americans to stay, invite us to stay. And if they do invite us to stay at some very reduced level I think the United States will be wise, until we make sure that they get to the next level of stability, to accept that invitation. So if Iran makes that invitation by the end of the year, leaving a residual force, a greatly reduced force, but a residual force that would be there for a temporary amount of time. Until they could establish much better air security, until they can develop their intelligence —"
The reporter in the video corrected Pawlenty on confusing Iran with Iraq. This is the same Pawlenty who had the audacity to call Obama a doofus. The word doofus is used to describe someone with a low level of intelligence. Pawlenty has yet to impress anyone with his intellect.
Justin Sayfie of Sayfie Review Co-Chair of Pawlenty Florida Campaign
I am sure that we are going to see a lot of friendly articles on The Sayfie Reviewabout Tim Pawlenty.
Phil Handy will head up Tim Pawlenty’s Florida operation, the campaign announced today. Justin Sayfie will serve as co-chairman, reports Alex Leary of the St. Petersburg Times.
In Sayfie's defense, he has not made his ties to Jeb and George W. Bush, and now Pawlenty. Sayfie is not traditional media anymore than Pushing Rope. I think the conflict of interest should be pointed out.
Disclosure: Pushing Rope's RSS feed is syndicated on Sayfie Blue I did not ask for this. The links to Sayfie Review does bring in a good deal of traffic to PR.
Tim Pawlenty kicked off his presidential campaign in Tampa. Pawlenty was able to get 50 people to listen him speak. Happy hour at McDinton's draws more people.
So far no one has posted a video of Pawlenty's Tampa speech on Youtube. There is this gem. Remember when conservatives accused President Barack Obama of attempting to in doctrine children with his televised speech. Former Republican Party of Florida chairman apologized and accused fellow Republicans of racism towards Obama.
Pawlenty did a Gingrich by going after Obama speaking to school children. John King of CNN asked why it okay for Pawlenty's wife to speak about politics in school but Obama can't talk about studying hard. Pawlenty did not have a good answer.
Tim Pawlenty disastrously attempts to be hip to College Republicans by making pop culture references to Justin Bieber, Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga. It is sad that Pawlenty's speechwriter actually thinks college students listen to Justin Bieber's music.
Glenn Reynolds declares Tim Pawlenty "not man enough to be president." Reynolds' reasoning is because Pawlenty did not defend Palin's use of cross-hairs on her now infamous map. Most people judge the fitness of a presidential candidate based on his or her domestic and foreign policy positions. Reynolds' litmus test is whether a candidate probably defends Palin's use of the politically toxic cross-hairs.
Reynolds is a dumb guy. I remember Reynolds blogging that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Therefore, it is not a stretch to believe Reynolds can't comprehend that Pawlenty has no interest defending a potential presidential opponent on a politically toxic issue. Reynolds actually thinks defending the cross-hairs on Palin's map is good politics.
I pray to God a future Republican administration doesn't appoint Reynolds to the Justice Department. Reynolds should stay as a law professor and his students can continually say on RateMyProfessors.com he is an unchallenging and easy A.
"Eminem was mad. And so, just like Eminem getting dumped on, we've got to kind of regroup. We've got to continue to fight. And we've got some things worth fighting for."
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, telling College Republicans the GOP needs to behave more like a rapper that was tea bagged at the MTV Movie Awards.
Conservatives are still having a problem understanding this was a joke.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized then President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus package. Pawlenty was asked if he would turn down federal aid to maintain his small government principles. Pawlenty balked.
"I'm not a big-government fan," said Charlie Crist. "But there are times when government needs to help." Crist hopes to use stimulus money for schools. There is a snag. Crist and the Florida legislature cut education funding below 2004-05 levels. Florida may not qualify for education stimulus money.
But the state is below that threshold. In fact, school funding coming directly from the state is now lower than it was in the 2004-05 school year. With Florida's budget shortfall for next year ballooning toward $4 billion, it's not clear it could meet that requirement.
That would mean it could not get the $3.5 billion in estimated stabilization funds, though it would still be eligible for about $2.3 billion earmarked to help poor kids and to renovate schools, among other items.
Crist wanted small government. The result was an underfunded education system.
All This Happened Before
Jeb Bush cut Kidcare to the bone. The cuts made Kidcare ineligible for $20 million in federal funds. The result were children placed on a 700,000 waiting list. Crist is right. There are times when government needs to help.
The Wall Street Journal shows states with surpluses in green and deficits in red. No data is available for the states in white. The majority of states will have trouble funding schools, law enforcement and infrastructure projects.
Minnesota Governor and 2012 presidential contender Tim Pawlenty went to the recent meeting Barack Obama had with governors. Pawlenty disparingly remarked on Obama's plan for a stimulus package.
Republican governors told Mr. Obama they had qualms about what they called indiscriminate federal spending. "Every dollar they send to us is money they don't have," Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. "Meantime, that bill is being sent to our children and grandchildren."
When pressed by the media, Pawlenty and other Republican governors would not go on-the-record against taking federal stimiulus dollars. These Republicans have future political ambitions. They do not want to anger Grover Norquist by raising taxes.
"This is a tremendous opportunity to separate the sheep from the goats," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "The guys who turn around and say 'I can't rein in spending, I must raise taxes'...are going to have a hard time."
Norquist is a anti-tax radical with ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Norquist keeps an enemies list of Republicans that have strayed from his message. Norquist went after Florida congressman Vern Buchanan for voting for a tax increase. Norquist's influence is so strong that the Bush administration sent a representative to his weekly meetings.
Republican governors are screwed if their states go broke. Yet, they won't stand up to Norquist. The Governor with the biggest budget problems is Florida's Charlie Crist.
Among the states led by Republicans, Florida may have the biggest headache. Gov. Crist faces a $1.7 billion mid-fiscal-year shortfall, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Meanwhile, tax revenue in the state, which doesn't have an income tax, plunged 8.2% in the quarter ended in September from a year earlier as sales took a hit, according to the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. Seeking to balance the budget, Gov. Crist has said he would consider a cigarette-tax increase of 50 cents a pack.
Rick Kriseman are pushing for a cigarette tax in the Florida House. Darryl Rouson is expanding the tax to cover tobacco-related products in smoke shops. Republican Sen. Dennis Jones supports a modest cigarette tax. Florida currently has the fifth lowest cigarette tax in the nation. A 50 cent tax increase would raise an estimated $400 million to $500 million in additional revenue.
Crist is faced with balancing the budget. His opponents will attack him on Florida's economic woes. If the tax is raised, Crist will have made an enemy out of Norquist. The latter will go to great pains to kill Crist's presidential ambitions.
Republican governors told Mr. Obama they had qualms about what they called indiscriminate federal spending. "Every dollar they send to us is money they don't have," Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. "Meantime, that bill is being sent to our children and grandchildren."
But when the governors were asked at a news conference whether any would refuse new federal funding, no one from either party stepped forward. "None of us are comfortable with the $10 trillion in debt that has been amassed over the last several years. But for the short term, most governors agree some funds are needed for state and local governments," said Republican Vermont Gov. James H. Douglas, vice chairman of the National Governors Association.
Tim Pawlenty gives his fiscal conservative spiel in front of the cameras. When put on the spot, Pawlenty could have said he wouldn't take federal funding. He didn't because his constituents wouldn't tolerate less school and shaddy roads.
Rahm Emanuel made it clear that is not going to happen. President-elect Barack Obama wants green energy technology and broadband lines. Obama is staying away from "brick-and-mortar improvements" that could be used for pork barrel spending. Harry Reid said the stimulus package will be $500 billion. This will add to our growing deficit. That isn't going to stop Pawlenty from taking federal funds.
Update: Pawlenty is consciously distancing himself from Obama and his previous request for more federal Medicaid funding. What a difference 11 months (and presidential aspirations make.
His view on Medicaid is a turnaround from his position as chairman of the National Governors Association in January, when he signed a letter seeking more health care funding as part of a prior stimulus package.
"All the money that people are asking for from the federal government, and the money they are sending out, is money they don't have," Pawlenty said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Pawlenty is dealing with the Minnesota budget deficit. In the next two years, the state is facing a $4 billion to $5 billion shortfall. Pawlenty will make noise about being a fiscal conservative. In the end, he will take the federal money. I just wish he would spare us the grandstanding.
