"If Pawlenty is a rising star in the Republican Party, the GOP's future is painfully bleak"

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_12/015976.php

WHAT IS TIM PAWLENTY TALKING ABOUT?.... The latest "what do we do now?" piece for the Republican Party comes from Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who outlined his Big Idea in a piece for the Politico yesterday. It's right up there among the most ridiculous pieces I've seen in a long while.

Pawlenty, considered something of a "rising star" in Republican politics, believes the financial crisis we're facing is the result of excessive debt. So, in order for the GOP to "again become the national majority party," the party must take a firm stand against "recklessly issuing even more debt."

In his bid to become the poster child of Neo-Hooverism, Pawlenty believes the Republican Party should respond to the recession by pushing ... wait for it ... a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Republicans should push for the enactment of an amendment to the United States Constitution requiring a balanced federal budget. This initiative is based on the common sense, kitchen table logic that most Americans and businesses live by. They expect the same from their government but haven't been getting it lately.

Passing this amendment will be no small task.... Getting it done will require a two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states.

While daunting, this effort will unify and energize Republicans. It will require the GOP at all levels to be engaged in a common sense agenda that is compelling, conservative and that will positively transform America.

This is so blisteringly stupid, I find it hard to believe an elected official would actually put his name on it. Maybe the Politico is playing a practical joke on Pawlenty, in the hopes of making him appear like a fool.

I honestly don't know where to begin in responding to such an insane policy prescription. The first point, of course, is that trying to balance the budget in the midst of a financial crisis is the exact opposite of what every sane person realizes we need -- a government stimulus to help spur the economy. Why would Pawlenty recommend slashing hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending right now?

Second, that the Minnesota governor sees a similarity between an individual family's budget and that of the United States government suggests he has a child-like understanding of economic basics. As Publius recently explained: "The micro-considerations of an individual family or business has nothing much to do with what governments need to do to get the larger economy moving again. Even worse, it's often affirmatively harmful to adopt microeconomic solutions to macroeconomic problems."

If Pawlenty is a rising star in the Republican Party, the GOP's future is painfully bleak. This piece suggests Pawlenty looked back at the Great Depression, and became convinced that Hoover was right.

—Steve Benen 8:00 AM

[NOW tense]

1. This from the guy who cut funding for the mentally handicapped?

This from the guy who was on the watch as a bridge fell?
This from the guy who has $5 billion debt?
This from the guy whom I believe is in favor of a publicly funded stadium?

[sam sarrha]

3. he put off the bridge inspections, 2 reasons.1/ didnt want to raise TAX's for it before the election

to fix the bridge to perpetuate the myth of fiscal responsibility...

2/ he knew there would be slowdowns on the bridge during construction, he didn't want to be blamed for that during the election. he thought it would lose him votes.

so he set back the inspections so the results would come out after the election... but the results of his actions came before anyway.

so ... that's NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE.. WHICH IS ENDEMIC IN THE ReThuglican PARTY , he should be in prison

[livetohike]

2. Substitute "Palin" or "Jindal" in the subject line and the

Republican party is in huge trouble for years to come :toast:.

[babylonsister]

8. We can hope. There really isn't anyone who's standing out in the

crowd from my pov.

[LiberalFighter]

4. He talks about a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget

even though it was his own party that controlled Congress and the President's office while plundering the Treasury.

[margotb822]

6. I wonder why he didn't keep a balanced budget as governor

Seems like a bit of a hypocritical move to demand something from people when one can't do it on a smaller scale.

Pawlenty is a dumbass.

[ogneopasno]

5. Tim Pawlenty is no more a rising star in the Republican Party than my right buttcheek is.

He was on a VERY short list to be McCain's VP choice, and got passed over for SARAH PALIN. Now I know this reflects more on McCain than Pawlenty, but his performance as governor (noted above), his Minnesota bland-bordering-on-smarmy demeanor and his complete and total lack of any substantial ideas on any issue (noted in OP) will lead him nowhere, unless he reinvents himself fast.

[Ioo]

7. Americans do not live with balanced budgets, that is why we have Credit Cards

This is such a BS argument...

"This initiative is based on the common sense, kitchen table logic that most Americans and businesses live by. They expect the same from their government but haven't been getting it lately."

Really, then why am I able to take out a lone for my new car, a car I did not have the cash to buy up front. Same with my house... oh and my credit cards... all ways for me to spend more than I make right at this very moment.. Sure I will pay it back, but not today.

If we all did this, our economy would grind to a halt faster than you can say "Dumbass"

[qb]

9. Infrastructure is crumbling at all levels and still he pushes "smaller government"

to solve the deficit. His only hope for a political future is to stick to his "no new taxes" BS no matter what the cost to Minnesotans. What a bastard.