The Spectacle Blog
Politico reported yesterday that presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is still on the cap-and-trade apology leg of his tour. This is admirable and necessary for “T-Paw” to be a viable candidate in 2012, but not an especially difficult decision considering that not even many Senate Democrats could bring themselves to support the policy last year. It’s a no-brainer.
Pawlenty has actually been running away from cap-and-trade for a while now. From Politico:
“Everybody in the race, at least the big names in the race, embraced climate change or cap-and-trade at one point or another, every one of us, so there’s no one who has been in executive position whose name is being bantered in a first or second-tier way who hasn’t embraced it in some way,” the former Minnesota governor said on the “Laura Ingraham Show.”
“The question is in my case, I’ve said, ‘Look, I’ve made a mistake.’ I think cap-and-trade would be a ham-fisted, unhelpful, damaging thing to the economy,” Pawlenty added. “It’s misguided. I made the mistake. I admit it. I’m not trying to be cute about it. I just come out and tell you it was a mistake.”
The “everybody did it” defense is not exactly true — Haley Barbour didn’t go along, which Politico notes. But what conservatives need to do with Pawlenty is dig a little deeper on the climate change and energy policy issues, since there are a lot of costly, anti-freedom things he did as governor of Minnesota, like renewables mandates. And he had the opportunity to withdraw his state from the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord even after he started dissing cap-and-trade, but he failed to do so.
One troubling view that Pawlenty held, even as he disavowed himself of cap-and-trade, was that he apparently considered carbon dioxide a pollutant, as shown in this interview when he visited New Hampshire in December 2009:
And only a year prior to that he participated in a global warming alarmist video, in which he said:
I don’t think many people would disagree with the fact that what we’re doing is unsustainable — environmentally, economically, and from a national security standpoint. But we have a chance to try to make a difference, and to do good. (Emphasis Pawlenty’s)
Here is that video:
Does Pawlenty still believe these things about carbon dioxide and pollution? If so, it can lead to a lot of bad policy if he is elected, such as carbon taxes, national renewables mandates, and EPA regulations.
Update 4:55 p.m.: Forgot to mention that I could not find any signs of repentance on his campaign Web site.
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Oldefarte| 3.30.11 @ 3:59PM
Great info, Paul, THANKS [and keep an eye on him for us]!!!!!!!
Alan Brooks| 3.30.11 @ 9:08PM
"What Does Pawlenty Believe Now?"
In his candidacy next year.
Gasman| 3.30.11 @ 4:04PM
Pawlenty is an apostate from the true faith.
Floyd Looney | 3.30.11 @ 4:33PM
Thanks for the article. I am very disappointed in the GOP field thus far.
LiveFreeOrDie| 3.30.11 @ 4:47PM
In other words T.P. (useful initials) noticed the wind changing directions.
conservative | 3.30.11 @ 5:07PM
Someday, conservatives will learn to actually appreciate people who come around to see our way of thinking. We bash and bash politicians for taking the wrong policy position. They see the light and come around, as Pawlenty has, and we bash them more. Hello! Without converts, we may as well assign ourselves to permanent minority paty status.
LiveFreeOrDie| 3.30.11 @ 5:51PM
Someday, conservative politicians will learn to actually appreciate the people who put them there and come around to their way of thinking.
Dan| 3.30.11 @ 9:35PM
No, we bash them because we can see that one reversal does not a convert make. Without some really convincing evidence, I have to believe that anyone who would ever entertain this idiotic notion, given all the blatantly false premises that support it -- the fraud, scientifically and politically, of global warming; the disastrous naivete about economic policy; the patently grasping fiction that is ethanol (from which he has not repented) -- anyone who has fallen for these absurdities simply does not know how to think correctly, no matter the current correctness of this or that policy position. I cannot trust him.
PKane| 3.30.11 @ 11:11PM
"anyone who has fallen for these absurdities simply does not know how to think correctly, no matter the current correctness of this or that policy position. I cannot trust him."
Look, I agree that candidates should be prepared to candidly explain their past actions. And when it comes to global warming, lets not forget that the science behind this issue has only been a subject of serious mainstream debate for the last few years. Before that, the "science" was widely accepted, even among Republicans, simply because most people didn't think to question the scientific consensus or the political motivations of scientists. When a public made of of non-scentists are told over and over by the media, the schools, etc. that "science says..." and no alternative views are acknowledged they are likely to lazily accept it. So, with what we know now, the climate change hysteria seems absurd, but the same could be said in hindsight of the flat earth, spontaneous generation and MC Hammer.
jstwndring| 3.30.11 @ 5:50PM
The problem with Pawlenty is that he is insincere. As already mentioned by LiveFreeOrDie, only when he saw how unpopular Cap and Trade was did he do a 180. Why did he not realise it prior to polling data? You'll notice that his instincts are for growing government. That's true of an overwhelming majority of politicians regardless of political affiliation. We can't trust any of them.
jstwndring| 3.30.11 @ 5:51PM
I meant: Why did he not realise it was a bad idea prior to polling data......
Bob K.| 3.30.11 @ 6:03PM
I believe that Pawlenty will believe anything that he believes might get him elected!
CalMark| 3.30.11 @ 6:50PM
Pawlenty is a lying opportunist.
Pawlenty believes in Pawlenty and power, and that's all. Everything he says and does should be seen in that light.
bubba16123| 3.30.11 @ 9:51PM
After having him as Gov. for 8 years here in Minnesota I've learned one thing about T-PAW if his lips are moving he's feeding you a load of B.S. No new tax pledge, sales tax increase in Hennepin county signed by him,tobbaco tax signed by him. But it's not a tax if you ask him it's a health impact fee. Feel free to vote for him if you like a guy that's half Bush and half McCain
bubba16123| 3.30.11 @ 9:59PM
Sorry I forgot to mention that sales tax bill he signed was to build a new ball field for the Twins owned by a guy that i s worth several billion dollars
All American American| 3.31.11 @ 8:40AM
So Pawlenty is a RINO? Whodathunkit? *eyeroll*
How about we find some pols who AREN'T and highlight them?
derekcrane| 4.16.11 @ 8:03AM
Out of here, Pawlenty. We need a person who has the guts and resolve to face the wacko greens when they make one of their outrageous demands and tell them to go back to their cushy offices and do a Barney Frank to themselves.