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The Spectacle Blog
After my post just an hour ago predicting Bobby Jindal as Veep, I was told that a very astute observer says the fix is in for Tim Pawlenty to be Romney’s choice. (Pawlenty was the one I said had the second best odds of being chosen.)
Okay, fine. I’m already yawning. I can’t keep my eyes open. Please wake me up when this rotten campaign is over and the Obamites have won.
Seriously.
The best thing that can be said about Pawlenty is that he is inoffensive. But another word for that is “milquetoast.” Watch him on a TV interview, and then try, just try, to tell somebody even ten minutes later a single interesting or memorable thing that Pawlenty just said. Betcha can’t do it.
The Romney folks apparently are impressed with Pawlenty’s supposed ability to “connect” with “average Americans” in person, on rope lines and the like. Well, it doesn’t translate on TV. And it didn’t translate for me when I’ve been in his presence several times. Nice guy. Decent. Well meaning. But also calculating, cautious to a fault, perfectly practiced in the art of glad-handing. And if he is so good on a person-to-person level, why did he flame out so badly in neighboring Iowa despite devoting large resources to the state, for caucuses famously rewarding of person-to-person contact? The reason he pulled out of the race is that he saw he was getting nowhere in Iowa, despite what really amounted to two solid years of efforts there.
Heck, Pawlenty doesn’t carry much political weight even in his home state of Minnesota — where he never earned 50% of the vote, and where he couldn’t deliver for Romney even in the primary.
I have yet to find a single person, in travels this spring and summer to the mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, the southwest, and to Northern California, not to mention here on the Gulf Coast, who is excited by the idea of Pawlenty. He energizes nobody.
As Fagin (sp?) sang in Oliver Twist, so too should the Romneyites say, if they think they have settled on Pawlenty: “I think I better think it out again!”
View all comments (18) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/07/25/the-problem-with-pawlenty
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Ryan| 7.25.12 @ 1:25PM
Pawlenty as VP is playing not to lose.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 1:38PM
Pawlenty kept budgets balanced in Minnesota while improving mental health care in the State. He was dull, OK, but who was arguably the greatest Roman Emperor: Antoninius Pius!
I'm hoping for a Trajan in Romney, though I will settle for a Hadrian.And if Pawlenty can do the boring Antoninius Pius, that would be cool, too.
A brain damaged weasel can beat Obama. To get the six point lead in the WSJ poll, they had to OVERSAMPLE Dems by 11%. Let them be boring and competent and destroy Iran while balancing our budget, I say.
Derek Leaberry| 7.25.12 @ 4:54PM
Antoninius Pius was the greatest of emperors. Italy needs his like again.
RJ| 7.25.12 @ 1:51PM
This race isn't going to be decided by who Romney picks as his VP; other issues are dominant. I have limited expectations on the VP choice. Given Romney's background and positions, I doubt he will pick some one who I am happy with ideologically. However, Romney is the quintessential CEO, so I am sure he will have a very professional selection process, know much more about all of the candidates than we do, and will make the best choice for him. After all, if elected, he will have to live with the VP for 4 years.
Zeppo| 7.25.12 @ 3:14PM
Well said. I really don't get why Quinn spends so much time on the VP question. I guess that he is so underwhelmed by Mitt that he is hoping that he will be upstaged by a dramatic VP choice; ain't gonna happen. Good men like Jindal and Ryan would be well advised not to trade their current jobs for the fabled warm bucket of spit (or a shot at it).
Dai Alanye | 7.26.12 @ 10:14AM
Whoever is VP will have a leg up in future Presidential races. Thus the selection is automatically important.
Zeppo| 7.26.12 @ 11:59AM
Well, maybe, assuming that the Mitt Magic is transferrable.
Teflon93 | 7.25.12 @ 2:11PM
Pawlenty has rock-solid Ruling Class credentials (political science and law degress, 24 years in politics) and the virtue of making Romney look like he's slumming because he's not an Ivy Leaguer. Moreover, there's no chance he'll outshine the MittBot 2012, being a little wooden boy himself.
T-Paw's only a problem if you want the Romney to win this cycle. I don't, since I think a statist liberal driving the country off the cliff under the GOP banner is worse than a statist liberal driving it over under a Democrat banner, there being precisely zero chance Democrats would ever retreat from socialism in the afternmath.
No, what needs to happen is Romney gets shellacked and the Tea Party rises.
And that is precisely where we are headed with this VP pick.
Well done, Willard!
Derek Leaberry| 7.25.12 @ 3:12PM
Pawlenty's a bore. And if Minnesota is in play, Romney will win a 35 state minimum landslide- North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Nevada, Colorado, Pennsylvania and perhaps Oregon, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico(problematical due to Libertarian ex-governor Gary Johnson) and Delaware added to the McCain totals.
Teflon93 | 7.25.12 @ 7:20PM
Sit down, Mrs Romney---you're drunk.
Reggie Love| 7.25.12 @ 7:38PM
It will be Portman or Rubio. Need Ohio and Florida. Jindal is a better choice,but Louisiana is a Romney state anyways.
David T| 7.25.12 @ 8:19PM
Pawlenty would be the worst possible pick among the so-called contenders. His value added is absolute zero.
RCV| 7.25.12 @ 9:52PM
Quinn- thanks for the cogent explanation of Portman's weaknesses. But I still don't understand what Jindal brings to the ticket. Can you illuminate?
Quin Hillyer| 7.26.12 @ 10:33AM
Yeah, I've done so in the past. Basically, he's the single most knowledgeable elected official in the country on health care policy, and can explain HOW Republicans would replace ObamaCare in a way that people can understand. Plus, he has a great record of crisis management in multiple crises, and he energizes conservatives across the board (turnout will be key this year) because he's both great on social-conservative issues AND has one of the few A's among governors from CATO.
Zeppo| 7.26.12 @ 11:50AM
Ho ho. Could he start by explaining it to the flaccid GOP congressional delegation. And then to Mitt?
JimH| 7.26.12 @ 7:43AM
One thing I’ve thought that Romney should look for in his VP choice is a person with a distinguished or at least honorable record of military service. Allen West would be ideal. But, that will never happen.
Mike Rogers | 7.26.12 @ 7:54AM
Inoffensive? That depends on how many times you have heard the same speech, without the key points even being mixed around a bit. Same lame jokes at the same points, so you could set your watch by them.
NH has a special place in presidential politics because we go and meet them, listen to them, and compare them. Really nice guy, really nice family, hopeless candidate.
Oldefarte| 7.26.12 @ 1:45PM
Nah he brings nothing to the political table....not state [Bachmann can deliver Minnesota if at all possible], not foreign policy expertise, not congressional administration/management toughness, not ethnicity, nothing. It'll be either Jindal or Portman. With what is now occurring regarding Bachmann, I'd love for her to be the pick though!!!!!