Pawlenty Needs a Pep Talk
Posted by Andy on October 28th, 2005
Pawlenty needs a pep talk. ASAP! This type of interview is not doing him any favors. So I guess I’ll do it, some one has to.
On a day when DFL gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch locked up his third quick labor endorsement, an uncharacteristically downbeat Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty acknowledged that his party is “on the ropes” nationally and that he would consider himself “lucky to get reelected.”
In a frank and wide-ranging interview with Minnesota Public Radio on Thursday morning, Pawlenty denied that he has any national political ambitions and downplayed the notion that Minnesota had trended Republican.
“I’ll be lucky to get reelected governor in Minnesota next year,” he said on MPR’s Midmorning Show.
Stop it. I know you are down in the dumps right now, but this is not helping. It is time to cowboy up, and get back to being the guy you used to be when you were that Republican who convincingly won a Minnesota State-wide office. That guy who held fast on some very tough budget battles. This new kinder, gentler, and more depressed Pawlenty of late makes no sense.
Be a strong confident leader like you used to be. You lead we’ll follow. Don’t ‘gee gosh’ and walk around with your head down kicking stones. Get that chin up and get going. You got a state to run. Do it well, like you did in the beginning of your term, and you will be fine. This poor me, “I’ll be lucky…” crap will not win you one single vote.
As recently as Wednesday at a St. Paul appearance, Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman played up his party’s chances to take the state. But a rather glum Pawlenty on Thursday said Minnesota still “is a tough state for a Republican. It is still a Democratic state a bit, so any Republican is going to have a bit of an uphill climb. …
“My only political plans are to get reelected next year, and I hope that I do,” he said.
I was at that appearance, if you showed some of the energy, hope, and optimism that he did that day, this state would be right behind you. I know better than most, that sometimes it feels like all the world is piling it all on your shoulders or has it out for you, but it will not help to plea for sympathy.
Pick up your helmut, get back on that field, and kick some arse the way I know you can. That is an order.
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October 29th, 2005 at 12:09 am
I read this article too and posted it on Free Republic last night.
I asked fellow FReepers “What do you think of this?”
Most seemed to believe that it was political strategy on Pawlenty’s part to downplay expectations for next year as well as toy with the DFL.
I’m not sure what to think. This type of interview and attitude is something that we’re not used to seeing in the Governor. Everyone has their down days - but I can’t understand why Pawlenty chose to vent it all out like this.
October 30th, 2005 at 3:42 am
I’ve met Pawlenty several times, and he strikes me as a really genuine person. I also believe that he is an amazingly resilient politician. That’s why the left feels so threatened by him. He will bounce back from this and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the Presidential ticket in ’08.
November 8th, 2005 at 8:37 pm
[...] One of the things that was surprising was how he mentioned his recent interview in which he said that Republicans are on the ropes. He defended his statements, saying that he really does feel that way. He said that he Minnesota is not a Republican state. He brought up how both Bush and Kerry through everything they had into the last election. Both of them campaigned harder in this state than Presidential candidates had done ever before, but in the end, it ended up being a 4% margin. In fact that was a wider margin than in 2000 with Gore. [...]
November 9th, 2005 at 8:33 am
[...] One of the things that was surprising was how he mentioned his recent interview in which he said that Republicans are on the ropes. He defended his statements, saying that he really does feel that way. He said that he feels Minnesota is not a Republican state. It is trending that way, but it is not there yet. He brought up how both Bush and Kerry threw everything they had into the last election. Both of them campaigned harder in this state than any Presidential candidates had done ever before, but in the end, it ended up being a 4% margin for Kerry. In fact that was a wider margin than in 2000 with Gore. [...]