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Subscribe to RSSA powerful national anti-tax group offered Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty general praise on Tuesday but questioned his “exact ideological moorings” on tax and spending issues.
“After examining Governor Pawlenty’s record, we are reasonably sure that Governor Pawlenty would be a pro-growth President, but he will also probably be susceptible to so-called ‘pragmatic’ policies that grow government,” Club for Growth president Chris Chocola said in a statement after the group released a summary of the former Minnesota governor’s record on fiscal issues.
Pawlenty, who formally announced his 2012 bid yesterday in Iowa, is the second candidate to receive the Club for Growth’s white-paper treatment after former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In its analysis, the group praised Pawlenty for vetoing tax raises passed by his state’s legislature but slammed his backing of a cigarette tax increase and called his record on regulation “deeply troubling.”
As governor, Pawlenty supported cap-and-trade policies, a stance for which he has since apologized and dubbed “a clunker.”
The anti-tax group also offered a mixed assessment of Gingrich earlier this month after the former Georgia lawmaker announced his presidential run. The club praised his contributions on free trade and tax reform but bashed his support for health care mandates as well as his temperament. (One particular ouch: Calling out Gingrich’s “penchant for condescension” in describing the former speaker’s endorsement of Dede Scozzafava, a congressional candidate opposed by the Club for Growth.)
“One could reasonably expect a President Gingrich to lead America in a pro-growth and limited government direction generally, possibly with flashes of real brilliance and accomplishment, but also likely with some serious disappointments and unevenness,” the club said of Gingrich.
In its new white paper out today, the club offered Pawlenty some wiggle room by noting that Minnesota is a generally liberal state; it went for Kerry by three points in 2004 and Obama by 10 points in 2008.
But that excuse, it added, only goes so far.
“We believe he would be a stronger pro-growth executive in a more conservative climate, but his ‘clunkers’ as he himself describes them are difficult to ignore,” the club said.
That analysis underscores the challenges faced by a Republican governor of a Democratic or even a battleground state in checking the requisite boxes for fiscal purists eying the GOP 2012 field. (see: Romney, Mitt)
(By the way, the club wrote of Romney in 2007: "While his record on taxes, spending, and entitlement reform is flawed, it is, on balance, encouraging, especially given the liberal Massachusetts legislature. His record on trade, school choice, regulations and tort reform all indicate a strong respect for the power of market solutions. At the same time, Gov. Romney’s history is marked by statements at odds with his gubernatorial record and his campaign rhetoric.")
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Hey everybody I changed my nickname to Tea-Pawty. Are you excited yet?
Everyone needs to check out club for growth, both republicans and democrats. they are the ones in control and choosing the republican canidates. One of the policies is to get rid of social security.
I'm sure his record on regulation “deeply troubling.” Just ask the people in Minnesota starting with the bridge. Then there is cap and trade and oil subsides for the big guys.
Timid Tim, the abracadabra you performed is been unraveled in less than two days of you announcing........this is fiasco.
Somehow that design held up for years of abuse and neglect before it failed ..........................................................................................way to focus on the wrong problem.
The "power of market solutions" is such a crock. Did the market bring electricity to rural areas in the 1930's? No. Did the market put an astronaut on the moon? No. Did the market create building codes after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire? No. Did the market clean up our polluted rivers and lakes? No.
Tornadoes, floods, and fires in the red states, Mother Nature is trying to tell republicans enough with the deregulation already. They should hug a tree once in awhile and make nice with Mother Nature.
You forgot the Radium Girls, Amy. :p
ed3891
Oh, God, I just googled Radium Girls. Interestingly, the factory where those women were employed was later cleaned up by the environmental Superfund,
another "non-market" solution to the remnants of for-profit industrial pollution.
Precisely my point. Creepy, though, innit?
Did big government create / invent ........ the telegraph ....... the telephone .... the Model T assembly line ..... the vulcanized rubber tire ....... the steam engine ....... the cotton gin (or cotton candy) ...... the airplane ...... the mechanical crop reaper ...... the Colt pistol that won the West ...... the Garand that won WW II ........ air conditioning ...... the zipper ....... the bottle cap ....... tha smoke detectors for your building codes?
And what has big government created other than more dependents.
Actually Bob NASA and the military have created many important products:
cochlear implants (to help people hear), memory foam, emergency blankets, freeze dried food, fire fighting equipment, solar energy, artificial limb technology, LED lights, etc. These are products that were all developed with tax payer funds. And how about those drones?
Amy, you posted my very thoughts on the "power of market solutions" quote. Profit and the general good are not the same and often are in conflict. We cannot be a nation driven by profit alone.
The "invisible hand" superstition needs to end along with all the conspiracy theories from the right-wing. There are valid economic forces like supply and demand, but the economy is much more complex than that. And we know that without anti-trust laws and other regulations (labor laws, safety laws, consumer protection laws, etc.) it would be anarchy.
Pawlenty is just like other GOP/TPers who want a quick fix by cooking the books or shifting the burden or just abolishing programs to appear like fiscally-responsible leaders. In reality, they have done very poor jobs of governing.
To Forrest Grump, my condolences go out to the folks who are dealing with floods and tornadoes. However, for red states in the South/Midwest to deny climate change, or to deny the important role of our federal government, is to deny your own well being.
As Lawrence O'Donnell said, there's no need to look to con artists like Harold Camping for predictions. You can tune into The Last Word to get far more accurate information and enlightenment, and you can get it for free.
More importantly, big government issues the patent, and enforces the patent protections for those inventions. Without the Judicial system, your intellectual property would be stolen. The game of economics isn't fair, or sustainably profitable without the refs, regulators, on the field with the players.
Pawlenty was the most liberal Republican since Nelson Rockefeller. He actually turned Bill Clinton's line that the "era of big government is over" and changed it to "the era of small government is over." Now he's flip-flopping wildly to conform to the teabagger orthodoxy on cap and trade for carbon emissions and the individual insurance mandate. What a joke. What an unprincipled jerk just like Romney.
As long as the fringe instead of the majority (of either liberal or conservative blocs) remains the prominent voice, it is they whom the leadership will cater to.
I hear he did some creative accounting for his state and left a financial mess for the next Gov. Referred to as "Duck Tape" budget. Robbing one account and busting another?
The minute they start a speech by saying now is the Time for Truth
Out of a Republican mouth you know that nothing but lies are coming next
Just look at his record, left with a 6 Billion Deficit in his State never balanced the budget without kicking the can down the road until he was out of office
Just another liar and hypocrite
They all say Government is the problem its bad yet they all want in
They all want that Government Health Care, Pension, and get their hands on the taxpayer money.
What Liars
Tim go get a Private job Government does not need the likes of you
The Club for Growth is a crock. Its main purpose is to shill the appalling philosophy being hawked by the Tea Party around the country. This is another example of right-wing extremist ideology hijacking the Republican Party.
Are they the Sierra Club's evil twin?
"Through ideas out as see what sticks"...more glitter than gold.
Pawlenty should have no trouble; in Minnesota he simply delayed, postponed and borrowed his way to a balanced budget via the old smoke and mirrors trick--Pawlenty kicked the can down the road for the next MN Gov. Pawlenty hired Ed Faillor who recently resigned as head of Iowan's for Tax Relief. No doubt good ole Ed will see to it the anti-tax groups are kept happy as clams while schools and education suffer, streets and roads deteriorate, fire and police services are cut.
Tea-Paw better check and secure his mooring since it will prove to be insecure. He will soon be adrift just like all the other wannabees on the right.
They are all trying to anchor on quick-sand, nothing firm or lasting!
"Political Punk Pawlenty" is no friend economically to the Middle Class, Unionized Workers, the Working Poor, the elderly, and the disabled. Read his very disturbing economic record in Minnesota America. His continuation of mixing his cultural/religious views into poltical policy is extremely troubling. He economically punishes those individuals that do not agree with his religious views. Yes America! This T-Punk is for a Radical Religious Right Wing State. He clearly is in violation of the US Constitution on the issue of seperating religion from politics. He puts all his disturbing views in very monotone voice. That most people just end up falling asleep the more he keeps talking. Read his record America! Then come to your own conclusions.
The voters of PA were blinded and elected Pat Toomey, former Club of Growth ... "read cut taxes on the wealthy"... we hope to correct that mistake in 4 more years... please accept our apologies...
And the common man in the street would understand pro-growth crap and would volunteer to give up work, social security and medical benefits? Pawlenty can only dream of winning and instead expect to loose in the elections. Welcome to the un-real world of Republican Politics.
If Gingrich is not popular, what makes Pawlenty think he will be more popular. As a matter of fact Gingrich may get more votes as a seasoned politician, but I doubt the conservative republican voters will forgive him for marital scandal.
Vote on the issues and past record of a candidate (not the promises made at the spur of the voting momentum). It is better not to exercise your vote than to vote for the wrong guy and later regret.
The Tea Party questions Tea-Paw's "ideological moorings". Funny. I am no fan of Pawlenty, but I would question the Tea Party's psychological moorings.
Pawlenty is no example of fiscal conservatism, he left his state a 5.6 billion deficit. These republican hypocrites talk out of both sides of their mouths and their a**holes.
Has Grover Norquist gotten TPaw to sign the pledge?