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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Vice presidential prospect Tim Pawlenty won't talk about the vice presidential vetting process, but he will tell you about his favorite beers.
Putting in another solid day of swing-state advocacy on behalf of Mitt Romney, the former Minnesota governor pumped up the GOP nominee's small government policies, sampled local ice cream and won laughs from supporters when he deployed some recently-unveiled stump speech jokes at the president's expense.
"I don't know about you, but I enjoy a cold beer once in a while," he said at Dublin Pub in Dayton, Ohio, listing some of the available sudsy brands. "I know you probably have some Guinness here, and some Smithwick’s, and some Edmund Fitzgerald, who knows what else? Miller and Budweiser and all kinds of other stuff."
Imagining the unsatisfying scenario of being served a foamy pint of beer, Pawlenty delivered the punch line: "Barack Obama is all foam and no beer. And you can't live on the foam. His speeches are his foam."
That's an analogy that Pawlenty says "most Americans can relate to."
"I think most people can relate to the notion that if you want a cold beer you want the beer, you don't want the foam," he told NBC News after an appearance in Springfield. "That sort of gets in the way of the beer and it's not the substance of what you're hoping for. And that's kind of like President Obama's presidency. It's all speeches, it's all words, it's all fancy rhetoric but the results haven't been there."
His personal favorites? Minnesota-brewed Grain Belt Nordeast and Summit Extra Pale Ale, he said.
Two of the three men known to be on the general election ticket do not drink alcohol; neither Vice President Joe Biden nor Mitt Romney partake.
Pawlenty, wearing an untucked casual blue shirt and jeans, offered a fierce defense of the GOP nominee's record both on the stump and in an interview.
Asked about criticism of Romney's foreign trip, which has been marked by controversy over his public skepticism about London's preparedness for the 2012 London Games, Pawlenty dismissed the kerfuffle as "overblown."
"I think the criticism of his comments in London were way overblown and way overstated and I think the rest of the trip has gone well," he said.
While Romney is the frequent butt of jokes for his sometimes robotic-seeming interactions with strangers, his Minnesotan surrogate chatted easily with customers and employees when he stopped at Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs. There, Pawlenty chatted with local elected officials - including Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine - and posed with children, even coaching them to crown him with "bunny ears."
And he showed the only hint of a diversion from his much-discussed "Minnesota Nice" aura when pausing for a photo with young workers at the ice cream parlor.
"Cross your arms!" he instructed them after one smiling snapshot. Demonstrating a grimace and a tough guy look, he added, "Now, look angry!"
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Pawlenty needs new writers. A pedestrian, less than memorable turn of phrase. He had better step up his game if he wants to get a big job out of all this. Why he would belabor such a strained analogy is beyond me.
One good thing about those Tea Baggers and Republicans .If you give them enough String they will hang themselves every time!
If the Republicans and their Stepchild “The Evil Violent Tea Party” aren’t Inbreeding they are Infighting. You Bet Cha.
I think these Tea Baggers need to have a “TeaBotomy”. Fer Sure………
Obama has no record to run on in 2012, so once again he relies on racism, polarizing tactics and lies to keep
the focus off of his record. Smart voters will not fall for his lies.
Dear Mr President. Please run on all the wonderful things you have done for our economy. Run on Obamacare.
Run on the fact you are taking 500 billion dollars from medicare to fund Obamacare, Run on 15% unemployment. Run on the failed 800 billion dollar stimulus, Run on 47 million people on food stamps, Run on bankrupt government funded green companies, Run on a 5 trillion dollar debt. Run on the failure to close the borders. Run on Fast and Furious, Run on the National Security leaks coming from your administration.
Obamas new campaign slogan. Forget that hopey changie crap its now "Doom and Gloom"
CGENT, Where to start with a post filled with distortions and out right lies? Is Willard going to run on Romney Care? I have not heard him say a word about it. Did you know that until about 3 years ago he was touting his plan to be implemented NATION WIDE??? That's a fact.
As for taking money out of Medicare, you folks on the Right really confuse me. I thought you HATED Medicare??? Don't you? I mean, after all, Medicare is SOCIALISM. Don't take my word for it. Go ask Ronny Ray Gun. He said so even before he was governor of California. He said that if it was implemented Americans would lose all their freedoms. So you should be thanking Obama for taking money out of a Commine program. Only problem is, what are you going to tell all those little, blue haired, Republican Grannies who POSITIVELY LOVE their socialized health care.
And just for the record pal, the money taken out of Medicare is being made for with both cost savings implemented in Medicare as well as the fact that the AHA will cover any procedures lost in Medicare.
cgent47 = dishonest POS
And who bankrupted those companies? Probably members of Bain and Big Oil that are causing stagnation in the economy of America because they want to be treated like kings of America.
The only way for America to remain dominant is too steer away from Big Oil and really on other forms of fuel such as propane and methane of which can produce the same combustion power as gasolinem which comes from oil, is cheaper to produce and is far better for the environment.
The GOP is the problem with the economy as the definition of GOP involves limiting progress to a minimum.
Recycled NBCNEWS.com have ex-Executives from Best Buy? Sell old inventory & market it as NEW?
It's been said in politics that the office of Vice President "isn't worth a warm can of spit" . . . Pawlenty would be perfect for that job.
Forget the beer. obama 3 1/2 yrs as prez seems to be more like foaming at the mouth, Opps telepromter.
Apparently you missed yesterday's Robmey teleprompter speech in Israel. That perfectly coiffed head was swiveling back & forth to beat the band. Nice delivery, unfortunately the message was truly abhorrent.
And Pawlenty
iswas running for what office?Just like the old train fable...... I think I can...I think I can...I think I can!
Now that HE IS OUT of the limelight, gotta spew more crap to protect his phony bologna job come re-election for dog catcher, and his efforts will be reciprocated later on. *Or promised. ????
Tossed under the bus. A sequel coming to a town near you in November 2012.
And this criticism from the guy who couldn't raise a plug nickel to keep his primary campaign going last August? Sheesh - look who's all show & no go. Another GOP stuffed shirt to pair with Robmey's empty suit.
Yawnlenty is a snooze and Mitt is a twit !!! Oh Mitt, culture really determines one's financial potential???
GAWD, they need to re-run articles from 3 days ago? Pawlenty is all carbonated bubble with no froth, and certainly no beer.
"Bring in the clowns....oh wait, they are already here!". All the loser GOP presidential candidates stumping for Mitt....what a joke.
STUMBLING for Romney in Ohio, Pawlenty talks beer, biz - "Barack Obama is all foam and no beer. And you can't live on the foam. His speeches are his foam."
I'm so glad my President and the POTUS for the next four years is sober and sounds sober unlike the impaired Grand OLE Partiers/Tea Douches.
Well he did kick his drug habits, but why would you support someone who has not helped the middle class and has extended the recession is beyond logic. Vote Obama and get another 4 years of economic frustration.
I'll take that advice. I'd rather be frustrated by the obstructionist, nihilist right than than bent over a barrel by Romney and (likely offshored) company. It's pure irony to hear you folks call Obama a socialist- after folks like Romney have sent so very many American jobs to China- a place where they have the real, honest-to-God, kids-crushed-by-tanks variety of socialism- all without turning a hair on your hypocritical heads. Wow.
The foam in Timmy's bear comes from his wimpy tears! Master of one-liners and other useless gibberish, now he's trying to be the funny guy for Flippen Mitten!
No, Pawlenty's statement was not intended to be funny. He was trying to describe Obama in terms that the avg. person would understand. What better way than talking about beer! This statement re-affirms what I have been saying all along about Obama, he is a charismatic man of big words, fancy speeches but no substance!
It sounds like brainwashing like to me. Drunks are more easily brainwashed when having a good laugh under with the foam running down their cheeks.
Who will be laughing if Romney gets into office?
The same drunks who laughed at Pawlenty and were easily swayed.
No, this is not brainwashing, c'mon,the average blue collar working and middle class drink beer! This is part of their lifestyle. Doesn't mean all of them get drunk and will get brainwashed into voting for Romney. Bottom line, these people won't need to be brainwashed! All they need to know is that their situation is not improving and they will be voting for change this November!
What change??? We did the tax cuts for the super rich and deregulate wall street and the banks. And we got the worst recession in history. I can't imagine why people would want to go back to this. It was such a disaster that Bush and Cheney won't even be at the convention. But their foreign and economic policies will be there.
There have been times when I got a glass like that; the trick is a little patience.
Typically, a glass of foam will yield about half a glass of beer.
I partied a fair amount when I was young- and I was often able to get several glasses of perfectly fine beer after everyone else thought that keg was empty.
Of course there's a lot of foam in Washington right now; the collapse of the economy shook things up pretty good.
Regardless, it took Bush and his buddies eight years to screw this thing up, and I'm willing to give Obama the same time to fix it.
If we end up with half the economy we had before Bush trashed it, I'll be a happy man- and not least because over Obama's entire first term, the right has been bleeding both credibility and political capital at a lethal rate. All the money in the world can't fix the ethical bankruptcy behind their failure to help Americans who needed their assistance desperately- instead of continually performing services of dubious morality for the rich.
Yeah and Pawlenty is full of Anne Romney's horse's crap.
Pawlenty is rot.
If he can't come up with a better political campaign device to play into the drunks who consider their beer their first love what type of vice president would he be?
Really America do we need politicians who simply go after those who are drunk and have no idea of what is going on in the world to begin with?
The rest of the world isn't drunk like the group that Pawlenty is campaigning towards.
People in Ohio don't care if Pawlenty talks beer with us. Ohio wants results in creating jobs, not outsourcing jobs to other countries as well as making certain Russia and China do not create a foothold in the Middle East to try and capture the oil market.
And no America is not in the Middle East for oil. We are there to kill terrorists and make certain Russia and China do not turn the Middle East against us.
Little timmy has been shown to be highly underwhelming..
Lame analogy... Rather childish actually...
That's the good ol lefty attitude.
I can think of Pawlenty of reasons to vote for Obama. Justice, truth, compassion, grace, dignity, accountability, strategy, discipline, honor, and finally intelligence. You know, all the things we were lacking in President Bush, the guy whotanked the economy with an illegal war he lied to create so his corporate cronies could raid the U.S. Treasury (and they are still doing so over there).
The Republicans have no plan other than corporate dominance and exploitation, and they stand for nothing other than Right Wing profits, so they are forced to take their campaigns straight to the gutter as they denigrate, insult, berate, condemn, and attack out of the Newt playbook.
They want to destroy, no, they have been destroying the middle class entirely, they have been siphoning money out of America and into their offshore bank accounts, they have been working overtime to stall the U.S. economy just so the black guy is a one term Prez.
My oh my, what if he wins a second term? What kind of message would THAT send?
No, they want Mitt "Let them eat cake" Romney, the king of the 1 per-centers.
I hope Obama pulls it off, or else we may be doomed. This nation cannot take another term of a corporate shill president.
Then we may actually have 57 states....just so Obama isn't considered clueless.
Thinker - you can do better than that being a thinker. How about some birther stuff.
Vivian,
Even as an Ex-Republican these guys are just an enbarrassment.
I'll be voting for President Obama cause I truly believe he's the only one with any integrity.
I will say this though.
Executive Dream Ticket.
Obama / Ron Paul.
Sorry Joe and it's too bad Ron Paul has associated himself with the Republicans.
I love it when wealthy conservatives try to pass themselves off as just regular folks. It's like a middle-age guy trying to rap.
Yeah, Romney famously told a bunch of unemployed potential voters that he too was "unemployed". Somehow not working because you don't have to is a little different than trying to keep body and soul together while non-voluntarily being out of work, but he obviously does not know the difference.
TeePaw is all beer and no brains!
If Obama is all froth and no beer, would that make the GOP a bottle of urine?
If Obama is all froth and no beer, would that make the GOP a bottle of urine? Certainly the answer must be (just say) no, as with everything else.
We expect silly little remarks from children, but from grown men. Shows you the way some of them think with those little minds. Obama you are the man with the mission to clean up the mess the little children left. Good luck Mr. Prez, you are on my radar for election again.
hmmmmmm.... because it's such a GOOD idea for republican non-candidates to remind us of FROTHY people **koff koff** santorum **koff koff**
Dear RepublicansForObama-6186389,
You are an idiot of the first order. Study politics and economics before you open your stupid mouth again. It's morons like you who vote first and then think later (if you think at all, that is). Conservative stances throughout history in politics and economics have always worked to the benefit of all. It is fools like you who believe the "benefit of all" means free stuff for the undeserving who demand it without working for it. You are just another hippy-idiot in an ever growing number of fools and lazy good for nothing sheetbags. When this country goes down the drain, you can tell your grandchildren more lies about how the Republicans were responsible for it instead of telling them YOU were the idiot who voted for Obama.
DT, Conservative stances have recently worked only for the benefits of the wealthy and trickle down has been discredited. Since the internet, life and the world are different as everyone has instant information on a broad range of issues - as well as a lot of garbage to sift through to get that information. You are possibly delusional with worry that whatever you have, some liberal will take away and give to someone else. Watch out, because the right wing are the ones taking it from you, and rather than redistributing it like a liberal, they just keep it for their mega wealthy constituents. Denial of that is simply denial, and sufficient research will show you reality.
Traditional conservatives and the modern GOP have very little in common. The former had some respect for the country; the latter has only respect for themselves.