It is becoming clear that Minnesota’s Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, is a politician so craven and amoral, that he is challenging Mitt Romney for the distinction of biggest phony.
For example, in 2007, he called the issue of climate change “one of the biggest of our time.” Now he has flip-flopped, questioning the impact humans have had on this phenomenon.
It seems he will say and do anything in his transparent effort to pander to the Tea Party crowd.
Last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Pawlenty posed as the new God Squad commander. In a speech, he laid out principles conservatives should follow. The first one is this:
“God’ in charge,” he said. “God is in charge.” Mr. Pawlenty’ remarks drew a wave of applause, according to The New York Times. “There are some people who say, “Oh, you know, Pawlenty, don’t bring that up. You know, it’ politically incorrect. Hogwash.”
Um, yeah, it was real risky to have a God bullet point in a speech to CPAC. What next, a “politically incorrect” vow to cut taxes? This guy represents everything people hate about politics. He stands for nothing except his own career and access to power.
He is such a toady, that at CPAC he shed his mild-mannered and usually boring approach to transform into “Pitchfork Pawlenty.”
“When you listen to the elites and the pundits talk about the Tea Party movement, or they talk about us as conservatives, they may not always say it explicitly,” he said. “But implicit in their comments are, you know, maybe they’re not as sophisticated, because a lot of them didn’t go to the Ivy League schools. Or you know, they’re from places like the heartland, not ‚Äî you know, they don’t hang out at our Chablis-drinking, Brie-eating parties in San Francisco.”
“And the implication is, you know, we’re kind of bumpkins,” Mr. Pawlenty said.
I’m sure pampered Pawlenty is running around the governor’s mansion eating Oscar Meyer wieners and washing them down with bathtub moonshine. What a phony!!
What bothers me is the divisiveness of his speech. Instead of bringing Americans together, his entire presidential run appears to be about pitting people against each other and weakening the fabric of America. Does he not care about the affect this will have on the cohesion of this country? Is his own personal ambition more important than keeping America unified?
Pawlenty’s crass stereotypes of people from the East Coast and San Francisco are laughable. We don’t sit around making fun of people in the Midwest who eat at the Waffle House. In fact, many of us love the Waffle House, okra and Cracker Barrel.
What we don’t understand, however, is what these people have against Chablis and brie (or arugula). Is it the taste? The name? It certainly can’t be the price, as I have been to many expensive steakhouses in the Midwest and eaten at a fancy restaurant in Pawlenty’s Minneapolis.
I want to set the record straight on who we actually do make fun of.
We mock fake politicians and those who are too closed-mindedness — as if they are too “manly” — to try new food or beverages, even if they might enjoy them. San Franciscans and New Yorkers rarely deride anyone simply because they are from a different geographic region or did not attend an Ivy League school. (I went to University of Florida and my partner is from rural Nebraska). So, Pawlenty ought to stop deliberately misrepresenting large swaths of this nation – particularly if he wants to be president of the United States of America.
Finally, I suspect, conservative Republicans like their Brie and Chablis the way they like their homosexual sex — often and in the closet. Fakes – like Pawlenty – are sophisticated, cosmopolitan and usually have highbrow culinary tastes. It is the Minnesota governor who mocks social conservatives as bumpkins when he poses as a simpleton and grovels for their votes.
And, quite frankly, the people of CPAC are only considered unsophisticated and naive when they are duped into buying Pawlenty’s transparent hillbilly act.
