Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Tim Pawlenty for Cap and Tax Before it Became Politically Expedient to be Against it


by the Left Coast Rebel

Former Minnesota Governor has been caught with his hand in the "hey, look at me, conservative base I'm a global warming skeptic" cookie jar by Think Progress, of all sources. Think Progress has this audio taken from Laura Ingraham's show that highlights his hypocrisy:



I would love to get my hands on the actual commercial played above, has anyone seen it? Pawlenty's past indiscretions against the limited government movement don't just stop at support of junk science legislation.

I wrote this in 2009, alerting true conservatives and libertarians to the fact that I think Pawlenty is a liberal wolf in pseudo-conservative sheep's clothing:

I believe and know Pawlenty to be in the big-spending GOP camp. He would be a terrible choice. Albeit he would predictably start to strut around his conservative ideals only to govern like another quasi-RINO...

Cato lists plenty of Pawlentie's big-government spending track record. He was a big runner-up for VP under McCain.

Some of the things listed at the Cato Institute that Tim Pawlenty stood by in Minnesota -

  • Supports Massachusetts-style health care reform, including a “health care exchange” and an individual mandate;
  • Has called for banning all prescription drug advertizing, and seeks government imposed price controls for drugs offered through Medicare;
  • Proposed a $4000 per child preschool program for low-income children;
  • Pushed a statewide smoking ban smoking ban in workplaces, restaurants and bars;
  • Increased the state’s minimum wage;
  • Imposed some of the most aggressive and expensive renewable energy mandates in the country;
  • Was an ardent supporter of the farm bill;
  • Received only a “C” ranking on Cato’s 2006 Governor’s Report Card, finishing below such Democrats as Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and tied with Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.
How in the world will the Republican party spearhead sensible economic reform if they nominate an opportunist with a clearly statist liberal past? Being that I saw Pawlenty last night on Sean Hannity's show touting his "perfect CATO score", I imagine that many of you don't even know that his conservative bona fides are anything but.

Spread the word, Pawlenty is not the man for 2012. Cross posted to LCR.

4 comments:

RightKlik said...

Pawlenty is deeply flawed.

Our options in 2012 will be seriously limited.

Left Coast Rebel said...

I'm afraid they will be, 'flawed' even is a nice way of saying it.

The Conservative Lady said...

I get more and more confused (& frustrated) on who is the best GOP 2012 presidential candidate.
There recently was a big article http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/261416/pawlenty-ramesh-ponnuru?page=1 in The National Review on Pawlenty that reported basically the same thing as the video:

For most conservatives, the biggest blot on Pawlenty’s record is his past support for cap-and-trade. He does not try to finesse the issue. “It’s fair to say I’ve had a change of position and change of view, and the reason is it’s a dumb idea,” he tells NR. “It was a mistake.” All public officials have a few “clunkers” in their record, he says, expressing the hope that voters will appreciate a straightforward acknowledgment of error. He adds, “I think my clunkers are fewer than others’.” This particular clunker is widely shared. Gingrich, Palin, Romney, and Mike Huckabee all once supported cap-and-trade — although not all of them are as candid as Pawlenty about their switch.

But overall the article it is very complimentary.

We are going to have a heck of a time deciding who is the best 2012 GOP candidate. I'm already getting a headache.

Left Coast Rebel said...

TCL - Thanks for the link, I agree with you that we seem to be in a pretty dire spot in relation to the GOP field at this point.