Governor is AWOL

He is no longer the man even Minnesota Republicans voted for!
by Charlie Leck

We no longer have a Governor here in Minnesota. I have a number of readers in South Carolina who will understand this and have some sympathy for us; for our Governor is also Absent Without Leave. Except up here we say: Good Riddance. Why do we need him?

And anyway, he’s not the same guy even the Republicans voted for in the last election.

The emperor has a new set of clothes.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has shifted so far right that there’s no room to go any further. He desperately wants to be the next President of the U.S.A. and he believes he has to go right to do it.

That, of course, is all wrong and history has proved it time and time again. It was the disastrous mistake John McCain made last year in picking his Vice Presidential candidate. The choice moved McCain to the right when he needed to inch a bit closer to the center. You could see it McCain’s eyes that he realized the mistake as the campaign entered its final two weeks.

Now, our Governor is reading the tea leaves incorrectly. He’s been affected by all these scenes from America’s Tea Party. He’s decided to go with this radical message and he is banging home the message in speech after speech as he makes the rounds of the nation.

“Governor, you should understand that the Tea Party is not a conservative organization; it is rather a radical, right wing group of honkers who don’t understand America or American democracy. You are hanging out with the wrong guys!”

This week our Governor put together a blue ribbon fund raising organization to start gathering money to be used in his campaign – though he is officially saying he is not yet sure he will be a candidate (with the emphasis on the yet).

In his current guise there is no way Tim Pawlenty could even carry his home state of Minnesota in a presidential election, so it would be great if the Republicans do select him. He is now way too far out on the right for Minnesota. One must remember he won in the last election by a very slim margin.

I don’t look for Pawlenty to be a national candidate for either the first or second position on the Republican ticket. The Grand Old Party needs to win back some of the middle ground and they’ll make some wiser choices this time.

In the meantime, the air is fresher with Pawlenty spending so much time running around the nation opposing health care and blaming Democrats for the financial disaster his own party wrought with two too expensive wars in faraway places.

And, as in South Carolina, the state is running just fine even while the Governor is off chasing his titillating dream.