Tim Pawlenty, good Republican

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Well, give Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty credit. With his eyes clearly on 2012, he certainly understands that the only way he stands a winning chance is by sucking up to the right-wing insanitarium that the Republican Party has become. Here's Bloomberg:

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate, charged that President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus program still isn't working and that his health-care overhaul proposal would lead to medical rationing.

With only 15 to 20 percent of the money spent, it "would be ludicrous to claim" the stimulus program is "what pivoted" the $14.1 trillion economy "at the so-called bottoming or now a potential beginning of recovery," Pawlenty said.

So what "pivoted" the economy, then? What slowed down the economic collapse -- albeit without reversing the decline, yet -- during this time of historic crisis? If not the stimulus, what? Luck? Prayer?

As if that weren't not enough, Pawlenty also pushed the "death panel" lie, in so doing aligning himself with Sarah Palin, another 2012 possibility.

So, to recap: If you're a Republican on the rise, and looking ahead with national ambition to 2012, you reach out for your party's support by attacking both the economic stimulus package and health-care reform -- and by lying about both. Presumably, as alternatives, a good Republican prefers that the economy essentially self-destruct and that a prohibitively costly, dysfunctional health-care system that leaves tens of millions of Americans without care or adequate coverage continue to drag the country down.

Thanks for clearing that up, Governor.