I thought Tim Pawlenty did fine in the GOP presidential debate last night, but many thought he was “boring,” and I concede that he seemed a little flat. Driving to work this morning, I heard Pawlenty on Bill Bennett’s radio show. He did very well; among other things, he addressed the failings of Obamacare, and Romneycare, in more detail and more persuasively than he did in the debate. So here, so to speak, is a mulligan: Tim Pawlenty on the issues. Click the player below to listen.
UPDATE: Thomas Sowell has a good word for Pawlenty:
Among the other announced Republican presidential candidates, former governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota talks the most sense and shows the most courage. It takes guts to tell people in a corn-producing state like Iowa that you want to cut back on ethanol subsidies, because Iowa will also produce the first results in next year’s primary campaign season. And first results, like other first impressions, carry a lot of weight.
But somebody has got to talk sense about our dire economic problems — and it is painfully clear that Barack Obama will not be that somebody. The fact that Pawlenty has put his neck on the line to do so is a big plus.
Tim Pawlenty cites his track record to back up his statements. That includes reducing ethanol subsidies when he was governor of Minnesota and cutting the growth of state-government spending from just over 20 percent a year to under 2 percent a year. …
Some fear that Governor Pawlenty doesn’t have the charisma and pyrotechnic rhetoric that they would like to see in a candidate. Charisma and rhetoric are what gave us the current disastrous administration in Washington. …
Politicians and the media may want a candidate who uses verbal fireworks, but the people want jobs.
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