DNC ‘Rips’ TPaw
I’ve been critical of the Republicans’ communications over the past 3 years but I’m not displeased after reading the DNC’s reaction to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s speech at the Values Voters Conference in Washington, DC. The DNC’s response is predictable and totally unpersuasive. Calling it background noise is to discredit background noise.
Here’s what the NYTimes quoted the DNC’s spokesman as saying:
The Democratic National Committee quickly responded to Mr. Pawlenty’s speech: “It looks like Tim Pawlenty isn’t even going to offer the pretense of being anything but an extreme right wing radical anymore. At least it’s honest, and if you’ve seen what he’s said on health care lately you know that’s a rare feat,” said Hari Sevugan, a D.N.C. spokesman.
This is typical boilerplate stuff that John Q. Public just tunes out. It’s a waste of time. In this instance, it’s a mischaracterization of Gov. Pawlenty’s speech. Here’s a sample of Tim Pawlenty’s ‘radicalism’:
Now, I know some in the audience or in the press, they always say, “Oh, isn’t this hard? I mean, my goodness, you’re facing a lot of challenges as conservatives and people who embrace traditional values.” I can tell you about hard. I grew up in a town of South St. Paul, Minnesota. I was the only Republican in my family. Back then it was the world’s largest meat packing plants and the world’s largest stockyards in South St. Paul, Minnesota. For a good chunk of their lives my one brother worked for a grocery store for 40 years as part of the United Food and Commercial Workers. My other brother worked at an oil refinery as part of the Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, and for times they were union stewards. My other sister is a one-on-one special ed aide in public schools and my other sisters worked for 40-some years for a company as a secretary or administrative assistant. And they’re all Democrats.
And my mom died when I was young, age 16, and not too long after that my dad lost his job for a while, and so we had a lot of discussions in our family about hardship and values and oftentimes politics, and they’d get pretty heated. And so I…you know, do you really want your taxes raised in a place like Minnesota? Oh, no, they’re high enough, I’m with you on that. Well, what about education, do you think we should plow more money into the schools or do you think we should them hold them accountable for results? No, darn right, let’s hold them accountable for results. Well, what about health care? Do you want the federal government taking the thing over or do you think you and your doctor should make those decisions? No, we’re with you on that. What about even some of the more controversial issues like second amendment rights? No, we love to hunt and fish, don’t mess with our guns. And on down the list. And so they’d agree with us on, you know, seven, eight, nine, ten of the top issues. You know, how come you’re not with us then as a conservative or my party, a Republican? Well, because you guys aren’t always for the working person. You’ve heard that before? So that’s a stereotype we need to overcome.
But in Minnesota, I’m here to tell you as the governor of, to put it charitably a left-leaning state (laughter), if we can do it there…now, this is the land of Eugene McCarthy. It’s the land of Hubert Humphrey. It’s the land of Walter Mondale. It’s the land of Paul Wellstone. And it’s the land of United States Senator Al Franken. If we…if I and the Republicans in Minnesota and the conservatives can govern Minnesota and make a difference and make progress with conservative goals and values and principles in mind, as Frank Sinatra said, “If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere.” And we can do it across this great land.
WOW!!! Accountability is an extremist policy? I guess that doesn’t sound that unreasonable considering how in bed the Democrats are with the teachers’ unions. Here’s another portion of Gov. Pawlenty’s speech where his ‘extremism’ shines through:
We also need to remember the value of individuals and families deciding their health care decisions for themselves. (Applause). This issue is a case study for all that’s taking place in Washington, D.C. You heard it all. But I want to just highlight for you the Democrats’ plan is an absolute financial monstrosity. This is a plan that if you count it from full, full implementation ten years out, it’s not a $1 trillion plan, it’s approaching a $2 trillion or more plan. The president of the United States has said, you know, “We don’t have any more money.” He said that in a recent interview. “We’re out of money.”
Well, with all due respect, Mr. President, if we’re out of money, stop spending it.
Gov. Pawlenty’s extremism is really shining through there. How dare those people that earn wages or provide jobs insist on keeping their own money rather than having this Democratic Congress and this Democrat in the White House spend money like there’s a contest to see how irresponsible they can be with We The People’s money.
Simply put, President Obama has been the most fiscally irresponsible president in our nation’s history. BY FAR!!! What’s exceptionally galling is that the DNC doesn’t flinch thinking about President Obama’s extremism but has a hair trigger in criticizing Gov. Pawlenty’s common sense solutions. That type of partisanship shouldn’t have a place in American politics.
It’s also a plan that features taxes on employers, taxes on individuals, taxes on manufacturers of life-saving medical devices and technology and down the list. It’s a bucket load of tax increases. Even with that, it doesn’t even begin to pay for itself, and the question we should be asking amongst others is, “What happens when the money runs out? What happens when the money runs out?” And it will. Two states or so have tried essentially this same thing. It doesn’t work. It is nowhere close to containing costs. It has gone the other direction. And when the money runs out they’ve got two basic choices after we’ve already given up our rights to the federal government.
Is the DNC hinting that being fiscally responsible is a form of extremism? Or is the DNC hinting that criticizing legislation that includes a whole host of major tax increases and individual mandates is a form of extremism? That wouldn’t surprise me considering how much the DNC is praising and/or defending a man who’s committee to spending unprecedented amounts of money and who’s committed himself to raising taxes by some of the biggest amounts in our nation’s history.
Why isn’t the DNC railing against the unprecedented spending and the unprecedented deficits? Do they think that isn’t extremism? I’m not naive. I expect the DNC to criticize Republicans, especially those they think are running to unseat President Obama. I’m just questioning their wisdom in attacking as extremist a man who is the embodiment of common sense.
Frankly, the DNC’s statement is a portrait of old-fashioned gotcha messaging. Here’s a hint about that technique: that technique is worthless. Voters tune that messaging out. They pay attention to communications that communicate a vision for the future or that contrasts the candidates’ beliefs.
Technorati Tags: DNC, Communications, Hari Sevugan, President Obama, Conservatism, Tim Pawlenty, Fiscal Restraint, Accountability, Value Voters Summit, Elections
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
September 21st, 2009 at 3:16 am
WOW, that was great, insightful into the thinking of Democrats. However without the valuses that they agree with, they would have nothing. The myth of “not for the working man” is just that a myth. When you raise taxes on the working man and enslave them, then they are no longer the working man, they have become the enslaved.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 am
He has a similar background to both my parents. Working class families, slaves to the unions, victims all. My parents are the only Republicans, the only success stories in both their immediate families. They were raised by loving, well-meaning people who did their best during the Depression. However, my parents were smart enough to look from the outside in. Not sure how and why they did it, or what gene they got that their family members did not, but I thank God every day for their smarts.