Perkins on Daniels

–Tony Perkins, president of the Christian conservative Family Research Council, referencing Mitch Daniels’ proposed “truce” on social issues and gloating over the governor’s decision not to seek the White House.

Re: Pawlenty’s Truth

Crowley astutely points to Tim Pawlenty’s opening theme of “truth,” interpreting it as both a way to market the former governor’s vanilla Midwestern personality and to draw a contrast with Mitt Romney’s reputation for political expediency. The latter rings especially true — the race to become the “Not-Romney” candidate is one of the more (only?) [...]

What Pawlenty Said

The Democratic National Committee has been having fun with my recent profile of Tim Pawlenty–specifically by bashing him, as this video does, for allegedly responding “I don’t know, I wish I had a good answer for you” when I asked him why he’s running for President. But that’s a distortion of our exchange.

Pawlenty’s Truth

Having just finished a big profile of Tim Pawlenty, I thought I’d offer some thoughts on his Official Announcement Day. The first is that his timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous: Mitch Daniels did Pawlenty a huge favor by passing on the GOP race this weekend, leaving the political world to focus on a thus-far [...]

Gingrich Spins Himself as an Outsider, Thanks the Washington Press Corps

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich thanked the Washington press corps on Monday for grilling him on his shifting positions on Paul Ryan’s budget – he called Ryan last week to apologize for calling it “radical” – and for exposing a one-time loan from Tiffany’s for upwards of $500,000 in 2005-2006. “I can’t thank the Washington [...]

Meet Officer X

He’s the pseudonymous gay officer currently serving in the U.S. military under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and blogging his experiences over at Battleland. From his first post, describing a briefing he attended on instituting repeal of DADT: As with any other conversation about gays in a setting where I am not “out,” I found myself [...]

mmurphy

Enter the GOP Understudy: Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 Challenges

Brian Frank / Reuters

A few thoughts on Day Zero of the Tim Pawlenty for President campaign. First, Pawlenty is a serious candidate who, unlike many in the race, can actually be nominated. I put him in the current Gang of Three most likely nominees, along with frontrunner Mitt Romney and quirky upstart Jon Huntsman. Pawlenty won two gubernatorial [...]

Morning Must Reads: Set

The 2012 presidential field is probably set. Tim Pawlenty kicks off :

Reality Bites: The GOP After Daniels, and After 2012

J.D. Pooley / Getty Images

The most important political story of the Obama era has been the Republican Party’s growing defiance of reality—its denial of climate science, its denunciations of Medicare cuts while proposing Medicare cuts, its denunciations of debt while proposing debt-exploding tax cuts, its resistance to financial regulation in the wake of a financial meltdown, and so on. [...]

At AIPAC, President Obama Distinguishes Between Israel And Its Leadership

For the better part of half a century, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has fought for a singular goal: To rally United States government support for the policy goals of the Israeli government. On Sunday, President Obama appeared before AIPAC’s annual conference to argue that the interests of Israel and its government, led by [...]