Bob CollinsCompared to his visibility before Sarah Palin was selected as John McCain’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been invisible since the Republican National Convention ended. There were some reports that Pawlenty and some family members were upset that his career path had once again been disrupted by his own party.
Today, however, Pawlenty was back on national TV — this time CBS’ Face the Nation — refusing to take Bob Schieffer’s bait by not answering any of the questions with either a “yes” or “no” answer.
On whether it was a bad idea putting Sarah Palin on the ticket: “I think Gov. Palin has brought a lot of strength to the McCain ticket, energized the base, appealed to women voters.” Is that a “yes” or a “no”?
On whether McCain should’ve lambasted the Bush administration in an interview with the Washington Times: “As a maverick, he’s been doing it his whole career. It’s (the interview) one that’s born in the facts.”
On that question, Schieffer asked Pawlenty how one runs against his own party. It’s a question that Pawlenty is completely unqualified to answer, given that the party is what defined Pawlenty the candidate back in 2002. Over 12 ballots at the party’s state convention, Pawlenty was pulled further to the right to defeat Brian Sullivan. And Pawlenty was quick to bow out of the U.S. Senate race in 2001 when his party called.
Schieffer also asked whether the Republican Party should start shifting money from the race for president, and send it to Senate races in which Republicans are threatened: “if you look at Sen. McCain’s life, it’s one of overcoming adversity. You don’t want the entire country run by Democrats and liberals.” Is that a “no”?
