Cross-posted at AustinHess.com and UncommonSenseBlog.com
That’s a picture of me and former Minnesota Governor (and current coyly “possible” candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination) Tim Pawlenty at the Greater Boston Tea Party’s Tax Day Tea Party on Boston Common, where he was the headline speaker. He’s signing my sign, which has pictures of Obama and Jimmy Carter with an “equals” sign between them and reads “Barack O'Carter” on the second line and “ONE & DONE” (with Obama logos for “O’s”) on the third.
I was working at the event, setting up, cleaning up, and general purpose stuff, but I took some time to get autographs this time. I thought it would be amusing to get all three of the radio talk show hosts from competing stations (Michael Graham, Todd Feinburg and Jeff Katz) to sign the same sign (on the other side of where I had Pawlenty sign). I also made sure I got Pawlenty’s signature. Before he went up on stage, I asked him, “Governor, would you mind signing my sign?” to which he replied “I’d be proud to.” He read it, laughed, told me he liked it, and took it (and the sharpie I provided) out of my hands (leaving me standing awkwardly and grinning goofily). I couldn’t think of much else to say other than “Please beat Romney… and then Obama.” A Boston Globe reporter asked if they could quote me on that (and I said yes), but I haven’t seen it show up anywhere. Pawlenty signed the sign with “Stay Strong!” and his signature, then handed me back the sharpie. I thanked him for the autograph. Other people were asking for autographs too, but he couldn’t find anything to write with and asked one of his aides to go get something, so I just handed the sharpie back and told him to keep it (I know, I’m so generous). He thanked me, and I got out of the way of the crowd. End scene.
I was kicking myself for not having a camera or anyone around to take my picture, though I figured one might crop up, since there were so many cameras around. One friend got close (but got the back of someone’s head). Christine Morabito got one of the two of us with me in profile, and then (yesterday) found this frontal one (an AP photo) while searching around online (thanks Christine!).
I had to fight the crowd to make sure I got Pawlenty’s autograph. I was mad last year when I couldn’t get Sarah Palin’s but my sister did (somehow, while also chatting with Todd Palin). So far her collection of prominent Republican autographs is a bit more impressive than mine. She’s got Sarah Palin and Scott Brown; I’ve got Pawlenty and Pataki (though I have met Brown a few times, I’ve never had anything for him to sign).
Pawlenty generates a less excitement than Palin, as evidenced in the difference in turnout from this year to last (she’s just a force of nature in herself). I think the perception of him as “boring” is his biggest weakness, and that’s what events like ours (which allow him to polish his stump speech) help with that (and that’s why he’s doing them). I think he was well received.
I gave a few interviews during the event, including the Boston Globe (as I mentioned), the Talking Points Memo website, and the Christian Science Monitor. So far, the only one that actually used my quotes (that I’m aware of) was the Christian Science Monitor, which got picked up by Yahoo, which is where Christine found the photo. I think the quote (which also mentions the other side of my sign) reflects the attitude of a lot of the attendees of the event:
Austin Hess, who held a sign that read “2012: the end of the (liberal) world,” which Pawlenty had autographed, said after the speech that the governor was growing on him. Still, with so many contestants likely to vie for the nomination, he would wait and see what they had to offer before deciding whom to support.
Actually, as an aside, I shouldn’t say that I was only quoted by the CSM, because the Globe did quote me indirectly. During the rally a dozen or so union thugs decided to muscle their way up to the front of crowd, unfurled a large banner designed to obscure the speakers from the view of the crowd, and tried to drown out the speakers by chanting about how racist, sexist, and homophobic we all are (including during a moment of prayer, prompting Michael Graham to yell at them to “Shut the BIDEN up!”). They had a bull horn, which the police eventually made them put away (though not shut up). The police, apparently trying to keep the peace, surrounded the counter-protesters (instead of removing them) facing outwards as if they were protecting the thugs and we were the problem. Hey, the police are union, too. At one point the thugs started chanting “USA! USA!” to drown out a speaker… but that’s OUR thing. The speaker encouraged the crowd to drown out the thugs… by chanting the same thing. So we had two opposing groups trying to drown each other out by shouting the same thing louder, which I found amusing. I tweeted from the @BostonTeaParty account “Bizarro moment: both union thugs and teapartiers join in chanting: USA! USA!” Brad Marston later told me that the Boston Globe had named that their “Tweet of the Week.” I couldn’t find anything about that online, but he said he saw it in the print version (which is ironic for a tweet). I called him a dinosaur for reading the “dead-tree” version of the globe and told him I preferred to save the environment by reading the internets and/or interwebs.
Anyways, back to the point. Most of what I said in my interviews is reflected in that quote. I think that Pawlenty has a hard time generating excitement, but that he’s improving. I also talked a little about my particular issues with him, mainly his past support of cap-and-trade (so say nothing of some more esoteric and obscure issues like smoking bans). But I made the point that he has come out, admitted that he was wrong and made a mistake, and that his views have changed for the better. I can respect (and possibly forgive) that. That’s more than can be said of, say… Romney and the RomneyCare fiasco. I believe it was the Globe reporter that I told “I can’t forgive Romney if he doesn’t apologize.” Though I guess the title of his book (“No Apologies”) precludes that.
I am still trying to decide which Presidential hopeful to support (though I’ll support whoever the nominee is), but Pawlenty is definitely a contender. I don’t like any of the “front-runners,” and there are several people that I like but that I don’t think can win. I’d be comfortable with Pawlenty, though. As a successful two term veto-happy conservative governor in a pretty blue state (who won even in 2006, and whose face I have never even seen adorned with a Hitler ‘stache), he has the credentials and the political wherewithal to be President. I think he has appeal to all the major factions on the right. As a libertarian, for instance, the fact that the Cato Institute gave him an “A” in their 2010 gubernatorial grades on fiscal policy is a huge plus for me. Pawlenty may not be everyone’s first choice, but I think he’d be a lot of people’s second choice. A good compromise candidate.
In fact, that may be one area in which T-Paw’s lack of “excitement” might be an asset rather than a liability. I think it certainly would be in the general election. Pawlenty is probably the least “objectionable” candidate (or person?) you could find. The closest thing to a vanilla, generic Republican. And in the general election, the Republican candidate can’t be the focus. They don’t need to fire the right up. Obama already has. Obama has to be the focus. He actually has to run on a record this time, and it’s a pretty bad one. Obama should be on constant defense. We don’t need to hand him any ammo by offering up a candidate with any major flaws.
So maybe I’ll end up supporting Pawlenty, if only for selfish reasons: If he wins, I’ll have a picture of myself with the guy who beat Obama.
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