Pawlenty Whacks Sanford: "Troubling And Hypocritical"

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) offered one of the harshest rebukes from within the Republican Party of Mark Sanford, suggesting on Sunday that the South Carolina governor was hypocritical and had damaged the GOP at a time when the brand was already hurting.

"It's hard to quantify [the damage he has done]," said Pawlenty. "But clearly there has been damage. Any time you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that's sad and troubling and hypocritical other people are going to look at that and say, 'Hmmm, they don't walk the walk. And so the words and the actions don't ring true."

Later in his segment on CNN's "State of the Union," Pawlenty would not push back against suggestions that Sanford had been directly derelict in his duties when he traveled to Argentina to conduct his affair. "Your staff has to be able to reach you and reach you quickly," Pawlenty said. "He should not have left the state and not allowed people to know how to contact him if something happened. That's obvious."

Both Pawlenty and Sanford have been discussed as possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Sanford, naturally, has dropped from that discussion after his admission of marital misconduct. Still, it was curious to see Pawlenty take a shot at his gubernatorial compatriot. Other Republicans have either avoided the Sanford topic altogether or framed the issue as a personal, not professional, miscue.

But the Minnesota Republican didn't just slap Sanford on the wrist for leaving the state to meet his mistress. He also applauded Sanford's wife for not appearing alongside him during his emotional and lengthy press conference in which he confessed to and apologized for the matter.

"It's a sad and troubling situation with Jenny and Mark Sanford. I know them. I'm proud of Jenny for her strength and her commitment to her family and keeping that family together. Frankly, I was glad to see her not standing at the press conference like many have, and kind of charting her own path. Saying, look, I'm willing to forgive him, but I'm not going to stand here and condone this in any way."

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Comments

[Jenjohnson]

do you have this feeling that he may have to eat his words one day.....?

[HesDanTheMan]

I was thinking the exact same thing!

[sbrown80]

I thought the same thing. Too quick w/ the tongue.

[robbep]

perfect opportunity to slam a possible rival.

[oscartucker]

Pawlenty has thrown Sanford under the bus with a knife or two for good measure.

[MyrtleJune]

Ummmm. Careful there Timmy before you fall down the well too and we have to send Lassie after you. That well is getting pretty crowded :-D

[sbrown80]

Lol!

[taricaziz]

If he falls down that well, I hope he misses all the accordions.

[SilviaMaria]

Governor:

Please do not criticize anybody or moralize about some facts of life. You could be next.

[Stilts9]

Pawlenty is saying "Look at me, I'm clean, and I wanna be the next POTUS."

[Ponderus]

And people in he // want ice water.

[BambooHarvester]

Duh... Whaddya wanna be president or somethin" . . .
~

[Philip Combs]

Another ReThug Rat realizes he's stuck on the sinking ship his party has become with no way to get to the dock.

Buh-Bye Ratso!

[henrypapillon]

maybe they can run together in 2012, Palin and Pawlenty and advertise themselves as The P-Brains.

[Philip Combs]

LOL!

[MNJim]

Philip---it is unkind to laff when Henry is speaking seriously and telling the truth.

[mantri]

Duh! Calling a Republican politician hypocritical is like calling water wet.

[byyou]

Nice try Tim, tell that to people who don't know you. I am from MN and this guy screwed up the state and run it like his own house. He cut healthcare assisstance to 30, 000 poor minnesotans who don't have healthcare coverage and thousands more would lose it by the begining of 2010. state has 4.5 billion deficit. He did not work with legislation to pass a budget but insisted to balance the budget deficit he created by cutting basic services and delaying payments to K1-12. legislation come up with an idea where they incease taxes to credit companies who charge outrageous interest but Pawlenty said no because it will be hard to win GOP primary if you raised taxes. The more i look at Tim Pawlenty the more he reminds me of our former President Bush. wait untill 2010 when people realise what Tim has done and see whether he will be a presidential hopefull by then. 2010 will be katrina for Pawlenty. He put his political ampition ahead of the people and as a result minnesotans will suffer the dire sequences of that. He said no new taxes and am ok with that but guess what,property taxes will be raised by cities so they can provide basic services. In other words he chosed co-operate companies over people. No new taxes for credit card companies but there will be tax increase for poor minnesotans who can not avoid it. Nice try Tim Pawlenty Bush.

[AZterritory]

Thanks for info--always good to hear the straight story from a resident of the state. Keep good notes just in case for 2012. (You too, Alaskans and Louisianans.)

[oscartucker]

We have to take it from one who knows. Thanks for the info.

[TLThomas]

Ouch! Well, what say you Mr. Pawlenty?

[OLEGAR]

Yes thanks - - BUT! Why don't you good folks of MN light a fire under his sorry b^tt and order him to seat your senator ? Oh of course he has the MN MOUTH, Mispell Backman, down there spewing her ignorance all over the place and figures she can handle the job of three or four alone!

[superstition]

What about Ensign?

What about Vitter?

The GOP wants Sanford to be the scapegoat while protecting its Senators.

[OLEGAR]

I am from Louisiana and I wish there was a way for us to ship MrVitter along with our slippery pyiush gindal to the moon. Vitter is such a hypocrite he makes me want to throw up every time he pontificates on important things like "family values" etc. etc. Gov pyiush has so little experience that he is making our situation here much more hurtful.

One big trouble though, is the ignorance of redneck voters who swallow the conservative lies about their moral superiority, their expertness in energy policy, their commitment in hurricane preparedness and a thousand more shadowy skills, and these ignorant folks will vote to cut their own throats rather than put a Democrat in office in some of these districts.
hhhhelllllpppp

[MNJim]

And don't forget Rep Vito Fosella from NY, who ran on Family Values/Sanctity of Marriage. Later got drunk driving tix and fathered a child behind his wife's back. I especially like Vito's story.

[BrickSykes]

I sincerely hope that this Pawlenty guy gets to run for President for the Republican Party!! Oh, what a fun time we'll all have watching HIS world come crashing down! Another self-righteous narcissistic braggart!

You'd best stay hidden, Timmy, it'll pay better in the long run!

Brick

[Bitsfik]

f anyone wants to know what Governor Palin is doing, follow her twitter web page at http://twitter.com/AKGovSarahPalin. It is very interesting!

[henrypapillon]

sarah palin mke this man sik. She turn my guts. Mke me puk.

[SgtLucifer]

How long before it leaks that Pawlenty has a love child in Ecuador? Governor Timmy obviously did not learn much about Sanford's judgmental arrogance.

[kjg25171]

If a married couple are in love with each other and they have a child isn't that a love child? Besides, why call any child a love child unless you know the parents were in love, married or not.

[Henk]

Pawlenty is a weiner and he doesn't play well with others. If undecideds really do care about bipartisanship then Pawlenty is going to be easy to beat in 2012.
This appeared in today's Star Tribune. It sums it up pretty well.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/49213767.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:U0ckkD:aEyKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU