Today In GOP Stupidity

3 entries.

On second thought, Tim Pawlenty would like to take a swipe at Mitt Romeny.

On seizing debate opportunity re: healthcare: Me 0, Mitt 1. On doing healthcare reform the right way as governor: Me 1, Mitt 0

So, Pawlenty will take shots at Romnney on Fox News and Twitter but not while he's standing 5 feet from the guy. As the kids say, #FAIL

Dave Weigel (I know) has the definitive take.

The problem for Pawlenty is more than campaign tactics and missing chances to break out of the "oh, those guys are running too" pack. Campaigns are about sizing candidates up and trying to figure out what kind of President they would make. If you aren't willing to stand up to Mitt Romney when he's standing there, are you going to stand up to Vladimir Putin?

It's not a precise comparison but if people don't know you, all they can do is extrapolate from what they see. Yipping from a distance but not in person isn't an attractive characteristic.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney opens his mouth and promptly shoves his foot into it.

At a campaign event in Florida today, the 2012 Republican frontrunner met with a group of unemployed workers who talked about their challenges looking for jobs in the struggling economy.

After they concluded, the former Massachusetts governor suggested he should tell his own "story," according to the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny.

"I'm also unemployed," Romney replied, with a smile.

Ah, the mutli-millionaire who has devoted the last 6 years or so of his life and several million dollars of his own money to running for President doesn't have a job. See, he's just like you! Or it's funny! Or something.

Pro tip to all candidates for President (and the current holder of the office) in times of 9%+ unemployment, jokes about not having a job are never going to be winners.

Last and worst...why are Republicans in the House taking a pass on cutting more money from the budget?

"The American people have made it loud and clear that they want spending cuts and debt reduction to be Washington’s foremost priorities," Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) said, as he alone laid out 11 different amendments to the bill, designed to cut $2 billion.

By Wednesday afternoon, the House had voted on a half dozen of Broun's budget cutting plans, easily rejecting all six.

In fact, the best Broun or any other Republican could do was to muster 125 votes for one of his plans, as at times more than half of all House Republicans joined with Democrats to reject these extra budget cutting plans.

It was much like votes earlier this month for an across the board cut in the Homeland Security budget, where just 110 lawmakers voted for $4 billion in savings, as many Republicans again displayed their distaste for extra cuts.

The bill under consideration already cuts $2.6 billion from ag, food safety and nutrition programs but why not cut more? We're not going to balance the budget this way, we still need to get after so-called "entitlements" but we damn well should be cutting at every opportunity.

posted by DrewM. at 03:48 PM

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