The Pawlenty-Bachman face-off

I saw the first half of the Republican debate in Iowa tonight and it was very watchable. By far the most impressive moment came early. Former governor Timothy Pawlenty, declaring his independence both from Minnesota Nice and from Reagan’s 11th commandment, said that his fellow Minnesotan Michelle Bachmann has no record of leadership or accomplishment. In her own defense, Rep. Bachmann hit a grand slam home run. It was perhaps the single most impressive and forceful statement by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen, and had me cheering in approbation. Bachmann not only showed herself to have the force to be a leader, she (fair and square) made mincemeat out of Pawlenty and his attempt to cut her down. In his further reply to her, he made a fool of himself when he argued that her claim to leadership was falsified by the fact that the Democrats passed the bills that Bachmann was opposing—as though she, a member of the House minority at the time, was in any position to stop those bills. In assaying such a weak argument he looked desperate and unprincipled. Bachmann looked like a winner through the whole exchange. I’ll try to post the video of it later.

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Jim C. writes:

Ideal Republican ticket: Romney for pres, Pawlenty for vice pres. Gingrich would make an excellent secretary of state.

Paul K. writes:

I’ve been watching Fox’s post-debate wrap-up, on which most of the candidates have been interviewed by Sean Hannity. During his segment, Newt Gingrich said that the president should not be taking a ten-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard when the country is facing so many problems.

The obtuse Hannity replied: “A ten-day vacation! I don’t take a ten-day vacation. Who takes a ten-day vacation?” No answer from Gingrich, whose campaign staff quit in June after he took a two-week cruise with his wife. Gotta love it.

LA replies:

A few days after declaring his presidential candidacy, Gingrich went on a two week Mediterranean cruise with Callista, and when he returned from the cruise he went the next day to New Hampshire—not to pick up his aborted and abandoned campaign in the first primary state, but to promote his wife’s documentary on John Paul II. When I told a friend about this, he laughed and said, in one of those statements that sums up a person or a subject in definitive terms and nothing further needs to be said about it, “The guy’s a flake.”

Gingrich is a flake. The fact that he often makes intelligent- and forceful-sounding statements doesn’t change the fact that he’s a flake.

Ron K. writes:

You wrote, “Gingrich is a flake. The fact that he often makes intelligent- and forceful-sounding statements doesn’t change the fact that he’s a flake.”

Not too long ago, Tom Roeser quoted one of Gingrich’s late colleagues:

“Henry Hyde once told me that Newt Gingrich, then Speaker of the House, is 50 percent genius and 50 percent nuts. On a given day, he can bolt either way.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 11, 2011 10:38 PM | Send