Pawlenty: Democrats overplayed hand

Posted at 8:44 PM on January 19, 2010 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)
Filed under: Tim Pawlenty

Governor Pawlenty is praising Republican Scott Brown for being elected to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a special election to fill the late Edward Kennedy's seat. Pawlenty's federal political action committee contributed to Brown's campaign and encouraged others to give to him as well. Pawlenty said if a Republican can win in Massachusetts they can anywhere in the country.

"The Democrats in Washington have dramatically and foolishly overplayed their hand. The pendulum is clearly swinging away from Democrats and that leaves opportunities for Republicans on why they should lead and govern the country."

Pawlenty made his comments to me before the results in Massachusetts were final. He spoke with me before he attended a fundraiser for his political action committee. The Minneapolis event, which was closed to the press, attracted roughly 250 275 people.

Update: Pawlenty's PAC also released this statement:

"Voters in Massachusetts expressed the outrage Americans everywhere feel about the proposed government takeover of health care. Senator-elect Scott Brown will provide a decisive vote against the Democrats' health-care schemes. His victory is an inspiration to conservatives across the country to continue our fight for freedom from an overbearing federal government. Congratulations to the Senator-elect and his family for achieving this historic upset."

Comments (1)

Had the Democrats overplayed their hand, as the governor suggested, health care reform would have been passed and signed into law, amongst many other bills that are--at present--piling up in the well of the United States Senate.

The message to Senator Reid should be clear: under his "leadership," the Senate Democrats have squandered an opportunity to do much more than originally advertised.

Rightly or wrongly, the United States Senate is more concerned at present about protecting and preserving its traditions and protocol than getting its work done. The beginning of the end of health care reform came when the leadership began having to make deals with individual senators in their own caucus.

The addition of Senator-Elect Brown, in my opinion, will let Senator Reid "off the hook." Sen. Reid will now be able to offer the well-worn excuse that his inability to stop the inevitable filibuster from the Republicans--and maybe a few others like Sen.Lieberman--killed the health care reform bill in 2010.

If history is any guide, the correlation of current events to early 1994 likely favors the congressional Republicans at this point in time come November. Whether or not this translates to a change in power in one or both chambers remains to be seen.

Posted by John O. | January 20, 2010 7:04 AM

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