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Republicans sure have funny ideas to what does and doesn't make for a good President. They framed the dry drunk frat boy as the kind of guy you wanted to have a beer with, the guy with nice hair as too effete to be considered--maybe because he cared about those unfortunate souls who couldn't afford to be a campaign donor, the three time Purple Heart combat veteran as hating the troops and now the man who voted with Bush 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% of the time in 2008 as a "maverick" willing to put country before party. I got an idea: let's ask the vets if they think McSame is a maverick when it comes to the GI Bill. But Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) on This Week with George Stephanopoulos thinks he's come up with a great gotcha for Rep. Rahm Emanuel: when has Barack Obama stood up against his party for what's right for the country?
PAWLENTY: And, actually, John McCain is the one person who says, I'll stand up and do what's right for my country even before party. And I'll challenge you once again. Name me one instance, even one, where Barack Obama has stood up and said, I will take on my party on a matter of principle, on something large...
While Rahm Emanuel doesn't take the bait, he also fails to point out that the reason that Obama hasn't needed to take on his party is that it is the Democratic Party trying to do the best for the country, instead of the corporate elite and cronies.
Transcripts below the fold:
PAWLENTY: Well, we should worry about the country first.
EMANUEL: I agree with that.
PAWLENTY: And, actually, John McCain is the one person who says, I'll stand up and do what's right for my country even before party.
And I'll challenge you once again. Name me one instance, even one, where Barack Obama has stood up and said, I will take on my party on a matter of principle, on something large...
(CROSSTALK)
PAWLENTY: ... as a United States senator, not some remote vote in the state legislature in Illinois.
EMANUEL: Tim, I like you. You and I...
(CROSSTALK)
EMANUEL: Everybody knows we like each other. Our friendship goes way back. We've worked on issues together. In the last seven years under George Bush, median household income...
PAWLENTY: Can you name me one?
EMANUEL: I'm going to say it. Median household income in Minnesota dropped $7,000. Uninsured went up 30 percent, and employment went 3.3 percent to 5.6 percent.
That's the legacy of the Bush economy and you're struggling against it, as a good governor, against a legacy of a mismanaged and a bad economic plan that's put too much resources over in Iraq and not enough resources here in America. And there's consequences to that policy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor, the last word.
PAWLENTY: If you look at any argument that Senator McCain is an extension of George Bush, it does not hold water, in a whole bunch of categories. He's the one who said we've got to change the conduct of the war. He's the one that says we have to take a different approach
on energy.
You have got Barack Obama saying no to tax holiday, no to more drilling, no to more nuclear, no to tax credits for...
EMANUEL: Yes to alternative energy.
PAWLENTY: And let's put some more taxes, according to Obama, on energy. That's exactly the wrong thing...
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'll invite you both back. You guys have a lot to talk about.
CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you both very much.
