Thursday, June 16, 2011

Tim Pawlenty Was Not A Good Governor

The jokes are already starting to fly. Tim Pawlenty has thought of a comeback. 72 Hours later. On Twitter. He is so brave and clever.

Actually what is interesting about his recent tweet is how it opens himself up to criticism. As Fred Messner points out,
Tim Pawlenty has been on the offensive about Mitt Romney’s healthcare record.  But even as he derides “Obamneycare,” Pawlenty continues to delay the release of a plan to replace Obama’s healthcare reform and has said little about his own record on the issue.

The reason for this is simple: it’s not very good, especially next to Romney’s.

T-Paw and Romney both assumed office in 2003, at which point 7.4 percent of Massachusetts residents and 7.2 percent of Minnesotans lacked health insurance. Both rates were well below the national average.

By the end of 2008, the proportion of uninsured residents in Massachusetts had dropped to 2.6 percent and has since fallen to 1.9 percent. Granted, Romney left office in January 2007, but almost all of the drop can be attributed to his healthcare reform. Minnesota is a different story: in 2009, 9.1 percent of the population was uninsured, a substantial increase.
Now, there is every reason to believe that Republican primary voters don't care about getting people health insurance, but this is bad news for Pawlenty (and the GOP) in a general election.

And then there are these little factoids posted by a commenter at Messner's post.
PAWLENTY’S GOVERNORSHIP BY THE NUMBERS

State’s Budget Outlook
2003-2004 two-year budget: $4.5 billion projected budget deficit
2011-2012 two-year budget: $6.2 billion projected budget deficit
Source: Minnesota Management and Budget
.
Rate of the Uninsured
2001: 6.1 percent
2009: 9.1 percent
Source: Minnesota Department of Health
.
Graduation Rate
Four-year graduation rate, 2002-03: 72.79 percent
Four-year graduation rate, 2008-09: 74.85 percent
Source: MN Department of Education
.
ACT scores by state
2002: 65 percent tested
Avg. composite score: 22.1
2010: 70 percent tested
Avg. composite score: 22.9
Source: ACT
.
Job numbers
January 2003 (Total non-farm employment, seasonally adjusted): 2,662,200
November 2010 (Total non-farm employment, seasonally adjusted): 2,668,400
6,200 more jobs than in 2003
Source: MN Department of Employment and Economic Development
.
Unemployment rate
January 2003: Minnesota’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent
National unemployment rate was 5.8 percent
November 2010:
Minnesota’s unemployment rate was 7.1 percent
National unemployment rate was 9.8 percent
Source: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
.
Per Capita Income
2002: $34,081 – Minnesota ranked 8th in the nation
2009: $41,589 – Minnesota ranked 14th in the nation
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Certainly, Pawlenty cannot be blamed for all of this. However, he is to blame for the state budget crisis going on in Minnesota. In fact, that crisis really comes to light when one considers Pawlenty's recently released, insane economic plan. It hinges on the prayer that the United States has 5% economic growth for the next ten years. There is a reason why Pawlenty doesn't know how to balance a budget.  
Under both plans, the benefits flow more to those at the top. The difference is that they flow even more heavily to that group under the Pawlenty plan.


I understand that liberals often falsely accuse Republicans of giving tax cuts to the rich. But Pawlenty's plan is a joke. It has rightly been derided by analysts and pundits as delusional. If Republicans want to balance the budget and end our nation's deficit problem, then the first step would be to not vote for Tim Pawlenty. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

And while on the subject of TP and healthcare insults, it occured to me that Romney was the first governor to try health insurance reform and only then did the other governors follow his lead.

Governors across the nation sent staffers to Massachusetts to study Romney's reforms. They hoped to help the uninsured in their own states.

Then they took many of Romney's reform ideas and incorporated in their states plans. So maybe it isn't Obamneycare, maybe what they have in Minnesota is Pawlomneycare. Tim P benefitted from Romney's hard work and pioneering and then stabs Romney in the back. Sleazy politician.

Lori*

Anonymous said...

Lori, I didn't know that. Interesting.

Tim seems to be sort of imploding this week.

-Martha

BOSMAN said...

Poor Tim was or RomneycareF before he was against it.

If I was Romney, I'd have an ad made of all these praises that he received on Romney care from folks like, Pawlenty, Santorum, DeMint, Heritage Foundation, etc. And have it ready to fly as needed.

Anonymous said...

That's a good idea, Bosman.

I feel sort of sorry for the guy--he's having a really bad week. He was choice #2 for a lot of Romney supporters, I think merely by default, because there was no one else very credible.

Now, it looks like there might not be anyone who can seriously challenge Romney, or be a viable alternative. Bachmann is the flavor of the week, she won't last. Cain can't do it. Newt is a non-starter.

It looks to me as if Rudy, Perry, and Hunstman are also going to be as weak as Tim.

The stars are aligning quite nicely for Mitt right now.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

"He was choice #2 for a lot of Romney supporters," That is the best part. He played you all for a bunch of suckers.

Doug NYC GOP said...

A sfot #2, because all the others are so weak.

Anonymous said...

funny pawlenty now attacks romney from the safety of his twitter account