From an interview in Business Insider with Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen (via Jonathan V. Last):
4. Everyone's sort of surprised by the inability of Tim Pawlenty to get traction -- so far -- with GOP primary voters and caucus attenders? Why isn't he connecting?
JVL: He is utterly lacking in charisma. I usually avoid these, but I agreed to speak at a regional organizing meeting for the party in Minnesota just to see him speak: he was utterly boring and I decided not to pitch his campaign. At a cocktail reception for the event, attended by 125+ activists, he and his wife were standing by themselves – no one was interested in talking to him and he made no effort to work the crowd. The first presidential campaign, I worked for John Connally’s; at an event like this one 120 of 125 attendees would have been all over him and he would have found the remaining 5. And Connally got 1 delegate, but in fairness he was running against Ronald Reagan.
The general implication of van Lohuizen's remarks is that nobody will win the GOP nomination.
Hee Haw Pawlenty.
ReplyDeleteMa and Pawlenty Kettle.
He's too much of uh-shuckser.
Pawlenty was raised Catholic and converted to Baptist when he married. Looking at different photographs of Pawlenty, it seems obvious to me that he has Ashkenazi ancestry, but I have seen no mention of that anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI saw the first Republican presidential debate on CNN a few weeks ago. Impressions:
ReplyDeletePawlenty: boring, dumber than the average politician (100 to 110, seriously).
Newt: the smartest one on the stage, nerdy, no social graces, needlessly confrontational, must be scary to women.
Romney: smooth, smart, gentlemanly, bland, will drive liberals bonkers by his wholesomeness.
Caine: could have made a successful pimp. A flamboyant BSer, even dumber than Pawlenty.
Bachmann: probably as clueless as Palin about the issues, but not as attractive in either face or personality.
Santorum: a good guy, but I hear he has no money or chances.
I still can't believe Romney will win. Someone else will show up - someone as smooth as Romney, but not as threatening to the media with regard to wholesomeness.
Well, I wouldn't say Palin lacks charisma. She might have some problems but being an introvert isnt' one of them.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to having zero appeal as a human being, he's also running as the semi-official candidate of the neo-"conservatives," which tends to give him zero appeal in the political/ideological arena as well. Somebody should have explained to Gov. Pawlenty that neocons win elections by pretending they're not neocons. Theirs is an infiltrator faction, not a popular faction.
ReplyDelete"The general implication of van Lohuizen's remarks is that nobody will win the GOP nomination."
ReplyDeleteWe could only hope.
"Somebody should have explained to Gov. Pawlenty that neocons win elections by pretending they're not neocons."
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Pawlenty was Jewish.
Of course, I know almost nothing about him.
I wonder if Minnesotans (who are quite Scandinavian) like bland, controlled, responsible as politicians? This strikes me as HBD in action. I remember you discussing Finland's ad for itself that talked about how predictable and well-run it was.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a criticism--Minnesota's in good shape as states go. I hate cool people. ;)
There were seven debaters, but Anonymous @ 7/16/11 2:53 PM only mentions six, leaving Ron Paul out. I'd bet a large amount of money that he's Whiskey/Testing99/EvilNeocon.
ReplyDeleteNewt "smartest one on the stage"? Yikes.
ReplyDeleteHave you read any of his books? "Golden retriever dad" Andrew Ferguson tried to read all of them:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/magazine/what-does-newt-gingrich-know.html?pagewanted=all
I wonder if Minnesotans (who are quite Scandinavian) like bland, controlled, responsible as politicians?
ReplyDeleteMinnesota is generally well governed but often elects weird and unlikely politicians. Before Governor Pawlenty was Jesse 'The Body' Ventura, former wrestler and actor. Mark Dayton, the current Govenor is known for occasional bizarre antics. The state elected the first and only serving Muslim in US Congress Keith Ellison, former comedian-cum-political pundit-cum Senator Al Franken, and Tea Party 'favorite' Michelle Bachmann.
Also interesting, since the 80s half their Senators have been Jewish.
"I wonder if Minnesotans (who are quite Scandinavian) like bland, controlled, responsible as politicians?"
ReplyDeleteLike Sen. Al Franken?
Who cares if Pawlenty is boring?
ReplyDeleteOf the current contenders, he has the second best Numbers USA score, after Bachman, and Bachman is WAY too Zionist.
Like it or not, Pawlenty is the closest thing to a Paleocon in the race right now (ugh!)
Maybe we need to draft Congressman John Duncan. He is the only Republican Congressman, other than Ron Paul, to vote against both the Iraq war and the bailout, and he has an A+ career grade from Numbers USA. I can't think of any better Republican. Can you?
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI saw the first Republican presidential debate on CNN a few weeks ago. Impressions:"
That wasn't the first debate. FOX broadcast a debate in South Carolina prior to that, with neither Gingrich, Bachman, or Romney in attendence.
"Pawlenty: boring, dumber than the average politician (100 to 110, seriously)."
I didn't find him dumb. Boring, yes. But I don't see that as a drawback. Do we really want an exciting President. That said, he's a very establishment Republican, and I think we've had quite enough of those.
"Newt: the smartest one on the stage, nerdy, no social graces, needlessly confrontational, must be scary to women."
Gingrich thinks he is a lot smarter than he is. Graceless is about right. In fact, he is an out-and-out a**hole. He shouldn't be President of anything but SCA or ComicCon, where he more properly belongs.
"Romney: smooth, smart, gentlemanly, bland, will drive liberals bonkers by his wholesomeness."
And Mormon. Non-starter for most Americans. As if being a slimy, opportunistic hedge-fund manager were not enough.
"Caine: could have made a successful pimp. A flamboyant BSer, even dumber than Pawlenty."
Other than the pimp part, I agree with your assessment. His whole foreign policy stance is "I have no foreign policy because I haven't had the time to look into it. But rest assured, I'll hire top men to craft the best foreign policy that money can buy.". When the nation is involved in three wars (four? five? I've lost count), I expect a presidential candidate to have an opinion about them.
"Bachmann: probably as clueless as Palin about the issues, but not as attractive in either face or personality."
Actually, I think Palin's personality has grown steadily less attractive over time.
"Santorum: a good guy, but I hear he has no money or chances."
In the first debate he made himself out to be the second coming of George W. Bush. Maybe that's we gets little traction. He doesn't seem to realize that a lot of Republicans grew to be sick to death of Bush the Younger. But he's against abortion - in the totally ineffectual way of all Republican candidates - and that's all that counts, isn't it?
And Paul? No opinions? He's not an also ran yet. Paul and Gary Johnson are the only candidates with an original and/or useful thought in their heads. So, naturally, their campaigns will go nowhere.
It would be nice to find a pol who sell his programs but not himself.
ReplyDeleteBarry sold himself. The country bought. Big mistake.
"And Mormon. Non-starter for most Americans."
ReplyDeleteThat was an issue last time, not now, if he makes it to the general. Only the fundies of the Right care about that.
Rick Perry (fairly good score by VDARE, Numbers USA) is likely to lead if he gets in. Newts an idiot who is a RINO (that commercial for Global Warming with Nancy Pelosi) and has massive personal and corruption issues. He's embarrassing himself and Rep voters have told him to get out. Bachman has Ed Rollins running her campaign -- and he's alienated already half the primary voters by stupid stunts. Romney is yesterday's news, old and boring and RINO-esque. Huntsman is basically a staid Howard Dean, wrong party. Ron Paul a fringe candidate, ala Caine. Palin's not running, hopefully (too many women hate her). And Pawlenty?
ReplyDeleteBoring, bland, and unable to stand up and fight against Obama. Obama will raise $1 billion all of it spent on smear campaigns. "Nice" campaigning won't cut it -- Reps need a fighter who ENJOYS fighting. Pawlenty just wants to be a good loser.
"Palin's not running, hopefully (too many women hate her). And Pawlenty?"
ReplyDeleteWhiskey! This again. Palin's not qualified to be president. I think the low turnout for the movie about her also reveals her popularity is waning. It's not so much that women don't like her. There's just not that much to her. Bachman's a bit more qualified but has the husband/fundie issue.
Ah, Pawlenty. He is the WASP version of Joe Lieberman. The kind of stable personality that doesn't garner much enthusiasm or attention but that would give us a trustworthy leader capable of making good decisions.
How do we get the showbiz out of presidential politics, that's the real issue, Whiskey.
"Paul and Gary Johnson are the only candidates with an original and/or useful thought in their heads. "
ReplyDeleteGary Johnson's also an open borders fanatic.
Next.
Pawlenty is not Jewish. Both his parents were Polish Catholics from South St. Paul, Minnesota.
ReplyDelete"Mac said...
ReplyDelete""Paul and Gary Johnson are the only candidates with an original and/or useful thought in their heads.""
"Gary Johnson's also an open borders fanatic.
Next."
Yes, you are quite right. I mentioned him only because he isn't a doctrinaire Republican, and he is a cut above most of the other candidates in the smarts department. But, as you point out, he takes the standard libertarian line on immigration. I would certainly never vote for him.
"Pawlenty is not Jewish. Both his parents were Polish Catholics from South St. Paul, Minnesota."
ReplyDeleteWikipedia seems to agree...then why did someone say he was Jewish? What a strange comment community this sometimes is...
Ron Paul is the only Paleocon running. He actually wants to repeal birthrite citizenship and enforce the border, end NAFTA and the endless neocon/progressive wars. Naturally, he's already been ruled out as a fringe candidate. This is the most depressing lineup since.... 2008.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that to be seen as a leading conservative, you need to be wise, sober, logical and solemn.
ReplyDeleteTo be a hip and "charismatic" democrat, you need to be dramatic, idealistic, emotional and exuberant.
No way the two are compatible.
If we think hard about it, the former type is the only sensible leadership material.
Ah, Pawlenty. He is the WASP version of Joe Lieberman.
ReplyDeleteWreally Ashkenazi Supposed Pole? Got to agree with 2:47 Anonymous.
"The problem is that to be seen as a leading conservative, you need to be wise, sober, logical and solemn.
ReplyDeleteTo be a hip and "charismatic" democrat, you need to be dramatic, idealistic, emotional and exuberant.
No way the two are compatible.
If we think hard about it, the former type is the only sensible leadership material."
And if we think hard about it, we'll realize that American women tend to support the Democratic model.
And if we think hard about that....
Of the current contenders, he has the second best Numbers USA score, after Bachman, and Bachman is WAY too Zionist.
ReplyDeleteOf course being white, an ardent Zionist, and not an ethnopatriot is disgusting. But in terms of realpolitik, what's the down side here? Serious question, I'm honestly curious. Okay, there's "foreign" (west/central Asian) wars, but that whole thing has lost a lot of steam. What else?
Svigor
Wikipedia seems to agree...then why did someone say he was Jewish? What a strange comment community this sometimes is...
ReplyDeleteBrains can be strange to people who don't have any. None of the statements are contradictory.
Svigor
Ah, shucks! We sure needed a corporate lawyer running things in Washington.
ReplyDeleteAside from lacking charisma, he is also a middle of the road candidate in a year when RINOS are being ignored. Bachmann is actually much better on issues of interest to those of a more nationalist bent, and her poll numbers show it. Creeping up to snatch the nomination from Bachmann and Romney is the establishment globalist ranting like a wild-eyed secessionist, Rick Perry.
ReplyDeleteSvigor,
ReplyDeleteThe foreign policy costs are the only thing I find objectionable about Bachman's Zionism, from a realpolitic perspective.
To understand my religious objections to Bachman's point of view, read Galatians, but substitute "Americans" for "Galatians" and "support for Israel" for "circumcision".