Pawlenty, Stewart spar over rhetoric

Jon Stewart To Tim Pawlenty: 'Why Is The Right So Fearful Of Tyranny?' (VIDEO)
"Why is the Right so fearful of tyranny now when George Bush expanded executive power so greatly?" Jon Stewart asked Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty this question last night on "The Daily Show." Pawlenty appeared on Stewart's show to discuss his new book, "Courage to Stand: An American Story," but the conversation quickly dove deep into a debate over political Rhetoric. About the Right's recent attacks on the current administration, Stewart asked: "Is this a cynical attempt to whip up ...

Tim Pawlenty Talks Tyranny On The Daily Show (VIDEO)
During a debate about the size and scope of government, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on The Daily Show last night that there is a "continuum between liberty and tyranny," adding that the march toward the latter happens incrementally. Pawlenty -- a potential 2012 Presidential Candidate -- and Stewart spent the better part of 20 minutes discussing the long-bubbling unrest on the right over President Barack Obama's initiatives over the past two years. Not surprisingly, Stewart defende...

Pawlenty: Oh, youd better believe Id bring back DADT as president
Via Jonathan Capehart, who wonders why T-Paw supports a policy opposed by Gates, Mullen, and most of the voting public. One word: Iowa. Bryan Fischer: “One last question, we have about 45 seconds left, put you on the hot seat one more time. We just saw the ban on Homosexual service in the Military repealed, overturned. Conservatives will be working over the next couple of years to see that that ban is reinstated. If you become president in 2012, will you work to reinstate the prohibition...

Sarah Palin To Be Interviewed on Fox News Monday
Sarah Palin will appear Monday on Fox News in her first interview since accusing critics of committing "blood Libel" for insinuating her Rhetoric may have been somehow connected to last week's shooting rampage in Arizona. A Fox executive told The New York Times that the former Alaska Governor would sit down with host Sean Hannity for an extended segment. Palin, the 2008 GOP vice Presidential Candidate, is on the Fox Payroll, often appearing as a commentator and contributor. On Wednesday, Palin ...

Pawlenty Hits Law Review Editors, Ivy Elites For Criticizing Palin
WASHINGTON -- Speaking before the National Press Club on Thursday, in what was yet another tease at a forthcoming presidential run, Gov. Tim Pawlenty defended fellow GOPer Sarah Palin against critics who he deemed highbrow elitists. The Minnesota Republican, in a late stage of his book tour, had caused a mild sensation days before when he dared to cast doubt on Palin's decision to use crosshairs to label the House races she was targeting in 2010. But he made up for it by inferring that those w...

Jon Stewart's Extended and Uncensored Interview with Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty returned to The Daily Show last night for an insightful discussion about Rhetoric and finding real solutions in our hostile political climate. It was such a calm and thoughtful chat, I almost can't figure out which one of these guys I'm supposed to compare to Hitler. Anyway, the interview went long, but you can now see it in its entirety right here. The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c. ...

Pawlenty Says He'd Reinstate Don't Ask Don't Tell (The Atlantic Wire)
WASHINGTON, DC – If elected president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty would bring back the ban on Gays in the Military, he told radio host Bryan Fischer Thursday. The Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell passed with several Republican votes, so a hypothetical President Pawlenty might have a tough time getting a Repeal of a Repeal through Congress, The Hill's Michael O'Brien reports. "There's a lot of reasons for that," Pawlenty explained, " but if you look at how the combat commanders and the co...

Pawlenty's pitch in D.C.
If Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty embarks on a 2012 White House bid, his Speech today in Washington D.C. could provide a framework for the message he would deliver to primary state voters later this year. Kicking off his book tour for his new memoir “Courage to Stand” with remarks at the National Press Club, Pawlenty offered a pitch that was two parts biography, one part contrast, and one part vision. The former Minnesota Governor spoke at length about his humble upbringing in a scrappy...

Limbaugh, Beck, and other conservatives do not approve of how Tucson reacts
In the past 24 hours many prominent Conservatives have questioned the "tone" of the memorial service held last night in Tucson.  The event was held in honor of nineteen Victims, including six dead, of the shooting last Saturday at an event hosted by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).  Most of the reviews from "mainstream" media were positive.  President Obama gave an emotional Speech which called for the country to "live up to the Democracy" that nine-year-old victim Christi...

Election in Sight, Possible GOP Presidential Candidates Stay Coy
On January 16, 2007, then-candidate Barack Obama released the video at left announcing that he was forming a presidential Exploratory Committee. It was essentially an announcement that he would be seeking the presidency - one that came almost 22 months before the election. Mr. Obama was far from the first to jump into the ring. As Slate's David Weigel noted this week, 14 Candidates announced they would be running for president or creating an exploratory committee before Mr. Obama released tha...

Is education the route to Hispanic voters' hearts for Rick Scott?
Gov. Rick Scott , who spoke briefly at a conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables Thursday night, received the most robust applause when he mentioned education issues -- and his ambition to be like that former Governor oh-so-beloved by Hispanic voters, Jeb Bush . Scott was elected to office with the help of Florida Hispanics, the state's fastest-growing minority group, despite his support for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal Immigration. But he has avoided bringing up the topi...

Tim Pawlenty Inadvertently Defends Health Reform Law In National Press Club Address
Tim Pawlenty Inadvertently Defends Health Reform Law In National Press Club Address Former Minnesota Governor and potential Presidential Candidate Tim Pawlenty (R) thought he was laying out a conservative vision of government and health reform during his Speech at the National Press Club today, but he inadvertently made the case for the Affordable Care Act, which he would like to Repeal. Watch it: Let’s go through his claims one by one: 1) CLAIM 1- MORE TRANSPARENCY/KNOWLEDGE NEE...

Thoughtful Discourse? Pawlenty Says U.S. Tilts Everyday, A Little Bit More Toward Tyranny
The shootings in Tucson last weekend happened to coincide with former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s (R) media tour to promote his new book. In various interviews, Pawlenty has discussed the role violent Rhetoric played in Tucson and in politics. While the former Governor said that the Tucson shooter is solely responsible for his actions, Pawlenty acknowledged that political Rhetoric could be toned down. “I think we can all benefit from a more thoughtful discourse,” he sai...

Jon Stewart challenges Pawlenty on tyranny rhetoric
Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, chair the House Education Reform Committee, had strong words for an Education Minnesota plan to include 90 days of classroom supervision for teachers undergoing an alternative licensing program in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio on Tuesday evening. Erickson said the plan amounted to a “teacher Gestapo,” and unions have already seized on those comments as an example of the overheated Rhetoric that has become hotly debated across the nation i...

Mrs. Obama talks tolerance in open letter to parents (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday urged parents to teach their Children tolerance in response to the deadly Tucson Shooting Spree that touched off debate about political Rhetoric. Mrs. Obama, who joined her husband at a memorial service for the Victims Wednesday, issued an Open Letter to parents. Children are struggling, she said, to make sense of Saturday's shooting that killed six and left 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. "We can t...

Mrs. Obama talks tolerance in open letter to parents
First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday urged parents to teach their Children tolerance in response to the deadly Tucson Shooting Spree that touched off debate about political Rhetoric. Mrs. Obama, who joined her husband at a memorial service for the Victims Wednesday, issued an Open Letter to parents. Children are struggling, she said, to make sense of Saturday's shooting that killed six and left 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. "We can teach them the value of tolerance -...

Pawlenty: Reaction to Tucson shooting could 'chill' debate
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) warned that the reaction to the Tucson shooting could dampen free Speech.   "We got to be really careful here, because if you start saying: 'you can say this, you can't say that, you can use that tone, you can't use that tone.' Then pretty soon, you know, you start to discourage, maybe chill, intimidate," he said during an appearance on the "Daily Show" Wednesday. "I even caught myself today, I was talking a little bit about hockey fights and public p...

Pawlenty To Bryan Fischer: I'd Support Reinstating DADT
In an interview with anti-gay, anti-bear Activist Bryan Fischer, potential 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said "I would support reinstating" Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Pawlenty (R-MN) was on Fischer's Radio Show yesterday and touted his social conservative credentials and support of "of the family, of pro-life positions, of traditional marriage positions." "I mean, families and traditional marriage is so important to that and I don't believe all othe...

Pres Hopeful Tim Pawlenty Says Hed Reinstate Dont Ask Dont Tell
Former Minnesota Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty went on the virulently anti-gay Bryan Fischer program put out by the American Family Association. Among other areas where the two right-wingers saw eye-t0-eye was the desire to reinstate the failed “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Military policy (via RightWingWatch). Fischer : One last question, got about forty five seconds left, put you on the hot seat one more time: we just saw the ban on Homosexual service in t...

Back to the future on DADT with Tim Pawlenty
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) just grabbed the gold star for pandering to the Conservative Base of the Republican Party in his quest for the 2012 presidential nomination. In an interview with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, an anti-gay group that rails against the so-called Homosexual agenda, he said he would reinstate don't ask don't tell (DADT). Bryan Fischer: "One last question, we have about 45 seconds left, put you on the hot seat one more time. We just saw the ban on...

Noah Baron: The Libel of "Blood Libel"
Recently I've heard a lot of people talking about how the shooting in Arizona was merely the product of violent Rhetoric on the part of America's right-wing. Such claims, I feel, are disingenuous. What information I can find about the situation points to the killer being more mentally unbalanced than a political actor. Nonetheless, I feel that this situation presents an opportunity of us to seriously examine the way we discuss politics in our country -- and, especially, how we value Speech. Re...

More on Violence And Right Wing Rhetoric
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Conservatives who fail to understand the arguments from liberals about Right Wing Hate Speech act as if Jared Loughner lived in a vacuum and acted with absolutely no external influences. This is despite multiple reports indicating Loughner’s interest in fringe politics. NewsOne reports on yet another connection, alleging that Loughner is a fan of right winger Alex Jones. I find it curious that Conservatives have been attacking liberals this week ...

Pawlenty says he will reinstate Dont Ask, Dont Tell if elected in 2012
During Tim Pawlenty’s interview on The Daily Show last night, Jon Stewart pressed the former Governor to defend or reject government-as-tyranny language — particularly regarding President Obama’s policies — that has come to dominate the Right Wing of the Republican party through the Tea Party movement. Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, chair the House Education Reform Committee, had strong words for an Education Minnesota plan to include 90 days of classroom supervision ...

Sarah Palin To Sit Down With Sean Hannity For First Interview Since Arizona Shooting
Sarah Palin has been roped into ongoing discussion surrounding last weekend’s Arizona shooting during which Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head pretty much since the first shot was fired. The former Governor’s name first became embroiled in coverage of the event when some in the media pointed out that an ad appearing on Palin’s Facebook page for SarahPAC featured crosshairs over Giffords’ district, among others. Could this sort of “violent”...

Elsewhere: In a Way That is as Minimally Staged as Possible
Tuition hikes could be in the offing for CUNY and SUNY Carl Paladino, who you may recall once talked about taking a Baseball Bat to Albany, says the Tea Party is not to blame for Jared Loughner, whom he called an anti-war, anti-Christian, anti-Constitution, anti-flag, pro-Marx lunatic. The next big urban fight: streetcars vs. monorails. It was Brian Kolb and John Sampson's turn to dine at the Governor's mansion. Even Conservatives approved of Barack Obama's Speech last night. Streetsblog defen...