Lord, this Session is Going to be Unbearable

by Zack Stephenson | 1 Comment

Tim Pawlenty has apparently decided that his only route to victory in the 2012 Presidential election is to take a dramatic turn to the (far) right.  In the last week alone, he has:

  1. Endorsed an independent conservative candidate over a Repubican candidate in the NY-23 special election.
  2. Questioned whether Sen. Olympia Snowe belongs in the Republican party (because the best thing for a tiny minority caucus to do is start expelling its members - maybe the Minnesota Senate GOP should try that).
  3. Proposed a constitutional amendment that would cap state spending.

What does all of this portend for the 2010 session of the Minnesota Legislature?  Disfunction with a capital D.  I expect Pawlenty to take extreme positions in order to pacify the right flank of the national GOP.  As a result nothing will get done.  I wouldn’t even be shocked if a bonding bill fails to pass (for the second time in the history of the Pawlenty Administration).

November 5, 2009, 4:05 pm | Category: Misc. Local Politics and White House '12 |

1 Responses to “Lord, this Session is Going to be Unbearable”

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  • theoko
    November 5, 2009 at 11:08 pm

    I'm not even particularly hopeful that the Republican rank-and-file will opt for sanity (aka, veto overrides). The Republicans have always been more disciplined than the Democrats, but used to always have some sort of failsafe mechanism that kept them from walking in lockstep over a cliff edge. Somehow, that changed about ten years ago: I expect them to present a solid wall of insanity.

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