Financial services lobbyist Tim Pawlenty, better known in these parts as former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, was interviewed about the election by Politico, and made some obvious points.
“Some of the things that I think the Republican Party is facing as a challenge is the need to do better with Hispanic and Latino voters, the need to do better with female voters, the need to do better with blue-collar voters who are folks who are not just from higher income levels but people in middle and lower modest income backgrounds,” he said.
And the former candidate for president said the GOP needs to recognize the “warning signs on the dashboard” and work to attract those groups.
“Losing is a pretty good lesson, and I’m pretty confident that they’ll, in the wake of this loss, do the things it takes to try to improve,” he said.
The reporter, M.J. Lee, notes that:
Pawlenty surprised some in political circles in September when he stepped down from the Romney campaign to become the head of the Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington-based association that represents large financial services firms.
Pawlenty downplayed any desire to run for office again, saying:
“Obviously I need to stay focused on the responsibilities of this position and not running against anyone in 2014 or running for office.”
After that?
“I think that would be very unlikely. I’ve committed to not run any time in the near or immediate term and stay focused on running this organization to the best of my abilities. I’m excited about that.”
And on MarketWatch, a financial site, a Pawlenty interview focuses more on the fiscal cliff:
“It has become not just a policy and partisan debate, it’s become a mathematical debate, so it is inevitable as pressure builds that a solution is going to have to be found. The real hope here is that it could be found in a timely manner so there isn’t damage or negative messages that are sent to the market.
“That’s a real difference between the president and his party and Republicans and with divided government they will have to find a way to reconcile those differences.”
Pawlenty a bargain?
I suspect that the financial industry is ruing the agreement that they made with Pawlenty to be their bagman! They really did not get much of a bargain in their effort to curry favor with the regulators, and now with the return of Obama, noone will listen to his political misinformation and their money has been wasted.
It was your stand on the issues
Rebublicans won’t do better with Hispanics, women, African Americans, the young, etc. until they change their positions on the issues – which they aren’t likely to do, because they then wouldn’t be Rebublicans.
Bland on bland
Timmy’s comments can be boiled down to two pieces of wisdom: Republicans need to get more votes, if they want to win elections; and “I sure hope the government doesn’t do anything to hurt the financial industry.”
No wonder the financial industry tanked the economy: They’re willing to throw their money away buying analysis that would be considered simplistic in a middle-school civics report.
T-Paw’s 20/20 Hindsight
Absolutely amazing hindsight. Too bad he didn’t have the foresight to tell his party before the election they needed to focus on Latinos, women, and laborers. I guess they were too busy saying there wasn’t a war on women, ignoring immigration reform because the Latino’s could self deport, and union busting would get them a lot of votes from the laborers. Pawlenty is definitely in the right party, he fits right in with the rest of the losers. T-Paw is absolutely Paw-Thetic.