TPM: Pawlenty sounds a Palin-like note in defending German trip

Talking Points Memo notes that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has taken a page from the playbook of the woman who beat him out for the GOP vice-presidential nod last year. In defending his attendance of the international Munich Security Conference for the second year in a row–a move that’s explicable only in terms of resume-building for a national political run–Pawlenty told MPR:

"[W]hen you’re the commander in chief of the Minnesota National Guard, and you’re going to deploy soldiers–like we are tomorrow night at the St. Paul Civic Center, a thousand soldiers going off to Iraq and a month from now another thousand going to the Middle East to fight in the war–it helps to have an understanding of those issues, the dynamics, the security issues. And I get asked about it in my role as governor by families, by reporters and the like. So, there is value in doing it."

He thus joins Sarah Palin in claiming that his role vis a vis the state’s National Guard amounts to a foreign policy credential. Pawlenty can’t see Russia from his backyard in Eagan, admittedly, but no doubt he occasionally sees Russian emigres now living in St. Paul from his office window. And he has John McCain’s penchant for confusing the names of countries in the Middle East, so don’t count him out for 2012 just yet.

3 Responses to “TPM: Pawlenty sounds a Palin-like note in defending German trip”

1. Anonymous Says:
   February 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am

   We are sending troops to Iran?

2. SarahJanecek Says:
   February 12th, 2009 at 8:11 am

   Correction made.

3. Anonymous Says:
   April 17th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

   And then later corrected himself. It was right the first time.

   http://minnesotaindependent.com/26026/dayton-pawlenty-palin