Pawlenty's Chances

[ydoaPs]

Now that it's come out that Pawlenty pardoned a child molester so he could open a day care center in his home (and the child molester has since re-offended and been arrested), do you think his chances for the Republican POTUS ticket have changed?

[DJBruce]

Although in hindsight Pawlenty's pardon looks horrible, and the crime the father committed is absolutely horrible I honestly think that had I been in Pawlenty's place back in 1994 I would have issued the pardon. I mean the pardon was for a 19 year old who was convicted of statutory rape after he impregnated his 14 year old girlfriend, when the convicted promised to marry and support the mother and child. Looking at what was known at the time I think that the pardon was not unwarranted. This along with the fact that the pardon was granted unanimously by a three person committee will help Pawlenty perform damage control if this issue comes, however, I doubt that it will come out in the primaries as this happened last November and so far it really hasn't been a network news talking point.

 

That being said I didn't think that Pawlenty was going to get the Republican nomination, and so I this really doesn't change my stance that he will not get the nomination. However, if he does prove me wrong and ends up getting the nomination I bet that this will come out, and at that stage it certainly will not help his campaign, but I think any half decent PR person should be able to handle this fairly easily.

 

For those of you who have not heard the story here are two articles on it:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/11/jeremy_giefer_tim_pawlenty.php

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/23/tim-pawlenty-wiped-a-serial-child-molesters-record-clean-in-2008/

[ydoaPs]

Although in hindsight Pawlenty's pardon looks horrible

That's really what I want to discuss. It doesn't matter to the election if it was warranted (or, as birtherism et al proved, true or even rational); what matters is how it will affect the public opinion.

Edited May 26, 2011 by ydoaPs

[john5746]

Haven't been following the repubs too much, but I think Pawlenty will be the nominee. If not, at least VP. The pardon will hurt him in the primaries, but his pastor supporting the fight against global warming will be worse, IMO. If he can squeeze out of the primary race, I think these will actually help him in a general election and he would appeal to the swing voters better than the other candidates.

Edited May 26, 2011 by john5746

[mississippichem]

It's going to be an interesting Republican Primary for sure. So far, I've got my money on Paul or Cane. Both of those guys seemed to get a good audience reception at the first GOP debate. Paul has the ability to steal some libs from Obama's ticket, and Cane seems to have a strong political personality (but NO political experience which could really hurt or really help). I think Pawlenty will soon be marginalized because he is just more of the same, and has skeletons in his closet like this. Though they may be trivial, I doubt CNN and Fox will agree.

 

I think the days of the Christian social conservatives running the GOP may be on the decline [slowly but surely]. Eventually, they'll have to capture the young fiscally conservative social liberals like myself who are becoming more abundant. I think Paul had the ability to do that and keep the traditional business vote [if he can keep Rand's loud mouth quiet]. Christian social conservatives would rather vote for Paul's libertarian social policy than vote for Obama. Pawlenty doesn't stand a chance in hell of being able to capture this voting block.

Edited May 26, 2011 by mississippichem

[Realitycheck]

A fourteen year old? And to open a day care center? What kind of judgment is that? He's toast.