According to the Pawlenty camp, the skirmish between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann showcased Pawlenty’s momentum as a candidate.
“It was a total victory. It was fantastic,” campaign manager Nick Ayers said of Pawlenty’s performance in the debate, including his testy exchanges with Bachmann.
“She’s got a long history of making mistatements and inaccurate statements,” Ayers said. “He came tonight to talk about his record. And she came to attack him.”
Ayers accuses the Bachmann campaign of passing out opposition research to reporters fifteen minutes into the campaign as an indication that they intended to be on the attack tonight.
“It shows that we’re gaining traction in Iowa,” he adds, speaking of the criticisms.
Nor is the campaign worried that the video clips of the words between Bachmann and Pawlenty will backfire. “If it didn’t hurt Barack and Hillary, it’s not going to hurt our campaign,” Ayers said.
Asked about the cigarette tax (i.e. “health-impact fee”) that Bachmann said she voted for because it was paired with pro-life legislation, Ayers is dismissive. “Her answer was illogical and the governor called her out on it, and she didn’t really have a good answer for it. She ultimately voted for the bill,” he argues.
Does that mean the health-impact fee wasn’t tied to pro-life legislation? Not exactly.
Citing Pawlenty’s strong pro-life record, Ayers says it’s “obnoxious” to say that Pawlenty pitted a pro-life position against the tax-cuts viewpoint.
“Ultimately, she supported the entire bill. And Governor Pawlenty supported the entire bill. When you support a bill, you support the entire bill,” he says. “She’s responsible for her vote. To somehow blame Governor Pawlenty for her vote tonight is irresponsible, and it’s exactly the kind of thing people in Congress do. It’s always someone else’s fault.”
He rejects any notion that Pawlenty was too negative toward Bachmann in the debate.
“The whole idea tonight that somehow she once again is the victim in this process is absurd,” Ayers says.
"According to the Pawlenty camp, the skirmish between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann showcased Pawlenty’s momentum as a candidate."
I agree, it does. But he is going nowhere.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's a shame, he had so much potential.
Pawlenty won nothing. He didn't seem Presidential at all.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePawlwnty didn't see Presidential.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI believe it was another mistake for Pawlenty. Tonight showed that the calls for him to attack Romney in the first Debate would have probably had the same problematic potential.
Challenging Mrs. Bachmann like this doesn't help Mr. Pawlenty. Pawlenty did start rather composed and offered some nice compliments. His first statement about her lack of CEO experience and her lack of accomplishment were accurate. But it just isn't Pawlenty, and Americans - GOP voters want a positive offering addressing the enormous problems we face.
It didn't help Mrs. Bachmann to take the contentious bait offered by the challenging FOX environment - and the Wallace muck-rake effort. She responded to Mr. Pawlenty far too strong, looking angry, unsettled. Her response stretched the truth as well. The claims about being a "fighter", that she led the way to oppose the Democratic Partisans in Washington are a bit of a stretch as well. We just don't have evidence of this, an orchestrated leadership role documented in the House on Mrs. Bachmann's behalf. She was vocal in the Media for certain, but a lot of what Mrs. Bachmann was saying was inflated. Not a healthy effort.
Both suffered with the exchange. We shall see...
Pawlenty challenged Romney as well, and Romney handled it in much more advantageous manner. Mr. Romney turned the challenge to his benefit, while I am uncertain Mrs. Bachmann was able to avoid damage - she seemed to enlarge the problem.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI did not know much about Pawlenty until he started joining in with the MSM in attacking Bachmann. That seems like a John McCain tactic to me. Hobbits anyone?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt really makes me turned off to him. Has he ever heard of Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment? Why is he spending all his effort attacking Bachmann? Is he trying to help the democrats or the RINOs stop her candidacy? Is he running for Romney's VP slot by taking out Bachmann? Don't know, but can't stand the guy and will not vote for any ticket with him on it.
As someone who just a few months ago was favoring Pawlenty, and who thought he did a decent job as governor, it has been amazing to me to see how petty he has become so quickly. He has not come across as the least bit presidential, and should give up on that ambition.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat's a cheap shot by Paw's team. Bachmann is right: sometimes you have to vote for things you don't like that much if they are paired up with something important. Legislators ought to "unpair" them as much as possible.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo he's saying they did box her in, and when she voted for it he had his gotcha moment...tax supporter.To suggest you support a whole multi-layer bill because in the end you voted for despite reservations is a semantics kind of thing. Doesn't it suggest she "compromised", something they also bashed her for not doing? Pawlenty looked weak, too much back and forth with Bachmann, a target he found easy to attack, and while relentless, it seemed petty.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAll true, and the repeated comment that Bachmann was illogical was illogical. I guess "illogical" to Pawlenty means "no likee."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAyers is absurd. To say , because you voted for a multidimensional bill, you necessarily agree with every facet of it is moronic, as if every Republican or Democrat who voted for the debt ceiling bill agreed with each and every part of it. To top it off, Ayers must know this himself, so it becomes just the sort of cynical lying spin most of us our sick of. And I wouldn't even vote for Mrs. Bachman if she were running against Al (wheres the camera?) Sharpton. Well, maybe then... It's All Good, Bill.
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