Pawlenty Appears to be Gaining Momentum

Tim Pawlenty seems to be getting some major GOP backers behind him. I'm positively disposed to Pawlenty but I'm not quite sure about him yet. On the positive side, I like the name of his PAC, Freedom First, which is exactly the opposite of the communitarian Country First that McCain used. He also seems to be an authentic conservative who is not too much of a bible beater and has won in a liberal state.

And I really like the fact that he is neither Sarah Palin nor Mitt Romney. The fatal flaw of Sarah Palin is that, as Peggy Noonan suggested, she only is a conservative because she was born into it. She doesn't actually know why she believes some of the stuff she does so that is why it is hard for her to defend her positions. Hopefully her book is good enough to change my mind about that since I really want to like her. I also don't trust Mitt Romney. He is a notorious flip flopper who also happened to destroy the Massachusetts healthcare system with Masscare. Some people I know who know him or know people who know him tell me he is really a free market conservative at heart. I'm not so sure, he only became that once he was running for President. He, like Clinton, bends like the reeds in the wind. The last President from the GOP severely damaged the party by not believing in anything (and led to a takeover by the radical left), do we really need another? And remember, his father was George Romney, who was a liberal Republican (and Reagan foe) who was also known for flip-flopping on critical issues, like Vietnam, depending on what was convenient. I'm not sure the apple falls far from that tree.

On the negative side, he never had any coattails in Minnesota and its legislature is still firmly in the grasp of the left. He also has little name recognition outside wonkish circles. So we'll see.