Among the speakers at the AIPAC conference, apparently, was our governor, Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty is notorious around Minnesota for not raising taxes even as the state in many ways has fallen apart for lack of revenue. During this legislative session, he proposed cutting a health care program that serves, among others, a bunch of mentally-disturbed vets. It’s a program for the poorest and most disturbed of the poor. It’s widely believed that because of his presidential ambitions, Pawlenty will not rise to the challenge of actually governing; his need to claim that as a fiscal conservative he has kept a rein on government spending means that he must refuse to raise taxes. So, when he says at the conference–
For Israel’s small size, it has a supersized heart for those in need around the world.
But as you know, there are many challenges ahead and there is much work to be done.
–the accuracy of Pawlenty’s declaration about the size of Israel’s heart stands in an interesting relation to the size of Pawlenty’s own heart.
Then, as the capper, Pawlenty is introduced by former Senator Norm Coleman, who, similarly, refused to raise taxes during his eight years as St. Paul mayor, and left behind a shambles. In his introduction, Coleman said,
People ask me why I’m thin. It’s because I worry a lot. But if Pawlenty was in charge, I’d never lose a night of sleep on the issue of Israel.
In the comments section of the StarTribune blog, where this was published, readers raise the issue: Pawlenty doesn’t have time to worry about Minnesotans, but he can worry about Israel? Why doesn’t he start by worrying about Minnesota?
Admittedly this is all operating at a micro level and is probably only irritating if you happen to live in Minnesota. But it’s really irritating if you live here.
