The Republicans have a new Michael Steele, and this saboteur is running the Romney campaign.
As if the week weren't bad enough for Mitt Romney already, his campaign co-chair and cheif surrogate appears on Lawrence O'Donnell's show to destroy the one argument that Romney had hoped to batter Obama with down the stretch: that Obama, because he has never been a businessman, is incompetent to manage the U.S. economy.
In the hands of a more adept spokesman, this argument might actually gain some traction with the core Republican white collar base and perhaps even a few among the conservative plumber's crack known as the Tea Party. But watch as O'Donnell asks Pawlenty one simple, obvious question that leaves Pawlenty sputtering and grasping for straws while O'Donnell laughs in his face. This is the water carrier equivalent of snatching the pie from the back window and pivoting straight into the clothesline.
The good stuff starts at about 5:45, where Pawlenty tries feebly to convince us that the auto bailout was a gift to the auto union bla bla bla crony capitalism yadda yadda yadda
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Bottom line, Pawlenty's overkill sniping about Obama's lack of business experience leads O'Donnell to the obvious question:
Can you point to me, in our presidential history, the great businessman who turned out to be the great president of the United States?
To which Pawlenty replies, paraphrased
Reagan. No? Shit. Lincoln?
Swear to god, if Romney picks Pawlenty as a running mate Obama has this one IN. THE. BAG.