Pawlenty Doubles Down On Government Shutdowns

Former Minnesota Governor and presidential contender Tim Pawlenty, who made news last week when he suggested government shutdowns are sometimes a good thing, apparently thinks he’s onto something here, making his history of government paralysis a central theme in his second Iowa TV ad:

Pawlenty’s point is that his stubbornness won the day, state Democratic leaders yielding on the contentious issues. But he need only ask his Republican primary rival, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, how standing firm on conservative principles in the 1995 budget showdown with Bill Clinton affected the party in the 1996 and 1998 elections (hint: not well).

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No, Biden Isn't Terribly Unpopular (And He Polls Better Than Trump)

Time was when getting caught in a malicious lie about a rival would have ended an American politician’s career. We no longer live that way. Just the other day, Donald Trump unleashed a series of falsehoods attacking President Biden that would have shamed a carnival barker.

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Secession: For Modern Americans, Red States Are Now Uninhabitable
Abortion billboard in Atlanta, Georgia

I walked past the TV in the living room just now, and the chryron on the screen read, “Election deniers in charge of elections in 17 states.” It came to me that we’ve entered a period when the political polarization of the country has become physical, because a huge section of our nation is uninhabitable by increasing numbers of citizens.

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