Tim Pawlenty, Presented in 3-D

That's 3Ds - Dull, Daring and Decisive.

Today, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty formally threw his hat in the ring for the 2012 Republican nomination and the chance to upend President Obama.

Sure, the press politely clapped; then they yawned and looked over their collective shoulders to see what Mitt Romney was doing today.

Yeah, Tim Pawlenty is kinda dull. Given the shellackings the Republicans took in 2006 and agin with the 2008 pairing of overripe John McCain and just under-ripe (and Not Ready for Prime Time)Scotch Bonnet Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

It made many conservatives wistful for the days of Ronald Reagan. President Reagan was many things; among them he was verbose and charismatic; he looked you square in the eye and called you out for the fool your were. He went to West Berlin, looked at that concrete wall that symbolically divided East from West and dared the Soviets to tear it down. It wasn't political grandstanding - he MEANT it.

Then came Scott Brown of Massachusetts. He rolled up his sleeves, drove his pickup truck to every corner of the Commonwealth and upended one of the ultimate political gimmees: a Democrat representing Massachusetts.

He's since been followed by a series of brash, Reaganesque leaders (where positive results = leadership)such as New Jersey's Chris Christie, Texas' Rick Perry and Minnesota's Michelle Bachmann. These people are brash, abrasive, loud and confrontational. They don't suffer liberal fools gladly. And they attract attention to themselves and their accomplishments.

And then we return to quiet, dull Tim Pawlenty. But, y'know what, gentle readers? While Santorum and Cain, Paul and Gingrich and the rest of the pack are pontificating on their platforms of the way they want conservative ideals to prevail, Tim Pawlenty became to the first elected official since Congressman Joe Wilson to look Obama square in the eye and call him a failure to his face.

Maybe I prefer dull to loud. If it gets us out of this political quagmire, I'll gladly yawn and pull the lever for Pawlenty!

**THAT'S MY OPINION AND YOU'RE ENTITLED TO IT!**

Its Why We're Called REPUBLICans,...

Theodore Roosevelt called it:


"The Roman Republic fell, not because of the ambition of Caesar or Augustus, but because it had already long ceased to be in any real sense a republic at all. When the sturdy Roman plebeian, who lived by his own labor, who voted without reward according to his own convictions, and who with his fellows formed in war the terrible Roman legion, had been changed into an idle creature who craved nothing in life save the gratification of a thirst for vapid excitement, who was fed by the state, and who directly or indirectly sold his vote to the highest bidder, then the end of the republic was at hand, and nothing could save it. The laws were the same as they had been, but the people behind the laws had changed, and so the laws counted for nothing."

No Truer Words,...

GOP Chief: Republicans 'Screwed Up' After Reagan

In new book, Michael Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.

WASHINGTON -- Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele offers a simple explanation for why the GOP may have lost touch with some Americans since the Ronald Reagan era: "We screwed up," he claims in a new book offering a blueprint for the party's resurgence.

That "we" includes the last two Republican presidents and the most recent Republican candidate for president.

In "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," released Monday by Regnery Publishing, Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.

"We must support Republican officials who assert these principles," he writes. "When elected Republicans vote against Republican principles, the voters must withhold their support -- withhold it vigorously and consistently."

The Great Communicator at His Greatest,...

20 years ago, it all fell apart for the Soviet Union. Its almost unfathomable to think our current "leader" should turn his back on those countries who yearned for our lifestyle for generations: