Presidential Primary Book Club
By GAIL COLLINS
NYT
This is the time when presidential candidates start poking their little noses up through the snow, and making soft, trilling noises. I know you think it’s too soon, even though Mitt Romney made his intentions clear on the family Christmas card. But as a public service, I am going to start providing summaries of the latest books from the potential Republican nominees so we’ll all be well educated by the time the debates begin.
We need to get going because there’s no way I’m going to read more than one a month. Let’s begin today with the newest entry out of the chute:
“Courage to Stand: An American Story,” by Tim Pawlenty.
Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, helps us to get to know his beloved home state. (“There are a lot of differences from one region to the next. But there are a lot of similarities, too.”) And although there are very serious sections about the deficit and the evils of Obamacare, he wants us to know that he’s a humorous guy, too.
Examples of Tim Pawlenty’s Fun-Loving Side:
(More here.)
NYT
This is the time when presidential candidates start poking their little noses up through the snow, and making soft, trilling noises. I know you think it’s too soon, even though Mitt Romney made his intentions clear on the family Christmas card. But as a public service, I am going to start providing summaries of the latest books from the potential Republican nominees so we’ll all be well educated by the time the debates begin.
We need to get going because there’s no way I’m going to read more than one a month. Let’s begin today with the newest entry out of the chute:
“Courage to Stand: An American Story,” by Tim Pawlenty.
Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, helps us to get to know his beloved home state. (“There are a lot of differences from one region to the next. But there are a lot of similarities, too.”) And although there are very serious sections about the deficit and the evils of Obamacare, he wants us to know that he’s a humorous guy, too.
Examples of Tim Pawlenty’s Fun-Loving Side:
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
Gosh, how did Ms. Collins miss Pawlenty’s vomit story ?
Thursday, Mr. Pawlenty spoke at the National Press Club to promote the book. He did touch on the I-35 Bridge collapse (yes, as Ms. Collins wrote, it’s not his fault) while evoking religion sparingly … which is not my understanding of how he portrayed himself in the book.
A lot of Mr. Pawlenty’s speech deserves scrutiny … like education, a subject that he brought up a couple of times during the speech. He stated that Minnesota students continue to excel at college entrance exam testing … while failing to mention that 25% of high school students fail to graduate high school … and that 50% of kindergartners show up unprepared to begin school … Ranked 29th in the nation, below the
national average in the 2010 Quality Counts evaluation … but this week, it was announced that Minnesota has slipped to 35. Worse yet, he delayed payments to school districts to balance his budget.
It’s surprising to me that Mr. Pawlenty would mention education to a national audience, when there are so many Conservatives that believe the Federal Government should defund the Department of Education cabinet function.
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