DNC, Minnesota DFL Party and Virginia Democratic Party Blast Tim Pawlenty for Supporting Bob McDonnell And His Antiquated Political Views
For Immediate Release
September 9, 2009
Contact: DNC Press (202) 863-8148
DNC, Minnesota DFL Party and Virginia Democratic Party Blast Tim Pawlenty for Supporting Bob McDonnell And His Antiquated Political Views
On a call today hosted by the Democratic National Committee, DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan, DFL Party Associate Chair Donna Cassutt, and Virginia Democratic Party Chair Richard Cranwell called out Governor Tim Pawlenty for leaving behind his home state of Minnesota to support and associate himself with Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The call raised a very important question yet to be asked: Does Governor Pawlenty support the antiquated, extreme right views of the Virginia candidate he now publicly embraces?
Listen to the call: http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/c39cdc675559765a30_mlbrpc4i6.mp3
Please see below for key quotes from the call:
Hari Sevugan, DNC National Press Secretary
SEVUGAN: “Governor Tim Pawlenty from Minnesota is in the Commonwealth of Virginia today, campaigning and raising money for Bob McDonnell. It raises some important questions, the first being ‘What is Governor Pawlenty doing in Virginia?’ But also, whether he supports the radical views laid out in Bob McDonnell’s blueprint for the Commonwealth that was recently discovered?”
“In Bob McDonnell’s Virginia, married couples wouldn’t have access to contraception. In Bob McDonnell’s Virginia, victims of rape and incest wouldn’t have medical choices. In Bob McDonnell’s Virginia, women wouldn’t work outside the home. I think that raises legitimate questions as to whether Governor Pawlenty agrees with those views, because seemingly he would be since he is campaigning for Bob McDonnell here in Virginia.”
“By coming down to campaign for Bob McDonnell … Governor Pawlenty has completely embraced this man who holds views that are utterly antiquated not just for this century, but for the last century.”
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QUESTION: A number of national Republicans have come in for McDonnell, Romney, Huckabee, Steele, you know all these guys. Are they accountable for McDonnell’s thesis as well? Why are we hearing this now with Pawlenty and not these other guys?
SEVUGAN: Look, I think it’s a good question. And, I think that’d be a great project to track those folks down. Since this devastating revelation came out about McDonnell’s blueprint and his record, obviously Governor Pawlenty is the first major figure to come in and embrace Bob McDonnell. Naturally he would know about this revelation, and it raises these questions now. By embracing Bob McDonnell, I think any figure is then tainted by McDonnell’s extremist positions... at the very least, they should be ready and willing to answer whether they agree with McDonnell’s far right positions on women, and the work place, and on choice, on contraception, on public education. And if they don’t why are they there and what does it say about their principles that they are there embracing and raising money and campaigning for this guy?
Donna Cassutt, DFL Party Associate Chair
CASSUTT: “When [Governor Pawlenty] was first elected, he campaigned as a moderate. But when we see him supporting someone as extreme as Bob McDonnell, it’s very, very concerning… After two terms with Governor Pawlenty, we’re very, very accustomed to his strict adherence to political ideology and his disdain for bipartisanship. His antics over the campaign trail for the last few months, well they’re terribly disappointing, they’re not really surprising as he’s trying to raise his national profile for a possible presidential run. But in the past few weeks, his pandering to the far right ideologues has been significantly more pronounced. His political rhetoric has taken a sharp, sharp turn to the right.”
Richard Cranwell, Chairman, Democratic Party of Virginia
CRANWELL: “I served in the legislature with bob McDonnell. I have actually seen the playing out of his manifesto, as we like to call it, in the legislative process, taking the extremist of extreme positions… If Governor Pawlenty embraces that, he ought to say so.”
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