Tim Pawlenty Thinks A Government Shutdown Could Be Just What The Doctor Ordered

Some Republicans think they’d be heroes if they shut the government down, and that they could lay the blame on Democrats. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a presidential hopeful, doesn’t seem to think it would be that disastrous. After all, he told Scott Keyes of Think Progress, people look back on the shutdown in Minnesota, and it wasn’t such a big deal. Keyes found Pawlenty in Arizona at the Tea Party Patriots Summit.

KEYES: Governor, you said one of your biggest regrets as governor was not allowing the shutdown in Minnesota to last longer. Would you have that same advice for Republicans in Congress as they face a potential shutdown?

PAWLENTY: I know these shutdowns always seem like they loom large, but in Minnesota, six months after, a year after, people looked back on it and could say, “it really didn’t have that big of a traumatic or dramatic negative impact on the state.”

And so, a federal shutdown would be just fine?

Pawlenty: …we don’t know for sure, but a week-long or month-long or whatever it would turn out to be disruption isn’t the main point. The main point is we have a country that’s in deep trouble. We’ve got to get back to certain principles and responsibilities and starting with getting the budget balanced and if it takes a dramatic moment or a dramatic week or a dramatic month, those kinds of line-in-the-sand moments are what we need to get politicians back up against the wall and have them make the tough decisions. They all talk about making the tough decisions and never do.

KEYES: So you would support a shutdown if it comes down to it?

PAWLENTY: If it came down to it and it was between that and not getting the budget headed in the right direction, that’s an option I think Republicans have to consider.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.