Pawlenty: GOP’s newest ideological enforcer

Like bad theater, watching moderate senators seesaw over major bills can be both enervating and infuriating. Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter live for such moments; John McCain rarely misses a cue. Voters observing at home are excused for reaching for the remote. So Minnesota’s Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty can be forgiven for feeling frustrated as Maine’s Olympia Snowe parses her position on health care, extending and withholding support almost daily. But Pawlenty, who is currying favor with conservative activists for a likely presidential run, went beyond frustration. He suggested Snowe wasn’t a good Republican and perhaps shouldn’t be wearing the label. Those are fighting words, but Pawlenty quickly backed off. Snowe reminded him that she’d been a Republican all her life, longer than he has. She might have added that she’s an institution in New England politics, with a well-earned reputation for putting her constituents, many of whom lack health care, above party dogma. So while moderates may be annoying, they have nothing on ideological blowhards pandering to the right.