Latest Tim Pawlenty Quotes from Interviews

• I think the country's in trouble. And I think I have a pretty clear sense of the values and principles that have made this country great. I've had a chance to govern and lead with those in mind, with some significant success in Minnesota. And I think the country needs that kind of leadership and insight and perspective.

  Tim Pawlenty

  Country, Thinking, Perspective

  Source: www.esquire.com

• I think if you look at Medicare and Medicaid, the premise was that government needs to provide some assistance to people who aren't able to take care of themselves. I think we all share that goal, Republicans and Democrats. I don't think anybody's gonna go back now and say, Let's abolish, or reduce, Medicare and Medicaid. But as we confront the challenges and the responsibilities of our time - from here on - how do we serve more people or different people who are in need of financial assistance? Just forever having the government expand to address all of that seems unwise.

  Tim Pawlenty

  Responsibility, Thinking, Goal

  Source: www.esquire.com

• The country's in significant danger, and I think we need people who are thoughtful. We're gonna have sharp differences, but we need to debate those in a way that's constructive and civil. I think President Obama is governing as a movement liberal. I don't think that rises to the level of being a socialist.

  Tim Pawlenty

  Thoughtful, Thinking, People

  Source: www.esquire.com

• The Republicans had their shot not long ago to address the real needs and concerns of everyday Americans, and they blew it. I think that's mitigated by the fact that we had a terrorist incident, there is a war, and there was a lot of proper focus on those issues, but over the time that they were there and had the leadership opportunity, they blew it. We got fired for a reason.

  Tim Pawlenty

  Real, War, Opportunity

  Interview with Mark Warren, www.esquire.com. February 12, 2010.

• The marketplace measurement in politics is something called an election. It's a pretty good barometer - it's transparent, it's numerical, it's objective. It gives you a pretty good measure of what your customers think of you. And in 2006 and 2008, the marketplace was telling the Republicans, We prefer the products and services of your competitors. And so when you're losing market share, you step back and say, What can we do differently?

  Tim Pawlenty

  Thinking, Giving, Election

  Source: www.esquire.com

• Barack Obama has made things exponentially worse, but let's face it, when Republicans had total control over it, they didn't do what they said they were gonna do. I think also people got fatigued with the war. And the party got into a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for.

  Tim Pawlenty

  War, Party, Thinking

  Source: www.esquire.com