T-Paw is regarded by some as a moderate, even thoughtful Republican, with some policy heft. So check out his op-ed in Politico this morning. It's about fiscal responsibility. His answer to our fiscal crisis: tax cuts! Yes, the way to cut debt is to reduce revenue. Does he propose ways to cut entitlement spending and defense? Of course not. He's a borrow-and-spend Republican! Take it away, Bruce Bartlett:
Like all Republicans these days, Pawlenty wants to have it every possible way: complain about the deficit while ignoring everything his party did to create it (Medicare Part D, two unfunded wars, TARP, earmarks galore, tax cuts up the wazoo, irresponsible regulatory and monetary policies that created the recession that created the deficit, etc.), illogically insisting that tax cuts are a necessary part of deficit reduction, and never proposing any specific spending cuts.
The only specific thing Mr. Pawlenty is capable of proposing is a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. It’s hard to know where to begin in explaining why this is such an irresponsible idea, but I will try.
Read the whole thing.