Tim Pawlenty thinks Sarah Palin shouldn't have used gunsight crosshairs imagery and says he would never have done anything like it:
“It would not have been my style to put the cross hairs on there,” he said Tuesday on “Good Morning America,” referring to a map like the one posted last year on SarahPAC’s website showing gunsights on the congressional districts represented by Giffords and a select group of lawmakers who supported health care reform.
“But then again, there’s no evidence to suggest that had anything to do with this mentally unstable person’s rage and senseless acts.”
“I wouldn’t have done it,” the two-term governor told The New York Times on Monday when asked about the map.
Pawlenty also told CBS News that politicians need to rise above delivering red meat just because they can. But as Benjamin Sarlin reminds us, Tim Pawlenty is no stranger to violent rhetoric. Remember CPAC 2010?
One of Pawlenty's biggest applause lines came when he advised the conservative activists listening to take a piece of advice from Tiger Woods wife, Elin Nordegren, who he said had "had enough" with her husband's philandering.
"I think we should take a page out of her playbook, and take a 9 iron and smash a window out of big government in this country," Pawlenty said.
So I guess you could say Pawlenty deplores violent imagery in politics...when it's used by his political opponents. But when it comes to himself, he thinks it's no big deal...especially when the audience thinks it's a great applause line.