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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Chris Matthews Man Crush with Pres. Obama?

Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty joked Monday night that MSNBC host Chris Matthews is looking for some “bromance” with President Barack Obama.

Asked to follow up on a comment he made Friday night during a speech at the second annual GOPAC conference in Chicago in which he said the “Hardball” host had a “man crush” on the president, Pawlenty explained to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren that he “jokingly said that the only thing rising faster than the debt and deficit of the government is Chris Matthews's man crush on Barack Obama.”

“I was going to use the term, Greta, ‘bromance,’ but I thought that was a little too nuanced,” Pawlenty said.

Picking up a theme from his speech denouncing the president’s planned health care overhaul, Pawlenty said, “Americans are figuring out [the Democratic plan] is bad for the country and bad for them.”

“Health care is too expensive for hardworking American families and small businesses and others, but having this go to Washington, D.C., is not the answer,” he said. “We need to bring it back to the consumer, empower individuals, give them resources if they need help, but let them be in the driver’s seat.”

Asked if the raucous recent town hall meetings have helped the GOP, Pawlenty described the protesters as the “sights and sounds of democracy.”

“This is a grass-roots groundswell of people who are ticked off,” he said. “They have questions and they’re expressing themselves, and that’s why we have a democracy.”

“I’m not sure it’s so much a part of a grand strategy as an awakening or a reawakening of the country,” he added. - Politico

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