PRAISE FOR TIM – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:   Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, is becoming the forgotten man in this campaign, which is sad, for he has just given the most thougtful speech of the campaign thus far, and a gutsy one at that.  At a time – see story just below – when many Republicans are making foreign policy by battery-powered calculator, Pawlenty spoke forcefully for traditional Republican views, views that formed the foundation of the modern Republican Party.  From the Washington Times:

A growing schism within Republican ranks over U.S. intervention abroad spilled over into the 2012 presidential campaign Tuesday, with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty urging elected leaders to resist what he called “isolationist sentiments.”

The comments were aimed at a slice of the GOP presidential field that has called for a reassessment of President Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan and a re-examination of the overall U.S. military posture around the globe.

“America already has one political party devoted to decline, retrenchment and withdrawal,” Mr. Pawlenty said in staking out the hawkish position in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday. “It does not need a second one.”

While the GOP in recent years has been seen as the party more in favor of a robust military presence throughout the world, that calculation has been changed under Mr. Obama, who expanded the war in Afghanistan and this year committed U.S. forces to lead and then aid NATO in maintaining a no-fly zone over Libya.

Meanwhile, tight budgets at home have some Republicans worried that the country cannot afford those ongoing engagements on top of the existing costs of U.S. troops stationed throughout the world.

Pawlenty showed himself to be the statesman of the race, far more so than the jelly-spined Jon Huntsman, who's become the favorite of the chattering classes. 

“It is a fight for the soul of the Republican Party,” said Max Boot, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow who suggested that part of what is going on is political jockeying as the candidates try to stake out positions that distinguish them from one another. “There’s always a danger that a Republican president might succumb to the siren song of isolationism and that’s why I think it is good Pawlenty is making a clear argument against it.”

And...

In his foreign policy speech, Mr. Pawlenty warned that some Republicans are trying to “outbid the Democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments” and that history has shown how over the long run that “weakness in foreign policy costs us and our children much more than we’ll save in a budget line item.”

“Our enemies in the war on terror, just like our opponents in the Cold War, respect and respond to strength. Sometimes strength means military intervention. Sometimes it means diplomatic pressure. It always means moral clarity in word and deed,” he said. “That is the legacy of Republican foreign policy at its best and the banner our next Republican president must carry around the world.”

COMMENT:  Cheers for Tim.  I don't think he has much chance for the Republican nomination as he lacks a certain fire, and an appeal to the GOP primary base, which is sad.  His speech, though, was the speech of a president, not a groveling candidate, and he is to be commended. 

It's pathetic, though, that a Republican candidate had to give a speech to remind his party of what it stands for.  Next time one of the "we can't afford it" crowd invokes the name of Ronald Reagan, let's all laugh together, very loudly.

June 29, 2011