Rush: Tim Pawlenty Has Guts

A lot of political pundits were a bit surprised yesterday when Rush Limbaugh complimented Tim Pawlenty after an interview on Rush's show.  Jim Geraghty reports via Morning Jolt:

Pawlenty came out of the gates officially Monday, and it's not a bad way to start your week to see Rush Limbaugh posting on his Facebook page, "One of the things that frustrates Republicans is that there seems to be this reluctance on the part of everybody in this party to take President Obama on. Governor Pawlenty is qualified and he has the guts, too."

The guts comment probably was spurred by this exchange:

RUSH: Wait a minute! Wait a minute. You, in Iowa, called for the end to ethanol subsidies?

PAWLENTY: Yes, I did.

RUSH: What was the reaction you got to that?

PAWLENTY: Nobody applauded at this particular moment in the speech, but I gotta tell you: It has to be done, and if we're not willing to tell the truth and we're not willing to actually do it, then we're all wasting our time and I'm gonna go down there and play golf with you because we're just a debating society and wasting our time. Because this is it. It's gonna [be] mathematically irretrievable to get this thing back after this next election. So I'm swinging for the fences, not because I wanted to get elected but because we're gonna save this country and we're gonna do it [by] telling the truth, and the American people --

RUSH: Now --

PAWLENTY: Go ahead.

RUSH: That's politically gutsy because the theory is in a campaign for the nomination, you gotta get the base. I mean, you've gotta say what it takes to get elected, and certainly questioning ethanol subsidies in Iowa is not the way to do that.

Without question going to Iowa and calling for an end to ethanol subsidies is a gutsy move, and while it may be politically questionable, it's the right thing to do. We're pouring billions of dollars into an inefficient fuel that will not free us from foreign oil and will not "save the planet" from global warming. It's also driving up the cost of every food item that uses corn or corn byproducts. It's time to stop it, and kudos to Pawlenty for making the call.