Hmmmm. ABC is reporting:
Former Republican New York Gov. George Pataki heads to Iowa Wednesday to deliver a scathing critique of President Obama’s first 100 days in office.
“I think it’s time that those of us who have been silent for a while stand up and point out what I think have been just some horrendous mistakes on the part of the new administration in Washington,” Pataki told ABC News as part of the “Candidate Corner” series. “We’re seeing a president who seems to be more concerned with how popular he is in Europe than with what is happening here at home. This is a president who spends more time traveling the country than running the country in Washington.
“To be perfectly honest, I am very disappointed in these first 100 days,” he added. “I think we need to see a government in Washington that is more understanding of the nature of this country and our problems and less committed to borrowing, spending, taxing and using massive government bailouts to try to get our economy headed in the right direction.”
There is no shortage of Republican critics of Obama, but Pataki’s Wednesday speech at Drake University Law School in Des Moines is drawing notice because it is occuring in the state that traditionally hosts the first presidential nominating contest. Pataki’s address is part of the American Future Fund’s “Conservative Lecture Series.”
And for that reason, there’s much speculation that George may be thinking of putting his hat in the 2012 ring. Frankly, Pataki is too much a centrist for my taste, but he’d certainly be a better choice than the current administration.
That said, I have a contact out there, and I’ve already spoken to him. we’ll see what comes of it.
Tags: George Pataki
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April 22nd, 2009 at 15:18
Iowa? George remains a long shot. However Pataki doesn’t have to travel to Iowa to find a disaater. Albany is closer. There are one governorship and two Senate seats up next year and given the state of the state, Pataki would be a credibble canidate, for any threee.
April 22nd, 2009 at 16:07
True.
Word I was getting last week is George was mulling trying for Gracie Mansion, against Bloomberg. About the time that report hit, Bloomberg stopped making noise about how he was going to leave the GOP and run as an independant, confirming he’d be running again on the GOP ticket. (So much for term limits) That situation of course would create a primary fight, which is a question mark in my mind, just off the top.
But Iowa? I dunno. I’ll be interesting to see what he says his plans, if any, are. Certainly, if he were considering a run for 2012, he’d be going through these motions just now, so even absent his comments on the matter, there’s going to be a lot of speculation.
April 22nd, 2009 at 22:19
I attended the event this evening and while George did not make any comments that sounded like “Hey, I want to be your next President”, this was definitely a pre-exploratory event in my opinion. He had some great things to say about the current state of affairs, and took questions which I think he answered well. Even if he does not run for anything, he certainly provides a strong sense of some of the things the GOP needs to do to take back the People’s Government. There will be a You Tube video of the speech… I will post another comment when it’s available. Another thing to look at is the organization that put on the event… America Future Fund. They tout themselves as the conservative answer to moveon.org. The group is headed up here in Iowa, and they were active in (I think) 18 states during the 2008 election. The Communications Director, Tim Albrecht, runs The Bean Walker, an Iowa version of the Drudge Report. I’ve gotten to know him over the past few months, and he seems like a pretty sharp guy. I think this group is worth a close look.