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Opening Arguments

Wailing

Is this naivete or wishful thinking?

Tim Pawlenty said the GOP field needs to avoid "wailing on each other" and that he doesn't plan to attack his Republican rivals in the leadup to the 2012 primaries.

"I'm going to be mixing it up with President Obama. The folks who are running, or may run, if I run, are going to be my friends. We're all going to have to be a team in the end," Pawlenty told Christian Broadcast Network's David Brody. "So, I think it's important to, as best as possible, observe Ronald Reagan's 'Eleventh Commandment,' which is 'don't speak ill of another Republican.' There's going to be some differences between us, but the people and the press can sort that out. There's no need to be wailing on each other.”

Well, sure there is a need to be "wailing on each other." It helps "the people and the press" do that sorting out he's talking about. If mixing it up with the other side helps us understand the differences between, say, Barack Obama and Tim Pawlenty, why doesn't it help us understand the differences between, say, Tim Pawlenty and Sarah Palin? He went off on her, you'll recall for the cross-hair images on her website of targeted congressional incumbents, so he should realize he's talking about a standard that's hard to live up to.

He's right about the need to come back together as a team after the mixing-it-up has produced a winner. Sometimes that works out well, and sometimes it doesn't. There are three equally strong Republican candidates for Fort Wayne mayor this year (at least it seems so thus far), and they've started wailing on each other. If the last mayoral election is any indication, Republican leaders should already be worrying about post-primary unity.

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