Pawlenty Criticism Not Taken Well

Minnesota Democrats Exposed, our host site blogmate and the Minnesota Republican Party’s plausibly-deniable blog monkey boy, is shocked, SHOCKED, that PE explores the logical extension of Tim Pawlenty’s half-baked rhetorical assertions.

Let’s revisit the situation. At a recent ethanol bill signing pageant, Tim Pawlenty crowed that Minnesota (and perhaps he was overreaching here) is the Saudi Arabia of renewable fuels. We, in turn, asserted that if Tim’s claim is true, then Tim is the new Osama bin Laden.

Explaining a joke always kills the humor but since MDE has lost his usual wit in this case (side note to MDE: we loved the Steve Kelley civility standard pieces), we’ll explain.

Saudi Arabia is a country in the Middle East. It is not a democracy. The ruling Saud family embraces Wahhabi fundamentalism, a puritanical Islamic sect. The Saud family is tight with the Bush family. Saudi Arabia produces a lot of oil. Osama bin Laden’s father became wealthy building stuff for the Saud family. Osama bin Laden, biting the hand that fed him, is determined to overthrow the Saud family. Saudi Arabia stripped bin Laden of his citizenship and kicked him out of the country. Things went downhill from there.

So -and follow me here- Saudi Arabia produces a lot of oil but it also produced Osama bin Laden. Tim Pawlenty wants Minnesota to produce renewable fuels to the same degree that Saudi Arabia produces oil. Just as Minnesota produces more than ethanol, Saudi Arabia produces more than oil. Tim is a product of Minnesota’s strong public schools but he’s turned against the very policies that facilitated his rise, just as Osama bin Laden rejected Saudi society. Both men are pursuing a dark, destructive vision. It’s not the same kind of destruction, of course, but that’s where satire comes in.

Mostly, however, I think Tim’s “Saudi Arabia” declaration is just plain dumb; that it merits skewering. So if Tim broadly claims one comparison, I think it’s funny to assert a parallel one.

I hope this clarification, MDE, makes the joke funnier.
PE