Speed Gibson

I'm looking at the calendar and the Star Tribune this morning, which features a mild hit piece on Prime Minister Pawlenty. In the spirit of the season, couldn't this wait until after Christmas? The Legislature doesn't return until February. Why now?

Maybe it's because he's riding high in the polls, even the DFL-friendly Minnesota Poll. It's not fair! He gets re-elected on a fluke, he rebuffs the hugely DFL Legislature, a bridge collapses on his watch, and it doesn't matter. Nothing sticks to him!

Anyway, the magic word "analysis" is there to excuse the obvious leakage from the Editorial page. They paint Pawlenty as a man of "big ideas but little followup" and list several of his big ideas and how some of them didn't play out. It's a classic example of front page bias.

For example:

Big idea: Proposes health impact "fee" on tobacco to break budget deadlock, insisting it does not break his no-new taxes pledge.

Result: Revenue from fee breaks budget stalemate; fee upheld in court.

That isn't what happened. Pawlenty proposed this fee tax well before the end of the session and Senate Majority Leader Liar Dean Johnson shrugged it off at the time. Weeks later, voter and union displeasure with the ensuing partial shutdown ended the stalemate. (It was in all the papers!) Telling it this way gives Pawlenty credit for raising taxes, always a good idea no matter who does it according to the Star Tribune.

The major sins of this piece are acts of omission, however. There's not a word about embracing light rail, the Twins stadium, and the smoking ban. The Star Tribune finds nothing wrong or controversial here, of course.

I'm no fan of Mr. Pawlenty but even I think he deserves better than this lopsided article, itself a big idea short on follow-through.