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Anti-Marijuana Pawlenty Quits Presidential Race

David Fiedler | Aug 14, 2011 | Comments 5

In the wake of yesterday’s Iowa straw poll, in which Ron Paul came in a close second place to Michele Bachmann, there’s even more good news.

Tim Pawlenty, Republican ex-governor of Minnesota, came in a distant third in the straw poll and so is giving up his ambitions to become president in 2012.

Pawlenty is so rabidly anti-marijuana that he has not only vetoed nine medical marijuana bills passed by the Minnesota legislature, but even one that limited legal medical marijuana use to terminally ill patients.

Think about that for a second. This man stubbornly refused to allow relief to people dying of cancer and AIDS, based on his alleged “support of law enforcement”. And before you jump to the conclusion that “Republicans hate marijuana”, remember that:

  • Ron Paul is a Republican
  • Ron Paul was considered a laughingstock by many mainstream observers not long ago
  • Ron Paul is now a frontrunner for the Republican nomination
  • Ron Paul is very pro-marijuana — recreational as well as medical
  • 72% of Republicans now support medical marijuana

It is therefore a reasonable conclusion that Tim Pawlenty may have lost his big chance solely on the basis of his anti-marijuana stance.

The Rick Perry Project

That brings to mind Rick Perry, the current Republican governor of Texas, who formally declared his candidacy yesterday as well. From a legislative standpoint, Texas is one of the more anti-marijuana states. And Perry is also known as a law-and-order hard-liner, so a Perry run would seem to be a disaster for our nation, cannabistically speaking.

But as it turns out, if there’s one thing Perry hates the most, it might be the idea of a huge central government sitting in Washington, DC. He is very, very focused on states’ rights and the Tenth Amendment, to the point where he’s OK with states legalizing marijuana even though he’s personally against it!

So let’s take comfort in knowing that politics makes strange bedfellows indeed.

 

Filed Under: 420 Times Exclusives • Activism • Best Of The Best • Exclusive Web Content • Politics

  • al

    1) Pawlenty’s loss and early exit from the race had absolutely nothing to do with his stance on cannabis so I hope that was sarcasm

    2) Paul did indeed garner a very close second in the Ames Straw poll, but is still polling behind Romney, Perry, and even Bachmann in national polls. He has very dedicated and vocal supporters (which helps fundraising) but has a low ceiling because a majority of Republican primary voters find his isolationist foreign policy and his opposition to the drug war as nonstarters in terms of supporting him. He may win a large share of the primary vote, but will not win the nomination and cannot be considered a “frontrunner” like you said (was that sarcasm too?)

    3) Perry has already began walking back his 10th amendment/federalism stance. He just stated his support for a federal ban on gay marriage, contradicting himself from quotes he made just weeks earlier. He is running to the right for the primary and the votes of the Tea Party, and it is laughable to suggest he would be in favor of allowing states to legalize any form of marijuana. I guarentee when he is asked about pot on the campaign trail he will toe the line and walk back his prior support of states rights on the cannabis issue.

    4) As a writer on politics for this magazine, you should know a lot more about this stuff that it appears you do.

  • Sara Benetowa

    Given national polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority (between 70 – 80 percent) of Americans support access to medicinal cannabis, Pawlenty’s stubborn vetoes of 9 different medical cannabis bills have been politically unwise, scientifically wrong, and morally bankrupt.

    When one Paid Liar can prevent his constituents from having access to safe and effective medicine, something is very wrong…Hopefully, he’ll stop trying to stand between physicians and their patients, when he returns to being an average Joe. Even in a group of Republican phonies, Pawlenty stands out as “completely fake and contrived.”

    I am delighted he has quit the race. Both Ron Paul and Gary Johnson have informed and supportive opinions of the medicinal use of cannabis and don’t think pre-emptive War is a wise precedent. I’d vote for either one.

    Here’s a true Conservative on the subject of medical cannabis:

    “The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, DEPRIVING THE SICK OF NEEDED HELP [capitals added], and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents… Narcotics police are an enormous, corrupt international bureaucracy … and now fund a coterie of researchers who provide them with ‘scientific support’ … fanatics who distort the legitimate research of others”

    –William F. Buckley, Commentary in The National Review, April 29, 1983, p. 495

    “Nothing is more infuriating to a person who has been relieved of crippling nausea than to be told that he has not been relieved.”

    – William Buckley from “The Court on High – Medical Marijuana and the Supremes” The National Review – June 07, 2005

  • David Fiedler

    I would simply guess that you’re more of a “glass half-empty” type and I’m more of a “glass half-full” type. And no, I don’t do sarcasm…that’s a drug with quite nasty long-term side effects.

  • David Fiedler

    P.S. to Al: Today AP came out with a feature story talking about how Ron Paul is now mainstream. Maybe I’m not as dumb as you think I am.

  • http://www.joelrussman.com Johnly @ law marijuana

    I really don’t like marijuana,cause this is really bad for the health and also for the brain. So I am just concern to their lives, take care!

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