Pawlenty Campaign Press Release - What They Are Saying: Governor Pawlenty's Gutsy Move to Tell the Hard Truth

"It's time for new leadership. It's time for a new approach. And, it's time for America's president - and anyone who wants to be president - to look you in the eye and tell you the truth."

– Governor Pawlenty

"On ethanol, Pawlenty has offered a conservative stance that genuinely involves telling an audience something they don't want to hear, and this stance is a big, flashing anti-pander in a state that's pretty key to his bid. He didn't tuck it into a policy pamphlet or a line in a speech to CPAC; he put it right there in the kickoff speech, in front of an Iowa audience not likely to be receptive. The allegedly milquetoast candidate almost comes across as a little brash."

- Jim Geraghty, National Review

"You? In Iowa? Called for an end to ethanol subsidies? ... That's politically gutsy."

- Rush Limbaugh

"If Pawlenty goes to Iowa to oppose farm subsidies, that's about as honest as a Midwestern politician can get. Will Iowans support that kind of long-overdue honesty, or will they punish Pawlenty for it?

- Ed Morrissey, HotAir

"...If this speech is any indication, Pawlenty looks he's planning to charge sacred cows in rhetoric while campaigning."

- Katrina Trinko, National Review

"Pawlenty's ethanol gambit forces them to rethink that by posing the following question: If he's willing to confront Iowa voters about their little ethanol gravy train in the name of fiscal responsibility — even though his candidacy probably depends on winning the state — then who wouldn't he be willing to confront? He's got guts."

- Allahpundit, HotAir

"Telling the truth. In politics. It's an idea so crazy, so out of the box, that it just might work."

- Bryan Preston, Pajamas Media