Governor Pawlenty coins a new term.

At least it is new to me.

"Opportunity Conservative"

I tried to figure out what he was talking about. it certainly doesn't seem that he means what GW Bush meant when he talked about "Compassionate Conservativism."

Part of the conversation was about his understanding of why Minnesota , a traditionally liberal state, is now a swing state. In that conversation with Chris Matthews the governor - who stepped aside from his senatorial ambitions to please the current Republican administration and chose instead to run for his current office- said that these opportunity conservatives one in MN because of the failed excesses of liberalism.

He seems to forget that prior to Paul Wellstone's death he and our fluffy senator were on their way to losing their respective elections. It had nothing to do with failed excesses. It had everything to do with incredibly bad luck ( for the state).

I think that Governor Pawlenty is suffering from a Bushism. What he means to say is Opportunistic Concervatives. He and Coleman allowed Bush and Cheney to dictate from on high how Minnesota politics should be played out and accepted tons of out-of-state money for doing so. But for Wellstone's death that gamble would have failed.

It is nauseating for him now to to act as if this was a victory of ideology.