It’s hardly a surprise – Pawlenty has been arguing since January that automatically raising the debt ceiling without exhausting other options (read: spending cuts) first is a bad idea – but the video below shows that the former Governor of Minnesota continues to want Republican legislators to not back down on this issue:

As GOP 12 noted, this statement by Pawlenty…

Now is the time. The hour is late, and these problems are big, and the only way you’re going to get people to do something tough is to put their backs up against the wall.

…sounds a lot like what Erick Erickson was saying this morning:

…here is my big point — you have to win this fight. If you do not win this fight, there will be no more chances to turn back government. Why? Because President Obama is holding senior citizens hostage with their social security checks.

[snip]

This is a time for choosing. Choose wisely.

Both Erick and Tim are correct. We cannot sustain indefinitely spending money that we don’t have. A government program is not sacrosanct simply because it has been funded in the past. The Republican party will be accused of every crime under the sun no matter what we do, so we might as well do the right thing. It’s better to win a fight on principles than it is to win an election.

And taking heed of the counsel of our fears is a habit best left to our political opponents.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: I am a Tim Pawlenty supporter, but it’s much more important that the other Republican candidates take the same position on this than it is that Pawlenty gets all the credit for it. This is not a time for political games.