»» Columnists

Tim Pawlenty Shot Down For Fox News Job By Roger Ailes

by Tommy Christopher | 11:20 am, September 27th, 2011

» 32 comments

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once considered a more base-palatable alternative to Mitt Romney for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was forced to drop out of the race early after a slide that began with his refusal to confront Romney at a debate over “Obamneycare.” According to Howard Kurtz, Pawlenty went looking for work at Fox News shortly thereafter, but was given a resounding “Fox no!” for his troubles.

Tucked away within Kurtz’s eminently quotable Newsweek profile of Fox News chief Roger Ailes was this indignity:

Three weeks after dropping out of the race, Tim Pawlenty showed up to ask for a gig at Fox. But there was a complication: Pawlenty was on the verge of endorsing Romney. “I’m not sure I want to sign you as a paid spokesman for Romney,” Ailes said.

Ailes, bless his heart, was probably being kind to Pawlenty with that Romney excuse. Pawlenty’s lucky that Ailes didn’t turn him down as a Fox News viewer, for fear he’d sap the network’s energy right through the TV. I’m not saying Pawlenty is dull, but when he went to ask Ailes for the job, the Fox chief said, “Okay, send him in,” to which Pawlenty replied, “But I’m sitting right here, sir.”

Pawlenty was also rejected as a pitchman for 5 Hour Energy, whose distributors explained, “That’s five hours in a row.”

In other Pawlenty news, the former governor recently sat for an official portrait by Bulgarian artist Rossin, which gave onlookers the unique opportunity to either watch paint dry, or look at Rossin’s painting.

fox news, Howard Kurtz, Newsweek, Roger Ailes, Tim Pawlenty

Anonymous

love tommy and the gun metaphors
http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

Great column, Tommy. One criticism.

For this post, you probably should have put up a picture of a Klan rally on the front page, and tried to connect it somehow to the post topic of Tim Pawlenty and a job with Fox News Channel.
Anonymous

Don’t quit your day job Tommy.
Glutton

Tim Pawlenty should try running for Minnesota governor again. I really can’t see him doing anything else.
Anonymous

Isn’t there some rumor about T-Paw & a female basketball player from Alabama? Friends say…
Guest

No…all that is implied. We all know Palenty is a closet Grand wizard, and FOX is just a front for the Arian Nation. Soros told us so.
The Real Royal Emperor

T-Paw, you need to dye your hair blonde and “sleep” with Ailes if you want to work at FOX “News”.
Anonymous

He should have stuck with his Govt job.
Anonymous

I also thought that was a bigger story than the two sentences Howard Kurtz gave it. Was Ailes really using the Mitt endorsement as an excuse, as implied here? Was giving an endorsement more important than getting a job? Is CNN a better fit?
Pablo

Well, sort of. He had Tommy do it.
Anonymous

No offense, but would you want to be looking at that mug every day? Being boring isn’t a plus either.
Anonymous

Dozed off as usual while reading Tommy’s stories .

He should post his articles with a Starbuck’s coupon in the corner .

Not saying Tommy Christopher is dull but …zzzzzzzzz
Anonymous

That was how Robert got his job as a roadie on one of Liberace personal appearance tours back in ’57 .
Anonymous

Wah! No wingnut welfare program for you Pawlenty! Come back when you drool more.
Anonymous

He is as exciting as watching ice cream melt.
Anonymous

I bet you were wearing your Obama knee-pads when you typed that!
Anonymous

TC is wearing his industrial strength Obama drool cup today.
Anonymous

Hell, you slept with Rachel Maddow and KO and still didn’t get a job!
Anonymous

if he wanted easy money he shouldn’t have endorsed romney.
Bob Uda

Why would Pawlenty want to go to work for a station that is transitioning into a liberal station?
Anonymous

Pawlenty is too dry for TV, and would have been a bad hire. But least he wouldn’t have been an embarrassing hire like Eliot Spitzer.
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

Bullseye!!
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

Tim Pawlenty can go to the other right-wing, propaganda, cable news networks to get a job… oh wait, there’s only Fox News!!
http://twitter.com/DrunkReport DrunkReport.com

word. this whole article is full of win. i loled
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

al-jazeera is keeping a slot open for obama…
Anonymous

It’s his “new tone”.
Anonymous

gee, did Pawlenty run over your dog or something?
Porphyry

Hars & yuks for Commy Thristopher!
Anonymous

Remember it was Pawlenty that said the Republican Party should just get over Ronald Reagan and move on.
http://twitter.com/Acgirl Jacqueline Murphy

I thought he was running for president. My bad, I didn’t know he had dropped out of the race. lol
Christopher-hampton

My Name Is Chris Michael Hampton,I’m Announcing My Endosrement For Texas Gov. Rick Perry R-Austin,T.X. For
President Of The United States Of America 2012, The Republican Party Needs To Return To Ronald Reagan For The Jobs He DId As Our President,and I’m Taking On My Former 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate For Minnesota’s Gov.Tim Pawlenty R-St.Paul,M.N And Bring It On Pawlenty The Rivialy Is On And Rick Perry Is My
Presidential Candidate He Will Win The 2012 GOP Nominess To Make Obama A 1 Term President In 2012,
I’m My Own Man That Supports Rick Perry For President,Tim Pawlenty Supports Mitt Romeny It’s On T-paw He’s
A Message For You Bring It On, Rick Perry Is The Only Pro-Life Reagan Conservative 912 TeaPArty Patriotic Constitutional Honest Strongest Christian 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate That Will Beat Obama ,Deal With It
It’s Democracy Time To Support Our U.s. Constitution That’s Rick Perrry Will Get AMerica Working Again To Keep
Our Country Strong By Moving Foward Now.and I’m Proud To Support Rick Perry For President 2012 I’ll Say It Again In Public and Anywhere As well.
MLB

Yes, a paid spokesman for Romney would be awful. It’d get in the way of airtime for all the other correspondants who, you know, act as paid spokesmen for themselves.