The Top 10 Things Establishment GOPers Hope T-Paw Doesn't Repeat At Lincoln Days

Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty is the featured speaker tomorrow night for the Missouri GOP's Lincoln Days event. Pawlenty, who is hoping to drum up support for a 2012 presidential bid, has been quite critical of the Dubya years and Congressional GOP leadership (e.g., Denny Hastert, Tom DeLay, Roy Blunt); it will be very interesting to see if T-Paw has the courage to speak his mind with key offenders in the audience.

Without further ado, here are The Top Ten Things the GOP Establishment Hopes Pawlenty Does Not Repeat at Lincoln Days:

'"The Republicans had their shot not long ago and blew it. We got fired for a reason."

"Over the time that they were there [Bush, DeLay, Blunt, et al.] and had the leadership opportunity, they blew it. We got fired for a reason."

"The party got into a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for."

"We just lost our way. You can't say that your hallmark issues are that we're going to control spending, keep taxes low, and make government accountable, and then go to Washington and do the opposite."

"I'm not here to say all is well.""

"The Republicans didn't do a good job of articulating the alternate vision [on health care]."

"I did not support the car-company bailout, either. They should have been allowed to go bankrupt."

"Republicans have an opportunity, I think, to reconnect with those voters. If you have a credible messenger."

"As a general proposition, I think these are serious times, the country's in significant danger, and I think we need people who are thoughtful."

"Let's face it, when Republicans had total control over it, they didn't do what they said they were gonna do."

Read more about Pawlenty's assessment of Roy Blunt's leadership here.