First Pointless Endorsement of the Season: TPaw Endorses Romney

I honestly didn’t expect Pawlenty to endorse so early, but he took the leap this morning:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed Mitt Romney for president Monday, praising his onetime rival for his “leadership ability” and the “depth and scope of [his] private-sector experience.”

“I believe he’s going to be our party’s nominee,” Pawlenty said on “Fox and Friends,” predicting Romney would be a “transformational and great president.”

Less than a month after ending his own White House bid, Pawlenty was in sync with the Romney campaign’s message on everything from jobs to health care, to Social Security and Rick Perry.

Asked how he could endorse a candidate who he once mocked as the author of “Obamneycare,” Pawlenty said he’d spoken about health care with Romney and concluded: ”Mitt Romney is 100 percent dedicated and committed to repealing Obamacare.”

Defending Romney’s jobs record as governor of Massachusetts, Pawlenty said Romney had ”great success when it comes to growing jobs and the economy,” citing his time in business and leading the Salt Lake City Oympics.

Pawlenty also joined the escalating back-and-forth between Romney and Rick Perry over entitlement programs, which Pawlenty said Perry may want to end.

“Gov. Romney wants to fix Social Security. He doesn’t want to abolish it or end it,” Pawlenty said. “Gov. Perry has said in the past that he thought it was ‘failed.’”

That last bit is complete boloney of course, and disappointing to hear from someone who could have been a great candidate and president in my opinion.

I wonder, however, if Romney and Pawlenty (and many other “establishment” Republicans) are using this attack because they  believe it or because they know it will be employed in the general election against Obama – and could prove fatal. After all, you can’t reform anything if your party isn’t in the White House.

Still, that this attack continues and is so abashedly false is ridiculous and could have been left out of the endorsement altogether.

In the end, the endorsement means little other than possibly shaking some professional support to Romney and generate a bit of buzz. Poll movement will obviously be minimal or nothing.