Gov. Pawlenty made an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, where he was challenged about claims that health reform would lead to death panels and would “pull the plug on granny."

Gov. Pawlenty said, “... there’s concerns that this thing is going to be so expensive they’re not going to be able to afford all that’s promised, and somebody’s going to have to make a decision to cut back, and people are concerned that if the federal government does that—have them rationing care, that’s a real problem. And so those are not irrational concerns ...”

Then the following exchange occurred:

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But, there are no death panels here, though. Counseling is one thing. Having three people lining up and saying "Granny dies, Grandpa lives," that's quite another. You can't get there from here.

GOV. PAWLENTY: Well what happens--Joe, what you call it or label it, but I think the facts are these: if you have a system like the United Kingdom where...

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But we don't. We don't, Governor. With all due respect, this does not give us a system like the United Kingdom. I'm talking specifically about this bill. How does this bill get us to "death panels?" You don't believe it does, do you? [MSNBC Morning Joe, 9/11/09]

The Minneapolis Star Tribune excoriated Governor Pawlenty for ignoring Minnesota’s budget woes in his quest to jockey for the national spotlight in hopes of a future run for president. Gov. Pawlenty was repeatedly called out for wading into the national-health-insurance reform debate, and the Star Tribune noted, "He has dived so deep into the right-wing tide pool that by Thursday, he had joined Sarah Palin and a few other GOP confederates in threatening to invoke the 10th Amendment -- in effect having Minnesota secede from the union on health care reform with little regard for the effect on Minnesota's 450,000 uninsured citizens.” [Star Tribune Op-Ed, 9/14/09]