'Cap-and-trade would be a ham-fisted, unhelpful, damaging thing to the economy,' Pawlenty said. Pawlenty sorry for climate 'mistake'

Tim Pawlenty argued Monday that his past support for cap-and-trade legislation shouldn't hinder his presidential bid because nearly all the other Republican White House hopefuls also took the same position.

"Everybody in the race, at least the big names in the race, embraced climate change or cap-and-trade at one point or another, every one of us, so there's no one who has been in executive position whose name is being bantered in a first or second-tier way who hasn't embraced it in some way," the former Minnesota governor said on the "Laura Ingraham Show."


"The question is in my case, I've said, 'Look, I've made a mistake.' I think cap-and-trade would be a ham-fisted, unhelpful, damaging thing to the economy," Pawlenty added. "It's misguided. I made the mistake. I admit it. I'm not trying to be cute about it. I just come out and tell you it was a mistake."

Pawlenty has been trying for more than a year to distance himself from his work on climate change as governor, including his signature on a 2007 law that forces an 80 percent cut in Minnesota's greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury.

But now, with a presidential exploratory committee up and running, Pawlenty’s past views keep coming back to haunt him.

During the interview, Ingraham played a radio commercial that Pawlenty cut for the Environmental Defense Fund with then-Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano where he pleads, "Come on Congress. Let’s get moving. Cap greenhouse gas pollution now."

"Does that just give you a real stomachache to hear now?" the conservative radio host asked.

Pawlenty responded by acknowledging he’s got “some clunkers” in his record, just like other possible GOP candidates who served as a governor. He didn't name names, though Pawlenty is clearly referring to the cap-and-trade views taken at various times by several potential Republican candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

By contrast, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has never endorsed cap-and-trade legislation. As a coal industry lobbyist in early 2001, Barbour actually penned a letter to then-Vice President Dick Cheney questioning the Bush administration's commitment to a campaign pledge to cap carbon emissions from power plants. Two weeks later, President Bush dropped the pledge.

Ingraham has given a hard time to other Republicans too. She told Pawlenty she teased former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on her radio show for taking part in a pro-cap-and-trade commercial with Nancy Pelosi where they are both seated on a couch outside the Capitol.

"We're not going to see you go around in like a broccoli-powered bus or anything like Kucinich did?" she asked Pawlenty, referring to the liberal Ohio Democratic congressman who ran for president in 2004 and 2008.

With a laugh, Pawlenty promised he would not be getting behind the wheel of any transportation fueled by green vegetables. "The question is, 'Is everyone perfect?' No, they're not,” he added. “The question is, once you made a mistake, do you recognize it? Do you admit it? Are you willing to come forward? Are you a big enough person to say it was the wrong thing to do? Like everyone else, I've made some mistakes and that one is one of mine."