Pawlenty: Obama 'all foam, no beer'

RALEIGH, N.C., July 28 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney backer Tim Pawlenty Saturday panned U.S. President Barack Obama as "all foam and no beer."

Speaking at the opening of a Romney campaign office in Raleigh, N.C., the former Minnesota governor said the Democratic president hasn't performed up to his 2008 campaign rhetoric, NBC News reported.

"We got a problem because we've got a president who's all foam and no beer," Pawlenty told a gathering of about 300 receptive supporters.

"I don't know about you but I'm tired of hearing these teleprompter speeches and no results! You know his big fancy speeches from four years ago; those speeches, those words don't put gas in our cars do they? And his teleprompter speeches don't pay the mortgage do they?"

Pawlenty accused Obama of "kicking our entrepreneurs and small business leaders ... in the shins every day" to the detriment of the U.S. economy.

Pawlenty and other prominent Republicans are out campaigning on behalf of Romney, while the former Massachusetts governor who is expected to officially receive the GOP nomination next month in Tampa, Fla., is overseas buffing his foreign policy credentials.

Pawlenty's name has been bandied about, along with others, as a possible vice presidential candidate. He again downplayed the idea of a Romney-Pawlenty ticket Saturday, saying he's been more busy taking care of his own home, NBC said.

"I've been out doing this sort of thing since last fall and I get a call once in a while from the campaign saying, 'Hey, do you have any free time next week to go be a surrogate?' This is consistent with that pattern so it's really no different than what I've been doing for the campaign since last fall."