Tim Pawlenty gets his God on

The mutual admiration society.

When a born-again Christian Republican with presidential ambitions goes on the Christian Broadcasting Network for an interview, the best anyone can hope for is that the swooning doesn't devolve into a drooling, sticky mess.

And in that regard, Tim Pawlenty, and his wife, Mary, did OK. Although it was a little touch-and-go when they started in on their mutual hotness for each other.

Otherwise there was nothing new. Just the usual lines about him running a liberal state as a conservative governor, glad-handing the guys as the VFW and asserting his blue-collar bona fides. The God talk, meanwhile, was long on scary gay marriage and short -- OK, non-existent -- on Matthew 25.

You can read David Brody's account of his interview with the Pawlentys here. There are some video clips too. For our money, the best comes when T-Paw says one the biggest concerns his younger daughter had was that he not make an ass of himself.

"I was walking the dog with my younger daughter, I don't know a few months ago, and she says, 'Dad are you gonna run for President?' And I said 'I don't know honey I'm not sure.' And she paused for a second and then said, 'Well just don't embarrass the family.' OK. Well at least we got that standard set."

Embarrass himself? That would be hard to do on a cable network owned by Pat Robertson, a televangelist who is second to none when it comes to saying really dumb and embarrassing things.