For Tim Pawlenty, Politics Is Like A Hockey Fight - The Atlantic

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From the outside, there is one part of the hockey tradition that seems barbaric. I'm referring, of course, to hockey fights... Watching two guys, gloves down, helmets off, pounding each other while the ref stands back and lets it happen is understandably unsettling to some. But what most people and even many fans don't realize is that there are unwritten rules and traditions at play in those fistfights on ice... For example, generally speaking, hockey fights don't just break out without warning. If you want to fight, you ask, "You wanna go?" ...If someone is hurt or fought the night before or is at the end of a shift and really tired, that's not necessarily a fair time to fight... You also don't pick on someone who's substantially smaller than you, and you generally don't throw punches if the other fighter is down... I like to think a similar order exists in the political arena... I apply some of the unwritten rules of the "code" in negotiations and dealings with political opponents. Think about it. In the legislature, there are no contracts. Deals are made in meetings or sealed with handshakes across negotiating tables, and if you give your word, you've got to keep it. When agreements are reached, you have to live up to those agreements, and sometimes it's up to you to enforce those agreements. You need to hold people to account if they violate those basic rules, if they're mischievous or harmful--on a playground, in a hockey game, under a statehouse dome, or in international affairs. Bad behavior needs to have consequences; otherwise, it will continue. That's not to say the consequences should be overly harsh, and you never want to punch when somebody's down. You want to win, but you don't want to destroy your opponent.

For Tim Pawlenty, Politics Is Like A Hockey Fight - The Atlantic