'Vanilla' Pawlenty Jokes O'Reilly Playing Race Card on Him

Responding to a clip in which Fox News host Bill O'Reilly asserted that he was too bland - and "vanilla" - to win the Republican presidential nomination, Tim Pawlenty jokingly asked on Sunday, "Is he playing the race card on me?"

"I don't think so, sir. I think he was talking about the taste, not the color," responded a chuckling "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, who played the O'Reilly clip to set up a question about Republican concerns that Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor seeking the GOP nomination for president, is "too nice ... too bland, and that Republicans want somebody who can take the fight to Barack Obama."

Perhaps ironically, after Pawlenty and Wallace had a chuckle over the "race card" exchange, Pawlenty said "I'm not running for comedian-in-chief or entertainer-in-chief."