Jon Huntsman gone, unloved, unmourned, unremembered. Jon Huntsman folds his odd tent and leaves the Republican field of battle, throwing his endorsement to Mitt Romney for the South Carolina vote on Saturday 21. Romney is the runaway winner, and the Huntsman departure is exceptional only in its timing, just after Huntsman received endorsement of the significant SC newspaper, the State. The general election is underway. The Gingrich and Santorum ankle-biting will continue into February, and Ron Paul will not step down until Romney seals the delegate count; however the election is fixed. It will be Bain capitalism vs. Obama populism, or whatever the re-elect calls it. Do I think that POTUS can win re-elect by bashing private equity and villainizing Wall Street that contributed greatly to his 2008 election? Sure. But I do not believe that Obama can easily overcome the sluggish economy that will continue to underperform as long as housing, the banks, Europe and Asia are in trouble. Mona Charen has a fine cartoon to describe the GOP embrace of Romney: "Oh, All right. Fine."
About damn time!
Don't worry! Stephen Colbert is sniffing around SC hoping to run.
"Stephen Colbert is sniffing around SC hoping to run."
Great! Back to back clowns in the White House! Although I can't imagine why Colbert would want to give up so much power and income just to piss off a few conservatives. To whom would fall the honor of the first Colbert nomination to the Supreme Court? Bill Maher?
Last week, no Sunday podcast. This week, no Sunday podcast. Given the WH Friday dump, Sunday is the most important day of the week.
Well there goes my theory that Huntsman was a straw candidate put up by the White-house to do to Romney this cycle what Huckabee did last cycle. Back to the drawing board...
Monetize the JBS podcasts. I would pay to listen to the Sunday shows at my convenience.
Shhh. You're putting a crimp in my entertainment budget. No more hot meals for the family- I upload the shows and cook up a storm!
In an honest and sane world Huntsman would have challenged Obama in a primary of the Democratic Party; but politics is anything but honest or sane.
GIve JB a break he's got a family too . . .
Brilliant if true.
Does he have another book coming out?
I believed that Huntsman was a straw dog. If he was not a "straw candidate" what the heck was he doing in the primaries in the first place? He seemed so disconnected from the conservative mood in the country that straw candidate was the only logical theory.
"Does he have another book coming out?"
He ain't no Tom Robbins. That's for sure!
Huntsman is more conservative and more consistent than Romney or the others, with exception of Ron Paul. He could have been a contender if he had done a better job selling his conservative credentials. Eight years as a successful governor of a red state. He decided to write off Republican primary voters before the primary. Too much time overseas must have clouded his mind about domestic nuances. Republicans think Santorum has more appeal?
"what the heck was he doing in the primaries in the first place?"
Narcissism, Paul. Nothing more. In this era where candidates select themselves and the parties are so ineffectual, the first requirement for a candidate is a narcissistic personality just this side of a sociopath. In some cases, not just this side of sociopathy. Take Obama for instance . . . .
@ Marina
"He could have been a contender if he had done a better job selling his conservative credentials."
You might think so. Utahan's certainly don't. The guy was a pantywaist who lacked the courage of both his religion and his conservatism. He's a Northeast Rockefeller Republican, a RINO. I didn't listen to him much, dismissing him even when it was noted upon his appointment as Ambassador that Obama was afraid of him so he got rid of him. I thought to myself then, "What are they smoking in that WH?" So I was informed when Britt Hume tonight commented that although Huntsman looked great on paper, in person he was a much smaller figure personality-wise and that he came across as basically a scold. Huntsman really was a better fit for a conservative Democrat than he was as any kind of Republican. Like JB has said many times, "When the voters are given a choice between a phony Republican (or Democrat) and a real one, they'll go for the real one every time."
From Onion News:
Huntsman Drops Out, Endorses Huntsman
January 16, 2012 | ISSUE 48•03
MYRTLE BEACH, SC—Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman announced today he was dropping out of the race, and, citing his good character, foreign policy experience, and overall pragmatic approach, officially endorsed former Utah governor Jon Huntsman for president. "Unfortunately, our campaign never quite built up the traction it needed, but my goal now is to nominate a Republican who will conduct a campaign based on civility, humanity, and respect—a Republican who won't talk down to people, but will present a healthy conservative alternative to Barack Obama. That man is Jon Huntsman," Huntsman told reporters. "During my time on the trail, I have been impressed not only by Huntsman's ability to stay above the fray, but by his commitment to having a genuine conversation about the direction of this country. He has my full support." Political analysts said they expect Huntsman's endorsement to have little effect on the race, as Huntsman's backers are far too small in number to actually help Huntsman.
"Huntsman Drops Out, Endorses Huntsman"
Very funny.
What's not so funny: "[Hunstman] used the royal "we" throughout the campaign. His father could easily have put a great deal of money into the campaign, but in the event put in only $2 mil. A theory holds that the father in fact wanted to whittle down the whippersnapper. The other route: the father demanded that the son go and beg for the money, which Jon Junior declined to do. "The very, very, very strange family dynamic." I read in "Schedule". I didn't hear.
Also odd dynamic, I think, between McCain and his powerful father, weird dynamic between Obama and his unknown father and probably his mother, as well, who he seemed to leave for his grandparents. Since Romney's father also ran for President, I don't care what the dynamic is, it doesn't look good to me.
What seemed odd to me about Huntsman is how he ever got into the debates.
How did Huntsman get into the debates? Easy... Any Republican the Dems love can get into the debates. It's in the Dem MSM interest to have as many crappy Republicans as possible because it showcases how crappy the Republican party can look.
I keep waiting for the Republican party to get its act together. I had actually thought the Republicans might have a good year (could have had Palin, Christie, Giuliani, Cain) but what the heck happened (we got Romney, Huntsman, Paul, Santorum, Bachmann, Perry, etc)?
Ron Paul isn't really a Republican, anyhow. He's pretty much a by the book Libertarian, and despite Ayn Rand's best efforts, it's the Libertarians who show up who make the thoughtful ones look bad. Good grief, who really thinks drug legalization (not just decriminalization) is the basis of a winning national campaign?
"It's in the Dem MSM interest to have as many crappy Republicans as possible because it showcases how crappy the Republican party can look. "
Quite true. The mystery is how we Republicans and the pissant party apparatus can be so obliging.
"I keep waiting for the Republican party to get its act together."
It won't happen until the party elders become more envolved, until the party stops aping Democrats' 1972 "reforms," until the party recovers the importance it once had in selecting stable, trusted candidates, until it trades "the show" for a future.
From WSJ Political Diary:
"Some conservatives are pushing for an extended primary contest, arguing that the epic battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama four years ago made Mr. Obama a stronger candidate in the general election. That may be true, says Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, but what applied to Mr. Obama doesn't necessarily apply to the former Massachusetts governor."
IMO this is a sign that the contagion of aping Democrats runs much deeper than just the party denizens.
From WSJ Political Diary:
"Quote of the Day
[Jon] Huntsman's was, from the start, a bizarrely conceived candidacy. Though he had impeccable conservative credentials on most domestic issues, Huntsman's decision to position himself as the leading moderate in the race to lead a deeply conservative party was a blunder from which he could never recover. His anti-war foreign policy stances were best suited to a Democratic audience, not a Republican one. That accounted for the consistently laudatory coverage he received in the mainstream press. But the idea that Republicans would ever nominate a man who was best described as a liberal's idea of a Republican was farcical . . .
As for his future, it's possible to imagine Huntsman getting some kind of appointment in a putative Romney administration. But he should forget about another presidential run. That's not just because the next generation of political talent in the GOP such as Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio or Chris Christie will eclipse him. Huntsman's performance on the stump and in the debates was so poor as to render him an unlikely prospect for the future. While he committed no absurd gaffe in the manner of Rick Perry, his arch and condescending tone in the debates was more than off-putting. His tendency to comment on the proceedings as if he were in the peanut gallery, to make ill-considered quips quoting songs and, finally, his decision to answer a Romney riposte in Chinese (to show how much smarter he was than his rivals) told us everything we needed to know about his personality. -- Jonathan Tobin blogging at www.commentarymagazine.com on Jan. 16.
"Good grief, who really thinks drug legalization (not just decriminalization) is the basis of a winning national campaign?"
Americans are too wedded to the Article of Faith that Drugs=Road to Hell. Legislation based on Good Intentions that breeds and then ignores unintended consequences is FAR MORE dangerous than all the prescription drugs and recreational drugs put together.