The ‘Values Voter Summit’ straw poll result:
Paul 37
Cain 23
Santorum 16
Perry 8
Bachmann 8
Romney 4
Gingrich 3
Huntsman 0
Posts Tagged ‘huntsman
08
Oct
11
yep, bonkers:
Charles Pierce (Esquire) on the Florida GOP debate: ….. …. Huntsman proceeded to make his way through a story in which some coincidences attending his family’s adoption of a daughter from China were attributed to the Almighty. The story ended with his daughter’s reply to someone who asked her whom it was that had found her in the vegetable market where she’d been abandoned.
“She replied, simply, ‘Jesus’,” said Huntsman. “We call her our little bean curd,” he confided to the crowd, which was enough, as Dorothy Parker once put it, to make you fwow up.
…. Mitt Romney, perhaps the most consummate fake in American political history …. his finest moment may well have been telling The Boston Globe that, when he was doing his Mormon mission in France, he really wanted to be fighting in Vietnam. In other words, rather than pestering wine-growers in Provence …. This is so stupefyingly fraudulent as to be goddamn close to immortal.
….. A Republican may well get elected president next year. But, whoever that is, first has to answer, constantly, to the voices in the party’s head. It’s exhausting work …. … Decency doesn’t sell here …. This was an audience that thinks insurance-friendly health-care reform is half-past Trotsky, and that immigration reform means a higher wall, a deeper ditch, and larger caliber ammunition…..
….. watching Perry try to think on his feet is rather like watching a hippo try to ice-skate …. This is a party capable of winning elections, but not leading a nation. To borrow a line from that noted Republican, Bobby Knight, this party couldn’t lead a whore to bed.
Full article here
Thanks Meta
06
Sep
11
yep, huntsman’s a real threat…..
31
Aug
11
the ‘moderate’ republican?
ThinkProgress: …. Jon Huntsman is releasing an economic plan today that is as bad for the middle-class - and as nutty - as any proposed by his rivals. It would pay for a half-million-dollar tax break for the richest 0.1 percent of Americans with tax increases on the middle-class and new taxes on seniors, veterans, and poor families.
…. Huntsman would drop the marginal rate paid by the richest Americans by more than a third to 23 percent …. He would also eliminate all taxes on all capital gains and dividend income - the primary forms of income for the wealthiest Americans…..
– All Social Security benefits would become taxable. Senior citizens who currently receive the average Social Security benefit as their primary income source (as is the case for most seniors) currently pay no income taxes on those benefits, but would under Huntsman’s plan.
– Many middle-class parents would lose child tax credits and tax benefits for education and child care that are more valuable to them than a tax rate cut.
– Huntsman’s tax plan would also eliminate the employer health insurance exclusion, which helps enable some 160 million Americans get coverage through their jobs.
– One of the most successful pro-work, anti-poverty initiatives, the Earned Income Tax Credit, would be abolished.
– Veterans pensions and disability benefits would become subject to tax, as would all military combat pay, military housing allowances and meals, workers compensation payments, public assistance benefits, and state foster care payments…..
More here
Thank you Hopefruit
Translation: “Perry and Bachmann are bat-shit crazy, and Romney, frankly, is a loathsome worm. And, to be honest, I’m pretty useless too. So, we have something in common, Piers.”
23
Aug
11
‘desperation’
Yep, this is the GOP’s ‘Mr Reasonable’:
All Huntsman needs to finish him off is the support of Jeb Jr’s dad and uncle:
Miami Herald: With cellar-dwelling poll numbers and a campaign shake-up to boot, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman plans a “major announcement” on Wednesday morning in South Florida: The endorsement of Jeb Bush Jr.
His campaign said Bush Jr. will serve as national co-chair of GenH, with the mission to reach out to young people. Also joining the campaign is Republican political strategist Ana Navarro, of Miami. Her title: National Hispanic Chairperson….
More here
09
Jul
11
embracing the ryan plan
01
Jul
11
ooops
Salt Lake Tribune: …..Will Huntsman created a small headache for the presidential campaign of his dad - Jon Huntsman - when he flashed a “hang loose” sign and asked a buddy to snap a photo of him mugging with rival White House hopeful Mitt Romney.
Can you say father-son chat?
….the youngest son of the former Utah governor …. showed up last Friday at Hires Big H, an iconic Salt Lake City burger joint where Romney spoke to an estimated 250 supporters. As Romney worked the rope line, Will Huntsman found his way to the front and was photographed posing - with pinky and thumb extended - with the former Massachusetts governor…
….Will Huntsman, who will soon enter the U.S. Naval Academy, sported a new buzz haircut and a white polo shirt featuring a crest of the U.S. Embassy of Singapore, where his father previously served as ambassador….
….Huntsman’s campaign cautioned people should not read anything into the appearance. It pointed out that Will Huntsman backs his dad’s presidential bid and was not offering anything near an endorsement of Romney, a distant relative of the Huntsmans.
“Will wanted to see another campaign event,” Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller said when shown the photo. “He was having fun and it was not his intention to be disrespectful in any way.”
More here
Thank you Lisa
01
Jul
11
impressive! oh…..wait
Read on:
“Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign raised $4.1 million in the nine days since he formally entered the race, though about half of the funds came from the millionaire’s own pockets, a campaign official said Thursday night. Huntsman said previously that he threw some of his own fortune into the campaign to “prime the pump” and help get it started.” (link)
So, eh, should the headline not be: “Huntsman fundraising pulls in $2 million in first nine days”?
Thanks Jovie
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WSJ (May 2011): Without any fanfare, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has taken off the table one of the chips that might have made him a formidable Republican White House hopeful right out of the gate: He will not bankroll his presidential campaign with the Huntsman fortune.
“If we were to get in the race – no self-financing,” Mr. Huntsman told reporters over the weekend in South Carolina. “Unless you can raise it legitimately, you’re not going to win.”
Thank you StR - great spot
26
Jun
11
“huntsman’s base: the press”
The Week
DFP: Michigan native Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann are neck and neck in a new poll of likely participants in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, claims 23%, and Bachmann, a tea partier from Minnesota, has 22%. Neither has done heavy lifting in Iowa. Retired pizza CEO Herman Cain of Georgia is in third, with 10%.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is tied in fourth place at 7% with Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is at 6%; former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is at 4%, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is at 2%….
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Seattle PI: From afar, it’s easy to get swept up by the hype: Jon Huntsman is accomplished, handsome, smart, and his civility message has appeal beyond the meat-eaters who dominate this early phase of the Republican presidential campaign.
This is the reason his small base, largely in the media - the select group of pundits like Mark Halperin and the “Morning Joe” stars, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski - have been unabashed in their Huntsman swooning. We have our share of swooners at POLITICO, too.
….But there is a problem: Up close, Huntsman’s challenges …. are unmistakable - and, by all measures of modern Republican politics, likely insurmountable.
…There’s a reason he barely has a pulse in the polls. He speaks so softly that even his aides sometimes have trouble hearing him at events. He is making civility a cornerstone of his campaign, at a time when Republican voters are ravenous for red-meat conservative policies, and an epochal showdown with Obama.
…There were warning signs throughout, starting with the interview, which Huntsman conducted on a sweltering patio because he said air conditioning gives him bronchitis. It was one of several moments when we started to wonder about Huntsman’s fitness for the rigors of a campaign that will go at least seven months and, for the nominee, 15 months. New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg, one of only three reporters traveling with Huntsman on the second formal day of his campaign, wrote that the candidate “has already complained about being tired.”
….”I just don’t know how this works,” the former official said. “It’s a great idea, and lovely and all that: He’s actually intelligent, and has actually been outside the United States. He speaks Chinese. He’s handsome. What’s not to like? But how do you make it through this primary? It’s a complete media creation so far.”
Full article here
23
Jun
11
the generic gop candidate
Stephen Colbert: Legend.
The quality of this recording isn’t the best, but the website video (here) is not available to viewers outside America, so this is for the blog’s non-U.S. folk
Thank you UTAustinLiberal 
21
Jun
11
rino?
Steve Benen: ….I can appreciate all of the reasons to take Jon Huntsman seriously as a candidate ….. but Huntsman is a moderate in an era when Republicans don’t like moderates.
Huntsman believes “health care is a right” …. He believes climate change is real and endorsed a cap-and-trade plan to address is …. He supported an individual mandate as part of health care reform … Republicans are on the opposite side of all of these issues. .. Oh, and he’s also a former member of the Obama administration who called President Obama a “remarkable leader.”
The Republican base has gone to great lengths to target so-called RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) … We’re to believe this same base will tolerate a moderate as their presidential nominee? Sure, Huntsman will start engaging in Romney-like flip-flops and try to reinvent himself. And sure, the media’s sycophantic adulation will give the guy a boost his rivals probably won’t enjoy.
But when push comes to shove, what are the chances Republican voters will nominate a former member of Obama’s team who doesn’t even want to describe himself as conservative? Strange things happen, but I’m hard pressed to imagine how anything this strange happens.
More here
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According to GOPolitico, Fox News was the first to cut away from Huntsman’s ‘big’ announcement today - half way through his speech. So, they’ll treat him with as much as respect during his campaign as they do the President.
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Thanks Ladyhawke
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More on Huntsman at The Reid Report
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Loriah just alerted me to Huntsman’s Google (Images) problem:
Ed Rodgers (former White House staffer to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush): ….Jon Huntsman is an articulate, attractive, cerebral, urbane internationalist. He’s a proven conservative with a reassuring, moderate tone and a model family. His vast experience … clearly makes him qualified to be president.
In other words, he is “toast” in today’s Republican Party, and he has very little chance to be the 2012 nominee.
Elections are won in the center. The right ticket led by Huntsman could unify and motivate the party to believe it actually could replace President Obama and Vice President Biden with real conservatives.
The GOP, with its traditional approach to the nominating process, will never give former Utah governor Huntsman room to explain his participation in the Obama administration and nuanced issues, such as his position on immigration. He will never satisfy the most angry members of our party. And if he somehow managed to win the nomination, a third-party candidate could attack him from the right and almost guarantee Obama’s reelection.
….Michele Bachmann is a GOP leader to watch. She is a star in the party and bulletproof with our right wing. She is more thoughtful than she gets credit for. The Tea Party will follow her to the ends of the earth …. But she also has many glib, shallow positions … The left will be vicious and eager to Palinize Bachmann before she builds any momentum. Given her inexperience she will make her share of mistakes, and she is not yet credible as a commander in chief.
Huntsman and Bachmann should have a meeting of the minds and offer themselves as a Huntsman-led ticket … Think about it … Republicans need to do something radical … let’s try something different. Take the best team the party can offer and get it started early. Let’s give ourselves a chance. We can’t compete with the Obama team on its terms or on its preferred calendar.
Full article here (Washington Post)
Does Rodgers seriously believe Huntsman (pro-civil unions, worked for President Obama, etc, etc) can win the GOP nomination - considering what the GOP has become?!
20
May
11
‘political whiplash’
Steve Benen: Jon Huntsman is no doubt aware of his predicament. He’s running for president, as a Republican, despite having been a member of the Obama administration. He also has to impress a far-right GOP base, despite taking center-left positions on a range of issues - climate, gays, immigration, economic stimulus, health care, the TARP bank bailout - important to his party.
What’s his solution? In effect, Huntsman has two choices. He can (a) run as a moderate statesman, hope centrist Republicans still exist, and watch the rest of the GOP field to knock each other out competing for the same right-wing votes; or (b) Huntsman can abandon his moderation and scurry to the right just as fast as he can.
As of this morning, Huntsman appears to prefer the latter.
In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America,” the former U.S. ambassador to China maintained a level-headed tone, but nevertheless moved sharply to the right on a range of domestic issues.
(See the breakdown of the issues in Benen’s post)
….To his credit, Huntsman was less willing to flip on civil unions and immigration, but on everything else, Huntsman was moving to the right so quickly, I’m surprised it didn’t cause whiplash.
For that matter, his willingness to explicitly endorse the Ryan agenda - including Medicare privatization - would prove to be wildly problematic in the general election, should he get that far.
Full post here
Richard Swett (Concord Monitor): Today Jon Huntsman makes his New Hampshire debut as a potential presidential candidate. As someone who served under both a Democratic and a Republican president abroad, I applaud him for setting his Republican Party affiliation aside for two years to serve President Obama in China.
…But I wonder which Huntsman will be coming to the Granite State this week. Already he has been flip-flopping, like all the Republican candidates, pandering to the most extreme views of the Republican base. When these Republican candidates begin their presidential runs, it seems like all the pragmatic and commonsense policymaking they once listed as accomplishments becomes a record from which they try to distance themselves.
….Will the Huntsman who told the Obama administration that he appreciated what the president was trying to do on health care be the one coming to Manchester this weekend? Or will it be a Romney-lite Huntsman who attempts to distance himself from the president’s groundbreaking reforms that will ensure millions of Americans have access to quality affordable health care?
Will the Huntsman who supports a larger stimulus package come to Windham? Huntsman told Politico that the stimulus “probably wasn’t large enough,” and accepted more than $1.6 billion in stimulus money as governor of Utah. Is that what he’ll tell the Windham Republican Town Committee this week?
Will the Huntsman who supports civil unions and gay rights come to Franklin … he may just be the latest candidate in a presidential primary where all the competitors are moving to the right - as quickly as possible. If Huntsman follows this well-trodden path, it will be nothing new and nothing as fresh as the Washington pundits suggest his candidacy to be.
Full article here
17
May
11
flip-flop
Steve Benen: In the surest sign yet that Jon Huntsman, President Obama’s former ambassador to China, is running for president, the Republican has given up his support for cap-and-trade. He joins Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, who did the same thing before launching their own national bids.
But Taegan Goddard flags an interesting quote from Huntsman on the issue, which speaks to a larger concern. When Time magazine asked, “You also believe in climate change, right?” Huntsman replied:
“I’m not a meteorologist. All I know is 90 percent of the scientists say climate change is occurring. If 90 percent of the oncological community said something was causing cancer we’d listen to them.”
…. Reminded how easy it is to always put environmental crises on the back burner behind other priorities, Huntsman added that addressing climate change would put “additional burdens on the pillars of growth,” which is “counter-productive.”
This is, in general, the worst of all possible positions. Much of the right believes climate change is a “hoax” and an elaborate conspiracy cooked up by communists to destroy America’s way of life. These deniers have a simple solution to the problem: ignore it and pretend there is no problem. Much of the left takes the evidence seriously, is eager to address the crisis, and has a variety of possible solutions to the problem, including but not limited to cap-and-trade plans.
Huntsman apparently wants to split the difference — he accepts the evidence and believes the problem is real; Huntsman just doesn’t want to do anything about it.
…he isn’t doing himself any favors by trying to thread this needle. The right will be unimpressed that he believes the science, and the left will be unimpressed that he prefers to ignore the problem for the indefinite future.
Full post here
White House.gov
night everyone
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A very, very, very big thank you again to Henry VIII (!) for visiting us today (here) - thrilled to have you here, Mr Healy!
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Bye bye Muppets, hello the Living Dead…..
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Worried about Huntsman?
Nate Silver: …. polling worse than Mr. Gingrich was Mr. Huntsman. About half of the views Republicans expressed about Mr. Huntsman were negative, producing an Unacceptably Index of 51 percent.
Thank you Suzanne
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See you tomorrow