“I wouldn’t necessarily trust any of my opponents right now, who were on a recent debate stage with me, when every single one of them would have allowed this country to default,” Huntsman told Jake Tapper on ABC News’s This Week. “You can imagine, even given the uncertainty of the marketplace the last several days and the last couple of weeks, if we had defaulted for the first time in the history of the greatest country that ever was — being 25 percent of the world’s GDP and having the largest financial services sector in this world by a long shot — if we had defaulted, Jake, this marketplace would be in absolute turmoil.”
Huntsman said that his opponents — both President Obama on the left and his party on the right — represent what is wrong with the current political landscape, adding that that there was “zero leadership” from both sides of the aisle.
While the move is sure to differentiate Huntsman from the crowd, it remains to be seen whether it will also be an act of political suicide.
“Right now this country is crying out for a sensible middle ground,” he said. “Right now we have people on the fringes…. We have zero substance.”
— and by “substance,” Huntsman means the kind where we’re to pretend that a government shutdown is the equivalent of a government “default,” and where accepting the left’s framing of the narrative, and then “leading” so as to hew closely to the parameters they set, is the only “sensible” and “sober” marker of real leadership.
Or to put it another way, Huntsman’s suggestion is that the country is crying out for a “leader” who will lie to them and tell them what they want to hear — to put their minds at ease, even if that means keeping them politically ignorant — then head to DC and manage the slower growth of a big government takeover of our lives. That is, they want a Republican who will act like a Democrat.
And this guy is the candidate favored by the Bush crowd.
Explains why we are where we are, doesn’t it? — and illustrates what I’ve been arguing, namely that, when it comes to the establishment political ruling class, party matters little, and pedigree matters most.
There’s a reason Barbara Bush bristles at the very idea of a Sarah Palin and TEA Partiers, and Jeb Bush Jr throws his weight behind a political non-starter like Huntsman: they are completely out of touch with the mood of the country, and — as a family — they have worked long and hard to remove the last vestiges of Reaganism from the GOP.
Sad to say, but the Bushes — and recall, they were reviled as the most evil rightwing creatures ever by the media and the left — are a big part of the problem: they believe the people need to be ruled, not governed, and they believe that their kind is supposed to be doing that ruling. Compassionately, of course.
No thanks.
It’s time for them to relinquish the stage. And they should take this Huntsman asshole — who is doing more for Democrats than he is for Republicans — with them.
Pretty please.
where did Jeb Bush throw his support behind this effete piece of shit last I saw he was a Ryan guy
It was Jeb’s son Jeb Jr.
Would that be the absolute turmoil wrought in effect by a complicit justice department when the entire Wall Street banking system all the way up to and through the Fed and Treasury rode — and continues to ride — absolutely roughshod over the backs of the country, John?
Cause you’d be large and in charge if your best plans play out the way you want and I need an answer now to take you even remotely seriously. An answer even various Matt Damons have apparently approached, if that gives you any hints.
I’ll bet John Huntsman would have gotten along great with Bob Michel.
Jon Huntsman is running for the wrong party’s nomination.
In fact, depending on how the race for the GOP nomination looks by the time we in Georgia get to vote in our presidential primary, I could see me voting for Huntsman on the Dem side instead. He would be an improvement on Obama.
He’s just not right for the R brand.
And this guy is the candidate favored by the Bush crowd.
If this guy is a candidate for POTUS then I am a candidate for the papacy.
I don’t know what his game is but being POTUS ain’t it.
It was Jeb’s son Jeb Jr.
Heheheh.
Y’know, Huntsman is well positioned. Making he can get Ronald Reagan’s endorsement too.
[…] Huntsman comes out swinging! Or to put it another way, Huntsman’s suggestion is that the country is crying out for a “leader” who will lie to them and tell them what they want to hear — to put their minds at ease, even if that means keeping them politically ignorant — then head to DC and manage the slower growth of a big government takeover of our lives. That is, they want a Republican who will act like a Democrat. […]
Tweeth Huntsman:
Wanna bet he got hundreds of tweets saying “You’re crazy”? Wanna bet one of them was mine?
SENSIBLE MIDDLE GROUND!
Peace in our time!
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
The more I hear Huntsman talk, the more I want to smack him silly.
evolution is nice but it has fuck all to do with being president … global warming though is becoming a very useful way to take the measure of someone’s character … it’s a coward’s religion, which is why your Meghan’s coward daddy types are so drawn to it I guess
I trust the scientists that say AGW is a load of horseshit.
The Holy See called regarding my candidacy for the next pope.
They wanted to clarify their records and asked me if in fact I was not at all Catholic nor ever had been.
I told them no.
They seemed perplexed, and asked if I had plans to convert.
I told them no.
They thanked me and told me they’d keep me in mind.
I think I have a good shot. My papacy will be a pro-business papacy. I’m going to rename the Vatican ‘Popeland’ and sell off Irish churches to fund a new TV advertising tourist campaign.
Swinging at what, I think is the question.
Also I’ve been looking that the market demo data and I’ve decided to change the official religion of Catholicism to Islam.
Also I’m gonna fire all the cardinals and replace them with Donald Trump, and a bunch of b-list italian porn actresses.
Somebody has to be the new Quadaffi.
I trust the scientists who show their work and whose conclusions regarding AGW do not affect their livelihood one way or the other.
I do not trust scientists who:
Know how flawed Al Gore’s film is and don’t demand that it be removed from the schools.
Say that their tree-ring data is OK because those particular trees don’t grow their rings in response to the local temperatures but rather in response to the global scene. (See Mann, teleconnections)
Refuse to release their data and methodologies to scrutiny because “I don’t joust with jesters.” (See Hansen, NASA-GISS)
Refuse to release their data and methodologies to scrutiny, whining “We have 25 or so years invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it.”
Refuse to correct typographical errors in your research because you don’t like the guy who pointed them out. (See Mann, MBH98 and MM03)
Refuse to stop using strip-bark and foxtail bristlecone tree-ring data even after the National Science Association tells you to stop. (See Mann, again)
Rely on computer models that don’t take cloud formation into account and in some cases posit an infinitely dense atmosphere. (See everybody)
Won’t denounce the political spokesman whose conflict of interest in promoting AGW is so obvious it hurts.
Delete years and years of raw data so that no one can verify it against your adjusted data. (See East Anglia)
Make excuses like this for not disclosing data.
Damn, but the list goes on. The blatantly non-scientific behavior from these clowns is breathtaking both in its abundance and its impudence.
#4 – great…thanks for that. I had not thought of Bend Over Bob for years.
Does this mean that Huntsman is our modern day John B. Anderson?
Anderson ran for the wrong party’s nomination too. And he would have made a better Democrat nominee in 1980 than Carter did. Fortunately the Republicans made the right choice for their own nominee that year.
Huntsman?
Oh, that guy…
TOT* It’s official: Paul Ryan Not Running for President
* Tangentially On Topic
Frank Luntz?
I’ve decided to not run for president as well. You heard it here first.
casa mittens
Link
3009 square feet is not big enough if he wants to be able to invite the whole family
Mitt Romneycare’s campaign contributors are just like family.
i hope his dog gets his own place
Link
Thanks for that tweet link to Huntsman, dicentra.
Hey, here’s a trick you might want to incorporate: put a “.” in front of the @name, and your tweets will be seen by all your followers. Without the “.”, the only tweeps who see it are those who follow both you and the one you’ve addressed. Mine went out like this…
.@JonHuntsman You’re not crazy, just seeking the nomination for the wrong political Party. #RINO #McCAIN #DOLE #JEFFORDS #CRIST #SPECTER
mr. ace calls them RINOsaurs
Hatch is a corrupt whore what wants to die in office with Meghan’s coward daddy and Frank Lautenberg. I hope he gets his wish soon.
@28 I’d forgotten all about Romney pulling a Chevy Chase stunt.
In fairness to Romney, the damned dog had diarrhea. What else were they to do? Other than leave it at a ‘Camp Bow Wow‘…did they have those back in ’83?
that’s partly why mom said you can’t ever leave your crayons out cause it’ll make the dog poop funny
I find it comforting to know there are so many others out there that feel the same way about Huntsman.
“This country is crying out for a sensible middle ground.” No, John they’re not. They’re crying out for a leader with some fiscal sanity.
Now go back to Utah and end this zombie movie of a campaign you’re running.
This…
…will never happen.
Hopefully what this means is Huntsman realizes his Time is UP.
I think most people assumed from the start Huntsman was running for VP.
Biden better watch his back.