Jon Huntsman: I think it’s today, yeah.
[Posted by Karl]
Jon Huntsman, who claimed third place in New Hampshire was a “ticket to ride” to South Carolina, has figured out we don’t care. The former Utah governor will drop out of the GOP nomination campaign and plans to endorse frontrunner Mitt Romney later this morning. His campaign YouTube page has been purged of anti-Romney videos. His anti-Romney websites now redirect to Yahoo.
You know who this benefits, but the benefit has to be marginal. Team Obama used Huntsman’s withdrawal to take a shot at Romney, which is even more marginal.
The establishment line developing on Twitter is that conservatives never forgave Huntsman for being Obama’s ambassador to China. I’ll stick with what I wrote in December — Huntsman blew it by running as the Maverick Who Insults Conservatives when his record was arguably more conservative than Romney and Newt Gingrich. Indeed, he was the anti-Gingrich: his substance was more conservative than his image and he insulted all the wrong targets. And unlike Rick Perry, he insulted the wrong people intentionally. That approach has John Weaver written all over it, but Huntsman was dumb enough to think it was smart.
Thus, Huntsman exits the stage, perhaps hoping for a cabinet post in a Romney administration, probably having to explain to the press why a “perfectly lubricated weather vane” is exactly what America needs in 2012.
–Karl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDmsk0dwPyo
Jon Huntsman quoting Naomi Oreskes (whether he knows it or not), while simultaneously insulting oh sixty five or seventy percent of (hopefully more) the GOP base.
Good riddance.
papertiger (e55ba0) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:36 amAlright, so now Mittwit has the Huntsman family vote. Outside of Utah, how does that help him?
∅ (721840) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:32 amDon’t underestimate Huntsman’s endorsement of Mitt Romney. It may not relfect in too many votes that are diverted to Romney but when a major Presidential candidate pulls out and endorses another it is a big deal. Another governor in Romney’s corner as opposed to endorsing a career politician in congress, and who had the most credentials in foreign policy will mean something to voters regardless of any type of spin.
I always thought that in this election there were only three candidates that ran who could take the helm in these times. It was all three governors. “Supporting” programs and ideas or casting votes isn’t going to cut it in this election with the shape of the nation especially after Obama has demonstrated what career politicians do in power as opposed to people that actually govern.
Dave B (982f20) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:33 amBeing endorsed by a condescending, smug ,Richard Cranium, will surely not get my vote.
sickofrinos (44de53) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:53 amWith the Media and Government protecting me from reality I am able to sleep at night:
http://www.verumserum.com/?p=36775
Hey, we’ve tried the Executive whose Personal Approval never goes down lets try one whose rating never goes up.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:31 amI keep hearing that Romney’s approval rating remains stagnant yet that’s not what I’m seeing. I’m reading it though. Mostly from the MSM and conservatives that just won’t let go to the notion Thomas Jefferson re-incarnated is coming to the rescue. We have great candidates. Which one among them is supposed to be the next Messiah like Obama? That’s not what we do. Romney was supposed to finish third in Iowa. He won it. Romney was supposed to get 25% of the vote in New Hampshire but he won 40% even with the number of candidates. Surely he wouldn’t win South Carolina and Florida and trailed Newt by a substantial amount but the polls show he has a strong showing and may win both currently. The DNC is concentrating all their efforts on attack ads on Romney.
Serious voters pick up on that stuff and most of us aren’t blinded by our own ideology like the Left. We tend to be more pragmatic and logical.
Dave B (982f20) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:54 amOne less RINO.
[note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]
ODB (dcf97e) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:24 amI still vote for mittens over zippy, but I don’t see a Huntsman endorsement as a deciding factor with independents an fence sitters. Although, another eight to ten links to slate by juiceboxgerd might convince me that the zipter isn’t a two-digit.
∅ (721840) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:30 amwill[argh]
∅ (721840) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:30 aman=and
PIMF!
∅ (721840) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:31 amHuntsman blew it by running as the Maverick Who Insults Conservatives when his record was arguably more conservative..
That, and he attempted to court independents during a primary, which worked out exactly as one would think. And, yeah, he was pretty much the most conservative in the race, with a good record.
William Teach (e7c30b) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:50 amTitosa weaps.
JD (d5e24e) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:57 amJD, give my condolensces to BJTex’s family.
∅ (721840) — 1/16/2012 @ 6:03 am6. “Serious voters pick up on that stuff and most of us aren’t blinded by our own ideology like the Left.”
Speaking of insulting conservatives who eat their own.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 6:11 am‘Shirley they can’t be serious’
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/01/15/newsweek-cover-story-why-are-obamas-critics-so-dumb
narciso (87e966) — 1/16/2012 @ 6:19 am“Titosa weaps”.
Comment by JD
sick with bad cold, colonel went into coughing laugh mode, too weak to slouch toward kitchen to make coffee.
Colonel Haiku (b486eb) — 1/16/2012 @ 6:49 amHow much of Huntsman’s conservative record was simply the result of running for office in Utah? If anything, his campaign probably gave us a look at the real Jon Huntsman.
maguro (d13bbb) — 1/16/2012 @ 6:59 amHuntsman had a pretty impressive record of accomplishments and body of experience. I liked the guy, but he had no fire. It’s a shame to see him out of the race.
Chuck Bartowski (3bccbd) — 1/16/2012 @ 7:29 amWell at least he can hunt men.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 7:33 amI will do that, symbol person.
JD (d5e24e) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:07 amS.E. Cupp roasts Gingrich for his tactics. Could describe many.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:28 amDoes S.E. Cupp ever roast Romney for his underhanded tactics?
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:35 amI think I’m gonna be sad….
So, Sec. of State?
carlitos (49ef9f) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:36 amKeep on mocking Sarah Palin but defending Obamas gaffes lefturds.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:44 amCome on, Doh, you know that ‘unpossible’
narciso (87e966) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:46 amhttp://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/16/2592091/santorum-accuses-pro-romney-pac.html
narciso (87e966) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:52 amHuh?
Obama is unpossible?
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 8:54 amThe left want to raise taxes on the rich but stink when their taxpayers money goes to protect the rich.
I wish you well in your future endeavors Terry Huntsman.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:01 amIt seemed to me he actually had fire… but mainly just to moan about Republicans. Particularly the base. As if we need that this year, given how generally awful the party is being in performance.
The GOP should be bending over backwards and apologizing to the right. Not acting like we’re a bunch of unreasonable zealots. It kinda suggests they don’t realize the urgency of our problems, or the GOP’s crucial role in causing those problems.
Dustin (cb3719) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:16 amLady Gaga Huntsman can now be a dog catcher.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:18 amPerry needs to go next he’s already dug his own political grave at the national level
now it’s time to lie down
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:41 amDamn I didn’t see that coming.
The Emperor (fbdcfe) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:44 amHuntsman may well have chosen the wrong advisors who pitched thus “Republican lite” approach to him. I smell former McCain advisors. There are lots of such people clustering around campaigns. Many are available because the major candidates are wise to them.
Mike K (9ebddd) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:46 amNotably John Weaver, who recommended the brilliant
narciso (87e966) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:50 am‘attack Jerry Falwell’ strategy in 2000,
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20081018_8644.php
narciso (87e966) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:52 amLaura this AM advised the Romany campaign to embrace its Truth, quit BSing about job creation, which was irrelevant to his business, and talk instead about the $Billion$ he made for investors.
Certainly sounds good in the abstract, Amerikkka loves a winner. But making the case requires light and detail.
Meanwhile the southern Evangelical ‘leaders’ in Texas are pushing to get Santorum into the VP slot(on 1st ballot Nor Laup got 1 vote). Thus the GOP would present the fiscal moderate-social conservative wing of the GOP.
Yeah, I had no idea they existed either.
Thus joining arm-in-arm with the feckless sophists who bill $600 an hour in cutting out those billing $250.
So the paper shuffling capitalists get a voice, the TV religion capitalists get a voice and the pizza tossing, tire changing, clothes laundering, grass mowing, etc., capitalists are happy with trickle down yummies. Good doggie.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 9:54 amWhy do the left think homeschooled kids whether they are religious or not are failures?
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 10:31 amYeah, Huntsman shouldn’t have gone after the base, but I still liked a lot of what he stood for.
Like his economic development plan
If he could have gotten more traction on his campaign, he would have been my choice.
Oh well, I will still get behind the Republican nominee, even if it means holding my nose a bit.
Chuck Bartowski (3bccbd) — 1/16/2012 @ 10:48 amWill Harry Belafonte get over his bromance with Maobama?
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 11:06 amBeing endorsed by a condescending, smug ,Richard Cranium, will surely not get my vote.
Comment by sickofrinos — 1/16/2012 @ 3:53 am
— Reason why matters not. Intent is a lefty obsession. Just as long as you do the right thing when the time comes.
Icy (0a3ca0) — 1/16/2012 @ 11:48 amJohn Huntsman chicken are coming home to roost unh.
/Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Bin Laden
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 11:51 amI love how he left see racism in everything not realizing that their guy LBJ signed the CRA in order to get blacks voting for him.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 11:58 am39. “Just as long as you do the right thing when the time comes”
I suspect sicko has a different sense of Right than following marching orders.
Good point about the Left and intent tho. You are not far removed from Wisdom.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 12:17 pmHuntsman’s Plan:
1. Do well in New Hampshire
2. ????
3. Win nomination.
Did not work.
Kevin M (563f77) — 1/16/2012 @ 12:34 pmHuntsman is setting himself up to run in 2016 after 8 years of Obama has reduced the Republicans to whimpering reformers like the Euroweenie right. Which role Huntsman will fill
Kevin M (563f77) — 1/16/2012 @ 12:41 pmperfectlyadequately.I know this girl, see. Once in a while she gets a terrible feeling, like something is missing. She checks her purse and her keys, she counts her kids, she goes crazy. And then she realizes that… nothing is missing.
It’s just side effects from Jon Huntsman’s withdrawal from the Republican primary.
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 1/16/2012 @ 12:56 pmDi you look at his economic plan? Tax reform, regulatory reform, energy independence and free trade. What part of that is Euroweenie-esque?
Chuck Bartowski (3bccbd) — 1/16/2012 @ 1:10 pmThe weekly Standard had an editorial this week (page 7 of the January 16 2012 issue) against this whole idea that Romney has it wanted everybody should drop out)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/all-we-are-saying_616156.html
All We Are Saying . . .
Jan 16, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 17 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL
They say the establishment usually wins but it doesn’t always win the general election. They see there might be a challenger: Rick Santorum. (They don’t name anybody else) And voters shouldn’t think the race is over before it even began. The establishment is trying to put so heavy a thumb on the scale that people think so.
Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal last Thursday: If Romney, having beaten Santorum by all of eight votes in Iowa, wins in New Hampshire, where he has a summer home and has been campaigning for six years—well, then we should all just accept the inevitability of Romney. After all, then “Romney is 2-0.” And if he’s 2-0, by whatever margins and in states with 11 electoral votes—“he becomes the prohibitive favorite” for the nomination.
Really? Well, no. But the point is to convince Santorum supporters, and those of you who might consider becoming Santorum supporters, that he has no chance, so as to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of Romney inevitability. After all, “Mr. Santorum shouldn’t kid himself; he faces huge obstacles. . . . He hasn’t had to endure withering scrutiny but will shortly. His chief opponent has tremendous organizational and financial advantages and has been through the rigors of a presidential primary race.” Rove does note with gracious condescension, “Mr. Santorum has a shot, and that’s all he could have hoped for.”
Actually, Santorum can hope to win. He has been running to win. And after what he pulled off in Iowa, it’s foolish to suggest he doesn’t have a chance to win. His Iowa performance, and his speech Tuesday night, were impressive enough to suggest to primary voters in subsequent states that they should make an effort to judge both his capacity to win and his capacity to govern.
Organizational and financial advantages often prevail. But isn’t the story of America that they don’t always determine the outcome? And, by the way, if the candidate with those advantages does prevail, won’t he be better off for having faced a serious challenger? ..
Sammy Finkelman (68a4ee) — 1/16/2012 @ 1:19 pmHuntsman originally wanted to stay at least through the south Carolina primary (what was he hoping for anyway) but he decided to quit in order not to get in the way of Romney.
Why is Romney so important to him?
He got a few delegates in New Hampshire. These will no one way or another go to Romney. So will Paul’s delegates of course.
Sammy Finkelman (68a4ee) — 1/16/2012 @ 1:22 pmDid you look at his economic plan?
Yes, I did. Better than Romney’s.
Tax reform, regulatory reform, energy independence and free trade. What part of that is Euroweenie-esque?
The part that was the presenter, who roundly dissed the main constituency for said plan as a bunch of know-nothings.
The vast majority of the Tea Party viewed fiscal and regulatory policy to be paramount in the campaign, and Huntsman, the Brahman, treated them like lepers.
Kevin M (563f77) — 1/16/2012 @ 1:28 pmAh, so it’s not the message,it’s the messenger?
Suppose a President were to actually implement such a plan. Suppose he lowered and simplified taxes, reined in the EPA, allowed more US-based oil production and opened up free trade with other nations. Would it matter who he was? Shoot, if Obama were to do all of that, I’d vote for him (fortunately, he’s not likely to do any of that).
Chuck Bartowski (3bccbd) — 1/16/2012 @ 1:48 pmHuntsman has a conservative record but attacks other conservatives to hide it.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 1:57 pmListening to Permabull Kudlow’s show he interviewed a contributing editor, Murdock(sp?) of NRO who said all of the candidates’ economic plans were better than Romney’s.
Apart from his take on Newt’s attack, which he did not characterize, only deplored the tack, he sounded like an honest broker, which I would not think of the average NRO hack.
Where are the TEAs the GOP supposedly harbored? They may be there but its like they are cowed, rather like all those moderate Muslims we keep hearing about.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:02 pmI know. It’s ridiculous how this primary has played out. I wonder if the democrats were right about some Tea Partiers. They don’t want their entitlements cut.
They know they don’t want Mitt Obamacare Romney, too, so it’s hard to know exactly what they want.
Dustin (cb3719) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:11 pmI don’t know when but I made a joke about huntsmen hunting men.
Now he can go join Jimmeh Carter in hunting teh rabbits?
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:18 pmYou should vote for me you stupid hilljacks does not strike me as good marketing.
JD (d5e24e) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:19 pm🙂
Huntsman forgot his handy dandy notebook.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:28 pm53. I do have a sister in the Santorum camp, but can the TEAs actually make headway blowing the fiscal change front completely?
“If we don’t fix entitlements it doesn’t matter what we do” is an excuse to do nothing at all.
OTOH, cutting the Postal employ in half, dumping the Dept. of Education entirely, means losing votes just as surely.
Demosthenes’ dilemma.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:37 pmI don’t think Huntsman intended to win the nomination. His strategy doesn’t make a lick of sense if that was his goal. I think folks recognize he could have been a contender, in hindsight, only because the other candidates all are so poor in one way or another.
Only in hindsight do people scratch their heads and wonder ‘why didn’t he play to win?’
The truth is probably that Huntsman was running for VP, assuming the winds were headed to the right and the GOP was going to nominate a fire breathing conservative like Cain or at least a very reliable conservative like Perry, and there would be need for a) a ticket balancer who seemed moderate and b) someone the conservative nominee would be comfortable picking because he had a decent record.
Huntsman situated himself pretty well for that, and then the GOP primary lurched to the left. Now, the nominee will likely want to pick someone to balance the ticket in the other direction.
Dustin (cb3719) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:38 pmDebbie Schlussel going on the warpath again accusing Wahlberg of being a racist teabagger.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 2:39 pmScrew the UFT.
bloomberg runs the Education System like the cronyist he is.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:01 pmMitt Romney is a flip-flopper.
Gingrich is a Douschenozzle.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:09 pm62. Evidently Santorum called Romany a lying hypocritcal dirtbag slimebucket on Laura today.
Maybe there’s hope if Toomey slaps him silly and spins him onto the Right path.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:17 pmWho’s the idiot that keeps typing in the next comment number next to my drivel?
Dork.
gary gulrud (d88477) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:19 pmYour drivel?
I think your making sense.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:40 pm“Just as long as you do the right when the time comes”
sickofrinos (44de53) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:49 pmSounds like something Huntsmen would demand of me.
40+ years of pulling the lever the nro way is over for this cowboy!!
I’ll be reloading while you’ll be softening the edges of Marxism.
Rick Perry. Just because it makes so much danged sense.
Colonel Haiku (b486eb) — 1/16/2012 @ 3:59 pm_____________________________________________
his substance was more conservative than his image and he insulted all the wrong targets.
I always had suspicions about him, if only because I suspect if a person is truly of the right, then the last thing he or she will want to do is insult people of conservative bent. But it was also because I noticed various folks on the left, or extremely squishy people, often saying that among the Republican candidates, he was the one they could accept or at least stomach. I’m not sure if that was because they too had a sense he was ideologically very pliable due to his connections with Obama.
If Huntsman in reality leaned further right than presumed, could that have been due to his not necessarily being innately conservative, as much as it was because he was in the middle of the socio-political environment of Utah? IOW, if Romney felt the pressure of being pushed to the left in uber-blue Massachusetts, maybe Huntsman was the flip side of that.
Mark (411533) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:13 pmPoliticalTicker Perry loses key South Carolina supporter… dang it!
http://t.co/3uB2pVzW
Colonel Haiku (b486eb) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:20 pmphilipaklein Fitting Perry compares himself to Moses. It’ll take 10 plagues on opponents to revive his candidacy. http://t.co/nCxWUjZL
Now that’s just plain mean!
Colonel Haiku (b486eb) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:27 pmAh, so it’s not the message,it’s the messenger?
Chuck,
Yes it’s the presenter because the published plan wasn’t serious, as the campaign wasn’t serious.
Huntsman was never running for the 2012 nomination, he’s running for 2016, after Obama has completed his screwing of the USA. The platform he put out now was never intended to be implemented, just read and be something that he can point to next time to defuse hostility towards his kinder/gentler post-Obama agenda.
If he wanted to actually get support for this stealth plan, he would have courted the people in the party most in favor of it. He did not.
Kevin M (563f77) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:28 pmIt’ll take 10 plagues … to revive his candidacy.
B A R A C K O B A M A. Ooops, that’s 11.
Kevin M (563f77) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:30 pmhttp://pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/themes/instapundit/images/permalink.gif
Colonel Haiku (b486eb) — 1/16/2012 @ 4:35 pmI still find it funny that the useful idiots who still sing his praises think he is cleaning up Bush’s economy when he is continuing Bush’s pro-bailout policies.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:13 pmI’am referring to Obama.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:13 pmThose who oppose gorebull warming are spewing hot air.
/Neutered Gingrich and Prancy Princess Pelousy
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/16/2012 @ 5:58 pmFrom the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the web Tuesday January 18, 2012:
Bye-Ku for Jon Huntsman
Call me crazy, but
Sammy Finkelman (d3daeb) — 1/18/2012 @ 4:27 pmI think insulting voters
Will warm them to me
What does Huntsman think of Palestinian statehood?
We know the left think rejecting Palestine statehood is evil.
Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 1/18/2012 @ 4:30 pm