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The GOP's front runners: Bad and worse (George Will pegs Huntsman as most principled conservative).
Washington Post ^ | December 2, 2011 | George Will

Posted on 12/02/2011 9:53:00 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative

(snip)

Jon Huntsman inexplicably chose to debut as the Republican for people who rather dislike Republicans, but his program is the most conservative. He endorses Paul Ryan’s budget and entitlement reforms. (Gingrich denounced Ryan’s Medicare reform as “right-wing social engineering.”) Huntsman would privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Gingrich’s benefactor). Huntsman would end double taxation on investment by eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends. (Romney would eliminate them only for people earning less than $200,000, who currently pay just 9.3 percent of them.) Huntsman’s thorough opposition to corporate welfare includes farm subsidies. (Romney has justified them as national security measures — food security, somehow threatened. Gingrich says opponents of ethanol subsidies are “big-city” people hostile to farmers.) Huntsman considers No Child Left Behind, the semi-nationalization of primary and secondary education, “an unmitigated disaster.” (Romney and Gingrich support it. Gingrich has endorsed a national curriculum.) Between Ron Paul’s isolationism and the faintly variant bellicosities of the other six candidates stands Huntsman’s conservative foreign policy, skeptically nuanced about America’s need or ability to control many distant developments.

Romney might not be a Dewey. Gingrich might stop being (as Churchill said of John Foster Dulles) a bull who carries his own china shop around with him. But both are too risky to anoint today.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: huntsman; jonhuntsman; libertarians; medicalmarijuana; mittromney; newt; newtgingrich; obama; rino; romney; utah
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George Will realizes (as I have only come to recently) that Jon Huntsman is THE option for conservatives at this point. His platform is better than any of the frontrunners, as is his record. He WILL crush Obama in a general election, and that means a GOP senate majority of several seats as well.
1 posted on 12/02/2011 9:53:08 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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Who the Hell is George Will, and why should I give a damn about what he has to say?


2 posted on 12/02/2011 9:56:31 PM PST by Gene Eric (Save a pretzel for the gas jets.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

haha


3 posted on 12/02/2011 9:56:31 PM PST by Rick_Michael ( 'REAL' Conservatives who witch hunt their own, are no better than Obama.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

groooooan


4 posted on 12/02/2011 9:57:19 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: Gene Eric

Kind of funnily shows how some of these syndicated pundits are way off in left field.


5 posted on 12/02/2011 9:58:19 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: Gene Eric

Did you read what he said? Where specifically do you think he’s wrong? Have you seen Huntsman’s platform?


6 posted on 12/02/2011 9:59:24 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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To: St. Louis Conservative

He may very well be the most consistent candidate, I will not argue against that.

Doesn’t mean he’s the most consistent Republican candidate.


7 posted on 12/02/2011 10:02:07 PM PST by Jonty30 (If a person won't learn under the best of times, than he must learn under the worst of times.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Huntsman’s platform is basically to be a political whore who was willing to be Obama’s errand boy to the ChiComs. Since when does a “principled conservative” sell-out to kiss the bum of someone who made Ted Kennedy look like a moderate Democrat?


8 posted on 12/02/2011 10:02:44 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

I’ve heard that Huntsman had a really good record running Utah.


9 posted on 12/02/2011 10:03:41 PM PST by Aria ( "If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.")
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Fax me some of that stuff you’re smoking.


10 posted on 12/02/2011 10:05:23 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (You can't invade the US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.~Admiral Yamamoto)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
"George Will pegs Huntsman as most principled conservative)."

George Will misses on both counts.

11 posted on 12/02/2011 10:07:39 PM PST by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: Army Air Corps

I won’t defend his ambassadorship under Obama. All I can say is that I have looked at his record as governor, and I’ve looked at his platform in detail. I’ve also looked at the other top tier candidates, and there’s no question that Huntsman is the MOST conservative of the bunch. I would encourage you to do some reading and some thinking on this.


12 posted on 12/02/2011 10:08:23 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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To: Jonty30

The choice will come down to Newt, Mitt, or Huntsman. It’s that simple. Out of those three, Huntsman is the most conservative, and has by FAR the best chance to decisively beat Obama in the general.


13 posted on 12/02/2011 10:10:11 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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To: St. Louis Conservative
Huntsman has a Dewey problem-people just don't like him.

The choice is between Gingrich and Romney and George Wills' frustration does not change that reality one millimeter. By focusing his solution on a fringe candidate, George Will squandered whatever opportunity he sought in this column to influence conservatives' choice.


14 posted on 12/02/2011 10:12:45 PM PST by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat, attack!" Bull Halsey)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

If his platform is represented by what he articulates in the debates, then yes.

Huntsman seems like a nice guy, but Will must be smokin’ some weed to think that we ignorant, anti-science Republicans are going to go out of our lazy-ass way to support his prescient pick.


15 posted on 12/02/2011 10:13:43 PM PST by Gene Eric (Save a pretzel for the gas jets.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
Sorry. His bootlicking of the one who has caused much calamity is a grave political sin. You may be gleefully willing to ignore it in favour of some promises. I am not. When next shall he sell himself and for what price? He was willing to dash his principles in favour of chasing after the political flavour of the month (the calamity that we know as B.H. Obama). All for what? To be part of the “in crowd?” If he sells himself that lightly, then what meager price shall he require to sell-out you or me or our nation as a whole?
16 posted on 12/02/2011 10:14:51 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Nope... Not interested in a Mitt light. He’s in it to help Mitt win.


17 posted on 12/02/2011 10:20:21 PM PST by babygene (Figures don't lie, but liars can figure...)
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To: nathanbedford
Exactly Mr Forest!

The last thing we need is a trust fund billionaire who belongs to a religion that many people don't understand and could be twisted to make him look strange. And that is just Romney. Huntsman also has the benefit of working for Obama at one time.

18 posted on 12/02/2011 10:20:59 PM PST by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

If only he didn’t work for 0bama, he might deserve a consideration. As it is, it’s difficult for conservatives to consider him to beat his (former?) boss, regardless his position on issues.


19 posted on 12/02/2011 10:33:17 PM PST by paudio (0bama is like a bad mechanic who couldn't fix your car; he just makes it worse. Get somebody else!)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Seriously, dude. What ARE you smoking ? (C)Huntsman ? Zero’s meat puppet Ambassador idiot-savant ? Tell me this is parody.


20 posted on 12/02/2011 10:36:11 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (If Newt Gingrich is a Reliable Conservative, Joe Biden is a member of MENSA)
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