Posted on 12/07/2011 9:24:46 AM PST by St. Louis Conservative
One wonders, therefore, if a conservative case could be made for former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, as has been suggested by several conservative columnists recently, including George Will, Jim Pethokoukis, and Joe Scarborough. Indeed, it is interesting that Huntsman was so quickly dismissed as a RINO, when many of his positions actually appear to be to the right of both Romney and Gingrich.
On health care, for example, Huntsman flirted with an individual mandate unfortunately, a lot of conservatives did when the idea was being pushed by the Heritage Foundation but, unlike Romneycare, the plan he ultimately developed for Utah did not include one. It did, however, include a new regulatory bureaucracy called "the portal," a less onerous version of President Obama's health-insurance exchanges or Mitt Romney's Connector. Note that "less onerous" does not mean "good idea." On the other hand, Huntsman did not support the Medicare prescription-drug benefit that both Romney and Gingrich backed.
On education, Huntsman clearly has a better record than either Romney or Gingrich. While both of them backed No Child Left Behind and continue to push for greater federal involvement in education, Huntsman opposed NCLB, saying, "We need to take education to the local level, where parents and local elected officials can determine the destiny of these schools." He actually signed a bill that gave Utah's educational standards priority over NCLB, letting education officials in Utah "ignore provisions of federal law that conflict with the state's program." And he pushed through a substantial school-choice program in Utah.
Huntsman also appears to be to the right of both Gingrich and Romney on key economic issues such as taxes, spending, and entitlement reform.
(Excerpt) Read more at cato.org ...
Please give this article, and Jon Huntsman, an honest assessment.
Any late word of the Buddy Roemer candidacy?
Huntsman is the prefffered Republican candidate of the pundits on MSNBC. That ought to tell you something. The only reason he has ever been in public office is because he was the spoiled little rich kid of a Billionaire.
No thanks...and no sale.
He is amnesty freak, Global Warming scam artist and bashing conservatives. That’s enough for me. No thanks.
Of course, same applies for Romney and especially for Newt, but that is no reason for back another similar guy (who is planning 3rd party run).
We have actual conservatives running in GOP primaries. Michele is opposed to amnesty, GW scam, and obamacare mandates. That is a huge difference.
Does Hunstman belong to the Mormon cult?
Huntsman was a governor so of course he didn’t support the prescription health entitlement. Guess who has to pick up a lot of the costs? The state does.
Had it been 100% funded I bet he’d support it.
You just can’t look at how someone voted at the state level you have to try and get into his true values. And the problem with that is at the state level you have more responsibilities than at the federal level (at least according to the constitution). So if he wanted to make his state a welfare state it doesn’t mean he’d do the same at the federal level if he believes in the constitution. But then how do we know how one will lead at the federal level?
To be honest I’m not sure. Maybe look at how they voted when in a federal position. That will help us with Newt, Bachman, Paul, and Santorum. But what about Romney, Huntsman, and Perry? How do we know what they’d be like at the federal level? Will they take their positions that worked in their state to the federal level? Or will they go with the beltway opinion on what to do next? I truly believe what keeps most of these governors from the south in check is the voters...they know they can’t go super liberal with their voters, but on the federal level who knows.
Huntsman is a weird Romney clone. He’s even blander than Romney, if that’s possible. No wonder the likes of Evan Thomsas love him.
Newt, for all his faults, has been battling the liberals for 30 years.
I wanted Palin, was for Cain and am now solidly behind Gingrich. He doesn’t fear the media, or the liberals and will, if elected, tear the executive establishment asunder.
glad you posted this.
I DO NOT like Newt and like Romney even less.
Whatever his policies, Huntsman is going nowhere.
From Wikipedia:
Huntsman was born March 26, 1960 in Redwood City, California.[2] His mother is Karen Haight Huntsman, daughter of LDS Church apostle David B. Haight.[3] His father is billionaire businessman and philanthropist Jon Huntsman, Sr. of the Huntsman Corporation.[4] Through his father, Huntsman, Jr. is the great-great-great-grandson of early LDS Church leader Parley P. Pratt.[5]
In 1975 (age 15), Huntsman earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank of the Boy Scouts of America.[6][7] Huntsman attended Highland High School in Salt Lake City but dropped out before graduating to pursue his passion as a keyboard player in the rock band Wizard.[8][9]
Huntsman later obtained a G.E.D. and enrolled at the University of Utah, where he became, like his father, a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Huntsman served as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan for two years. He then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor’s degree in international politics in 1987.
[edit]
What conservatives flirted with an individual mandate?
The manchurian candidate.. Zeros choice for chinese emissary.. Barry Half-Whites attempt to fool the chinese..
-OR- Barrys contact with his chinese bosses..
-OR- his attempt to finalize his claim for the american territory in the new world order..
Note; Hunstman is a democrat TOOL.. Plan “Z” if plans A” thru “C” fail.. i.e. A=Romney, B=nOOt, C=Paul
Hey, St. Louis, I remember you from the last election cycle. No thanks.
Homosexuals:
Believes in traditional marriage but also civil unions
Supports civil unions and other rights for same-sex couples
Agreed to extend some rights to gay people
Immigration:
Vetoed repeal of college tuition for illegal immigrants.
Border fence repulses me; inconsistent with America's image.
2008: GOP should tack to the middle on immigration.
Environment:
Congress should cap greenhouse-gas pollution
And finally:
So... No thanks!
Thanks
An intriguing thought: did Obama pick him for China to keep him away in 2012? Now that I look at him in more detail, I'm surprised Huntsman made such a blunder by taking it (he could have faked something about his family when turning it down). He has nice, solid credentials and a good (not great) track record. He gave a nominating speech for Palin, for crying out loud.
But I think he's too much like Obama in one sense: he wants to be president but can't tell anyone why, other than he wants to be.
Newt wants to be president, I think, because he wants to be a historic figure. Given that historic figures include the good and the evil, I'm not saying that's necessarily a plus.
I think Romney wants to be president because it's been drilled in him since a young age that he would be good at it. I don't necessarily think he's as passionate as Newt, but I think he would consider it a failure if he never became POTUS.
OK, Huntsman had his nose so far up the one's butt, it took two weeks to get the stain off.
Are you insane, this pimp fawned over obama.
Is that honest enough for you?
He’s a cut above Romney/Gingrich/Perry, who are basically soft fascists. But that’s not saying much, and he wouldn’t really lead in the direction I think we need to go.
He’s also a CFR/CoC sock-puppet. Romney has an air-tight lock on most of the GOP electorate that gravitates to those types of candidates. And Paul has a pretty tight grip on the Libertarians. For Huntsman to have a realistic chance at the nomination, he’d need both those candidates to withdraw - and that’s just not going to happen because they both have deep pockets and loyal niche followings.
I would be genuinely supportive of Huntsman (probably wouldn’t vote for him, but would consider it a step forward for US politics) if he were to run as a democrat.
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