Posted on 05/17/2009 12:42:35 AM PDT by Schnucki
This is a very clever move by President Barack Obama. He's chosen Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah as his ambassador to China.
A Republican, former ambassador to Singapore and fluent Mandarin speaker, Huntsman has recently staked out centrist stances on gay rights, climate change and stimulus spending. He'd made clear his contempt for the Republican congressional leadership, saying: "I have not met them. I don't listen or read whatever it is they say because it is inconsequential - completely."
That made him the best-placed moderate Republican to challenge for the 2012 presidential nomination. By any analysis, at this stage a 2012 Republican victory looks like an uphill struggle. Mitt Romney - a former moderate who's now positioned himself firmly on the Right - is probably the front runner with governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota also likely to run.
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana appears to be biding his time until 2016 while the soap opera storyline of Sarah Palin;s family and her virtual estrangement from the national GOP make her look a long shot.
Huntsman probably calculated that he would not win in 2012 even if he did manage to secure the nomination. Much better, he would have reasoned, to wait out 2012, gain some major foreign policy experience while not being linked to Obama's domestic policies and have a chance in 2016.
Like the Conservative party in Britain after 1997, it looks to be a long road back for Republicans so taking a time out is likely to be a shrewd decision for someone like Huntsman.
What does Obama gain? It's a concrete example of bipartisanship, he peels off a Republican moderate and therefore shifts the party's centre of gravity further to the Right - which is where Democrats want it),
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
L Ron Paul is a RINO, he supports Third Party candidates.
His views in many areas are more to the left, one reason Cindy Sheehan supported him.
Check out the thread from the other evening where the Paulbot was Zotted and the comments about Paul from a
large number of FReepers.
Ask Jim what he think of RINO Paul
Sounds like these guys would’ve been backing George Christopher in the ‘66 primary, doncha think ?
a blast from the past.
The author is trying to make this sound like a page out of FDR’s playbook. IIRC, Roosevelt appointed some potential challenger (I forget the name, I imagine some of you can fill it in for me) to an ambassadorship, which effectively removed him from the GOP list of possible candidates for the next election.
0bama has done nothing even close to this. Yes, he can make a claim to “bipartisanship”. The likelihood of this governor, whom many of us have never even heard of, being a frontrunner for the GOP race in 2012 is a stretch at best (IMHO).
Keep trying, lefties. LOL!
If I recall, you seemed to think Duncan Hunter was a great candidate too. So I’m not sure how much credibility you have on this issue.
When McCain was nominated and picked Gov. Palin to run against Obama, I voted for Mac & Gov. Palin vs Obama
I don’t vote in general elections for a third party or wirte ins. That stupidity gave us Bill Clinton
Yeah, kinda like remembering the case of the crabs one would catch in a Hong Kong brothel way back when.
And that disaster Woodrow Wilson, too.
Most FReepers who bash Gov. Palin don’t have as their
tag their candidate’s name. I guess they are ashamed of their candidate or don’t have the intellect
to defentd their candidate
And is there something particularly wrong with supporting conservative third parties? Or is FR an exclusively Republican site now, regardless of whether the Republican Party is actually conservative?
His views in many areas are more to the left, one reason Cindy Sheehan supported him.
If Paul is such a leftist--as you implicitly claim, by not identifying the areas on which you disagree with him--then why was Michele Bachmann hanging out at his lunches and learning Austrian economic theory and other libertarian-ish ideas?
Check out the thread from the other evening where the Paulbot was Zotted and the comments about Paul from a large number of FReepers.
I saw that thread.
But I refuse to take the bait that you have set out in an attempt to try to get me zotted.
Paul isn't the only candidate I favor. Sanford, DeMint, Toomey, and McClintock are on my good list too. [And poor Virgil Goode: he got defeated because too many non-local U.Va. students registered here and voted for that bastard Perriello.] Oh, and I gave money to both Goode's and Bachmann's campaigns last year--did you?
Good you didn’t hold your breath waiting for that answer.
I’ll state there’s two genuine people I don’t want to see bashed... Palin and Gov. Sanford. We need them both. Those other RINOs can get stuffed.
The 1912 election was probably the premier example of a bitter RINO sabotaging a Conservative GOP nominee, in the case here, the incumbent William Howard Taft.
Especially the chameleon Romney.
You can look at the thread I mentioned earlier and it will give you the answers re his anti war, and other Michael Moore beliefs. I posted there along with others.
If you don’t want to look that is your problem
What an unbelievably stupid and obnoxious statement. You realize the first primary isn't for more than two-and-a-half years? Most normal people don't have "their candidate" chosen and set on a pedestal yet.
You are a bit paranoid re zotts
primary isn’t for more than two-and-a-half years
then why are you on threads with people who are interested in the 12 election giving out your comments
I’m interested in the 2012 election. That doesn’t mean I’ve committed to a candidate yet. There are candidates I like, but that’s not even relevant to my comments here, and we don’t even know who will be running.
Do you disagree with Paul on anything else besides the war?
Do you disagree with Paul on economics, including reducing government spending and power to their Constitutionally-prescribed limits?
You would do well to remember that, without a functioning private economy, and without the ability to continue issuing government debt, there will be no defense, period, against terrorists, or drug lords, or the armed forces of foreign powers.
And, that's one of Paul's strong points: reducing government spending and keeping government within the bounds of the Constitution. It's a pity that you fail to give him credit in that area.
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