Yup; they sure do!
Posted on 03/02/2009 7:47:36 AM PST by greyfoxx39
There was at least one 2012 presidential contender missing from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this weekend, traditionally a testing ground for any Republican even remotely considering a White House bid.
That could be in part because Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. risked getting booed off the stage for some of his views.
-SNIP
After running for governor in 2004 as a supporter of a ballot measure that year that not only banned gay marriage but also civil unions, Huntsman made national news earlier this month by saying that he had changed his mind on civil unions.
Largely under the radar of the national media and even out of sight of many in his own party, Huntsman, 48, is emerging as an articulate, unapologetic and unlikely spokesman for a new brand of Republicanism, one that seems out of vogue at a time when many in the GOP attribute their fall from power to a deviation from right-wing orthodoxy.
Huntsman thinks the party's challenge is more profound, owing less to its excessive spending practices during the Bush era than to sweeping demographic and political changes that threaten to consign Republicans to a long-term minority status and confine their appeal to narrow sections of the country.
The party needs to be more intellectually rigorous, and to compete for the votes of the young, the elites and minorities, he said in an interview with POLITICO. To do so, the GOP needs to tack toward the middle on environment, gay rights and immigration. And, yes, Ronald Reagan is to be admired – but as much for his oft-overlooked pragmatism as for his conservative principles.
It’s a view that places him out of step with the prevailing conservative sentiment among most members of the GOP base, but it’s also one that makes Huntsman, a wealthy Mormon scion, the first 2012 Republican primary prospect to unabashedly embrace a middle ground somewhere between moderate Northeastern Republicanism and Sun Belt conservatism.
-SNIP
To become viable again to the 40-and-under bloc that went overwhelmingly for President Obama and will comprise the future voting majority in the country, Huntsman argued the GOP must shift on two issues as generational as they are political: gay rights and the environment.
-SNIP
Compounding his challenge, though, is Huntsman’s religion – he hails from a rich and powerful Latter Day Saints family with deep roots in Utah.
As Mitt Romney showed in 2008, a Mormon background can be a hindrance in running in evangelical-dominated early primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina.
I think it is a stretch to identify one’s idiocy with a church, but that is just my opinion. I do it too I guess, because look at all the jews who care less about Israel and keep electing Dems who don’t care either. It could be an interesting study.
One thing I believe you left out of your equation is the relative position of the parties to the general electorate. I think that there are many conservatives that are clinging to a 40 year reality, which is the country is a center right country. I don't believe that is accurate anymore, especially on a handful of very specific issues; Environment, Civil Unions, Immigration and Health Care. People may self-identify themselves as conservative, but on these issues the polling results clearly favor the Dems.
Let's take gay "rights" as defined as the ability for same sex people to engage in domestic union. While a majority of Americans don't want gay marriage, an equal majority is in favor of civil unions; and the trend favoring civil unions is growing. Furthermore, the fault line on this issue appears to be very generational (and somewhat racial as witnessed by the strong Black opposition to California's Prop 8), with the young supporting and the old resisting. This would signal over the long-term, support will grow for civil unions, not shrink.
I try to look at political realities not through lenses that are clouded by my own ideological beliefs, but through the empirical and numerical realities. Perhaps this is because my educational background is in accounting and economics. The issue specific (not ideological identifying) poll numbers and demographic trends do not favor and will not favor the traditional GOP positions for the foreseeable future.
While it may be a noble endeavor to hold on to what you feel are "core" beliefs, it may be a losing one when it comes to the country's elections; and a long-term one at that. If you want to cling to positions that are less and less popular in the country, so be it. But realize, those choices will have consequences and one of those consequences may be political irrelevance.
Sounds like Obama talking points to me.
ibtz
That’s because Huntsman is NOT going to be Republican POTUS or VP candidate in 2012.
Huntsman’s maternal grandfather David B. Haight was an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Huntsman and his family are also members. Huntsman has eight brothers and sisters and over 60 nieces and nephews on his side of the family.
Huntsman is a seventh-generation Utahn; his wife Mary Kaye is a first-generation Utahn. Together they have seven children: Mary Anne (b. 1985), Abigail (b. 1988), Elizabeth (b. 1989), Jon III (b. 1991), William (b. 1993), Gracie Mei (b. 2000), who is adopted from China, and another baby girl from India, Asha Bharati (b. 2006).
The Republicans, for their part have been famously inept in explaining their positions, while taking pains to abandon conservative policies, especially on domestic economic and social issues. Part of this shift is due to the domination of the Republican leadership by Eastern elites as well as a generational preference for more libertarian positions on issues like drug policy and gay rights.
Yet I maintain that the more potent force for the Republicans' leftward drift has been a vacuum of conservative leadership in the face of daily assaults from a culture dominated by liberals: specifically in the schools, government institutions, and the news media. Our electorate has been pulled to the Left more than it has been pushed, with conservatives unable to find articulate voices within their putative party to effectively push back.
Mormons don't THINK: they FEEL - they SAME THING that elected OBAMA.
Yup; they sure do!
Gettin' any nibbles with this bait?
“Mormons don’t THINK: they FEEL - they SAME THING that elected OBAMA.”
Is this the religion forum where you are allowed to bash and misrepresent Mormons at your every whim?
There goes over the top Elsie again...no emotion in your thoughts, eh? How many Mormons voted for Obama? A LOT more Catholics and Baptists for sure.
The freakin’ country is falling apart!!! HELLO! And all you can see is those nasty MORMONS!!!
Talk about FEELINGS....!
LOL.
I don't believe so. The point I'm trying to make, and perhaps I made it poorly, is that despite how people identify them selves in public polling, either conservative or liberal, there are a number of very specific issues that the clear majority of American's believe that the GOP is on the wrong side.
These issues have changed over time. As an example, while abortion is still contentious, the limitations that Bush placed on abortions the last eight years have been generally very well received. Gun ownership rights is another, despite what Obama may try to do, he clearly campaigned on an agnostic gun platform, if not pro-gun platform - the democrats learned from their drubbing in 2000 and at least changed their public face on the issue. Essentially, the Dems disarmed the GOP on two critical issues. We should learn from their success. To your point about leadership, I would agree that we have lacked a dynamic, articulate, charismatic and influential leader. Maybe such a candidate could address at least one or two of policy positions in a way that doesn't alienate a majority of the electorate.
The environment is a great example. Conventional wisdom would indicate that one has to be a support of "global warming" in order to be pro-environment. I see by myself as pro-environment, but think Global Warming is a complete fraud and hoax. The problem is, when Repub candidates display environmentally sympathetic positions, they seem to get the RINO label almost immediately from the orthodox conservative base. That's a problem.
Ultimately, if GOP candidates can't reach out to people who voted for Obama without getting lampooned (as seen on this very thread) as FAGS, RINOs, Idiots etc., then the GOP will get squashed again in 2010, and probably 2012. Winning elections is about having more votes than the other guy. If we don't take some of those votes away from Obama, then we're sunk.
There has never been a doubt where your daggers are aim!
LDS
The Morman guys I know wouldn’t mind beating the hell out of the turncoat Huntsman. He also goes against his own church.
Still on the payroll, I see, LOL.
There's never been any doubt where the voices in YOUR head are being beamed from.....
Thank you I am please that the Holy Ghost is able talk to those who Keep the Lord’s Commandments
Love One Another!:)
One day you will be rewarded for your antagonism. Maybe around the first week of May.
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