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Huntsman strategist: If Palin and Limbaugh dominate, GOP 'headed for a blowout' in 2012
Washington Examiner ^ | 05/18/09 | Byron York

Posted on 05/18/2009 7:22:04 AM PDT by redk

The Republican strategist who helped Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman prepare for a possible presidential run says the Republican party is in for a devastating defeat if its guiding lights are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. "If it's 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we're headed for a blowout," says strategist John Weaver, who advised Huntsman and was for years a close adviser to Sen. John McCain. "That's just the truth."

Huntsman, a favorite of GOP moderates, left the Republican presidential race last week after accepting President Obama's offer to become U.S. ambassador to China. Before that, Huntsman appeared to be working hard on preparations for 2012. "He had not made a decision to run for president, but he had made a decision to prepare to run," says Weaver. "We were probably a month away from announcing the formation of a political action committee, so we were pretty far down the road."

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


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: 2012gopprimary; byronyork; huntsman; huntsman4romney; limbaugh; mccain4obama; mccainiac; nomorerinos; palin; purgetherinos; rino; rinoromney; rinotraitor; romney; rush; talkradio; time2partyagain; waronrush; waronsarah
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To: Some hope remaining.

Sounds like he was born with a silver foot up his arse...


41 posted on 05/18/2009 7:37:43 AM PDT by dirtboy
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To: redk

I voted for Reagan twice. Reagan had the ability to connect with people on a visceral level. You either have IT or you don’t. Palin has IT.


42 posted on 05/18/2009 7:37:59 AM PDT by kabar
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To: bilhosty
Conservatives are 60% of the party. If conservatives lead “moderates” will follow. It's they who compromise their values, not vice versa.
43 posted on 05/18/2009 7:38:09 AM PDT by Clint N. Suhks (Pray for Justice Kennedy's health and well being.)
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To: Dawgreg

Right click on the picture and email it to yourself.

Then you can email that to a print shop that will make you a poster!


44 posted on 05/18/2009 7:38:28 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: facedown

Much better! Never heard of Huntsman until recently and didn’t like what I heard then. He is definitely not a conservative. This snarkiness out of the moderate liberals is getting on my nerves.


45 posted on 05/18/2009 7:39:05 AM PDT by PhiKapMom (Mary Fallin for OK Governor in 2010! Mark Rubio for FL Governor in 2010!)
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To: redk

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.................... I smell a MSM set up here. Utah? Population low, wilderness, home for some really sick right wingers (Nazi’s), yeah its perfect for MSM demonizing? Yeah, Huntsman, that’s the ticket! Follow the MSM recommendations, they know what is good for you.


46 posted on 05/18/2009 7:39:52 AM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (tagline under renovation)
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To: Ranald S. MacKenzie

Is Bennett still on the air?


47 posted on 05/18/2009 7:40:23 AM PDT by TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl
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To: redk

Whew... Good riddance to Huntsman.


48 posted on 05/18/2009 7:40:46 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: redk

“If it’s 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we’re headed for a blowout,” says strategist John Weaver, who advised Huntsman and was for years a close adviser to Sen. John McCain. “That’s just the truth.”

You can see the intellectual fallacy. Yes, without question, if the voters are as freakin’ scared and divided and stoned out on the promised giveaway orgy and the “get whitey” philosophy as they were last election, then they will vote for whomever makes the empty promises and treats them like spoiled children.

If, however, all the ice cubes in the Kool-Aid have melted by then and folks get the idea that, for all the talk about “giving back” (while they vote their union bennies versus what’s sound for the nation) and the economy remains in what will be a ghastly funk by then...then maybe some adult behavior traits will emerge.

In other words, the voters in this election acted liked baby birds in the nest: Helpless pieces of to-be-formed protoplasm with their mouths as far open as they can go, waiting for the worm to be dropped in. If THAT is the model majority voter, then there is very little hope of any competing ideology displacing it. Of course, at that juncture, the country will have deteriorated into a pathetic smoldering heap.


49 posted on 05/18/2009 7:41:03 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Mr. Bernanke, have you started working on your book about the second GREATER depression?")
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To: bilhosty
You need to have a majority of the people to win.

You do? How did Reagan get a majority in '80 and '84, and the GOP Congress in '94 then?

that means you need your conservative base and your moderates.

We don't need to attract so-called moderates by watering down conservatism though. Conservatism by itself will attract those independents and moderate voters.

Moderates are needed and their are certain parts of the country where the only alternative to them is the Dem's.

And you conveniently forget that those moderates have been getting their butts handed to them by the Dems in elections throughout the Northeast. In California, moderates such as Arnold completely ruined the GOP party there. Look at Illinois, which also has a GOP run by moderates.

50 posted on 05/18/2009 7:41:58 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist ("President Obama, your agenda is not new, it's not change, and it's not hope" - Rush Limbaugh 02/28)
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To: redk
More of the same. The left is undeniably scared of Gov. Palin as they noticed the enormous crowds that came out to see her during the 08 election cycle. Without her the Dems would have scored a historic landslide victory.

If there is one thing that can defeat the first AA President, it would be the notion of the first female President, and that terrifies the left. Any and every attempt will be made to insure that Gov. Palin is not the nominee in 12, including vile rhetoric from Republican misogynists (and I've met plenty of those on the right who stereotypically dismiss her as just a hot piece of ass which explains her popularity).

51 posted on 05/18/2009 7:42:02 AM PDT by Pox
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To: rintense
The one and only reason this guy is even in the headlines is because he supports gay marriage

Wow. Now that I didn't know. I bet he supports polygamy/polyandry too.

52 posted on 05/18/2009 7:42:10 AM PDT by libh8er
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To: Bringbackthedraft

With another tax revolt brewing in CA tomorrow, it is possible to win with a conservative platform. They already killed prop 8 out here..now if they kill the tax props..the public is voting with us.
A lot will depend on how bad the economy gets and how bad taxes get.


53 posted on 05/18/2009 7:42:47 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: redk

Oh is that the reason the Left is attacking Limbaugh and Palin 24/7? If this were the case then the LEFT would not be attacking them.

The Left is scared to death that the GOP runs a true conservative.


54 posted on 05/18/2009 7:42:59 AM PDT by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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To: redk
Huntsman strategist: If Palin and Limbaugh dominate, GOP 'headed for a blowout' in 2012

Good advice. Let's go with Specter. He's a part-time republican, so he's one of us, almost. He appeals to the democrats so much that they even bring him in for their votes against our basic rights and freedoms. He's got all the energy of McCain, all the moral fiber of Obama, and all the loyalty of ... himself.

To certain "republicans", that sounds a whole lot better than some Alaskan governor who no one has ever heard of except in the context of her daughter's sex life or whether her youngest son should be allowed to live.

55 posted on 05/18/2009 7:43:06 AM PDT by TurtleUp (So this is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause!)
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To: redk

I agree. If we stick to Palin and Limbaugh, we will win a 49 state blow out! (I know the author meant the opposite, but guess what - all the conservatives in this country need is a real conservative on the ticket, and this country will turn out in droves)


56 posted on 05/18/2009 7:43:37 AM PDT by Mom MD (Jesus is the Light of the world!)
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To: Ranald S. MacKenzie

Bennett should be grateful conservatives didn’t dismiss him as “damaged goods” as quickly as he dismisses Sarah.

I’ve lost all respect for him on this. I won’t even turn on his show anymore.


57 posted on 05/18/2009 7:44:10 AM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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To: redk
I fail to see what Huntsman, et al, think we should change in the GOP message, so that we're not so Palinesque? Should we now want higher taxes? Should we want more costly and ineffective government programs? Should we want a foreign policy that exhibits weakness and self-loathing? Should we welcome just anyone into the country, regardless of whether they've followed our immigration laws? Should we want more judges that ignore the law in their rulings? Should we want leaders who see no problem redefining concepts like marriage and ignoring the lives of babies in the womb? Should we not defend ourselves and our allies abroad?

Seems like we ought to present the country with a clear choice of directions, rather than water down democrat liberalism and attach a "republican" moniker.

58 posted on 05/18/2009 7:44:15 AM PDT by opus86
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To: redk
John Weaver first advised McCaIn to run for President on the GOP ticket in 2008 by praising Obama & attacking conservatives.

John Weaver now advises Huntsman to to run for President on the GOP ticket in 2008 by joining the Obama administration - and personally attacks conservatives.

I guess John Weaver is Byron York's kind of Republican... the losing kind! My guess is it makes Byron's liberal buddies at his beltway cocktail parties so much more friendly than when Republicans win.

59 posted on 05/18/2009 7:44:26 AM PDT by drpix
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To: Ranald S. MacKenzie
Byron York was on Bill Bennett this morning and Bennett started in on Palin (again).

Bennett, a moralizing gambler who is wrong on education, wrong on guns, and wrong on Palin.

There was a time when I liked Bennett.

60 posted on 05/18/2009 7:44:28 AM PDT by TC Rider (The United States Constitution - 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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