Posted on 01/31/2011 6:24:25 PM PST by Bigtigermike
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.
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.
“We need to pull up the stakes of the tent and draw them out a little bit,” he told POLITICO, while in town for the National Governors Associaton meeting.
Huntsman’s model comes not from the Reagan and Gingrich revolutions, but instead resembles a Republican brand of Clintonism: practical solutions, softened rhetorical edges aimed to appeal to the center and an overall modernization of a party badly in need of a new image.
“I would liken it a bit to the transformation of the Tory Party in the U.K.,” Huntsman explained. “The defeat in ’97, John Major to Tony Blair, after years of strong, conservative rule with Margaret Thatcher setting the mark. They were a very narrow party of angry people.And they started branching out through, maybe, taking a second look at the issues of the day, much like we’re going to have to do for the Republican Party, to reconnect with the youth, to reconnect with people of color...
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
I’ll vote against Huntsman based on this glowing article by the Politico. He seems to be just their kind of Republican. Another RINO.
Ya flubbed the date. I assume this article is a couple years old. Nonetheless, Huntsman makes Rudy look like a staunch conservative. He’s as dumb as a post as well.
He might as well save his money.
No way, but then he has been in China doing Zero’s bidding.
Obviously doesn’t know the earth has shifted under his feet.
NO RINOS.
It says 3/1/09 at the top next to the link....on flashbacks you post today’s date so you can find it on record
I would have sworn it said 1/31/11. My eyes must be playing tricks on me.
This ass is like so many before him. As soon as conservatives crush the democrats, they have all kinds of idiots that come out of the woodwork and suggest a turn back to the left. Maybe he and Crist can run on the same ticket.
The leftist media wants us to think that Huntsman is the anti-Obama, but reality he is another McCain.
Jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs.
Huntsman is an Obama plant. A Rino. No chance at all.
I don’t care WHO his competition is, I absolutely will not vote for Huntsman under any circumstance. That’ll be my first time voting for a third-party.
Heck, Huntsman wants to pander in all directions to just about every leftist group. Why is he in the GOP? He makes Bennett and Hatch look pretty conservative.
Don't think I need to know any more about him. That sort of pandering accomplishes two things: It amuses the panderees and it pisses off the base. It'd be about as successful as Juan McCain's pandering to Hispanics.
Huntsman is a stalking horse put out there by Obama and his campaign minions to split the Mormon vote in order to get rid of Romney whom they consider a major threat in the next presidential election in 2012.
The Obama people probably fear a Republican candidate who could threaten Obama in several traditionally blue states. I know next to nothing about Huntsman, but surely he wouldn’t be a stalking horse in the Republican primaries to help Obama.
Huntsman. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
HAHA!!! Romney has his RomneyCare problems...all the Obama administration has to do is use the “flip flopper” strategy on Romney to make him weak to the general public...he changes his mind back in forth
Huntsman is Pro-Illegal Alien Amnesty
While as Governor of Utah, the state legislature passed a law that stopped Illegal Aliens from getting in-state tutition at state-funded colleges and universities. Huntsman vetoed that bill.
Our borders need to be secured, and, all Illegal Aliens need to be deported. Anything else is Amnesty.
Huntsman is a Liberal RINO who supports Illegal Alien Amnesty
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