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Jon Huntsman: The No-Drama Conservative (his record is to the right of everyone running)
The American Conservative ^ | August 24, 2011 | Michael Brendan Dougherty

Posted on 11/30/2011 11:19:15 AM PST by St. Louis Conservative

HANOVER, NH—Jon Huntsman walked out of the rear door of a Dartmouth auditorium. His head swiveled as he looked for the black SUV that will take him to his next stop. He had just given a speech emphasizing his claim that the future of America will not be decided on a battlefield in remotest Afghanistan but along the trade routes of the Pacific. The applause had barely died down in the hall as Huntsman exited into the quiet streets of Hanover. He took one second to sigh. He had just launched “Phase Two” of his campaign, and it was a success.

The reboot couldn’t come fast enough. Huntsman had made no dent in the polls since his launch in June. Instead, the avalanche of prestige media mash-notes to his campaign had the effect of raising expectations ridiculously high and smothering him with the labels “soft” and “moderate” in an era when Tea-caffeinated primary voters are looking for “hard” and “right.” The hastily constructed campaign—largely built while the candidate was still serving as Obama’s ambassador to China—was subject to infighting and leaked acrimony that would outlast July’s reorganization. Huntsman was sinking almost as fast as Tim Pawlenty, his name recognition barely above Buddy Roemer’s.

But this rickety launch obscured more than it revealed. Huntsman may be uncomfortable in the ideological sweathouse that is the conservative movement. He may be diplomatic when the right is dyspeptic. But his candidacy offers conservatives two very tantalizing possibilities: a break with the Bush legacy on foreign policy and the chance to move their policy prescriptions off the Tea Party’s placards and into the center of our political debate. Huntsman’s record shows that conservative politics can triumph not just through conflict but also by concord.

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


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: 2012gopprimary; barf; huntsman2012; huomney; jonhuntsman; mittromney; newtgingrich; obama
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To: St. Louis Conservative

He’s pro-amnesty, a liar on official English, squishy on abortion, Obamanation on foreign policy... hard to see how he’s more conservative.


21 posted on 11/30/2011 11:29:49 AM PST by dangus
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To: rhombus

I have to agree with you: he’s enormously smarmy. I always call him Eddie Haskell (for those baby boomers who remember him). He also reminds me of Barney Fife’s evil twin brother.


22 posted on 11/30/2011 11:30:24 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Let's have a Cain Mutiny!)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

The more I read about Huntsman, the more I dont understand why he isnt getting any traction. Could it be the MSM is keeping the real conservative down while propping up RINO’s like Romney? Nah, couldn’t be that...


23 posted on 11/30/2011 11:31:03 AM PST by Astronaut
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To: rhombus

I hear ya. Isn’t he a social liberal too?


24 posted on 11/30/2011 11:31:07 AM PST by rintense (ABO is not a winning strategy.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Huntsman is also a global warming nut case who dropped out of high school.

he accused perry of not understanding the science behind global warming, truth is, Rick Perry actually has a degree in animal science. So the real anti-science candidate is the global warming alarmist and high school dropout, Jon Huntsman.


25 posted on 11/30/2011 11:32:24 AM PST by Tom Hawks
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To: dangus

Isn’t he also pro gay marriage?


26 posted on 11/30/2011 11:32:23 AM PST by rintense (ABO is not a winning strategy.)
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To: miss marmelstein

Eddie Haskell is quite appropriate.


27 posted on 11/30/2011 11:33:02 AM PST by rhombus
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To: Astronaut

The more I read about Huntsman, the more I dont understand why he isn’t a liberal Democrat.


28 posted on 11/30/2011 11:33:20 AM PST by jessduntno ("They say the world has become too complex for simple answers... they are wrong." - RR)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

I put Huntsman in the middle of the pack, ahead of Paul, Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum but behind Cain, Bachmann, and Perry.


29 posted on 11/30/2011 11:33:28 AM PST by wolfman23601
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Who?


30 posted on 11/30/2011 11:33:47 AM PST by ph12321 (We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: mk2000
Wait about I take back all the bad things I said.

??????????????????????????????????????????????
 
Stop looking at that picture and rephrase this to something that makes sense.
 
lolol


31 posted on 11/30/2011 11:33:47 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS! This means liberals AND libertarians (same thing) NO LIBS!)
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To: miss marmelstein; rhombus

Whenever I see him talking on TV my gaydar goes off like the klaxon on the starship Enterprise. Or is that just me?


32 posted on 11/30/2011 11:34:35 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (You can't invade the US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.~Admiral Yamamoto)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

But his rhetoric is to the left of Joe Lieberman, which means he ain’t getting the nomination.

Utah is a pretty conservative state anyway, so if you come in as Governor and just don’t do much you probably come out pretty well on these conservative rating scales.

Huntsman’s ideal job is back in China as US Ambassador.
He knows more about China than any other non-Chinese person I’ve ever heard.


33 posted on 11/30/2011 11:35:04 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Well, that’ll be the day.


34 posted on 11/30/2011 11:35:54 AM PST by bcsco (A vote for Cain will cure the Pain!)
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To: rintense

I believe he supports “civil unions”.


35 posted on 11/30/2011 11:36:46 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
The Huntsmans, like the Romneys, are descendants of early LDS Church leader, Parley P. Pratt.

Ruh Roh. We figuratively hang people like that around here don't we?

36 posted on 11/30/2011 11:37:43 AM PST by McGruff (Hold the House, retake the Senate.)
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To: rintense
Isn’t he also pro gay marriage?

He reminds me of a whimp who is probably a closet fag that sent his wife down to the bar to get pregnant. She was just lucky enough to get with a real man that gave her daughters he could raise as his own.

I DO NOT LIKE THE GUY.

Even if for no other reason than he worked for the constitutionally unqualified, communist, Muslim, terrorist loving fagget currently occupying our White House.
37 posted on 11/30/2011 11:37:58 AM PST by Tom Hawks
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

The calendar is Huntsman’s enemy. No doubt about it. But this race is STILL unsettled at this point, and in the 21st century, with mass communication, twitter, 24hr news.....things can change quickly - much more than they used to.


38 posted on 11/30/2011 11:37:59 AM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yeah, I get that gaydar feel, too.


39 posted on 11/30/2011 11:38:55 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Let's have a Cain Mutiny!)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Ron Paul stands a better chance of getting the nomination than Huntsman. and Paul’s chance is somewhere to the south side of slim and none, but at least he has something approaching a base of support.


40 posted on 11/30/2011 11:38:58 AM PST by apillar
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