Now, even Huntsman seeks running room on Romney’s right
When Jon Huntsman entered the Republican presidential race, the conventional wisdom held that he would try to position himself as a centrist and challenge Mitt Romney for moderate GOP primary voters. That belief held up through the first several debates, when Huntsman staked out a not-so-hawkish view on foreign policy, stated support for civil unions, and accused his own party of “run[ning] from science**.”
But apparently, Huntsman has decided to portray himself instead as the more conservative of the two. At least, that’s the impression given from the “Open Letter from Jon Huntsman to John Sununu” his campaign released this morning, mildly scolding the New Hampshire governor for endorsing Romney instead of a true “conservative governor”:
* While Mitt Romney opposed the Bush tax cuts and raised taxes and fees by $750 million in Massachusetts, I signed the largest tax cut in Utah history which helped our state lead the nation in job growth.
* While Mitt Romney implemented government healthcare in Massachusetts — which included an individual mandate and became the blueprint for Obamacare — I signed free-market healthcare reform described as “the other end of the spectrum” from the Obama-Romney approach.
* While Mitt Romney once declared that he does not “line up with the NRA” and pledged to not “chip away” at Massachusetts’ onerous gun control laws, I signed landmark legislation to defend the Second Amendment.
* While Mitt Romney was once ardently pro-choice — stating in 1994 that “abortions should be safe and legal” — I am proud to be a lifelong defender of the sanctity of life.
* While Mitt Romney proudly declared himself an independent during the Reagan-Bush years — even saying during his Senate campaign that he was “not trying to return to Reagan-Bush” — I am proud to have served in President Reagan’s administration which ushered in a golden era of prosperity in America.
When you look at his past statements, positions and voting record, the idea that Mitt Romney is a principled conservative is an impossible conclusion. It is more than his one term dealing with a liberal legislature; it’s a lifetime and record of inconsistent and liberal positions.
One last thing I almost forgot to mention: while we both served President George H.W. Bush — you as Chief of Staff and me as ambassador to Singapore — Mitt Romney supported and voted for Democratic presidential candidate and potential Bush opponent Paul Tsongas.
There’s not much new here in the way of accusations against Romney, just an interesting mix of fiscal and social issues with which Huntsman tries to push Romney to Huntsman’s left. A few observations:
- It’s officially Romney versus everyone else in this race.
- While I give Huntsman 1 million to 1 odds of winning the nomination (”So you’re saying there’s a chance!”), what will be the impact on Romney’s chances of having yet another candidate trying to tear Romney down? Can we expect a big “gang up on Romney” strategy in future debates?
- Romney now has to overcome this line of thinking bound to enter some GOP voters’ minds: “If even Jon Huntsman says Romney’s too liberal to be the nominee…”.
- If Huntsman is able to gain even a few percentage points of support in opinion polls with this approach, whom does that hurt most? (My guess: Probably not Romney; perhaps Cain, if he sheds voters due to his recent gaffes, or Perry, the other ex-governor in the race?)
- A change in approach likely signals one of two things: desperation time for Huntsman, because he knows he can’t win with his previous approach; or a decision that running to the right in the primary isn’t going to hurt any Republican against President Obama if the economy remains stagnant. Or maybe some of both.
Thoughts?
** – Partisans of both the Democratic and Republican brands embrace science when it suits them and ignore/attack it when it doesn’t. To believe the notion that one party is faithful to dispassionate analysis, and the other not, is to ignore the stances of the “faithful” on genetically modified crops, nuclear energy, DDT as a tool for fighting malaria…
– By Kyle Wingfield
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173 comments Add your comment
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:15 pm
UGA 1999
It’s really not worth getting into arguments over that kind of stuff.
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:19 pm
DW…see that is the thing….the left screws the middle class and the poor. You are just too blind to see it.
DW
October 24th, 2011
4:20 pm
@BILLY
Point obviously missed. Yes, he has a lot of money. Yes he gets contributions from companys like EVERY OTHER politician. Does Obama believe in screwing over the poor for the benefit of the rich like republicans do? NO.
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:21 pm
I never said we came from monkeys, although some Republicans make me reassess that stupid claim. And you still don’t know what’s in your own Bible.
This just in: Your latest Messiah, Marco Rubio, has been lying his head off about his humble Cuban roots. Not that any of you care about the truth.
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:21 pm
DW…YES if it means he will get reelected.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:23 pm
” Does Obama believe in screwing over the poor for the benefit of the rich like republicans do? ”
Like every other dead beat lib: Dems good, GOP bad.
Right out of the playbook.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:23 pm
” Your latest Messiah, Marco Rubio, has been lying his head off about his humble Cuban roots. Not that any of you care about the truth.”
LOLOL!!!!! I love left wingers! Hey, tell me how 9-11 was an inside job.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:24 pm
DW
It’s not the GOP’s fault that you’re poor.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:24 pm
“And you still don’t know what’s in your own Bible.”
I do. Care to ask me some questions?
DW
October 24th, 2011
4:25 pm
@billy
I challenge you to prove me wrong then. If you ARENT rich, white, and christian what does the republican party offer you?? A 999 tax plan? LMFAO
DW
October 24th, 2011
4:26 pm
Im poor? Suuuure. And you know me how? Moron.
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:27 pm
Why can’t you answer any of my questions first?
And yes, I do think Bush made sure not to protect us against AQ so he could start a couple of wars and play with what he considered his toy soldiers.
“You’ve covered your a**. Now get out of here.”
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:27 pm
DW….why is it the governments job to offer you ANYTHING???? Keep using the government as a crutch, you will never learn to walk.
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:28 pm
‘I do. Care to ask me some questions?’
I did. How long was Noah in the ark?
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:29 pm
DW….please tell me what either party offers whites that blacks do not or cannot get? This should be good! hahaha poor souls!
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:29 pm
“I challenge you to prove me wrong then. If you ARENT rich, white, and christian what does the republican party offer you??”
It’s not what they offer me, it’s what they get out of the way for me. People like you for instance.
DW
October 24th, 2011
4:29 pm
@uga
What the F are you talking about?
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:29 pm
“How long was Noah in the ark?”
Very long.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:30 pm
“Why can’t you answer any of my questions first?”
Because you didn’t ask me, cupcake.
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:30 pm
emo…..here read this, you may learn something….
http://www.godspointofview.com/public/qanda/how_long_was_noah_in_the_ark.htm
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:30 pm
What do Dems offer black people?
Black people have voted for Dems for decades and they’re STILL poor!
-Charles Barkley
mum
October 24th, 2011
4:30 pm
Both Huntsman and Romney come from wealthy families, so I’m sure they know how life is for the poor and working class out there.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
4:32 pm
Kyle, how many times can one blogger name call before they get banned from your blog?
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:32 pm
“Very long.’
Brilliant. That’s why Obama is SURE to be re-elected. All of you put together have an IQ equal to room temperature. In October.
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:33 pm
emo….is that why Obama’s approval rating is at 39%? hahaha
UGA 1999
October 24th, 2011
4:33 pm
emo…is that why 70% of americans currently believe that our country is going down the wrong path and the economy is getting WORSE?
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:34 pm
UGA, I already knew it; that’s why I asked. All you know is how to spell G-O-O-G-L-E.
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:35 pm
Because republicans control the House.
emo
October 24th, 2011
4:36 pm
And their approval is approximately 13%.
carlosgvv
October 24th, 2011
5:05 pm
Looks like Hunstman has finally learned what Mitt found out earlier. He now understands that far-right “born-again Christians” are in charge of the Party and will only support those who embrace their wierd and distorted views. So, like Romney, he will now do and say anything necessary to gain that support. And, like Romney, he has tossed his true beliefs out the window.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
October 24th, 2011
5:28 pm
Considering that Romney is lying about how he really feels, even obozo is running to his right, although he lies too.
And now Huntsman joins the lie.festival.
You don’t understand these liberals, huh, Kyle?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
October 24th, 2011
5:33 pm
This is how screwed up Conservatives are right now, Huntsman and Romney lie so that voters think they have the same positions that Herman Cain does but the voters say Herman Cain is not slick enough and needs to lie more like Romney and Huntsman do.
yeesh
MarkV
October 24th, 2011
5:38 pm
I am sorry to be so late and missing the initial debate between Kyle and Aquagirl. At this point I can only comment that Kyle has shown himself to be scientifically illiterate, lacking an understanding what science is.
carlosgvv
October 24th, 2011
5:47 pm
UGA 1999 – 2:23
Evolution is not a theory, it is a proven fact. The hard evidence lies in the fossil record, molecular biology and other areas of science. There is not one shred of scientific evidence to support creationism. I can only guess that you either go to or graduated from one of those “Christian” schools who know nothing about science or one of those schools whose teachers are so frightned of fundamentalist parents and school boards that they don’t dare teach evolution. Either way, you show an apalling lack of any understanding of science.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
5:56 pm
“And their approval is approximately 13%.”
What’s Obamas?
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
5:56 pm
“Evolution is not a theory, it is a proven fact.”
No it isn’t.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
5:56 pm
“I can only guess that you either go to or graduated from one of those “Christian” schools ”
Is Duke a “Christian” school because I went to Duke.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
6:06 pm
MarkV
What degree do you hold?
MarkV
October 24th, 2011
6:11 pm
carlosgvv @5:47 pm. “Evolution is not a theory, it is a proven fact.
Billy Bane @5:56 pm: “No it isn’t.”
Sorry, carlosgvv. Billy Bane is right in the above. Evolution is a theory, supported by plentiful scientific evidence. Creationism is a hypothesis, and you are right, it is not supported by any scientific evidence.
MarkV
October 24th, 2011
6:12 pm
Billy Bane @6:06 pm. “MarkV – What degree do you hold?”
Why do you ask?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
October 24th, 2011
6:17 pm
Wow, the Iraqis don’t like this guy at all-
President Obama wants to help Iraq’s economy – What kind of economic strengthening advice can Obama give Mr. al-Maliki? Will he suggest a tax on Iraqi millionaires and people making over the Iraqi equivalent of $250,000 per year? Perhaps he’ll suggest thousands of new regulations on Iraqi businesses and industry? al-Malikicare? Major investments in green technology to jump start Iraqi businesses and create Iraqi jobs of the future?
Obama has not been able to strengthen the American economy in almost three years. That’s the economy he was elected to work on, the only economy he should be focused on.
Yo, that’s what I’m sayin….
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
6:24 pm
“Why do you ask?”
Because of your endless rant about global climate change stuff.
Billy Bane
October 24th, 2011
6:24 pm
” Creationism is a hypothesis, and you are right, it is not supported by any scientific evidence.”
Since when is faith scientific?
Kyle Wingfield
October 24th, 2011
6:27 pm
Billy: You are sounding an awful lot like someone who’s been banned from this blog…
MarkV
October 24th, 2011
6:34 pm
Billy Bane @ 6:24 pm : “Because of your endless rant about global climate change stuff.”
Can you show evidence of my “endless rant about global climate change stuff?”
@@
October 24th, 2011
6:38 pm
If Huntsman were to move right of Romney, he’d still be pretty far left. Cain, Romney, Gingrich OR Cain, Gingrich, Romney is how this thing’s gonna play out.
Partisans of both the Democratic and Republican brands embrace science when it suits them and ignore/attack it when it doesn’t.
I heard (read) THAT!!!!
There are eviroweenies, then there’s scientists like Patrick Moore, with his Bachelor’s in forestry and Ph.D. in ecology. Who to believe?
Moore criticized what he saw as scare tactics and disinformation employed by some within the environmental movement, saying that the environmental movement “abandoned science and logic in favor of emotion and sensationalism.” Moore contends that for the environmental movement “most of the really serious problems have been dealt with”, seeking now to “invent doom and gloom scenarios”. He suggests they romanticise peasant life as part of an anti-industrial campaign to prevent development in less-developed countries, which he describes as “anti-human”.
I’ll go with Moore.
If biotechnology can give me more tomatoes per vine, I’m good. “Moore” than enough for me and my neighbors. The way it should be.
@@
October 24th, 2011
6:53 pm
Oh, forgot to mention…it was Moore who came up with the phrase…“Frankenfood scare tactics.”
Eeeeeek!!!!
@@
October 24th, 2011
6:59 pm
Am I getting the cold shoulder?
Thpbppt
schnirt
dd
October 24th, 2011
7:04 pm
God, all of your posts read like little kids going tit for tat.
Take a look in the mirror folks!!
JKL2
October 24th, 2011
7:27 pm
getalife- Racist card is desperate.
Played here everyday by you Demwits.
You have no credibility.
I accept your surrender.