Mormon spider to run for GOP...

[Gob]

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

In sight of the Statue of Liberty, Mr Huntsman declared that he respected President Barack Obama but had "a difference of opinion on how to help the country we both love."

Mr Huntsman enters the race at the bottom of the field, and is little-known to the party's electorate.

He most recently served as Mr Obama's ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011.

Mr Huntsman's service as envoy in Beijing until April this year is seen as one of his most significant liabilities, with some staunchly conservative Republicans viewing his work for Mr Obama as a betrayal of the Republican Party.

The son of a wealthy chemical manufacturer, Mr Huntsman rides a motorcycle and plays in a rock band.

He worked as a White House aide under President Ronald Reagan, was ambassador to Singapore under the first President George Bush, and was a trade official under President George W Bush.

Before being elected Utah governor in 2004, Mr Huntsman ran his family's multi-billion dollar chemical manufacturing company.

He is the second Mormon candidate to join the race, along with Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor currently seen as the Republican front-runner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13862118

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider

[Sue U]

Spider?

[Crackpot]

click the link

[Sue U]

Oh, ok.

[Crackpot]

I didn't say it was particularly clever

[Liberty1]

Huntsmans candidacy is DOA. He only appeals to LJ types.

[Gob]

Bed wetting Liberals?

[Scooter]

He's saying that only a raving nutcase stands a chance of getting the Republican nomination.

[Sue U]

He's saying that only a raving nutcase stands a chance of getting the Republican nomination.

Works for me!

Palin/Bachmann 2012!!!!

Oh hai, the Half-Gov has apparently quit in the middle of her "family vacation to significant primary states", so I guess maybe she's not running/grifted enough cash for a while?

OK, Bachmann/Santorum 2012!!!

Wait, Bachmann Santorum? Ewww.

[Scooter]

Even if he loses, he'll still retain the honour of being the only would be presidential candidate to have a melange of bodily fluids named after him.

[Lord Jim]

Huntsmans candidacy is DOA. He only appeals to LJ types.

Gee Lib, you've got some rather odd ideas about my politics....

I guess you didn't read my fairly long post about Huntsman, (In my "Last Monday's New Hampshire Debate" thread) where I said: (among other things) :

I really didn't know a whole lot about him, except for the fact that he seemed to be the darling of Liberal media pundits, which made me immediately suspicious; Liberal media pundits not generally being known for having the best interests of the GOP at heart....he's definitely the favorite Republican candidate on MSNBC....(It gave me the impression that maybe he was trying to be a John Anderson type candidate; the last Republican Presidential contender that Liberal media pundits were fond of)



(I'm a little puzzled as to how you could have missed that, given the fact that you posted a follow up, but be that as it may)

I also pointed out some other problems he has in terms of getting the nomination, and the only positive things I said about him were:

I did a little research on him and his positions over the weekend and he's really not as bad as I originally thought;

(Not exactly a ringing endorsement; I discovered that he has pretty conservative positions on a range of issues which given his popularity with liberal pundits surprised me...Just out of curiosity, have you done any research on his positions, or are you relying exclusively on second hand POV synopsises that you've gotten from media sources?)

And I concluded by saying this:

Personally, I'm going to take a wait and see attitude on him and see how he performs, and what sort of reception he gets.

Yessir, I'm really shakin' my pom poms for Jon Hunstman....

All I've done is to perform a little research and based on that decide that I'm willing to give the guy a hearing. Nothing more.

If somebody put a gun to my head, and told me I had to make a choice among the announced GOP candidates RIGHT NOW, my choice wouldn't be Hunstman; it would be Romney, and I ain't the President of his fan club either.

My criteria for who I want to see as the Republican nominee for President is exactly the same as the one expressed by Lindsey Graham; I plan to support the candidate who I am most comfortable with ideologically, that can win the election....

That "can win the election" part is kind of important Lib, since if the candidate can't win the election, how wonderful you may think they are really won't matter...A Presidential election isn't like The Bozo the Clown Show, (Okay Strop, don't go for the easy joke )...there is no provision for "almost winners" it's an all or nothing proposition, and the guy or gal who loses doesn't get a consolation prize....and the policies and agenda they want to pursue doesn't amount to squat in terms of what the country's policies and agenda will actually be.

Who's your pick Lib? Michelle Bachmann? Rick Santorum? You figure either of those two can attract enough independent votes in a general election to defeat Obama and his billion dollar bankroll?

Maybe you're one of those folks that believe that the ideological purity of the candidate is more important than their electability...If so I would suggest to you that you are playing straight into the hands of the Sues of the world, who would like nothing better than to see the GOP nomination go to someone selected on that basis. If that's your view, than you might as well get the biggest "RE-ELECT OBAMA" button you can find and pin it on your chest, because that's the practical real world effect that attitude will have.

I remember back during the '08 race that there were a couple of conservative posters (I know Ray was one of them; you may have been the other) who said they weren't going to vote for McCain because they saw "no difference" between him and Obama...

No difference....

Do you figure a President McCain would have appointed a Sonia Sotomayor or an Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court? Or that a President McCain would have backed a stimulus package with as little bang for the buck as Obama's Mother Of All Pork?

Frankly, even though he's considerably to my right on social issues, I wouldn't have a big problem supporting Rick Perry should he get in the race. Perry's an effective campaigner, and in a year where unemployment is likely to be stuck around 9% the record for job creation in Texas while he has been Governor is the sort of thing that could attract enough independents to win the race. (In fact if he got into the race, my inclination would be to lean towards him over Romney because of the job creation record and the fact that he'd be much more effective on the campaign trail)

Would you say the same thing about a GOP candidate who was to your left on social issues, but who you thought had the record and ability to win the election?

[Lord Jim]

Another interesting thing about Perry...

He got about 40% of the Latino vote in his re-election last fall...

http://www.frumforum.com/how-hispanic-v ... -texas-red

That compares with 31% for McCain in 2008

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1024/exit-p ... -hispanics

Perry is tough on illegal immigration but he's opposed the sort of legislation enacted in Arizona. The ability to maintain strong conservative positions while holding on to a significant percentage of the Latino vote indicates a certain political deftness on Perry's part that seems to be lacking in some of the other hard conservatives already in the race.

[Liberty1]

No I didn't read your post about Huntsman, but he's so simlar to Romney in many ways, whom you seem to support. If not my apologies.

Romney's flip-flops and Mass Obamnycare ain't gonna fly with most Reps.

I have no pick right now, I'm going to let things evolve for a while. In an ideal world I might like Gary Johnson who I've voted for twice, but he doesn't stand a chance.

[Liberty1]

I don't like it that Huntsman just gave Harry Reid $25K for his last re-election, or said BO is a great leader (he's a disaster) or that he signed the Global Climate Solutions declaration along with his good friends Kathleen Sebelius (KS), Deval Patrick (MA), Rod Blagojevich (IL), Jennifer Granholm (MI), David Paterson (NY), Ted Kulongoski (OR), Christine Gregoire (WA), Jim Doyle (WI), and Martin O’Malley (MD).
What Reps signed it? A huge list of big conservatives Schwarzenegger and Charlie Crist of Florida.


Each of these individually show he has bad judgement.

[Liberty1]

Perry is tough on illegal immigration but he's opposed the sort of legislation enacted in Arizona. The ability to maintain strong conservative positions while holding on to a significant percentage of the Latino vote indicates a certain political deftness on Perry's part that seems to be lacking in some of the other hard conservatives already in the race.

A big untold secret, most hispanics are conservative and live their lives that way, family first almost universally. Virtually all I know and work with are and remeberI live in New Mexico, I'm a minority.

[Gob]

Gee Lib, you've got some rather odd ideas about my politics....

I don't!!

Bed wetting Liberal!

[Lord Jim]

Well, I guess I should be happy that at least you didn't go with the US Presidential Election/Bozo The Clown Show joke....

Bed wetting Liberal!

And Steve always liked to call me a "right-wing extremist"....

It's enough to give a fella an identity crisis....