The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Governor Asterisk Update: Republican Who Endorsed Romney Trashes GOP

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 32 Comments

WITH HIS CONSTITUENTS: Jon Huntsman was surrounded by reporters
after Republican presidential debate in Spartanburg, S.C., Nov. 12, 2012

“Jon Huntsman quit the 2012 presidential campaign just as he ran it all along: Sowing confusion with contradictory messages. …
“Students of American political history who examine the peculiar course of Huntsman’s campaign will undoubtedly scratch their heads and ask themselves, ‘What the f–k was that all about?‘”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “A Fitting Finale to the Huntsman Flop,” Monday, Jan. 16, 2012

Let’s begin by noting that Jon Huntsman’s so-called “presidential campaign” burned through $7 million and finished $5.5 million in debt, having been “loaned” millions by his wealthy father.

What did $7 million buy him? Seventh place in Iowa (739 votes, 0.6%) and third place in New Hampshire (41,495 votes, 16.9%), the latter result in an open primary where exit polls showed Huntsman “handily won groups of voters satisfied with the Obama administration and opposed to the Tea Party,” as the New York Times reported. “Similarly, he won self-described Democrats by a nearly 20-point margin over Ron Paul.”

Keep that in mind as you read this report from Buzzfeed’s Zeke Miller:

Former Republican candidate Jon Huntsman took a battle axe to his own party, comparing it to China’s Communist Party and criticizing it’s standard bearer in a wide-ranging interview at the 92nd Street Y Sunday night.
Recounting his first experience on the presidential debate stage in Iowa last August, Huntsman says he was struck by the question “Is this the best we could do?”
Huntsman, the former Utah governor and once President Barack Obama’s Ambassador to China, expressed disappointment that the Republican Party disinvited him from a Florida fundraiser in March after he publicly called for a third party. . . .
“So I had to say I believe in science — and people on stage look at you quizzically as though you’re was an oddball,” Huntsman said, explaining why he was “toast” in Iowa. . . .
On foreign policy, Huntsman questioned his former Republican opponents’ hard-line positions on China. “I don’t know what world these people are living in,” he said, not naming Mitt Romney by name.

Dude. I was there at the press conference in Myrtle Beach, S.C., when Huntsman quit and endorsed Romney. What was the New York Times headline on the story about that press conference?

Huntsman Leaves Race
With Plea for Party Unity

That was Monday, Jan. 16, just six days after he called his third-place finish in New Hampshire a “ticket to ride” and barely five months after the Aug. 11 Fox News debate in Ames, Iowa, where I first dubbed him “Governor Asterisk.” From the outset, his candidacy lacked any plausible rationale. One might call Jon Huntsman a “useful idiot,” but this would immediately prompt the question, “What actual use did he serve?” He never had any “path to the nomination,” and his faux campaign existed only to garner glowing coverage from the liberal media, to hog up time in televised debates, and to enrich the ruthless campaign consultants who somehow managed to convince him he had a chance.

So here we are in April, three months after he endorsed Romney and pleaded for “party unity,” and Chumpsman is publicly trashing the GOP? Once more we must ask: “What the f–k was that all about?”

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: When the former sweetheart of the liberal media wants to claim his remarks have been taken out of context, he can always get a wet kiss from his MSNBC-BFFs at “Morning Joe”:

Suggestion for Mitt: Promise to pay off Huntsman’s campaign debt, with payment due Nov. 7, on condition that he disappear until then. America will thank you for keeping this douchebag off TV.

 

 

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Category: Election 2012, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney

Comments

32 Responses to “Governor Asterisk Update: Republican Who Endorsed Romney Trashes GOP”

  1. bestsocialprogram
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 7:37 am

    This guy is such a RINO that he ought to go live in Africa. Or perhaps move to China, in order to be the first savanna animal to live there.

  2. tigerinexile
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 8:40 am

    Reagan got a lot of stuff Huntsman didn’t, but let’s start here:

    See what he tells the Yalies?  The media covers what it wants, not what you want it to.  (Which is why he didn’t want to talk to the students about Vietnam.)

    Huntsman’s now going around complaining that the media cherry-picked that line.  Well, if you compare “your” party to the ChiComs, of course they’re going to highlight it!

  3. Mike Rogers
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 8:42 am

    I had previously referred to Huntsman as “another smarmy Mormon”, and was taken to task for religious intolerance, even though I had qualified it with “it’s not the Mormon, it’s the Smarm”. (look up “smarmy”)
    I was wrong: Huntsman is just another smarmy MORON, which is, no doubt, why he fits in so well with the press.
    Making a little fun of him here:
    http://granitegrok.com/blog/2012/01/running-out-of-asterisks-huntsman-quits

  4. BLBeamer
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 9:08 am

    Hey, Stacy! As president of Douchebags Anonymous,  my fellow douchebags and I object to your use of that term.  You just insulted us. 

  5. Bob Belvedere
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 9:49 am

    He’s right – at least a douchebag serves a useful purpose, Dunceman doesn’t.

  6. Charles Martel
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 9:58 am

    He seems SO at home on Morning Schmoe with Joe and Meeeeka.

  7. Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » Dede Scozzafava Jon Huntsman rides again » Datechguy's Blog
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 10:19 am

    […] preparing for my proposed From Reporter to Blogger session for next year did see it and promptly posted this: One might call Jon Huntsman a “useful idiot,” but this would immediately prompt the question, […]

  8. Adobe_Walls
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 10:26 am

    What a waste of a really great looking family.

  9. Money Isn’t the Mother’s Milk of Politics – Debt Is | Daily Pundit
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 10:43 am

    […] Milk of Politics – Debt Is Posted on April 23, 2012 7:43 am by Bill Quick Governor Asterisk Update: Republican Who Endorsed Romney Trashes GOP : The Other McCain Let’s begin by noting that Jon Huntsman’s so-called “presidential campaign” […]

  10. ThePaganTemple
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 10:50 am

    I think the only reason he supported Romney and called for party unity to begin with was in the hopes Mitt would pay off his campaign debts. Romney probably didn’t feel any pressing need to do so. Maybe Huntsman is trying to get Obama to pay them off. Or maybe he’s just hoping for another cushy appointment.

  11. richard mcenroe
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 11:04 am

     I know, but I’ve never been able to trust a Camelbak since.

  12. hrh40
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 12:17 pm

    Photo caption typo? Nov 12, 2012? s/b 2011?

  13. Doug Ross
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 12:47 pm

    How much you want to bet that Huntsman will be the candidate of “Americans Elect”, that bogus third-party effort reportedly orchestrated by Obama’s buddies?

  14. Doug Ross
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 12:48 pm

    As an aside, RSM, we missed you @ #blogconclt

  15. McGehee
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 1:11 pm

    I said it before he even announced, when Obamarrhoids were talking him up for the GOP nomination as “the Republican Obama fears most,” that the only person who ever considered Jon Huntsman a contender for the White House was Jon Huntsman.

    That his campaign survived as long as it did is a sign of our reality-TV culture, in which lightweights with no business in the ring are propped up and depicted as having substance and gravitas, and the audience plays along because it makes for a good story.

    Of course, one could say the same for both party’s nominees in this cycle…

  16. Christy Waters
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 1:30 pm

    Jon Huntsman, whose condiment was ketchup on the crap sandwich, was even less impressive than Romney (mayo on the crap sandwich). I’m just pissed that I have to vote for another turd, just to keep a bigger turd from winning another term, but sometimes we have to do things that we don’t like to do… Hmmm, get a root canal or vote for Obama? I’ll take the root canal… just damn!

    Frankly, I think Huntsman is just pissed that his standup career in the Arlen Specter Comedy Troupe isn’t taking off the way he’d hoped.

  17. Maurice
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 2:44 pm

    And so the “fully conservative” Dark Horse snorts and paws the ground.

  18. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 3:49 pm

    They use “RINO” parts in traditional Chinese medicine, so Huntsman should watch out.  

  19. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 3:51 pm

    Did Huntman do his back stabling in Mandarin?  Actually, to be fair, Huntman is not a back stabber.  He stabs you right in the chest.  Fortunately he is so beta that it does not hurt very much.  Basically fat baby hands with a toothpick.  

  20. ThePaganTemple
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 5:12 pm

     I don’t think he’d have to worry about that, what kind of medicine could you use that fruitcake for?

  21. Adobe_Walls
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 5:42 pm

    To Social Democrats less sanguine about Obamsky’s chances, Huntsman represented their “short” position.

  22. Jon Huntsman….Who? [Updated Below] « The Camp Of The Saints
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 5:50 pm

    […] He comments: …From the outset, his candidacy lacked any plausible rationale. One might call Jon Huntsman a “useful idiot,” but this would immediately prompt the question, “What actual use did he serve?” He never had any “path to the nomination,” and his faux campaign existed only to garner glowing coverage from the liberal media, to hog up time in televised debates, and to enrich the ruthless campaign consultants who somehow managed to convince him he had a chance. […]

  23. K-Bob
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 5:59 pm

    I got the impression from listening to him that not even Jon Huntsman considered himself a contender.  I felt he was–like Newt–“running to make a difference.”

    Whatever the f*k that means.

  24. K-Bob
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 6:04 pm

    You’ll have to put the black hood over his head and drag him to the next event.  Make sure it’s big enough to fit the disreputable clot of millinery he sports at these things.

    By the way, you owe me for one lung horked up laffin’ at the collection of Obama ate my dog pics.

  25. K-Bob
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 6:07 pm

    There’s an point about royals and inbreeding in there, somewhere.  Not all of them look like Prince Charles.  But few of them think as clearly as Lord Monckton.

  26. K-Bob
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 6:08 pm

     That’s anti-moronist, that is.

  27. K-Bob
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 6:09 pm

    The real kind are physically imposing.  The metaphorical kind are more dangerous, though.

  28. ThePaganTemple
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 7:52 pm

     Obama would only be cutting his own throat, because that bunch would probably draw more Democrats and left-leaning independents than it would Republicans and conservatives.

  29. ThePaganTemple
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 7:54 pm

     I’ll tell you exactly what it means, he’s one of these crybabies that are trying to “change the tone” of our “political discourse” so both parties can go back to reaching across the aisle to agree on ways to screw all the rest of us, like back in the good old days.

  30. Like a bad case of food poisoning, Governor irrelevant is back « The Daley Gator
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 8:24 pm

    […] John Huntsman is willing to be a useful idiot for the media.Stacy McCain, like me, is, shall we say NOT a fan of Huntsman “Jon Huntsman quit the 2012 presidential campaign just as he ran it all along: Sowing confusion […]

  31. Quartermaster
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 8:40 pm

    Yes. What bigotry.

    Now, smarmy Mormon does fit. I’ve known a few my ownself.

  32. K-Bob
    April 23rd, 2012 @ 11:15 pm

    The same old position. With the Dems, one hand is on your wallet. With the Reps, *both* hands are on your shoulders.