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Jon Huntsman compares GOP to Communist China

MattusMaximus

Intellectual Gladiator
MattusMaximus
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
15,948
Ouch...

Jon Huntsman Trashes GOP, Expresses Campaign Regrets
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.

"This is what they do in China on party matters if you talk off script," he said. ...
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:popcorn1
 
That takes backbone and conviction.

I hope people like Huntsman either get a strong voice back in the GOP, or form a viable party of their own. I'd still disagree with him on a number of issues obviously, but it would be much better for them and the country in the long run.

How likely that is is another matter. He'd have a position in my imaginary administration though.
 
Well, if you call for a new party it would be rather sensible for your old party to be a bit peeved with you.

He sounds like a nice enough guy, but he needs to put his money where his mouth is.
 
I still have hope that Huntsman can lead the sane people in the GOP to some sort of promised land away from the insane Tea Party types.
 
ponderingturtle said:
But are there enough sane republicans to matter?
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There are lot's of sane Republicans, they just haven't yet figured out that they are being led around by the nose by a minority membership of the party. Huntsman was the only one with the cojones to come out and imply that - as a Mormon he naturally is not going to be embedded with the Far Right. Romney learned a long time ago to lie in bed with them, though.

The sad thing for the Republican Party, and I think Huntsman understands this, is that they run the risk of further alienating the independents who actually elect the President. Hard core Republicans vote Republican. Hard core Democrats vote Democrat. Independents would love to vote for a Republican as President but we won't vote for crazy.

Romney thinks he can pander to the Far Right in the Primaries and then "Etch-a-sketch" an appeal to the independent voters in the general election. He will have to go a long way there to erase the perception that he coddles with the crazies.

His choice for VP will go a long way here. The choice of Palin hammered any chance McCain had of gaining the independent vote. We'll see if Romney is smart enough to realize that.
 
Ziggurat said:
*cough* Lieberman! *cough*
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You mean the Lieberman who decided on his own to run as an independent after being defeated in a primary election, and endorsed the Republican candidate for President, and yet who the Democrats voted to keep as head of the main committee he was chairman of (after the Democratic opponent of the candidate he endorsed urged the Senate Majority Leader not to remove him), and who still caucuses with the Democrats?

That Lieberman?
 
Joe is dead meat here in Ct. He says he's retireing but he couldn't win again anyway.
 
ANTPogo said:
You mean the Lieberman who decided on his own to run as an independent after being defeated in a primary election, and endorsed the Republican candidate for President, and yet who the Democrats voted to keep as head of the main committee he was chairman of (after the Democratic opponent of the candidate he endorsed urged the Senate Majority Leader not to remove him), and who still caucuses with the Democrats?

That Lieberman?
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They kept him as chair because they needed his vote in a split senate. And he didn't just lose the primary, he was the target of a massive campaign from democrats angry about ONE position. They wanted ideological purity. He was purged. But only partly, because he was still of use after he won.

What has happened to Huntsman? Oh, he didn't get invited to one event. Boo hoo. Quite the purge going on there. Why, Stalin was notorious for not inviting people to events. That's what history remembers him most for. :rolleyes:
 
Oliver said:
Why would he call for a third party? There are a lot of those already, I was told.
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Perhaps because he's an idiot.

But probably not. I suspect he's got a much more rational, and self-interested, motive. It's probably easier for him to defeat a third-party candidate in a general election than for him to defeat a serious challenger from his own party during a primary. Might as well encourage your opponents to take a path that will make your victory easier.
 
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