Jon Hutsman is the Republican Paul Tsongas of 2012. The Political Press loves him, voters think he’s a bit of a nerd.
When it comes to economic policy, Huntsman is every bit as Republican, which means every bit as heartless and cruel and itching to punish the middle and working class and the poor for the greed of the plutocrats, as the man Charles Pierce calls the “zombie-eyed granny starver,” Paul Ryan.
On the whole, however, Huntsman is---was---the most intelligent, capable, accomplished, and sensible of the lot of them. But the fact that he thought someone like him---reasonable, willing to put country ahead of ideology and partisan grudges, unwilling to hide his intellectual gifts, unwilling to pretend we live in some other, romanticized to the point of delusion century previous to the 21st, not motivated by hatred or fear himself and incapable of playing to the hatreds and fears of others, and, never mind Mormon, not a bible-thumping, Right Wing Christian would-be theocrat---stood a chance of winning the Republican nomination shows that he simply is not smart enough about the politics of the moment to be President.
In his own way, he is as dumb as the rest of them.
And Mitt Romney will be the Walter Mondale of 2012. Not (inherently) a bad guy, but certainly the wrong person showing up at the wrong time at a presidential contest. So the conservatives will sigh, hold their noses, vote for him knowing that he's going to lose in November and maybe after Obama leaves, they'll have a better chance.
Posted by: J. | Monday, January 16, 2012 at 11:19 AM
The funniest thing of ALL in Huntsman's, 1 year too late exit, from the GOP nomination is that it looks like Steven Colbert pushed him out! Talk about a "Colbert Bump".... It bumped him right straight into Romney's lap.
He quit before SC to preserve his political viability. Now, he can say he finished 3rd in his last race. If he'd waited two more days he'd have to say he finished last in his last race.
Posted by: Earl Bockenfeld | Monday, January 16, 2012 at 12:31 PM