2.21.2013

"...the American people will not hear us out if we stand against their friends, family, and individual liberty."

That Jon Huntsman was never considered a serious contender for the GOP nomination for president tells you everything that there is to know about the Republican party today.

7 comments:

Gino said...

not just the GOP, but the DNC as well. its the nature of primaries.

RW said...

Ssssssh. They're doing just fine. :-)

Mr. D said...

I can sum up Huntsman's problem for you quite easily. In the essay you cite, he writes the following:

But it’s difficult to get people even to consider your reform ideas if they think, with good reason, you don’t like or respect them.

And as I watched his campaign unfold, he repeatedly demonstrated that he neither liked nor respected the electorate of the Republican primaries. He may be 100% right on this issue, but he came off as sanctimonious, a parson with a $1000 haircut. Hard to get traction that way.

Brian said...

We are of course talking about the primaries eventually won by Mitt Romney, quintessential man of the people.

Mr. D said...

We are of course talking about the primaries eventually won by Mitt Romney, quintessential man of the people.

Correct. And because Huntsman came off a less of a man of the people than Mitt Romney, it should tell you something about him.

We have a whole party of people like Huntsman in Minnesota, called the Independence Party. They spend most of their time sneering at the other two parties and congratulating themselves on their wisdom. And then they go out and get about 10% of the vote, which is why we've had governors elected by plurality in Minnesota for about 20 years now.

Huntsman may be right about the issue at hand; personally I could be persuaded that he is right, especially now. But a politician who wants votes can't be openly contemptuous of the electorate he courts.

Brian said...

Well, there goes my political career.

Mr. D said...

Well, there goes my political career.

LOL. Mine, too.