I was very disappointed to learn that Mr. H dropped out of the race today and even more disappointed to hear him endorse Blip Romney.

I rather enjoyed Mr. H and was planning to send limited $ his way to keep him alive. In my opinion, he was the ONLY voice of reason amongst the other GOP extremists.

What a tragedy for the near future of American politics. Now the GOP machinery has no one to fall back on in order to win the eleciton. I think I woul d have even voted for Mr. H before voting for Obama next round.

I'm hoping Mr. H re-emerges in years to come for the good of the country.

Does anyone else here like him?

dh

Read the Republican Primary forum. Huntsman ran a poor campaign. To you, he was a voice of reason. To me, he had some good ideas, but . . . as one commentator said this evening, "he looked like a sourpuss" while campaigning. This same man said he found Huntsman engaging, personable, and funny in one-on-one conversations. He was either managed poorly or just does not project well. And, starting the GOP primary by basically calling GOP voters morons wasn't the best strategy. At times he seemed like a Democrat running for the wrong party's nomination--that's how out of tune his rhetoric was (not referring to his policies).

dag hammarsjkold wrote:Does anyone else here like him?

I think several folks liked him in these forums. The only support I've been hearing has been for Paul, Romney and Huntsman. The others didn't generate much support here.

He was so-much handsomer than Obama...but just like him!





and white!!!

Btw, it's not a "tragedy" he's dropping out.

People dying in the cruise line debacle off the shore of Italy? That's a tragedy.

Huntsman dropping out when he's never been over 5% in any poll that wasn't held in NH is not a tragedy. It's a political reality.

He did always seem an unlikely winner. I also thought he was by far the most appealing of the Republican candidates, but since it was obvious from the outset that he had no chance of winning I could hardly call it a tragedy.

The problem is that McCain and Romney are both regarded as being moderates in Republican circles. I'm not entirely sure that's justified, but nevertheless if Romney goes on to win the election and subsequently loses to Obama then it may simply serve to push the Reps further right next time because the idea of nominating moderates will be tarnished by defeat. Guess there's a long way to go before that happens though.

Sassenach wrote:He did always seem an unlikely winner. I also thought he was by far the most appealing of the Republican candidates, but since it was obvious from the outset that he had no chance of winning I could hardly call it a tragedy.

The problem is that McCain and Romney are both regarded as being moderates in Republican circles. I'm not entirely sure that's justified, but nevertheless if Romney goes on to win the election and subsequently loses to Obama then it may simply serve to push the Reps further right next time because the idea of nominating moderates will be tarnished by defeat. Guess there's a long way to go before that happens though.

Ford . . . moderate
Bush 41 . . . moderate
Dole . . . moderate
McCain . . . moderate

Interesting that Obama ran as a "moderate" and won. That's the formula: Republicans choose a moderate and lose; Democrats who can convince people they are moderate win.

Bush Jr ran as a moderate too of course, at least the first time round. Remember 'compassionate conservatism' ? Eisenhower was a moderate and he was one of your more successful presidents, whereas Goldwater certainly wasn't a moderate and he lost heavily. Nixon may now be regarded as very right wing but some of his policies would be viewed by the modern Republican Party as akin to communist treason. I'd say the pattern isn't so exact as you portray it to be.

Sassenach wrote:Bush Jr ran as a moderate too of course, at least the first time round. Remember 'compassionate conservatism' ? Eisenhower was a moderate and he was one of your more successful presidents, whereas Goldwater certainly wasn't a moderate and he lost heavily. Nixon may now be regarded as very right wing but some of his policies would be viewed by the modern Republican Party as akin to communist treason. I'd say the pattern isn't so exact as you portray it to be.

Bush 43 presented himself to the party as a conservative.

Eisenhower was successful in what way? He was a war hero running in the near aftermath of the most destructive war in history.

Goldwater was running against a ghost.

Recently, the moderates have been beaten. Now, I suspect if it were not for Perot, Clinton would not have beaten Bush 41. But, mushy middlers tend to not have much to say--that's their problem.

I note that Andrew Sullivan and other liberals are painting Obama as a moderate. I think that is funny.

Doctor Fate wrote:Bush 43 presented himself to the party as a conservative.

That is complete revisionist history (or you mean something by "to the party" that I don't understand). Bush Jr ran as a moderate in 2000, which was one reason why Ralph Nader did well (for a 3rd party candidate) because people didn't see that much daylight between Gore and Bush.

geojanes wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:Bush 43 presented himself to the party as a conservative.

That is complete revisionist history (or you mean something by "to the party" that I don't understand). Bush Jr ran as a moderate in 2000, which was one reason why Ralph Nader did well (for a 3rd party candidate) because people didn't see that much daylight between Gore and Bush.

Read that again.

Now, what part of "party" do you not understand? Are you saying he ran to the left of McCain? Certainly, he was not to the right of Keyes, but Keyes was a blip on the radar.

Bush the Younger ran as a moderate in both the Primary and General elections.

Archduke Russell John wrote:Bush the Younger ran as a moderate in both the Primary and General elections.

With wikipedia down, any source? I'm not questioning your expertise, just asking for a place where I can check out his moderate bonafides.

Here is a link to a brouchure from Bush for President 2000. The pretty much seem to be the type of positions that Huntsman, Romney, and McCain all ran on (with the possible exception of faith based initiatives).

Archduke Russell John wrote:Here is a link to a brouchure from Bush for President 2000. The pretty much seem to be the type of positions that Huntsman, Romney, and McCain all ran on (with the possible exception of faith based initiatives).

Sorry, but without a date, I cannot tell if this is primary or general election material. I don't remember him running as a moderate per se. Now, he certainly governed as a liberal, but that's another matter.