Yes, it’s silly when Halperin and Joe Scar pretend that Huntsman has a chance in the Republican primary, but I can no longer blame them for rooting for him. In this interview Huntsman is remarkably reality-based (and suicidal, politically speaking) on science, on the debt deal, on Bernanke’s “treason”.
Huntsman’s candidacy comes ten or twenty years too early; I believe that within 10-20 years, we’ll either be a Franco-style theocratic dictatorship headed up by Generalissima Bachmann or, more likely, that electoral set-backs will convince the Republican party to dial things back a bit. In the meantime, Huntsman is pissing in the wind, but I respect him for it, and I can see why moderate Republican commentators let him hang around.
gnomedad
Huntsman 2016: He Told You So.
JGabriel
DougJ @ Top:
That’s my take too, or half of it anyway — the other half being to laugh ironically at Huntsman’s Quixotic attempt to court the GOP’s non-existent moderates with, of all things, sanity.
Personally, I think he’s just positioning himself for 2016 as the only competent, non-crazy, Republican candidate.
.
PeakVT
A more cynical take would be that “moderate” commentators have him on to distract from the fact the rest of the field is completely, totally, nucking futs – except Mittens, who is just extremely eager to play the role, which is functionally the same thing as actually being nuts.
Alex S.
Huntsman is Obama if Obama was stuck in a red state.
OzoneR
We’ll see how sane we think he is when he decides to run as an independent and manages to get a tea party president elected with 42% of the vote.
ETA: or maybe at a time when no one’s popular…actually get elected.
ETA2: No, scratch that, at least 40% of the country is voting tea party for President. He’ll get Rick Perry elected and give us four years of plurality hell.
Derf
Oy vey. Now baboon juice is fapping over Repuke candidates.
Give me a fucking break.
c u n d gulag
Being reasonable will get you nowhere in this Republican Party. It’s a ‘death trap, it’s a suicide rap…’
And, how dare Huntsman be reasonable!
Why, the very word “reason” is right there!!!
kjazz
Yep, like gnomedad said (and as Kevin Drum has been saying all along), Huntsman is just preparing for 2016. Every now and then he needs to throw red meat at the crazies to pretend to be viable this round, but really he wants to portray himself as the sane guy, so when Obama wins and Republicans get whooped, he’ll be the guy to lead them back from the darkside.
Really, he’s no different to Mitt except for the fact that Mitt doesn’t really seem to stand by any principals, or at least doesn’t care to articulate what he really believes and just says whatever he thinks will get him the nomination. At least Hunstman shows some spine in that respect.
And I wouldn’t be surprised to see him speak more about these ‘heresies’ (in Republicans’ eyes) in upcoming debates. It’s what separates him from the others, and he is getting (and will get) a lot of media attention for it.
JPL
@OzoneR: I thought the same thing although I still think Romney gets the nomination. There is so much hatred for Obama, that the tea party type will vote for the one they see as electable.
Baud
Lest anyone get too drunk on Huntsman kool-aid, this is the top post of his blog:
JPL
Hunstman really thinks Perry is a kook.. hahaha
Yutsano
Great White Hopes don’t come out of nowhere DougJ. The fact that the Republicans are still searching for their new Ronaldus Magnus is both telling and bordering on parody now.
OzoneR
@Baud: Hence why I think he goes indy. This was his tweet this morning
It screams “Bachmann, Perry, Obama, all partisan hacks who can’t lead. Listen to me!”
He’s going independent.
Julia Grey
Yeah, if you follow his blog and tweets, you’ll realize that the only things Huntsman has really been “reasonable” about lately are the ones with scientific backup, like evolution and global warming. His economic views are pure anti-New Deal Publican. To me, that’s what counts.
I agree, too, that he’s positioning himself for 2016.
Baud
@OzoneR: In 2012? I can’t think of anyone who’s actively sought a major party’s nomination and then went independent. Even Ron Paul hasn’t done that.
Wag
@OzoneR
You beat me to it. I agree huntsman is vying for the (edit for clarity) “perseved” sane middle Independent vote. Third party run, here we come.
MikeJ
OK, so he’s reality based about global warming, but his policy prescriptions to address it are identical to Bachmann, Palin, Romney, and Newt. Nothing.
Derelict
I give the GOP two more election cycles before it completely implodes. With the Tea Party firmly in control of the primaries, only the most lunatic of candidates will survive to the general elections. When those candidates go down in flames because the average voter really doesn’t want to end Social Security and return to the gold standard, the Tea Party reaction will be what it has been to every defeat thus far: Move FURTHER to the right because the problem is lack of idealogical purity, not the fact that the party platform is crazy.
So, in two more cycles we should start seeing candidates advocating for the removal of fluoride from toothpaste and a return to the barter system.
Citizen Alan
It will be Generalissimo Perry. For all her current popularity among the wingnuts, I cannot see how Bachmann wins the nomination if her strongest supporters also believe as a matter of first principles that a woman should never be in a position of authority over men. The first time Perry and Bachmann share a debate stage and Perry out Jeebuses here will be the end of her campaign (except to the extent necessary to angle for a VP spot, though I expect Perry will go for a Cheneyesque “statesman” as his VP).
Tom Q
@Baud: John Anderson did it in 1980.
Villago Delenda Est
Being sane disqualifies you for the Rethuglican Presidential nomination in the 21st century (so far).
M-Pop
Being reality-based in today’s Republican party is a bug not a feature. And, remember, he’s running for 2016 – this is just shaking the sleeping moderates a little and introducing himself.
Villago Delenda Est
@Derelict:
We’ve already seen this particular “solution” in the 2010 Nevada Senate race.
Baud
@Tom Q: Had to look him up, which tells you how successful that gambit is.
Oh, and having looked him up, I wish he’d won.
suzanne
@kjazz:
Principles. Otherwise, spot on.
Romney frightens me, because he’s absolutely unpredictable. He’s possibly a sociopath.
Dee Loralei
Also, totally OT, I have an Iphone4. I have several questions maybe the BJ hive mind can help with. I can’t access the App store from my pc for the last few days.(Totally not a question), is anyone else having this problem? Also, I’ve purchased several apps and on my phone the app says waiting to be d/l’d. But I can’t figure out how to get them to completely download onto my phone. And yes, I synched both pc and phone.(Again, I didn’t phrase that as a question, but dammit, it’s implied!)
Also, is there some way I can store some of the existing apps I have but rarely or seldom use in a folder or something on my phone, so I can make more room on the 5 pages for more and newer apps? Why yes, I do love my apps.
Any and all help would be appreciated by this luddite. Thanks.
Suffern ACE
@OzoneR: Evan Bayh as VP?
Keith G
@Wag:
@OzoneR:
Nope.
Huntsman has the skill set to be prez and a path (yes, a bit of a bank shot). Running 3rd party would flush that.
He is networking for 2016.
eemom
There are so MANY of them, and they’re all starting to blend together. How do you keep them straight? Or even who’s in and who’s out at this point?
Like I thought Gingrich was out, but apparently he’s still in.
Villago Delenda Est
@suzanne:
That’s a feature in his previous line of work, which was buying up productive companies and destroying them for profit.
James Gary
“Out of kindness, I suppose” is a line from Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty,” but I’m not picking up on the usual clever twist that identifying the source of a DougJ post title brings.
Unless it’s intended that “Pancho”=”Republican” and “Lefty”=”Democrat”, but even then, I can’t really see any other resonance with the rest of the song. Please advise.
OzoneR
@Baud:
John Anderson did that in 1980. He nearly won the Massachusetts and Vermont primaries.
Teddy Roosevelt also did it in 1912, trying to oust Taft before he ran independent
Maxwel
IMO, none of the major parties will be called Republican in the near future.
MattF
@James Gary:
They let him get away…
Citizen Alan
All this talk of Huntsman 2016 makes me curious — is there any feeling here at all about who will be the Democratic nominee in 2016 (or even who plans to run)? Biden will be 76, Hillary will be 75 (and IIRC, has already ruled out future political campaigns), and I can’t really think of any Democratic governors who have made any sort of positive media splash (mainly because the media doesn’t care about competent governors in well-managed states, only Republican freakshows like Perry, Christie, Walker and Kasich). As I understand it, part of the reasoning behind the “primary Obama” movement is the belief that “four years of a Republican nutjob with a good chance of winning with a more progressive Democrat in 2016” is preferable to “four more years of center-right Obama policies followed by 4-8 years of Republican rule that takes us through 2024.” I don’t personally agree with that analysis, but I do wonder — exactly what is the game plan for keeping the White House post-Obama? Or do Democrats even try to think that far ahead anymore?
FlipYrWhig
@Suffern ACE: I was going to make the same suggestion [Huntsman/Bayh]. And I was also wondering whatever happened to Charlie Christ. With any combination of “centrists” in the race, Tom Friedman would be orgasmatronic. I don’t think they’d _win_, but it would be remembered among pundits and Big Money as a kind of Goldwater ’64 for moderates, a moral victory that Changed The Conversation (back to the way it used to be, of course, but they liked it that way).
malraux
@Dee Loralei: Least important answer first. With extra apps, you can do two things: delete them or move them into a sub folder (hold on an app icon till you get the wiggly screen where you can move them, drag one onto another, you get a folder). Deleted apps can be redownloaded as necessary though you lose the data associated with them.
With the apps downloading, it sounds like you’ve got a problem with your account. In iTunes, I would try either “view my account” or sign out and sign back in and see if that gives you some info.
Violet
@OzoneR:
Huntsman’s twitter feed is fun to follow. Whoever is writing it is doing a good job.
OzoneR
@Citizen Alan: Kirsten Gillibrand, John Hickenlooper, Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Brian Schweitzer, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown.
The problem is a lot of our wood-be candidates got bounced in 2010; Joe Sestak, Russ Feingold, Tom Barrett, Bill White, and many members of Congress all struck me as potential 2016 candidates.
Elizabelle
Huntsman, (the defunct) Pawlenty and Romney are Republican-leaning pundits’ fig leaves.
Huntsman goes, you have only chameleon Romney in the race.
Not much cover for these “principled” conservative Republicans.
If they’re “principled” moderate Republicans, I would bet they privately vote for the Democrat. Because they are as disturbed by the conservative GOP wingnuts as we are, and might take their ascendance more personally.
You vote for Huntsman, you’re supporting sanity, yes, but it’s just as much a backdoor vote for the rightwing loonies.
Keith G
@Citizen Alan: I bet Rahm wants to.
wasabi gasp
I’m not optimistic about a theocratic dictatorship, but I’d say you have that backwards.
FlipYrWhig
@Citizen Alan:
IMHO it will be someone who wins a higher office for the first time in 2012 (perhaps the Democrat who wins the race for Senate or Gov in Wisconsin). Democrats are going to be exhausted from the gridlock and meta-battles under Obama and will want fresh blood. Others to watch for: Andrew Cuomo, Mark Warner, Deval Patrick, and at least one center-right red state governor, like Steve Beshear or Mike Beebe. Whatever happened to Brian Schweitzer? He was a blogosphere darling for a few years, but I haven’t heard a word about him in a very long time.
ETA: Ozone’s suggestions of Gillibrand and O’Malley seem plausible to me too.
Big Baby DougJ
@James Gary:
The commentators only let Huntsman hang around out of kindness, I suppose.
moops
2016 or 2012 actually. it is still a LONG road ahead. It is important to not peak to early in this game. He is first tying up the pundit heartthrob base, who will carry water for him for free for a long time. While ignoring the base. It is the McCain road to the nomination. At some point he pivots to all read meat, all the time, and the media can’t accept it and still love him and land the moderates for him.
all he needs is a couple of flub by the frontrunners and his loving media types will highlight them. McCain skipped the Iowa straw poll if you remember.
Violet
@OzoneR:
I hope Gillibrand is considering it. I have really liked her when I’ve seen her interviewed. The fact she’s a good looking blonde doesn’t hurt either.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FlipYrWhig: Schweitzer had an op-ed in the NYT the other day, all about how the federal gov’t should balance its budget just like they do in Montana. Actually, it’s not too bad, but nothing about raising taxes, and a lot of palaver about all that waste, fraud and abuse that’s the real cause of the deficit.
I think Claire McCaskill sees herself as a Good Centrist who could make a run at the White House
OzoneR
@Violet: Her vote against the debt ceiling bill, even while Schumer and Hochul voted yes, seem to be the writing on the tea leaves.
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That must have broken Markos Moulitsas’s heart.
OzoneR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah McCaskill strikes me as the type who could get the Beltway all jazzed up. She often moves from centrist to progressive in a blink of an eye, and I think it’s possible if she gets reelected and starts to talk in some progressive voices, she can make the left forget all about her centrists views (a la Obama)
FlipYrWhig
@OzoneR: Remember when Gillibrand was insufficiently pure as a progressive, so all good liberals should rally behind Caroline Kennedy? That was awesome.
FlipYrWhig
@OzoneR: IIRC, McCaskill isn’t well-positioned to win reelection, and that’s a problem for her future aspirations.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FlipYrWhig: he just blamed Obama.
FlipYrWhig
Oh, and speaking of McCaskill, there’s a Democratic governor of Missouri now, Jay Nixon. I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped in in 2012.
Violet
@FlipYrWhig:
Nixon for President? Really?
Dee Loralei
@malraux: Oh, that was immensely helpful. Now if only I could get all of my art/photo apps and game apps etc on the same page so I could get them into the same folders. Thanks so much!
And I’ll try the log out/ re-log in thing on the pc, see if I can’t get the app store to open up so I can figure out how to get those 2 apps d/led to my phone.
JR
Again, it falls to me to point this out:
He’s a BILLIONAIRE. He has so far spent about $2 MILLION of his own money. His entire operation so far has been laying groundwork, not actually going on offense. Wait until he starts sinking some real cash into this before saying he can’t win.
WaterGirl
@Dee Loralei: I wrote you a nice, long answer and then WP (apparently) ate it. FYWP. Let me know if you’re still here and I will type it in again.
WaterGirl
@Dee Loralei: You know you can move apps from within iTunes, right? for the longest time, I struggled with trying to organize my stuff directly on the iPhone. just shoot me now, was how I felt trying to do that.
Samara Morgan
@JGabriel: he is still a MORMON.
i doubt very much that the US will be any more ready for a MORMON president in 2016 than it is now.
Dee Loralei
@WaterGirl: Ha! That’s exactly how I felt tonight and today. Last night I was wondering if it was because I was +somenumbermumble. But today has been just as frustrating.”I thought this was supposed to be idiot proof!”, screamed this idiot. I mean that’s why I told my boss I wanted an Iphone as opposed to a blackberry or something else. I truly am a luddite. Especially, I’m frustrated not being able to access the App store on my pc and not being able to complete the downloads of two apps on to my phone.
Damn you, Steve Jobs! <—-shaking fist at sky…..
WaterGirl
@Dee Loralei: I love Steve Jobs, so take that back or I won’t try to help. :-)
Just kidding. So which problems have been solved and which haven’t?
Edit: though i have been cursing safari 5.1 since i installed it last week. FIrst time I thought an apple product sucked.
Suzan
Speaking of 2016…or whenever…no republican can win Prez without Rush and Fox and they will never support Huntsman. The problem with an independent candidate in 2012 is while there is still chance of a (relatively) sane candidate (Romney) it doesn’t make sense to set up a machine for an independent run. Huntsman might get some votes if the GOP nominates Bachmann or Perry but if it’s Romney? He’s got nothing. So, it is too early to tell.
I live in Utah and work in state government. There is not much daylight between Huntsman and Romney except as of today it appears Romney is more willing to veer right for the election. I don’t trust either of them and wouldn’t in a million years vote for either of them but I don’t think the world would end if either was prez. Can’t say that about the rest of the GOP field.
Now, off topic a bit: where are the flag pins? Remember 2008 when it was clear evidence that Obama was a traitor who hated his country because he didn’t wear a flag lapel pin? Perry wears a lapel pin but I can’t tell what it is. Doesn’t look like a flag. But most of the other GOP candidates don’t. Just asking.
The Golux
By odd coincidence, I just added “Pancho and Lefty” (the Delbert McClinton version, from the TVZ tribute album “Poet”) to my band’s break music playlist about an hour ago.
OzoneR
@Suzan: I think a loss in 2012 will severely damage the tea party and the Rush wing of the party, since they will bear the brunt of the blame for the loss.
Part of the reason Obama needs to be reelected is I think it will definitely move the Republican Party to the center and make 2016 a choice between progressive and center right, rather than center and crazy.
Dee Loralei
@WaterGirl: oh, Malreaux taught me how to group certain apps on my phone into folders. Which freed up lots of space.
Chet
@kjazz:
Wait, so Huntsman is McCain in mavericky 2000 mode?
Cacti
I’ve always thought Huntsman was running for 2016.
Villago Delenda Est
@OzoneR:
While that’s a reasonable assessment, it fails to take into account that these people are not reasonable.
Back when the GOP actually had some reasonable sane people in positions of authority (say 1998, when they dumped Newt as House Speaker because he nearly lost the GOP’s congressional majority) the reasonable reaction you describe makes sense.
Nowadays the response to every setback (“George W. Bush was NOT a ‘conservative’!”) seems to be double down on the crazy.
gocart mozart
@Citizen Alan:
She was born October 26, 1947 which will make her 69, not too old, and her saying “I don’t intend to run” or “I have no plans to run” means exactly squat. I think the 2016 nomination is hers if she wants it and I think she does regardless of what she says now.
Anya
@FlipYrWhig: Gillibrand does not strike me as a credible presidential candidate. She has a squeaky voice, besides she’s a gun toting mama – not sure if that will be attractive to leftists.
FlipYrWhig
@Violet:
Oh, right, duh, good point.
askew
@Citizen Alan:
I think the Dems have a good list of potential candidates for 2016:
Senator Gillibrand (NY)
Governor O’Malley (MD)
Governor Patrick (MA)
Governor Schweitzer (MT)
Governor Andrew Cuomo (NY)
Governor Hickenlooper (CO)
I am sure we’ll see some other surprise candidates as well. Who would have expected Obama to be the 2008 nominee in 2003?
askew
@Keith G:
I can see Rahm being picked as VP. But I can’t imagine him throwing his hat into the ring for Pres.
steve
Hillary will be 69 in November 2016, just fyi.
Villago Delenda Est
@FlipYrWhig:
NIXON NOW!
Which will be changed with very little effort to
NIXON NO!
Which actually happened in 1972 :)
FlipYrWhig
@Anya: It doesn’t hurt that she was one of the leads on DADT repeal. I think she’s been solid on liberal priorities since coming to the Senate. And even the sainted Howard Dean was a fiscal conservative, pro-gun governor. Of all the issues that once helped define the poles of American politics, IMHO guns would have to be the one most thoroughly won by the right, to the point where vanishingly few Democrats even attempt to discuss regulating guns anymore. Judging by the political discussion since the 1990s, even the left gave up on that a long time ago.
Anya
@Samara Morgan: It looks like Romney is going to be the nominee. The crazies are splitting the vote and if snowbilly grifter joins, then Romney will for sure win the nomination.
Villago Delenda Est
@FlipYrWhig:
The thing about guns is that even if you could get a word in edgewise on any serious form of gun control, the NRA loons would be screaming about confiscation, when the logistics of actually attempting such a thing are the stuff of utter fantasy.
Which explains why that meme is so strong within the gun culture. They have no appreciation of logistics, at all.
Rabble Arouser
@askew: I dont’ know about 2003, but in ’04, during the convention, Obama spoke, and I was convinced then that he would be president some day. Just didn’t figure him in 2008.
Keith G
@askew: Indeed, yet the combination of his two stints in the West Wing plus his abundant ego leads me to think that he wants it so badly that he can taste it.
Anya
@FlipYrWhig: I agree on all that, but she’s not a compelling speaker. She’s pretty and she wins many people over her stand on social issues. I think she’ll be good VP on a ticket headed by Governor O’Malley or Governor Schweitzer.
gocart mozart
Beat you to it Steve ;)
Let me add my vote to those that think Huntsman is running for 2016. What he is doing now is laying the ground work and betting/hoping that sanity again becomes fashionable in the Republican party. He may drop 20 or 30 mil of his own money (pocket change for him), get his name out there as “the sane candidate”, make contacts and get experience running a national campaign. Its a practice run.
The funny thing is, despite all this DFH love, his politics are basically like circa 90’s Dole or Kemp which shows how extreme the Repubs are today. “OMG he believes in SCIENCE! Fuckin’ Commie!”
If they are even more extreme in 2016, he may run 3rd party I think.
Anya
@Suzan: Rush and his fellow wingnuts did not support John McCain, yet he won the nomination. If they nominate Perry or Bachmann and they lose spectacularly, then Huntsman or another “moderate” will have a chance on 2016.
WaterGirl
@gocart mozart:
No way. She knows how exhausting it was to campaign for 2 years 2006-08, there’s no way I see her taking that on again when she is even 8 years older.
Plus (sadly) our society is very unforgiving of women’s looks as they get older. There is no way the united states elects a woman who looks old. No, Hillary’s time to run for president has passed.
That’s the one comforting thing about Palin – she is nearly at her MILF expiration date, and a lot of the starbursts will end as soon as she starts to look haggard on the campaign trail.
Stillwater
@The Golux: I just added “Pancho and Lefty” (the Delbert McClinton version, from the TVZ tribute album “Poet”)
You could fill the entire break with ‘Pancho and Lefty’ covers and people would thank you for it!
ETA: And thanks for placing that lyric! I kept hearing Townes voice in my head but couldn’t find the song.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
the gop is playing a martingale, everytime they lose, they double the crazy the next time. fortunately for us, they don’t take our word for it, when we declare that they have won.
to me that is the most curious thing about the gop. its only the ratfuckers that ever brag about how far they pulled the country to the right. they have, in some areas, really gotten everything they wanted.
our politicians love the look at how far we have come meme, especially when delivering a shit sandwich. the right wingers never seem to brag, that they are kicking ass in the ways they have won for their side. perhaps its because the wins all come on the money side, and the kook issues, and not on anything they want the suburban middle class go-alongs to notice.
moops
McCain got the nomination without Rush, or Fox for that matter. He also skipped the Iowa straw poll and sucked off the interviewers that had their mancrushes on him. He skipped the base entirely in the early campaign and switched to pandering near the primaries.
we still have a lot of months to go here.
boss bitch
@OzoneR: @Citizen Alan:
I think it will be O’Malley from Maryland. OzoneR: If Gillibrand’s vote was needed for the debt deal, she would have voted yes so no pats on the back from me. I don’t think she would be good on the national stage. Just my gut on that one and its usually right.
In other news: Does everyone here have amnesia? Huntsman supported the Ryan Plan along with other moronic right wing policies. I don’t care how many sane comments he’s made. Huntsman is not Obama in a red state, he’s not going to lead some third party, and he’s not a centrist. He’s only slightly less cowardly and opportunistic than Mitt Romney. Don’t John McCain him, please.
shortstop
@JGabriel:
I think that’s probably right. But I think Doug’s also right that 2016 will be way too early for his kind.
ETA: That wasn’t to imply that I think his policies are admirable, his occasional sense-making notwithstanding. But this is how he’s positioning himself, and I don’t think he’s doing it for 2012 knowing that it puts his chances next year at less than zero.
boss bitch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No way. I don’t see that woman inspiring any segment of the Dem party.
shortstop
@boss bitch: There is no segment of the United States, Democratic or otherwise, that will be inspired by Claire McCaskill.
boss bitch
If a “sane” Republican is nominated and loses in 2012, the right wing will claim that they lost because their candidate wasn’t a True Conservative. So in 2016 the Repub candidates will move even further to the right. Its will be the same reaction they had with John McCain.
boss bitch
@shortstop:
Indeed.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@moops: McCain also had the advantage of going up against Multiple Choice Mitt, Why Bother Campaigning Giuliani, I’d Rather Be Back On Law & Order Thompson, some new guy named Huckabee, and RON PAUL.
The media mancrush certainly helped McCain, but he by and large won by default.
shortstop
@boss bitch: But no sane Republican will be nominated in 2012. Huntsman knows that, don’t you think?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@boss bitch: I agree. I’d be hard pressed to vote for her if I lived in MO, but I was talking about how she sees herself. The one thing I ever heard Cokie Roberts say that didn’t make me roll my eyes was that all Senators think they should be the next president. I would make exceptions for Herb Kohl and Olympia Snowe.
boss bitch
@shortstop:
I don’t know. I’m not going to write off Romney yet. I personally don’t think he’s sane, but the GOP base does not see him as a True Conservative.
Shawn in ShowMe
No Janet Napolitano fans in this thread? She’s got tons of executive experience, is a compelling speaker and already has a high-ranking post in the present administration. She could hit the ground running.
boss bitch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
oh yeah I know what you meant.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Huntsman does have the support of “Clinton Democrat” Lynn Foster de Rothschild, so watch out! (does anyone know if she actually uses the “Lady” title?)
shortstop
@boss bitch: No, I still think Romney will get the nomination — and although he’s the sane candidate compared to Perry and Bachmann in that he doesn’t actually believe the crazy stuff coming out of his mouth (Perry seems to believe some of it and Bachmann all of it), Romney’s fluffing the base for all he’s worth right now. I think Huntsman is trying to put himself outside that entire circle, banking on a big pendulum swing within the party between 2012-16 in terms of social issues. I don’t think it’s going to happen that fast.
shortstop
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bwa ha ha! And yes, she does! Never leave us, Lady. You are too cute for words.
ETA: Am I the only one who assumed she was a drag queen the first time I read her name?
OzoneR
@Villago Delenda Est:
Some of these people will be dead by 2016, others will be demoralized after failing to beat Obama. They won’t have a black man to beat anymore, he would have beaten them twice.
OzoneR
@shortstop:
That’s what progressives said about Hillary Clinton, and yet there was a lot of excitement over her candidacy.
danimal
I’d bet on Hillary 2016. I don’t care what she’s saying now, she’ll hear the call and answer it.
boss bitch
@OzoneR:
Did they really? Even when I was low-info I always thought her last name would be a serious boost.
OzoneR
@boss bitch: Yeah it did, that’s why we nearly had a brokered convention.
Though I don’t know how much of that was because she was the white candidate, but back home, there was a ton of excitement about Hillary, the return of Bill, first woman president, healthcare.
marginalized for stating documented facts
In another 20 years, gasoline will cost $20 a gallon, downtown Los Angeles CA and Phoenix AZ and Taos NM and Henderson NV will experience regular temperatures of 135 degrees F (LA, Taos) to 140 degrees F (Phoenix, Henderson), water riots will require periodic callouts of the national guard, skyrocketing food prices due to the chronic droughts in the midwest (combining with collapsing wages for American workers as a result of ongoing offshoring and the automation of middle-class jobs) will spark nationwide food riots, and with unemployment pushing 12 percent, America’s main industries will be underage prostitution and drug tourism for wealthy Europeans/Asians.
20 years from now, Americans will have a lot more serious issues to worry about than the Republican party.
Jeffro
@FlipYrWhig: Warner/Gillibrand 2016. I could definitely roll with that.
Shawn in ShowMe
@OzoneR:
Trust me, I live in Missouri. There’s no equivalent of the Sisterhood of Traveling Pantsuits here. She doesn’t have a husband who is lovingly referred to by the African-American community as the first black president.
I think Claire’s a decent politican but frankly her stature in the Democratic party is a result of riding Obama’s coattails. She doesn’t have much of a following of her own.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Shawn in ShowMe: Wasn’t she elected in ’06? I sent her money then, and I hope she wins, but I doubt I’ll ever get over her tweeting that she help eliminate the “silly stuff” from the stimulus. and of course now she’s promising to oppose any further stimulus spending.
I’m sure her campaign staff is quaking at the loss of my $25 in this cycle.
shortstop
@boss bitch: No, they didn’t really. All right, four or five people somewhere said it, I’m sure.
The idea of comparing Claire McCaskill to Hillary Clinton is frankly hilarious.
boss bitch
Something’s poppin’ off in Libya. Listen out folks.
Delia
@marginalized for stating documented facts:
There’s an unrequited optimist in every crowd.
Stillwater
@boss bitch: Care to elaborate on that?
SiubhanDuinne
No one has yet mentioned the Senator from the great state of Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, for 2016.
A girl can dream . . . .
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: One step at a time please. Let’s get her into the Senate first. Then we can engage in the wild speculations about the future.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Stillwater: the details are vague, but apparently the rebels have Tripoli surrounded, there’s fighting in the city and all kinds of rumors about defections and Qaddafi getting ready to run.
Good news on balance, but I’m still worried about what comes next.
boss bitch
@Stillwater: @Stillwater: @Stillwater:
Richard Engel tweeted fighting in Tripoli in four areas. There were stories that Qaddafi fled with his sons to Venezuela. Another tweet said the rebels are 500 meters from Q’s compound. Another tweet said all hell has broken loose in Tripoli.
wrb
@shortstop:
She’s waiting for the Arabian drums
to be left by her gate
Davis X. Machina
@Shawn in ShowMe: She’s more likely to be the new Janet Reno, I fear… a lightning rod. DHS means ‘OMG! FEMA camps! Same thing with Sibelius — HHS is going to be the eye of the HCR storm.
Can we get the freepers to confuse her with Judge Napolitano…
NobodySpecial
I would think Schweitzer in 2016. He fits most of the optics.
I noticed that as well
@James Gary: But I don’t see the connection either.
Ian
@Citizen Alan:
See Hickenlooper, John. D-CO
Spoke at the 08 convention introducing Obama. Remember who did that for Kerry, and where it got him?
Shawn in ShowMe
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yeah, Claire won in 2006 against milquetoast rank-and-filer Jim Talent. Someone had to. But she really only became a major player in the party when she took a leap of faith and endorsed Obama early in the campaign.
In Claire’s defense, you’re not going to win a Senate election in Missouri by being a card-carrying progressive. The previous senior senator was Republican good ol’ boy Kit Bond, whose policy positions make Claire McCaskill look like Malcolm X.
Stillwater
@Ian: Hick is a great middle of the road liberal. that is, one sure to piss off progressives but entrenched in Reality.
Plus, it doesn’t take long for people to learn to love his style.
Stillwater
@boss bitch: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks for the updates! I’ll check it out.
WaterGirl
@boss bitch: Richard Engel is one of the few journalists I trust. Come to think of it, Richard Engel is one of the few journalists who is actually, well, a journalist.
Cacti
Jay Nixon
Current governor and former AG of Missouri. Will be 60 in 2016. That’s my early pick.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cacti: I think his last name might be a problem.
TenguPhule
Republican Convention 2012: Rooting for a Mass Murder Suicide.
boss bitch
@WaterGirl:
I know a lot of people trust him that’s why I posted his comment from Twitter. Seems like something real is happening not just rumors.
magurakurin
@marginalized for stating documented facts:
If you seriously believe that, you are so wasting your time posting on this shitty blog.
Delia
@TenguPhule:
What? You’re expecting one of the crazies to lead them all in a Jim Jones/Peoples’ Temple Spectacular?
A Conservative Teacher
For your your repeated predictions of a Franco-style theocratic dictatorship, the truth is that that kind of dictatorship is rare, especially compared to the much more common ‘communist progressive tyrant ruling in the name of the People.’ And our imperial President, who wants more of your money and more decisions over your life, is a bigger threat to your life, liberty, and property than someone like Perry or Palin whose whole purpose is to limit the power and size of government and to lessen its threat to your life, liberty, and property.
magurakurin
@A Conservative Teacher:
,he babbled from his cell in the Ministry of Love.
El Cid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
With good reason. There won’t be the Qaddafi personal state, which is a huge advance — there is now the very great likelihood of a better life along many dimensions.
Not necessarily for all — death rates for women in Afghanistan are higher post-Taliban, but it’s for things like death during pregnancy, which isn’t an exciting power struggle for the world scene.
Iraq was quite developed in terms of infrastructure, professional training, education, and so forth, and now it’s a basket case. The successful ethno-sectarian cleansing of Baghdad leaves cellular autocracy throughout the capital. And so forth. But like Libya, it was almost entirely a personalized state where every bureaucracy and institution was designed for the fancy and power of Saddam.
But there would be no chance without the fall of Qaddafi, and I am hopeful that my feeling of a continuing civil war or continued fighting from various forces which backed Qaddafi. And the balance between the TNC, local and interest divisions, and the power of the arbitrating UN & NATO.
I was very skeptical of the likelihood of a clean victory. Without any blissful prediction of what comes next, I sure as hell hope I am wrong about that — for the sake of the entirety of North Africa and other anti-autocrat battles throughout the region, in addition to Libyans.
priscianusjr
@JGabriel:
priscianusjr
Huntsman reminds me of that fictional campaign song from the Firesign Theatre, 1972:
Papoon, Papoon for President
There is no one to blame.
Papoon for our chief resident.
You know he’s not insane. NOT INSANE!
Kane
It’s only a matter of time before the media begins describing Huntsman as a maverick. I wonder if Huntsman has a tire swing.
AAA Bonds
At least he gave us that pre-secession/post-secession line.
If Perry somehow ends up as the party pick, all the Democrats have to do is say “secession” over and over.
moops
yeah, he’ll be called maverick pretty soon. That is the moderate dogwhistle for the Republicans.
His bad numbers now mean almost nothing. He is running against lunatics and grifters. The rabid Tea Party base is loosing support very rapidly right now. I think not pandering to them is the smart money. With a lucky scandal on Perry and Bachmann (which Rove can engineer) He is left playing rope a dope with Mitt.
Capturing the erections of the talking heads is the prime predictor of being the nominee. He just has to start walking and talking like the old McCain and he has the best shot. Dumb slogans and full media access, then start spreading around a few hundred million of his own loot. He has powerful hair, and he has actual cred with the forced childbirth crowd. He can split the base on that issue.
Lojasmo
@OzoneR:
Your foot was over the line. Mark it a zero, smokey. Mark it a fucking zero.
No way in he’ll huntsman runs as an Indy.