Confirmed: Jon Huntsman is a wanker

[TripletDaddy]

Mitt 2.0 announces today....at "Bittersweet Farms."

This thing's not over yet....long ways to go still.

[oxcoug]

Huntsman doing his damndest right here to undermine my case that he's a wanker / d-nozzle.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56152.html

Respect, Jon-boy.

[Jacob]

With the strange motorcycle ads and the announcement, Huntsman looks like he's off to a great start

JonahNRO Jonah Goldberg
Breaking: Flock of pigeons crashes to earth at Huntsman prez announcement. Early reports are that they were bored to death.

daveweigel daveweigel
heh RT @pourmecoffee: Huntsman campaign will pay for cracks from Lady Liberty yawning.

Maybe the injection of Huntsman is just what Pawlenty needs to take the attention away form his dullness. But, Huntsman dropped out of HS, he's cool!

[YOhio]

Maybe the injection of Huntsman is just what Pawlenty needs to take the attention away form his dullness. But, Huntsman dropped out of HS, he's cool!

Did you know he played keyboard for a band named Wizard?

[Clark Addison]

I hope Huntsman wins, because that will make two presidents in a row who I have spoken and shaken hands with.

[byu71]

I don't get it. What is the allure to Huntsman? Especailly by the media. I haven't followed his career. Was he a great businessman? Governor of Utah, well not exactly big time is it?

He speaks Chinese and that is big. However, I don't think they will run us over in the next 10 years. Maybe he should run in 2021.

[il Padrino Ute]

I don't get it. What is the allure to Huntsman? Especailly by the media. I haven't followed his career. Was he a great businessman? Governor of Utah, well not exactly big time is it?

He speaks Chinese and that is big. However, I don't think they will run us over in the next 10 years. Maybe he should run in 2021.

Good question about his allure. I don't see it.

[myboynoah]

Kind of a bumpy start.

Huntsman joins GOP race

GOP strategist Ron Bonjean noted the risk of heightened expectations, particularly Huntsman’s choice to announce his candidacy across the water from the Statue of Liberty — the same spot where Ronald Reagan launched his general election campaign in 1980.

“The announcement of the speech backdrop created such a hype that it made it virtually impossible for Huntsman to capture lightning in a bottle with his performance,” Bonjean said.

Reagan historian and GOP strategist Craig Shirley offered a similar critique. “Frankly, the moment was bigger than Huntsman,” Shirley said after the speech. “Huntsman did not tell the viewer why he was running, what he would do if elected and why he was an acceptable alternative to President Obama.”

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On the question of whether he can fulfill the narrative of his campaign, the evidence so far is mixed.

Huntsman’s own aides have openly wondered whether he can evolve from a candidate who connects in small rooms to one who can carry large crowds. The concern was underscored last week when Huntsman mentioned on the trail that he was tired. A few days later, he cancelled a scheduled appearance at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans because he was too sick to travel.

His campaign is also off to an uneven start. Staffers, many of whom never met Huntsman before he returned from China, spelled his name wrong on press passes handed out at Tuesday’s ceremony, inserting an “h” in Jon. Reporters spotted that the sleek new Web site included the wrong phone number — 123-456-7890 — and address — 123 Main Street, Charlotte, N.C. — for the campaign. The headquarters is actually on Orange Avenue — in Orlando.

[myboynoah]

Yikes.

Dana Milbank: Jon Huntsman’s first step toward oblivion

Polls show upward of six in 10 Republicans don’t know enough about him to form an opinion. In Iowa, where Huntsman has said he will not compete, one poll found total support for Huntsman of one — not 1 percent, but one person.

Huntsman’s would-be opponents are happy to fill in the blanks: Democrats point to his reversal on cap-and-trade for carbon emissions, conservatives complain about his support for civil unions, and the White House is trying to paint him as a behind-the-scenes moderate. To fight those impressions, the campaign will have to do more than put out videos of a Huntsman body double riding a motocross bike in the Utah desert, while soulful music plays and a disembodied voice attests that Huntsman played in a high school band and prefers “a greasy spoon to a linen tablecloth.”

[YOhio]

I don't get it. What is the allure to Huntsman? Especailly by the media. I haven't followed his career. Was he a great businessman? Governor of Utah, well not exactly big time is it?

He speaks Chinese and that is big. However, I don't think they will run us over in the next 10 years. Maybe he should run in 2021.

IMO, the biggest part of Huntsman's allure is that he's relatively unknown. Those interested in the race at this point know pretty much all they want to know about the other candidates and they're looking for something new to chew on. That's not to downplay his resume, which is pretty impressive. Graduated from Wharton, experience in the private sector, governor's office and as an ambassador. Not bad at all.

[myboynoah]

IMO, the biggest part of Huntsman's allure is that he's relatively unknown. Those interested in the race at this point know pretty much all they want to know about the other candidates and they're looking for something new to chew on. That's not to downplay his resume, which is pretty impressive. Graduated from Wharton, experience in the private sector, governor's office and as an ambassador. Not bad at all.

I agree with that. I don't think Repubs are all that happy with their choices. He better get to defining himself, otherwise (as noted above) others will happily do it for him. I haven't seen a lot of Huntsman, but he comes across as a little too laid back, almost milquetoasty. That's just my impression.

Next up: Gov Rick Perry, who sounds an awful lot like W.

[YOhio]

I agree with that. I don't think Repubs are all that happy with their choices. He better get to defining himself, otherwise (as noted above) others will happily do it for him. I haven't seen a lot of Huntsman, but he comes across as a little too laid back, almost milquetoasty. That's just my impression.

Next up: Gov Rick Perry, who sounds an awful lot like W.

I will be so pissed if Rick Perry crashes our Mormon Moment!

[Uncle Ted]

Next up: Gov Rick Perry, who sounds an awful lot like W.

Yes, I wonder when he will figure out it is pronounced "twitter" and not "tweeter" (around 2:30):

[YOUTUBE]sba8ejXRtts[/YOUTUBE]

The next thing you know he will be saying it is the "internets" like W.

[Green Monstah]

Huntsman is a pretty uninspiring orator. But really, we haven't had a good speaker in office since 2000, so that should be okay.

I wonder if homeslice is going to be able to stick to his rhetoric re: a positive campaign.

[Jacob]

Next up: Gov Rick Perry, who sounds an awful lot like W.

Because they were both governors of the same state? In what other ways do they sound an awful lot alike? The Bushes don't care for Perry, and he apparently doesn't care for them much either.