Huntsman strategist: If Palin and Limbaugh dominate, GOP 'headed for a blowout'

[Lunar]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Huntsman-strategist-If-Palin-Limbaugh-Cheney-dominate-GOP-is-headed-for-a-blowout-in-2012-45270397.html

The Republican strategist who helped Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman prepare for a possible presidential run says the Republican party is in for a devastating defeat if its guiding lights are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney.  "If it's 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we're headed for a blowout," says strategist John Weaver, who advised Huntsman and was for years a close adviser to Sen. John McCain. "That's just the truth."

Huntsman, a favorite of GOP moderates, left the Republican presidential race last week after accepting President Obama's offer to become U.S. ambassador to China.  Before that, Huntsman appeared to be working hard on preparations for 2012. "He had not made a decision to run for president, but he had made a decision to prepare to run," says Weaver.  "We were probably a month away from announcing the formation of a political action committee, so we were pretty far down the road."

As an example of that preparation, Huntsman in February traveled to Columbia, South Carolina for a meeting with state business and political leaders, including Henry McMaster, the Republican state attorney general who is considering a run for governor. "A lot of candidates are not very good unless they're on cue cards or talking points, but Huntsman just opened it up for questions," says Richard Quinn, a longtime South Carolina Republican strategist who worked for McCain in 2000 and 2008.  "Everybody was extremely impressed…he seemed to me to be a bright hope for 2012."

In March, Huntsman held a fundraiser for McMaster in Utah, the kind of you-help-me-I'll-help-you arrangement that is key for a potential presidential candidate looking to build support in early primary states.

Now, Huntsman's decision to accept the president's invitation to serve as ambassador to China effectively means he is out of the 2012 contest.  "President Obama is smart to try to get him out of play, because he's the real thing," says Quinn.  Weaver says Obama came up with pretty much the only job that Huntsman would have accepted. "Had it been a cabinet post or any kind of political situation, he would have flatly turned it down," Weaver says.  "But this China post -- he's uniquely qualified to serve."  As a young man, Huntsman went to Taiwan as a Mormon missionary, where he learned the language and developed a lifelong interest in China.  In the 1990s, Huntsman also served briefly as U.S. ambassador to Singapore.

In addition to being out of the 2012 presidential race, Huntsman is also out of the ongoing debate over the future of the Republican party. Quinn, who met with Huntsman during the visit to South Carolina, says the Utah governor "seemed to be highly motivated to try to re-brand the Republican party as an institution that can win elections all across the country."  Now, Huntsman won't be doing that, not only because it would not be a proper role for an ambassador but also because he will be thousands of miles away in Beijing.

That leaves the wide-open GOP presidential field even more open than it had been before.  Whatever happens, the way forward won't likely be smooth; Weaver's "headed for a blowout" comment indicates the depth of division over the GOP's prospects. "I firmly believe that Huntsman and people like him are the prescription for what ails us," says Weaver. "But I have the feeling that our party maybe won't order that prescription in 2012."

[YRABNNRM]

They were a month away from announcing a PAC? That's pretty soon, is it not?

[Lunar]

They were a month away from announcing a PAC? That's pretty soon, is it not?

Palin and Mitt have had one for ages already

[YRABNNRM]

They were a month away from announcing a PAC? That's pretty soon, is it not?

Palin and Mitt have had one for ages already

Ah my bad. I was thinking about an exploratory committee for some reason.

[Saxwsylvania]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

[Lunar]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

I agree, Palin is the next Reagan.

[Rowan]

Palin isn't going to be anywhere near a ticket in 2012, so it's moot.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Most people thought of Reagan as a dumb extremist like Palin until the debate with Carter. He would never have won in a landslide without that. Palin has not proven herself to be intelligent yet.

[YRABNNRM]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

Agreed.

[JSojourner]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

Me too.  I liked him a lot.

[Magic 8-Ball]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Huntsman-strategist-If-Palin-Limbaugh-Cheney-dominate-GOP-is-headed-for-a-blowout-in-2012-45270397.html

The Republican strategist who helped Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman prepare for a possible presidential run says the Republican party is in for a devastating defeat if its guiding lights are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney.  "That's just the truth."
"If it's 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we're headed for a blowout," says strategist John Weaver, who advised Huntsman and was for years a close adviser to Sen. John McCain.

Was he not a close adviser, or did he recently see the light?

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

True 'dat.

[Eraserhead]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

Me too.  I liked him a lot.

Moderate Heroism alert!

[YRABNNRM]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

Me too.  I liked him a lot.

Moderate Heroism alert!

uh what?

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

No truer words have been spoken on this forum.

[Lincoln Republican]

Clearly, it is obvious that with Palin or Limbaugh, the GOP would be headed for an unmitigaged disaster in 2012.

However, let us be realistic, both Palin and Limbaugh are political jokes, who will not get to first base if they have the stupidity to actually run in the GOP primaries come 2012.

As for Cheney, any public appearances or pronouncements he makes are strictly for his legacy, and he in no way, shape, or form is planning a 2012 run.  Get real.

[pbrower2a]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Most people thought of Reagan as a dumb extremist like Palin until the debate with Carter. He would never have won in a landslide without that. Palin has not proven herself to be intelligent yet.

Ronald Reagan moderated his rhetoric, as did Barack Obama. Sarah Palin didn't.  That makes all the difference in the world. Reagan never proved that he was a rocket scientist, not that such is necessary for the Presidency. Failing to moderate her rhetoric, indeed becoming decisive, Sarah Palin showed that she was unsuited to being one stoke or heart attack away from the Presidency.

[JSojourner]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Baker = One of the best Presidents we never had.

Me too.  I liked him a lot.

Moderate Heroism alert!

LOL -- you must understand, at the time...I was as far from moderate as they come.  I had a picture of Ronald Reagan on my dormitory wall in college.  But I liked Baker, Bush and Dole because they seemed like guys with experience and the ability to get things done. 

Now that I am, as GM puts it, slightly to the left of Stalin, I still wish Baker had been President.  We might have avoided some of the excesses and cruelties of the Reagan years. 

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Moderate Heroism alert!

uh what?

Whenever a Democrat strays from the party line, they are called Moderate Heroes.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Thankfully someone people pay attention to is saying this.  Myself and others have been saying so for what feels like decades and finally there is someone of significant stature that agrees with us.

The problem is that if the base continues to move right, we might get Palin as our nominee in 2012. I want to have faith that we won't do so, but part of me still fears that we will nominate her. It all depends if our registration numbers continue to bleed before 2012 if more moderates leave.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Thankfully someone people pay attention to is saying this.  Myself and others have been saying so for what feels like decades and finally there is someone of significant stature that agrees with us.

While I sympathize with the sentiment, I'm afraid that it won't help.  Every time that someone is mentioned in the news with the words "McCain Strategist" as a qualification, people on the right dismiss them out of hand.  They don't trust us, they don't trust McCain, all they trust is the Oxycontin addict and his buddies.

[Lunar]

Reminds me of when Steve Schmidt came out for gay marriage.  Made a splash among the more objective politicos, but partisans generally ignored it

[pbrower2a]

Thankfully someone people pay attention to is saying this.  Myself and others have been saying so for what feels like decades and finally there is someone of significant stature that agrees with us.

The problem is that if the base continues to move right, we might get Palin as our nominee in 2012. I want to have faith that we won't do so, but part of me still fears that we will nominate her. It all depends if our registration numbers continue to bleed before 2012 if more moderates leave.

Four years after the Goldwater debacle, the GOP ended up with Richard Nixon as its nominee. To be sure, Nixon had hidden damage that had no connection to his ideology.

[Mint]

Thankfully someone people pay attention to is saying this.  Myself and others have been saying so for what feels like decades and finally there is someone of significant stature that agrees with us.

The problem is that if the base continues to move right, we might get Palin as our nominee in 2012. I want to have faith that we won't do so, but part of me still fears that we will nominate her. It all depends if our registration numbers continue to bleed before 2012 if more moderates leave.

Doubt it. Huckabee and Romney are performing better in the polls plus the power structure is tilted pretty hard against her. My money's on Romney still although I like him only marginally more than the other two clowns.