From Deseret News:
Jon M. Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor who has been stuck in the second tier of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, took an assertive new tone during a televised interview Sunday, saying that recent remarks by two of his major rivals were “extreme” and “unrealistic.”
He was referring, respectively, to two of the most conservative Republican candidates for president — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota — both of whom have overshadowed him in surveys of Republican voters.
Original DVD coverHuntsman singled out two areas of commentary by Perry that have drawn particular criticism: Perry’s skepticism about the human causes of global warming as an unproven theory, and his suggestion that actions by Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, to give the economy a boost might be “treasonous.”
In his appearance on the ABC News program “This Week,” Huntsman warned against the Republican Party becoming “the anti-science party.”
…snip…
Huntsman also scoffed at Bachmann’s suggestion that, if elected president, she would help bring the price of gasoline below $2 a gallon.
“I just don’t know what world that comment would come from,” Huntsman said.
…snip…
Huntsman, who served as the ambassador to China under President Barack Obama before quitting that post this year to pursue the presidency, has tried to stake out a middle ground in a contest where the loudest voices have come from what he referred to on Sunday as “the fringes.”
Huntsman insisted that the American public was “crying out for a sensible middle ground.”
Exsqueeze me, but remember this question at the last debate: “Who wouldn’t take that deal, 10 dollars in spending cuts for every one in tax increases?” When you raised your hand along with all the other Rethuglican candidates, Jonny, Jr., you gave up any claim of being a moderate, even if you don’t hate science.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
I love the poster, with one point that stuck out for me. I loved the Ron Paul blimp. A recent news story I’d heard stated that helium supplies (the stuff that makes ’em float WITHOUT blowing up, a la Hindenburg) are quickly running out.
I hereby propose a National Security declaration. Since blimps are used to patrol our borders, interdict drug suppliers, and guarantee National Security, they are a key Defence asset. Therefore, all current GOP candidates are hereby relieved of duty as politicians, and will from here on, provide lift to the nation’s blimp inventory via their copious supplies of hot air, in place of strategically important helium.
Save the country two ways. What could be better? 😀
i accidentally found the ron paul blimp. i had forgotten about it. i actually used another one a while back. originally, i photoshopped a picture of chris christie on the blimp, but it was too small to make out who it was.
i had read that helium is in short supply. maybe we can live without the mylar balloons.
Why photoshop an image of Christie on the blimp? He *is* a blimp!
Speaking of which, I haven’t found an image yet of Christie as Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies. Save that idea for the next story starring him.
christie as the blimp was supposed to be the joke, but i couldn’t find a pic that would work.
thanks for the fat bastard idea, neon vincent. i didn’t see the movie, so i didn’t know about the character. i bookmarked a pic, but if i forget when a good cc story happens, remind me.
Perhaps there is a Canary in the Batshit Cave.
There’s a crack in everything…
That’s how the light get’s in.
– Leonard Cohen
it’s too bad that sanity can’t survive the primaries because of the teabaggers.
Bachmann looks even more demented than usual, and that’s saying something. What did you do to her eyes?
As for Huntsman, if he’s not angling for 2016, he’s going for Veep on Bloomberg’s No Labels ticket.
i used a pic of bbb that i saved a while ago, but she didn’t have the degree of batshittery the poster called for, so i took her eyes from another pic and superimposed them.
do you think bloomberg is going to throw his hat in the ring? he’s been pretty quiet lately.
There are rumors that Bloomberg or his supporters are behind the America Votes project to get a bipartisan/non-partisan ticket on the ballot.
http://www.americavotes.org/
The idea is that an internet poll will select a ticket. If it drafts Bloomberg, then he runs.
Wrong organization. It’s Americans Elect, not America Votes.
http://www.americanselect.org/
Tom “The World is Flat” and “Suck on this” Friedman is a big booster.
sounds like bloomberg is sending out a trial balloon for his own candidacy, and it’s not costing him very much.
Poor Jon, next trip to Fox News, he’ll be locked in the waterboarding room for a few days…
i don’t think he’ll be invited to faux news for a while. instead, i think he’ll get himself a little condo in the msnbc studio so he can be nearby when joe squintborough has an open seat.
Jon who?
The guy is in a presidential race amongst cartoon characters…. people can’t help but focus on the animation.
If you are in the mood for a little snark….
http://www.markfiore.com/political-cartoons/watch-republicans-democrats-obama-campaign-election-iowa-bachmann-animated-video-mark-fiore-animation
that’s the best fiore so far! perfect!
I watched Huntsman on Piers Morgan Tonight and was very impressed with both his values and platform:
*Solution oriented*
Cosmopolitan
‘Nice guy’ but not afraid to address idiocy (Perry and Bachmann)
Grounded in REALITY
Pro civil unions
Understands science and technology (critical thinker)
Does not equivocate (i.e. Romney)
Presidential ‘carriage’ (of course, that is subjective)
…and in his own words has “intimate knowledge of our most significant economic relationship” (China). With his rocker background, he could pull in the youth vote. Based on what I know TODAY (things could change), if the election were held tomorrow, my vote would be on Huntsman.
In part 2 of Piers Morgan interview with Jon Hunstman, Piers asks Huntsman to encapsulate his master plan to get the economy going. Huntsman responded with a 3-prong approach:
1) tax reform (phase out dedections and loopholes)
2) regulatory reform
3) energy indepedence
Huntsman stated “we have got to make ourselves a safe haven for the attraction of brain power and the aggegation of capital.”
I think I will use “aggregation of capital” on my oldest teenage daughter…”get a job” is not quite cutting it.
P.S. Has anyone else noticed how much Huntsman resembles Keith Carradine?
Spelling errors corrected:
In part 2 of Piers Morgan interview with Jon Hunstman, Piers asks Huntsman to encapsulate his master plan to get the economy going. Huntsman responded with a 3-prong approach:
1) tax reform (phase out deductions and loopholes)
2) regulatory reform
3) energy independence
Huntsman stated “we have got to make ourselves a safe haven for the attraction of brain power and the aggregation of capital.”
I think I will use “aggregation of capital” on my oldest teenage daughter…”get a job” is not quite cutting it.
P.S. Has anyone else noticed how much Huntsman resembles Keith Carradine?
keith carradine is hot.
johnjon huntsman is not. he looks more like mr. rogers than keith carradine.huntsman seemed okay to me until he said that poor and middle class people need to pay more taxes and that he’d accept a veep offer from botox batshit bachmann, even after saying she resides in lala land. maybe he’s just another silver spoon baby who has no idea what it’s like to have to wonder where your next meal is coming from.
Accepting the VP on a Bachmann ticket would be the ULTIMATE in serving one’s country especially considering he does not agree with her. Who would you rather have? A Bachmann/Palin ticket or a Bachmann/Huntsman ticket? If he accepted, it would in the best interest of the country and would not mean an endorsement of her batshittery. As to taxes, if Huntsman is saying that the poor and middle class can pay more (and they can), and the wealthy can pay MUCH, MUCH MORE (and they certainly can), okay, that sounds like a plan. Shared pain with the most fortunate sharing the most. Just my humble opinion, but Huntsman seems like he is in this to serve and he believes he can make a difference. If the GOP takes the election, I want a Huntsman or Romney somewhere on the ticket (preferably Huntsman).
i disagree wholeheartedly. the ultimate in serving one’s country would be to fight tooth and nail against botox batshit bachmann or gov. little ricky goodhair winning the presidency. huntsman may not agree completely with obama, but he seems to have more of the same values as obama than he does with bbb or gov. little ricky goodhair.
i don’t know what poor and middle class people you know, elizabeth, but the ones i know can’t afford to pay any more taxes. the ones i know lost the jobs they had for years, and they’re either looking for work or are working for far less wages than they earned before. meanwhile, their insurance and food bills have gone up. how much more can you take from these people? wall street and ceos have been making out like bandits, while everyone else has been suffering. the unwashed masses are already in pain.
I don’t hail from a privileged background. Like Suze Orman, my very bright and talented mother slung hash for the longest time. We collected welfare and food stamps growing up and received no child support (last count…nine husbands before the poor lady finally passed). I could always count on returning soda bottles for the deposit money to buy lunch or dinner: inevitably, a can of Campbell’s soup. For a time, we also didn’t have any furniture (except for army cots in which to sleep). We also had a television, air conditioning and plenty of beer which made us fabulously wealthy in comparison to third world nations. After I was emancipated, I got lucky by working 12-14 hour days seven days a week so I’ve experienced both ends of the wealth spectrum (I concede that having the opportunity to work 12-14 hours is in itself lucky). I currently live in the foreclosure capital of the US, Las Vegas, where I lost almost 70% of the value of my home. Las Vegas also boast the highest unemployment rate in the country at 14.9%. I have worked extensively with indigents over a long career and have intimate knowledge of their spending habits and choices (from observing and from personal experience). If the devout and pious can find a way to make some small contribution for the greater good, then why can’t we all? Again, with the wealthiest (luckiest) making the greatest contributions as it should be. I imagine it is difficult to be a politician and make statements knowing there are so many gradations, nuances, explanations and interpretations…you can attempt to be straight-forward, but someone, somewhere is going to rip what you said to shreds. That’s why I cut Huntsman some slack. I like the man because he willing to sit down with anybody (BBB, et al) and negotiate, compromise and most importantly, cooperate. But, you’re right, someone of his ilk may not stand a chance. He’s too, I don’t know, rational?
”The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” Niels Bohr
people make contributions in different ways, according to their talents and their resources. just because people are too poor to pay more in taxes doesn’t mean that they aren’t contributing to society. they contribute in other ways. they take in family members who are worse off than they are. they watch kids for their neighbors. they give clothing they no longer need to someone who needs them. they teach their children to be good citizens. just because they can’t contribute monetarily doesn’t mean they’re not contributing. on the other hand, what has paris hilton done to better society lately? how about kim kardashian? charlie sheen? how about donald trump? he’s never done anything for charity that doesn’t aggrandize himself. every penny that a poor person pays in sales tax or tolls or fees is a hardship. the rich pay the same tolls and fees, but it doesn’t even make a dent in their pocketbooks. the poor make the money they have by getting their hands dirty and taking a toll on their bodies. there are many among the mega-rich who got their money on a silver platter. they can sit back and live off capital gains and pay a pittance in taxes. what are they contributing to society?
i’m way too tired, so i’ll end there. i’d probably just talk in circles. i have to leave this debate until i get some quality sleep.
Funny thing about that $2 gas. Why just last October while making my trek across the southwest, I pulled into Minden, Nevada (where I saw the Angle sign) and decided to fill up the van with 30 gallons to make sure of good traction getting over Carson Pass. That fuel was $2.16 a gallon LESS THAN A YEAR AGO! Speculators, the futures market, and other odd moneychangers have managed to add a buck and more but it seems to be no big deal to anyone…..in other news a Halibuton guy today drank fracking fluid to show everyone how harmless it is. Should let his kids play in the tar sands too.
that sounds like an episode of the twilight zone, jerry! if i saw gas prices under 3 bucks a gallon, i’d seriously question my own sanity.
He’s getting bad campaign advice (perhaps from himself?). He’s in a race to the bottom and to the loony right and he’s standing there with his hand up calling for sanity? Doesn’t he know that the moderates have all been slaughtered or run off and that all is left is bible-thumping, gun-toting, gay-hating, drowning-government-in-a-bathtub zombies? The pictures of Nelson Rockefeller have all been airbrushed out of the history, moderation is dead and the lunatics are running the asylum.
He is trying to play Big Nurse but his medication tray is empty and the orderlies all called in sick.
i’d say, at least,
one from the west,
tried to fly over the cuckoo’s nest.
he got his lunatic creds back a bit when he said he’d serve as botox batshit bachmann’s veep. george pataki is about to throw his hat in the ring. he’s jon huntsman without the mormonism. so long,
johnjon.Huntsman would be the guy in the tv show who is liberated from the insane asylum because he has the answers to all the spooky stuff that is going on? Or am I being too literal at this hour? Anyhow I appreciate Huntsman calling the others clowns for their pandering to the anti-science (hell anti-gravity) far right but he looks to me like the kind of guy who would execute your five year old for nose picking while telling you he understands your objection to his system of justice and would you like a cup of coffee? Keep the maniacs up front and who knows Obama just might kick their asses even with 10% unemployment.
Another of my unsolicited attempts to make connections between movies and politics; there is a scene at the end of the movie “The Missouri Breaks” where Jack Nicholson sneaks up behind Marlon Brando at night, slits his throat and says something like “that sound you just heard was your throat being slit”….I can see Perry as Jack and Bachmann as Marlon. Interestingly in the movie Marlon does some cross dressing, kisses his horse a lot and murders folks from a distance with abandon. just sayin.
i may do movie poster parodies, but i think you need to start writing movie parodies, gregg! loved your comment. 😆
Huntsman is way too rational for the new GOTea.
but he’s ambitious enough to dip his toes in the crazy pool once in a while.
when we finally admit our political system is a bought and paid for reality show – meant SOLELY to entertain and not progress a society – maybe then can the house of cards come down and we can start over
90% of america doesnt make 6 figures – i cant for the life of me figure out why these people will vote in assholes that only want to pass the tax burden to the middle and lower classes – FORGET the rest of the nonsense like gay marriage etc. we are letting the uber wealthy turn this country into France of 1789
dcAp, i’ve been saying for years that our political system has become nothing more than a reality show, and journalism has become nothing more than tabloid entertainment trash. it says something that anderson cooper went from hosting the mole to cnn, and bill0 went from inside edition to faux news.