The Morning Joe gang had Jon Huntsman on the show Monday, giving the former Utah governor and GOP presidential candidate a chance to do damage control after some controversial comments at a New York event last night. But Huntsman didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity.
This is the second time Huntsman has appeared on Morning Joe since ending his bid for the White House.
In an interview Sunday night at the 92nd Street Y, Huntsman recounted how the Republican Party had disinvited him from a Florida fundraiser at which he was to speak, soon after he went on Morning Joe to call for a third party.
"This is what they do in China on party matters if you talk off script," Huntsman, who as the Obama administration’s ambassador to China, told the crowd at the Y.
The comments were quickly reported by Buzzfeed, then picked up more broadly, sparking a furor on conservative blogs.
On Monday’s show, Huntsman said he’d merely been “waxing philosophical” at the Y event, and dismissed Buzzfeed by pretending to get its name wrong – “Bottom Feeder, Buzzsaw, Buzzfeed, whatever they are” – before blaming the site for taking his words “out of context.”
But Huntsman didn’t back down from his larger point about the GOP’s inflexibility.
“The parties are supposed to be a big tent, you’re supposed to bring in all ideas,” he said. “We should be accommodating all voices. I’m a proud Republican – I’m a Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Reagan Republican. And this is the time to go big and go bold and go visionary. The people of this country are waiting for it and the world is waiting for it too. We have a huge opening.”
And Huntsman continued to assail his party for not filling that opening.
“What does it stand for today?,” he asked of the GOP. “What are the driving ideals other than being against things? What are you for? What is your vision? What is the bold part of your agenda that you’re shooting for?”
Huntsman's hardly the first person to note that the Republican Party has grown increasingly vigilant about ensuring its members toe the ideological line. Still, it’s hard to know how he expected to remain in good standing with the GOP after publicly calling for a third party. And a party that accommodated “all voices” – no matter how far they departed from the party’s core beliefs – would soon cease to have any internal logic whatsoever.
Huntsman did offer an endorsement – albeit a rather lukewarm one – for Mitt Romney.
“He has every ability to rise up to the occasion,” said Huntsman, later adding: “I think he’s the person who can get this economy moving again.”
And he slammed his former boss, President Obama, for “a missed opening to get the economy back on track,” arguing that Obama should have embraced the recommendations from the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission. Though economists say the spending cuts and tax hikes proposed by Simpson-Bowles would have reduced short-term growth still further, Huntsman argued that by getting the deficit under control, the plan would have boosted market confidence.
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Former Governor Jon Huntsman is one of the most intelligent, literate and forward looking members of the Republican Party. The GOP has become alarmist, near-sighted, and so filled with "states' rights" and "Constitutionalist"-minded misconceptions as to lose all association with the great visions of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Reagan. The radical right, religious zealots who make up the current GOP party membership are not assets to the party. They are instead detrimental, and drive more and more independent voters toward the Democratic party. I loved Jon Huntsman as Governor of Utah, and hope that he will continue to speak out for love of party and country.
Huntsman dares to tell the truth - that will get you ousted from the Right Wing every single time. They are all about hate, lies, distortions and attacks. Four more years PLEASE!!!
h t t p : / / y o u t u . b e / C Z - 4 g n N z 0 v c - take all the spaces out ...
Very good video -
Jon Huntsman was the best candidate when he was running in the primaries ... and he is still the best candidate for the Presidency now. However, it appears that in the Republican Party, you have to stand in line, spout out their "script", and wait your turn ... What the country needs be damned!!!! Jon, continue to be who you are ... you do have support out here.
Then Huntsman will have to found a third party because a Tea Party of simple minded people who praise ignorance over education and hold on to tattered ideas to solve tomorrow's problems and are semi-attached to a GOP led by corporate country club greedy types like Eric Cantor doesn't deserve to survive another day.
Is Gov. Huntsman the only Republican of any stature who hasn't been offered a 'gig' on FAUX News ? I remember watching a show called "Scarborough Country" many years ago and thinking the host was about as dumb as they come. Times change - People change - The GOP has ruled out change. There is hope that some in the GOP see what is going on around them and are making alternate plans for the future. Those plans do not include a 'gig' at FAUX News.
j Huntsman was the best canidate the repubs had but he was'nt crazy enough to take his ideals so far to the right and try to destroy the heart and soul of the founding fathers of our great country to get thier support. I'm proud to see a repub speak the truth about the direction his party has taken..
It is so refreshing to see a member of the Republican party that has a mind of his own! He not only can see the destructive path the GOP has taken this country down, he actually has a vision of the country rising back to prosperity by realizing we can't all get our way. Compromise (that dirty word!) is the path we must take to get this country working for everyone's benefit. When the country works for everyone, everyone thrives! He is not extreme, he isn't out to help a certain few. He just makes sense! God, why aren't there more like him in the Congress? I am a die-hard Liberal Democrat, but Jon Huntsman would have my vote!