Posted on 12/05/2011 6:04:44 PM PST by Son House
GOP Presidential Candidate Jon Huntsman dismissed Donald Trump and the debate the real estate mogul and reality TV star will be moderating, and told Larry Kudlow he’s the only consistent conservative in the race.
The former Utah Governor and former ambassador to China likened the Newsmax-sponsored presidential debate to a reality show, and said he would not be participating.
“There’s some dignity associated with a run for the highest office in the land, and it shouldn’t be trivialized and it shouldn’t be dumbed down,” he said. “If Don Trump cares about our nation’s future, he should have been a candidate for president. He shouldn’t be manipulating the process from the sidelines.”
His statement was the latest in an ongoing war of words with Trump. Huntsman also denied Trump’s claim that he called several times to schedule a meeting in hopes of getting Trump’s endorsement.
“I called him once after he got out of the race, just like I called Tim Pawlenty, as a courtesy call,” Huntsman said. “Not looking for a meeting, not looking for support or anything else.”
One debate Huntsman said he will be doing is the “Lincoln-Douglas” debate Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire on December 12. He thinks it will provide an opportunity for an in-depth discussion of the issues.
“You can only get so much in 30 second sound bites,” he said. “People fall back on rehearsed lines and that doesn’t serve the purpose of educating the voting public about who you are and what it is you stand for.”
Huntsman also touted his conservative credentials, saying “You’re not going to find a more committed conservative in the race … I am a consistent conservative.”
He pointed to his pro-life, pro-second amendment stances. He also said as governor of Utah he delivered the largest tax cut in the history of the state and signed the second school choice voucher bill in the country.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand is a “flip-flopper conservative,” Huntsman said, adding that he thinks Newt Gingrich is “grandiose and a little bombastic.”
And while many may not know of his conservative views, Huntsman said he’s not going to pander for votes.
“I’m going to be who I am. I’m not going to contort myself into a pretzel,” he said. “I want a steady, substantive rise and that’s exactly what we’re getting in New Hampshire.”
Well if Harry Reid changes parties and gets in, Trump could endorse him and stop toying with running as an Independent.
The Ross Perot, I’m in, I’m out...
No Huntsman fan here, but he does have a point. The idea of GOP candidates on pilgrimages to Trump`s throne, showing such fealty to him, grates on me to no end. Trump wants something in exchange for a blessing.. he won`t just grant it for nothing.
I kind of like circumventing the lame stream media.
Who says they’re the only ones that can moderate debates?
You missed the above post. Huntsman did ask Trump for a pilgrimage to his place. Trump turned him down.
+1
Trump trivializes it, but “Mad Jim Cramer” doesn’t?
This will not help Huntsman at all.
Ah.. ok. Thanks!
But it is okay letting it be ‘Trivialized’ by Wolf Blitzer, MSNBCBS and other members of the Obama-Lewinsky gang?
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Exactly! Michael Savage has been railing for weeks and weeks about the idiot Republicans for going to debate after debate hosted by rank Liberals.
And how about the debate that asked the Repub candidates about their favorite music, or some such — as Savage pointed out — that was truly demeaning.
So, now that somebody might ask questions that are a bit more of the hardball nature, Ron Paul and Huntsman bow out — in Paul’s case, at least — after complaining that he is not given enough time in the debates.
That showed me that Paul is at heart a LIBERAL — as is Huntsman.
For the most part I agree with you. However, Trumops daddy died with over 1/2 Billion. He was anything but a small RE conglomerate.
From Wikipia:
“”Trump embarked on a career as an entrepreneur through real estate development, building, and operating affordable rental housing in New York City, including more than 27,000 low-income multifamily apartments and row houses in the neighborhoods of Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, Flatbush, and Brighton Beach in Brooklyn and Flushing and Jamaica Estates in Queens.[2]
By the time of his death, Trump had amassed a $400 million estate, left largely to his children, contributing a significant amount to Donald Trump’s fortune. Fred Trump suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for six years[2] before his death from pneumonia in June 1999, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in New Hyde Park, New York.””
“That’s rich” ping. Thanks Son House.
I’m looking forward to the Huntsman/Gingrich debate. It’ll be good to see Newt against someone who knows what he’s talking about. And of course, Huntsman is correct about Trump.
Huntsman is better than Newt or Romney.
“Huntsman (who?) trivializes it every day that he doesn’t bow out”
You got that right. Its a total vanity campaign.
Huntsman is a Progressive RINO and above all a stiff. His interviews are like watching a documentary on origami.
Oh gosh....LOL.
I call him, “Eddie Haskell Huntsman.”
The man is a kissy-face to the moderators and peeps in the audience during debates.
Talk about a vanity run. His qualifies.
Isn’t Huntsman the one whose daughters “trivialize” the presidential race with their silly videos?
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