I don't have a dog in this fight, but...

[DanaC]

That would be a fascinating presidential race. Either outcome could be good for America I think. That'd be a first for a long time: a win-win election :p

[Griff]

Huntsman is skipping the Trump / Newsmax debate, which is probably smart. He is also smacking Mitt around a little.

"Anyone who is in the hip pocket of Wall Street because of all the donations they are picking up, like Mr. Romney, is in these days not going to be the change agent who is going to fix the too-big-to-fail banking system," Huntsman told an audience Monday night.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Griff

Huntsman i

"Anyone who is in the hip pocket of Wall Street because of all the donations they are picking up, like Mr. Romney, is in these days not going to be the change agent who is going to fix the too-big-to-fail banking system," Huntsman told an audience Monday night.

Huntsman can talk all he wants about his independence, but the fact is that his Horizon PAC started raising money for Huntsman campaign while he was still officially ambassador to China. Strictly speaking, this is illegal, but Huntsman is getting away with it because he claims Horizon drafted him.

From The Deseret News, A Utah paper with strong ties to the Mormon Church:

Because the PAC was based in Utah, there was no limit on the amount that could be contributed. Individual donors gave as much as $250,000, with billionaire cosmetic mogul Ron Perelman giving $100,000 and Nike founder Phil Knight, $25,000.

Television magnate Herbert Seigel, one of the richest Americans, and his wife, Jeanne, gave a total of $400,000 to the PAC and Dallas-based development company, Trammel Crow, forked over $250,000 in one check.

In addition Huntsman comes from a devout Mormon family - one of his ancestors was on speaking terms with Moroni or something - and his father was a billionaire industrialist.

Now Huntsman would have us believe that all his wealthy supporters would never set so much as a toe onto Wall Street. No doubt his "billionaire industrialist" father put all the company profits into some credit union back in Utah.

Huntsman has proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, eliminating corporate taxes on income earned overseas, and implementing a tax holiday for repatriation of corporate profits. Of course, he is only trying to help those poor little corporate entities along. He himself has no interest in them. All those donations from wealthy supporters will be returned.

So he made nice with Obama. Smart career move. Getting the experience in high Federal government positions and making important Washington contacts is a plus in his bid for the presidency.

Bottom line, Huntsman is an extremely wealthy, Mormon, ex CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation. As a Mormon he is against any laws protecting homosexuals and he is pro life, among other things. If you don't know much about Mormonism, imagine a fundamentalist who believes that if he lives right and climbs up the hierarchy of the faithful, upon his death he will be given his very own planet to rule - kind of like a mini-god. And yes, Mormons really believe this.

If you Google Huntsman, you will quickly discover that he is little more than another wolf in sheep's clothing. I'd vote for Ron Paul over Huntsman.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by DanaC

That would be a fascinating presidential race. Either outcome could be good for America I think. That'd be a first for a long time: a win-win election :p

Agreed.

[SamIam]

I disagree, Dana. Huntsman is claiming independence from corporate interests. Well maybe true, but maybe not. At any rate, Huntsman is the dream candidate for the Tea Party.

Jon Huntsman (R-Davos), the darling of Manhattan magazine writers. The Republican uncomfortable with being a Republican. Yet the policies Huntsman advocates, if implemented, would usher in a conservative, free-market, small-government revolution that no Tea Party member could help but applaud. No Thatcherite or Reaganite, either.

When Huntsman was governor of Utah, he scaled back the state human services program and left most assistance in the hands of the community. He could get away with this in Utah because the state is largely Mormon. The Mormon Church has more money than most people can imagine, and it has a very generous plan of assistance for its members.

However, if Huntsman's ideas are applied to the country as a whole, they will cause a social services nightmare along with a great deal of human suffering.