In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Let's all pause to admire this piece by Andrew Ferguson. Let's all pray for a world in which candidates for high office never behave this way because they know all of America would rise up as one to mock them:
The event had the feel of an unsubtle satire dreamed up by some snotty 1970s aging-hippie movie director—Robert Altman, say—to prove that political candidates are just pretty-boy airheads engaged in a show-biz sham. In addition to the lifted lamp of Lady Liberty and the overdone backdrop, there was the handsome candidate and his excellent hair, tossed Kennedily by a gentle wind off the river. There was the lovely wife wreathed in smiles, accompanied by a raft of offspring who looked as if Madame Tussaud’s “Brady Bunch” exhibit had sprung wondrously to life. ...
He then let out a series of boldly phrased, unvarnished assertions that no one in his right mind would disagree with. “What we now need,” he said, is “leadership that knows we need more than hope, leadership that knows we need answers.” “We must make the hard decisions.” “We can and will own the future.” The future holds challenges, sure, but also possibilities. “We’re choosing whether we are to be yesterday’s story or tomorrow’s.” It’s time to choose. “Now it’s our turn.” ...
You'll enjoy the whole thing.
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Jun '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
I pray that Andrew Ferguson never gets me in his sights (luckily for me, I have no political ambitions so I sleep well in the knowledge that I'll never get on his radar screen).
As a Utahn, I've watched Huntsman's career for years: poor little rich kid, a sense of entitlement, great hair, and rhetoric even emptier than Obama's.
If you decide to give a speech in the same place that Reagan gave one of his great speeches, you'd better be very good or you are very stupid. All evidence suggests that for Huntsman it's the latter.
Jan '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Sadly, it's the future:
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=147821&title=c-span9-debate
And apparently only Nixon can save us:
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=147895&title=nixons-back
Nov '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
"...“What we now need,” he said, is “leadership that knows we need more than hope, leadership that knows we need answers.”
Jon... you've never been to a tea party, am I right?
Edited on Jul 25, 2011 at 4:48pmJun '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
The Mormons tend to be what I call "ticket-punchers." If you do all the right things at the right time...join the Boy Scouts...go on a mission...go to college in Utah...get married...go to church every Sunday...tithe honestly, then you keep moving up the Church's responsibility ladder. It doesn't always work that way in the secular world. Punched tickets don't count for much in Washington.
May '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
As a Utahn I was a little offended he didn't announce his candidacy in his home state. What's wrong with Arches or Zion National Park as a backdrop. Or Utahs' real natural jewel in front of Crown Burger posing with a delicious pastrami burger, fries with fry sauce. mmmmmmm............... fry sauce.
May '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Huntsman is not a very active member of the mormon church. Many in the state of Utah would describe him as a "jack" mormon.
Jul '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
"..hair, tossed Kennedily.."
I know people's names become verbs (Bork), but adverbs? Is this a first? Anyone?
May '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Wouldn't you describe the Republican party a "ticket punch" party"? Join the party. Suck up to the right donors. Use all the right non-offensive rhetoric. Work your way up the political ladder. Bide your time then become the presidential nominee.
Jun '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
As a Mormon, I'm trying not to be offended at the inaccuracy and misleading over-generalization of your post. I neither served a mission nor was I a good boy scout (hated it in fact), yet a few years ago I was called to serve as the ward bishop. I served for five years (the typical length of time bishops serve), was then released, and have since served in a variety of callings, none of them of that nature. That is the course of action for most members of the church. No one owns a position, orthodoxy does not guarantee anything (it is its own reward), and it's worth remembering that no one gets paid a dime for their church service.
As you'll see from the first post in this thread, I'm no Huntsman fan, but you totally misunderstand Mormons.
Edited on Jul 25, 2011 at 6:21pmMay '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
There's a morning radio show out here, "Armstrong and Getty," and when Huntsman first came under the presidential radar they would play this little "riding to the hounds" english-horn fanfare whenever he was mentioned. I haven't been able to think of Huntsman without hearing that horn ever since.
Jul '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Huntsman will be a small footnote in a thick, unreadable history an obscure academic will write a long time from now. How small? They'll forget to include him in the index.
Dec '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Thelonious, I'm afraid your stomach's reminiscing may be lost on the wider world. There are two things that I have realized exist nowhere outside of Idaho/Utah/Western Oregon since I've left.........Fry Sauce and Finger Steaks. A stubborn fact that has peculiarly, not reached the folks back home.
To all who know not of what I speak, your taste buds would march around in sack-cloth and ashes for weeks on end if only they knew of the calorie-laden euphoria of which they are so needlessly deprived.
Edited on Jul 26, 2011 at 5:01amDec '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
If there were any justice in the world, the Republican party (or some portion thereof), the last, best hope of rational leadership in the western world would have started pelting Mitt Romney with expired produce the moment he gave that flaccid justification for his role in our great leap toward socialism. But alas.....
Edited on Jul 25, 2011 at 8:51pmMar '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Favorite line in the piece: "The other reasons were on display there, too: the hoary rhetoric, the overpackaging that can’t quite obscure the obvious lack of anything fresh to say. Things started going downhill at once."
Sadly, the overpackaging point might be applicable to more candidate than one.....
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Beasley
Thelonious, I'm afraid your stomach's reminiscing may be lost on the wider world. There are two things that I have realized exist nowhere outside of Idaho/Utah/Western Oregon since I've left.........Fry Sauce and Finger Steaks. A stubborn fact that has peculiarly, not reached the folks back home.
To all who know not of what I speak, your taste buds would march around in sack-cloth and ashes for weeks on end if only they knew of the calorie-laden euphoria of which they are so needlessly deprived. · Jul 25 at 8:37pm
Edited on Jul 26 at 05:01 am
When my husband told me about fry sauce, I was sure he was joking. I guess this means it's real? Also, Andrew Ferguson is a natural treasure.
May '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Mollie, fry sauce is real. I owe my shapely figure to that delicious concoction. I would share my recipe for fry sauce, but I'd be sent to the gulag if I divulged that information.
Jun '10
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Jimmy Carter: "..hair, tossed Kennedily.."
I know people's names become verbs (Bork), but adverbs? Is this a first? Anyone? · Jul 25 at 6:11pm
I knew there was something unique and special about that word. I was busy trying to pronounce it in my mind and you, instead, subject it to word analysis. Good for you, Mr. President.
I don't know the answer to the question but I hope if one is forthcoming that it is shared so we can all watch this (possibly) new phenom from the git-go.
Jul '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
Mollie, there is nothing new about fry sauce. Just about every child has reinvented it by the time they reach the age of 5. It's basically ketchup and mayonnaise. Thelonious could probably tell you better than I about the precise proportions; my stay in Utah was not long enough for me to acquire that taste.
-E
Jul '11
Re: In a Just World, This Would Be the Last We Hear of Jon Huntsman
I agree with tabula rasa that there is no ladder within the church organization, however, (and this is the perspective of someone who has only lived in Utah for 4 years) I do think it is possible that your evaluation may be valid if applied to Utah politics. There has been a "good ole boy" approach to the republican party there for a while. It's one of the reasons my very conservative father-in-law votes democrat as often as he can there.
-E