# John Hunstman leaving the GOP? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 24, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hunstman-leaving-the-gop/619830 "2012-04-24T18:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 15
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hunstman-leaving-the-gop/619830/15 "2012-05-20T00:15:11Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I would have voted for him if he’d have gotten as far as Indiana. As it was, I went with Romney. Alas, it would not do Romney any good to sign him on as VP, but I hope this is not the last we see of him- AS a Republican or not. > > Let’s see how welcoming the Democratic Party would be if he came on as still a Pro-Lifer & Tax Reformer. Tax reform isn’t a problem: Bill Bradley was one of the early architects of the 1986 effort. The problem for the Democrats would be that Huntsman is very conservative across the board. Pro-life is ok, tax cuts for the rich can be ok, but consistent hard-but-not-far right stuff causes problems. I don’t think the man has anywhere to go. > [@astorian](#): > > Instead, like John McCain before him, Huntsman spent his entire campaign trying to show liberal journalists how much cooler he was than all his conservative rivals. Cite? He got maybe 2 weeks of coverage. After that he tweeted items that were not so much liberal as _sane_. And that’s what did him in: he was far too neurotypical for the Republican electorate. It has nothing to do with the media and everything to do with the base. Here are his tweets: To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy. [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/08/19/gop-candidate-jon-huntsman-makes-waves-with-tweet-on-evolution-and-climate-change/](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/08/19/gop-candidate-jon-huntsman-makes-waves-with-tweet-on-evolution-and-climate-change/) And over in South Carolina, he wouldn’t pander to the loons: One of the state’s Tea Party leaders, Chris Lawton, asks what he knows about China’s setting up “secret free-trade zones” in the American West. Huntsman politely says he hasn’t heard anything about that and moves along. There’s nothing moderate about Huntsman. It’s just that he is neither a lunatic, nor does he try to act like one. And that is electoral poison in a Republican primary. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hunstman-leaving-the-gop/619830)._