Pages Passio Christi The Craftsman A Better Guide Than Reason Burning Cedars Essays And Articles It Could Be Worse Poetry Romney, The Dancing Fraud Solon’s Favourites The American Agrarian Tradition The Whig Party’s Treason 'λήθεια ”όξα Ή 'γωγή Archives April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 Agrarian Blogs Agrarian Foundation Blog Glorfindel of Gondolin Canadian Blogs I, Ectomorph Pith and Substance The Ambler Catholic Blogs Andrew Cusack Caelum et Terra Katolik Shinja Leading the Next Inquisition Mark Shea Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita Philokalia Republic Quo Vadis? (Andrea Kirk Assaf) The Discalced Yooper The Epicatholic Fold The Immaculate Direction The Inn At The End Of The World The Western Confucian Conservative Blogs A Conservative Blog for Peace Across Difficult Country Clive Davis Daniel Nairn David Kuo Dignan’s 75-Year Plan In Media Res Mild Colonial Boy New Zealand Alternative Conservative ParaPundit Peter Suderman Postmodern Conservative Ross Douthat The Economic Nationalist The Russian Dilettante The Scrivener The Smoker’s Room Conservative Magazines & Recommended Sites @TAC Chronicles Culture11 First Principles Front Porch Republic Intercollegiate Studies Institute LewRockwell.com Ron Paul 2008 Sobran’s Taki’s Magazine The American Cause The American Conservative The American Scene The Compass The League of the South The New Atlantis The New Pantagruel The Russell Kirk Center The Spectator The Unreal (Michael Brendan Dougherty) The Week VDare Crunchy Conservative Blogs Crunchy Cons (BeliefNet) Crunchy Cons (Dreher) History Sites & Blogs Cliopatria Early Modern Notes History News Network Medieval History Revise and Dissent Libertarian Blogs Antiwar Blog Cato@Liberty Hit And Run Leon Hadar Lew Rockwell Blog Libertarian Truth The FeatherBlog The Tory Anarchist (Daniel McCarthy) News Antiwar The Daily Telegraph Orthodox Commentary, Blogs, Theology and Related Sites An Ideal for Living Byzantinos Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies Energies of the Trinity Fr. John Whiteford Maison Russe Ora et Labora Orthodox Blogs Orthodox Christian Orthodox Ecclesiology Orthodoxie OrthodoxWiki Orthodoxy Today Orthodoxy Today Blog Pensate Omnia The Analogion The Orthodox Way Thicket and Thorp Tserkovnost Uncut Mountain Press Other Blogs Alex Massie Andrew Sullivan Balloon Juice City of Brass Gene Expression Glenn Greenwald Good Will Hinton John Schwenkler/Upturned Earth L’Hote Nathancontramundi Some Political (Max Socol) Speak And Remove All Doubt The Belgravia Dispatch The Black Sea The Confabulum The League of Ordinary Gentlemen The Race for Iran The Stopped Clock Unqualified Offerings Paleoconservative Blogs A Cognizant Discourse As The Top Of The World Turns Brave New World Watch Clark Stooksbury Column Right Conservative Times Dennis Dale Dum Spiro Spero Exit Strategies George Ajjan Glaivester Green Mountain Hard Right League of the Scarlet Pimpernel League of the South Blog McLarecana Michael Cadwallader Musings of a Reformed Catholic Ordo et Traditio Patrick Buchanan Politeuma Reactionary Radicals Steve Sailer Surfeited with Dainties Timothy P. Carney VDare Blog Volunteer Voters The Orthodox Church Holy Esphigmenou Monastery Magyar Ortodoxia Orthodox Europe Orthodox Menaion Russian Orthodox Church Abroad St. Innocent of Moscow Church St. Juliana of Lazarevo Church Sts. Constantine and Helen Church Visoki Decani Monastery Traditional Conservative Blogs 4Pundits Chris Roach Eating Words Gene Healy HitchensBlog Small Is Still Beautiful The American Chesterton Society Blog WWWTW Conservative Bloggers Apologia Cella’s Review Counterrevolutionary Meditations Lydia McGrew Right Reason What’s Wrong With The World Zippy Catholic Meta Register Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org
GA_googleFillSlot("RightSide2");
GA_googleFillSlot("RightSide3");
Huntsman and Religion Daniel Larison April 20th, 2011 // Share|But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
// Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 // Share|
But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
// Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 The American Conservative var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11577341-1"); // Cookied already: pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} st_go({blog:'7739970',v:'ext',post:'13900'}); var load_cmc = function(){linktracker_init(7739970,13900,2);}; if ( typeof addLoadEvent != 'undefined' ) addLoadEvent(load_cmc); else load_cmc();
But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 The American Conservative var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11577341-1"); // Cookied already: pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} st_go({blog:'7739970',v:'ext',post:'13900'}); var load_cmc = function(){linktracker_init(7739970,13900,2);}; if ( typeof addLoadEvent != 'undefined' ) addLoadEvent(load_cmc); else load_cmc();
“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Pages Passio Christi The Craftsman A Better Guide Than Reason Burning Cedars Essays And Articles It Could Be Worse Poetry Romney, The Dancing Fraud Solon’s Favourites The American Agrarian Tradition The Whig Party’s Treason 'λήθεια ”όξα Ή 'γωγή Archives April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 Agrarian Blogs Agrarian Foundation Blog Glorfindel of Gondolin Canadian Blogs I, Ectomorph Pith and Substance The Ambler Catholic Blogs Andrew Cusack Caelum et Terra Katolik Shinja Leading the Next Inquisition Mark Shea Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita Philokalia Republic Quo Vadis? (Andrea Kirk Assaf) The Discalced Yooper The Epicatholic Fold The Immaculate Direction The Inn At The End Of The World The Western Confucian Conservative Blogs A Conservative Blog for Peace Across Difficult Country Clive Davis Daniel Nairn David Kuo Dignan’s 75-Year Plan In Media Res Mild Colonial Boy New Zealand Alternative Conservative ParaPundit Peter Suderman Postmodern Conservative Ross Douthat The Economic Nationalist The Russian Dilettante The Scrivener The Smoker’s Room Conservative Magazines & Recommended Sites @TAC Chronicles Culture11 First Principles Front Porch Republic Intercollegiate Studies Institute LewRockwell.com Ron Paul 2008 Sobran’s Taki’s Magazine The American Cause The American Conservative The American Scene The Compass The League of the South The New Atlantis The New Pantagruel The Russell Kirk Center The Spectator The Unreal (Michael Brendan Dougherty) The Week VDare Crunchy Conservative Blogs Crunchy Cons (BeliefNet) Crunchy Cons (Dreher) History Sites & Blogs Cliopatria Early Modern Notes History News Network Medieval History Revise and Dissent Libertarian Blogs Antiwar Blog Cato@Liberty Hit And Run Leon Hadar Lew Rockwell Blog Libertarian Truth The FeatherBlog The Tory Anarchist (Daniel McCarthy) News Antiwar The Daily Telegraph Orthodox Commentary, Blogs, Theology and Related Sites An Ideal for Living Byzantinos Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies Energies of the Trinity Fr. John Whiteford Maison Russe Ora et Labora Orthodox Blogs Orthodox Christian Orthodox Ecclesiology Orthodoxie OrthodoxWiki Orthodoxy Today Orthodoxy Today Blog Pensate Omnia The Analogion The Orthodox Way Thicket and Thorp Tserkovnost Uncut Mountain Press Other Blogs Alex Massie Andrew Sullivan Balloon Juice City of Brass Gene Expression Glenn Greenwald Good Will Hinton John Schwenkler/Upturned Earth L’Hote Nathancontramundi Some Political (Max Socol) Speak And Remove All Doubt The Belgravia Dispatch The Black Sea The Confabulum The League of Ordinary Gentlemen The Race for Iran The Stopped Clock Unqualified Offerings Paleoconservative Blogs A Cognizant Discourse As The Top Of The World Turns Brave New World Watch Clark Stooksbury Column Right Conservative Times Dennis Dale Dum Spiro Spero Exit Strategies George Ajjan Glaivester Green Mountain Hard Right League of the Scarlet Pimpernel League of the South Blog McLarecana Michael Cadwallader Musings of a Reformed Catholic Ordo et Traditio Patrick Buchanan Politeuma Reactionary Radicals Steve Sailer Surfeited with Dainties Timothy P. Carney VDare Blog Volunteer Voters The Orthodox Church Holy Esphigmenou Monastery Magyar Ortodoxia Orthodox Europe Orthodox Menaion Russian Orthodox Church Abroad St. Innocent of Moscow Church St. Juliana of Lazarevo Church Sts. Constantine and Helen Church Visoki Decani Monastery Traditional Conservative Blogs 4Pundits Chris Roach Eating Words Gene Healy HitchensBlog Small Is Still Beautiful The American Chesterton Society Blog WWWTW Conservative Bloggers Apologia Cella’s Review Counterrevolutionary Meditations Lydia McGrew Right Reason What’s Wrong With The World Zippy Catholic Meta Register Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org
GA_googleFillSlot("RightSide2");
GA_googleFillSlot("RightSide3");
Huntsman and Religion Daniel Larison April 20th, 2011 // Share|But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
// Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 // Share|
But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
// Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 The American Conservative var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11577341-1"); // Cookied already: pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} st_go({blog:'7739970',v:'ext',post:'13900'}); var load_cmc = function(){linktracker_init(7739970,13900,2);}; if ( typeof addLoadEvent != 'undefined' ) addLoadEvent(load_cmc); else load_cmc();
But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 The American Conservative var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11577341-1"); // Cookied already: pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} st_go({blog:'7739970',v:'ext',post:'13900'}); var load_cmc = function(){linktracker_init(7739970,13900,2);}; if ( typeof addLoadEvent != 'undefined' ) addLoadEvent(load_cmc); else load_cmc();
“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Pages Passio Christi The Craftsman A Better Guide Than Reason Burning Cedars Essays And Articles It Could Be Worse Poetry Romney, The Dancing Fraud Solon’s Favourites The American Agrarian Tradition The Whig Party’s Treason 'λήθεια ”όξα Ή 'γωγή Archives April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 Agrarian Blogs Agrarian Foundation Blog Glorfindel of Gondolin Canadian Blogs I, Ectomorph Pith and Substance The Ambler Catholic Blogs Andrew Cusack Caelum et Terra Katolik Shinja Leading the Next Inquisition Mark Shea Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita Philokalia Republic Quo Vadis? (Andrea Kirk Assaf) The Discalced Yooper The Epicatholic Fold The Immaculate Direction The Inn At The End Of The World The Western Confucian Conservative Blogs A Conservative Blog for Peace Across Difficult Country Clive Davis Daniel Nairn David Kuo Dignan’s 75-Year Plan In Media Res Mild Colonial Boy New Zealand Alternative Conservative ParaPundit Peter Suderman Postmodern Conservative Ross Douthat The Economic Nationalist The Russian Dilettante The Scrivener The Smoker’s Room Conservative Magazines & Recommended Sites @TAC Chronicles Culture11 First Principles Front Porch Republic Intercollegiate Studies Institute LewRockwell.com Ron Paul 2008 Sobran’s Taki’s Magazine The American Cause The American Conservative The American Scene The Compass The League of the South The New Atlantis The New Pantagruel The Russell Kirk Center The Spectator The Unreal (Michael Brendan Dougherty) The Week VDare Crunchy Conservative Blogs Crunchy Cons (BeliefNet) Crunchy Cons (Dreher) History Sites & Blogs Cliopatria Early Modern Notes History News Network Medieval History Revise and Dissent Libertarian Blogs Antiwar Blog Cato@Liberty Hit And Run Leon Hadar Lew Rockwell Blog Libertarian Truth The FeatherBlog The Tory Anarchist (Daniel McCarthy) News Antiwar The Daily Telegraph Orthodox Commentary, Blogs, Theology and Related Sites An Ideal for Living Byzantinos Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies Energies of the Trinity Fr. John Whiteford Maison Russe Ora et Labora Orthodox Blogs Orthodox Christian Orthodox Ecclesiology Orthodoxie OrthodoxWiki Orthodoxy Today Orthodoxy Today Blog Pensate Omnia The Analogion The Orthodox Way Thicket and Thorp Tserkovnost Uncut Mountain Press Other Blogs Alex Massie Andrew Sullivan Balloon Juice City of Brass Gene Expression Glenn Greenwald Good Will Hinton John Schwenkler/Upturned Earth L’Hote Nathancontramundi Some Political (Max Socol) Speak And Remove All Doubt The Belgravia Dispatch The Black Sea The Confabulum The League of Ordinary Gentlemen The Race for Iran The Stopped Clock Unqualified Offerings Paleoconservative Blogs A Cognizant Discourse As The Top Of The World Turns Brave New World Watch Clark Stooksbury Column Right Conservative Times Dennis Dale Dum Spiro Spero Exit Strategies George Ajjan Glaivester Green Mountain Hard Right League of the Scarlet Pimpernel League of the South Blog McLarecana Michael Cadwallader Musings of a Reformed Catholic Ordo et Traditio Patrick Buchanan Politeuma Reactionary Radicals Steve Sailer Surfeited with Dainties Timothy P. Carney VDare Blog Volunteer Voters The Orthodox Church Holy Esphigmenou Monastery Magyar Ortodoxia Orthodox Europe Orthodox Menaion Russian Orthodox Church Abroad St. Innocent of Moscow Church St. Juliana of Lazarevo Church Sts. Constantine and Helen Church Visoki Decani Monastery Traditional Conservative Blogs 4Pundits Chris Roach Eating Words Gene Healy HitchensBlog Small Is Still Beautiful The American Chesterton Society Blog WWWTW Conservative Bloggers Apologia Cella’s Review Counterrevolutionary Meditations Lydia McGrew Right Reason What’s Wrong With The World Zippy Catholic Meta Register Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org
GA_googleFillSlot("RightSide2");
GA_googleFillSlot("RightSide3");
Huntsman and Religion Daniel Larison April 20th, 2011 // Share|But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from Massachusetts to try to make himself as a conservative demagogue and culture warrior. By contrast, Huntsman began in deepest-”red” Utah and over time has been giving indications that he is interested in moving towards the all-important “center.” Someone keen to fight cultural battles is naturally going to come under scrutiny for his religious beliefs a lot more than someone who sees such things as distractions at best and mistakes at worst.
Unlike Romney, Huntsman has made it clear that he has no interest in portraying himself as a particularly religious person, and he doesn’t want to stress social issues in any campaign that he runs. He is apparently looking to fill the moderate Republican space in the race, or so his supporters hope, and seems to be doing everything to model his would-be campaign on McCain’s 2000 and 2008 campaigns (i.e., rally independent voters in New Hampshire, and then try to go from there). This New York Times report confirms that Huntsman backers want to do exactly this:
The strategy for Mr. Huntsman, if he decides to run, would most likely begin in New Hampshire. His supporters believe he should follow a path similar to that taken by Mr. McCain: ignore the Iowa caucuses, where social conservatives have a louder voice, and try to compete aggressively in South Carolina, where Mr. Romney has struggled to win over voters.
Elsewhere in their article, McPike and Conroy promote the idea that Nikki Haley’s election proves that South Carolina will be more hospitable to Huntsman, but this overlooks that Haley’s difficulty was overcome because she had chosen to convert and become an evangelical Christian. The Haley example is one that undermines the argument for Huntsman in South Carolina. Haley may have had an “unconventional” background, but she very publicly identified herself with evangelical Christianity. Huntsman can’t do that, and he’s not interested in talking about these things publicly even if he had the option.
Romney’s religion became a subject of discussion partly because Romney wanted to dwell on themes of generic faith and “values” in his speeches, but he had no interest in saying anything more specific about his faith. His campaign never figured out a good way to manage this tension. Huntsman’s solution is to make no pretense of appealing to evangelicals and social conservatives, and the voters he hopes to reach are those with much less interest in a candidate’s religion or in religious observance itself. Huntsman expects to do best with secular and moderate Republican voters, and for most of these voters Huntsman’s Mormonism is irrelevant or at most a curious biographical detail. In that respect, Huntsman’s religion may be less politically relevant than Romney’s, but it is still going to be a problem for him.
// Share Filed under: politics, religion
One Response to “Huntsman and Religion” tbraton, on April 20th, 2011 at 9:51 am Said:“Huntsman's candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and "electable" candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office.”
True to form, Daniel, one of the panelists (can’t remember who but I recall it was a liberal) on this past Sunday’s talk shows had an item about Huntsman being the one Republican that the Obama White House fears most in 2012 as an opponent. They probably fear NOT having him as as opponent would be my reading. I laughed my a** off. If you asked most Americans about Jon Huntsman’s religion, most would say “Jon who?”
Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
« Rubio’s Comically Outdated Foreign PolicyCopyright © 2008 // Share|
But so far, the Mormon issue doesn’t seem to be nagging Huntsman the way it did Romney four years ago. Did Romney’s 2008 candidacy itself help allay anti-Mormon prejudice? Is there something different about the way they embrace their faith? Do the two men discuss this issue differently? All of the above? ~Erin McPike and Scott Conroy
One answer is that conservatives largely don’t take Huntsman seriously as a presidential candidate, so they’re not going to spend any time thinking about how his religion might or might not affect his electability in the primaries. Most conservatives, myself included, take for granted that his service in the Obama administration, his open disdain for conservative activists, and his relatively few, but notable departures from the party line make him politically radioactive in the GOP. If that weren’t enough, his fawning letters of praise to the President and Bill Clinton would be enough to make even some potentially sympathetic Republicans feel slightly ill. In other words, Huntsman’s candidacy is beset by so many ordinary problems with conservative voters that hardly anyone bothers to think about how his religion might complicate things for him. As far as conservatives are concerned, he would already be such a hopeless case that dwelling on his religion might seem a bit like kicking a man while he’s down.
Perhaps the most obvious answer why Huntsman’s religion has received less attention as a liability is that the people writing about him have paid less attention to it. Huntsman’s candidacy is almost entirely a creation of mainstream media outlets, and he has been pushed as a viable and “electable” candidate for almost as long as Obama has been in office. To that end, the journalists that seem keen on promoting Huntsman have an interest in minimizing the importance of obstacles for Huntsman that they may have emphasized or exaggerated when they affected Romney. Romney went out of his way to go from being the acceptable, moderate Republican from MassRead Full Article »
