Huntsman skipping GOP convention

Republican presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, accompanied by his wife Mary Kaye, announces he is ending his campaign, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

/ AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

(CBS News) Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, will be forgoing this year's Republican national convention, he told Utah's Salt Lake Tribune Friday, citing an apparent dissatisfaction with the current state of the Republican party.

Huntsman, who dropped his bid for the GOP nomination in January, said he would be skipping all upcoming GOP conventions until the Republican Party had refocused its vision.

"I will not be attending this year's convention, nor any Republican convention in the future, until the party focuses on a bigger, bolder, more confident future for the United States -- a future based on problem solving, inclusiveness, and a willingness to address the trust deficit, which is every bit as corrosive as our fiscal and economic deficits," Huntsman said. He told the Tribune he has attended all Republican national conventions since 1984, when Ronald Reagan was nominated.

Throughout his campaign, Huntsman expressed frustration at what he cast as America's increasingly "toxic" political discourse - including within his own party. When announcing his official withdrawal from the race, the former U.S. Ambassador to China admonished the remaining Republican presidential candidates for their infighting, arguing that "the current toxic form of our political discourse" would not endear the GOP to Americans.

Huntsman is one of a few Republican politicians who will readily admit his belief in the science behind climate change, and was the only GOP candidate who refused to sign a handful of GOP-led pledges -- including one not to raise taxes -- arguing that signing such pledges "diminishes the political discussion" and "jeopardizes your ability to lead once you get there."

He's not the only prominent politician to opt out of the convention this time around: A number of candidates in both parties have said they will not be attending their teams' respective events, likely due in part to the potential political liability of being associated with the name at the top of his or her party's political ticket.

[GeorgeKafantaris]

For Mitt this time around, success in November is just showing up with a respectable running mate. This is all John McCain had to do as well.?
But winning wasn't good enough for the hard core of the base. They also wanted to draw blood from the other side. ?
Sarah did a good job at that and drove the levelheaded folks away.?
Now they want to do the same thing again. But Mitt is wised up and isn't about to let them -- not after they managed to box him in during the primaries.

[RollotheNorman]

Well Huntsman and Jeb may have a future, when this present generation of Newtonions finally collapses and comes to the grief they so richly deserve. Huntsman and Bush are the kind of RepubliCONs that actually care about governing effectively, a concern lost on most of the T'bggrrs. I still have faith in the people, they will turn to people that can govern when the present circus fails, as it will. That's where, we the people, are a cut above some other nations, we won't start yelling that we need a strong man when the politicians turn everything to s---, we'll just get some people that can govern and hold them to performing.

[sjc_1]

Huntsman is the only guy that made any sense during the debates. The GOP has gone so far to the right that I don't think he knows them any more.

The Moderate Republican has become such and endangered species that it is about to become extinct. If that happens, there will be no restoring their party to anything resembling sane ever again.

[MurdochSucks]

Look at how they are turning on their own for the slightest compromise. Mitch McConnell said it would be unfeasible to repeal Obamacare, and the far right went berzerk, just short of calling for his public hanging! They really have isolated themselves, gotten so out of touch with reality, and alienated any reasonable discourse. It is sad, Reagan (their beloved hero who could do no wrong) would be thrown out of the party for negotiating with Democrats. Where did the GOP lose their dignity?

[sjc_1]

I mark is from 1995 and Newt's Contract On America. He showed a scorched earth no compromise way and it seemed to work until Clinton called his bluff, Newt and Dole did not think it would come to that and they lost. Ever since then it has been compromise is surrender.

[MurdochSucks]

Where are all the people from the Republic party shouting about how Huntsman is running "a rat ditching a sinking ship" and all this nonsense they said when Democractic politicians decided to skip the Democratic convention? The Republic party has REALLY lost its way, from the days of Reagan. Each trying to out-Reagan the next until they hit the stone age. The Republic party lost me with GWB and his Great Re(publican)cession. I don't think I'll go back for a long time, probably not ever.

[zombietimeshare]

Huntsman would be more comfortable at the Democrat convention.

[rightontarget]

He was the only one of the bunch of nuts on the Republican side that I could ever even stand to listen to. The rest are fanatical Repub terrorists. He reminds me of how the Republican party USED to be, way back in the day when I USED to be one. The way they are now is just pathetic!!!!

[gthog]

truly moronic, you "used to be a Republican" about like I used to be the Queen of England

[Nocults]

When hog used to be the Queen, he liked his silk panties.

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

If he runs in 2016, I think he would have a heck of a lot better chance to win then Mitty does in 2012.

[nansea5]

Huntsman is a smart man.

[AmericanLady100]

I think Huntsman was the GOP's chance to take the White House. We'll see in November, but I suspect it's true. Unfortunately, I don't believe a loss will teach the GOP they need to turn around. I think it will instead be seen as proof that even greater purity is needed. It may be quite a while before the Tea Party influence is over.

[WitheredRoots]

It's not so much the Tea Party crowd--they represent widespread concerns, even if they don't convey their message well and are a little naive. The Republicans' problem lies much deeper, in the willfully ignorant, anti-science, anti-education, fanatically religious (in their words, if not in their actions), short-sighted core that dominates both the primaries and their debate. I've been a Republican since '72--campaigned for Nixon in the first national election that I was eligible to vote in--but I'm now embarassed by what my party has become. I remain a Republican only because I have nowhere else to go; the Democrats are no better, and just as opportunistic, although their opportunities come from different sources. Although it seems like a facile answer, I believe that absent a change in the quality and character of both parties' candidates, which I don't expect to happen, America is well and truly screwed. I figure that I've got about 30 years left, and just hope that the truly bad times hold off that long. And it is one reason to be grateful that my wife and I never had kids, for the next generations' lives will most probably be dismal.

[realist2010]

My hope is Republicans will listen to him after their loss in November and get the extremism out of their party.