Had he exited endorsing neither Romney nor the other conservative contenders, Huntsman would have stood tall. He's now diminished. After all, the ex-Massachusetts Governor is the guy that Huntsman called “a perfectly lubricated weathervane on the important issues of the day” and “unelectable.”
In New Hampshire, Huntsman seized on Romney’s remark about his liking the chance to fire underperforming insurance companies. “It seems that Governor Romney believes in putting politics first. Governor Romney enjoys firing people; I enjoy creating jobs.”
That’s the politician that Huntsman is now backing in the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary?
South Carolina’s biggest newspaper, The State, endorsed Huntsman on Jan. 15 for “essential values that drive his candidacy: honor and old-fashioned decency and pragmatism.” The paper called Huntsman “someone who has a well-defined set of core values but is not so rigid that he ignores new information and new conditions and someone who has shown himself to be honest and trustworthy.”
In backing Romney, Huntsman comes across just as another politico. The endorsement may be the price for a cabinet post in the Romney administration. I thought Huntsman was a lot better than that.
In his official statement suspending the campaign, Huntsman said:
I will never stop fighting for America, and I will continue to put her welfare first, ahead of any partisan or special interest.
I am unshaken in my belief that with the right leadership, we can move forward together, and ensure that America’s light shines bright for generations and generations to come.”
Are those just empty words?
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