Huntsman Campaign Slams Rick Perry’s Grasp on Reality

Jon Huntsman.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/calon/5433251458/">calon</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


John Weaver, the chief strategist for Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman, was just saying aloud what we were all surely thinking: Rick Perry sure doesn’t know squat about science. Weaver had some rather uncharitable words for the newest addition to the GOP presidential field in an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday, this time about the Texas governor’s denial and conspiracy theories when it comes to climate science.

Here’s the Weaver quote (emphasis my own):

“We’re not going to win a national election if we become the anti-science party,” John Weaver…said in an interview Wednesday. “The American people are looking for someone who lives in reality and is a truth teller because that’s the only way that the significant problems this country faces can be solved. It appears that the only science that Mitt Romney believes in is the science of polling, and that science clearly was not a mandatory course for Governor Perry.”

Huntsman, meanwhile, has more than once accentuated his modest climate change bona fides. His staff has shown little apprehension about going after Romney’s record as Massachusetts governor, so as Perry picks up more steam on the campaign trail, one can reasonably expect similarly strong criticism of Perry’s questionable economic claims and his ultra-conservative brand.

With Weaver’s statement, the Huntsman camp continues its attempt to distance their candidate from hardline right-wing positions. Along with his acceptance of the reality of anthropogenic climate change, Huntsman has also openly expressed his respect for the president, his support for same-sex civil unions, his sympathy for more dovish foreign policy, and other things deemed anathema by his Republican rivals.

Unfortunately for Huntsman, there seems to be “no demand for Huntsman’s brand of moderation in today’s GOP,” as Jacob Weisberg notes in his Vogue profile of the candidate, published online Thursday. But is there a larger, long-term strategy at play here? It is widely acknowledged that his comparatively centrist positions give Huntsman a lump-of-Cherry-Garcia-in-Hades’ chance of locking down the 2012 Republican nomination. Thus, his run serves to highlight his qualities as a moderate Republican unlike the current leaders of his party. It may be wishful thinking, but perhaps his strategy is to wait it out until the party burns out on extremists and returns to a more sane equilibrium—at which point Huntsman will be ready and waiting to assume a leadership role.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate