Huntsman defends service as ambassador to China
Mitt Romney addresses Jon Huntsman at Sunday morning's New Hampshire debate sponsored by Meet the Press.
During Sunday's New Hampshire debate, Jon Huntsman chided Mitt Romney over a personal swipe at Saturday night's debate, saying that Huntsman was not qualified to be the Republican nominee because he had served as the United States ambassador to China. I suppose you would think maybe Romney would have rephrased his answer a bit more diplomatically on Sunday morning, but no. When given the chance, Mitt Romney couldn't (or wouldn't) qualify his insult from the previous night, and instead repeated it. Jon Huntsman was so visibly angry, his eyes were tearing up.Huntsman's response was PERFECT. I thought it was a fantastic moment. And on a sidebar-- Mitt Romney's personal attack is a great example of why every other campaign manager in the 2008 Republican primary season despised him to a level unheard of in political campaigns; even when these managers realized their own candidates had lost the chance to win the nomination, they did everything to see to it Romney lost.[1] Jon Huntsman's performance during the two weekend debates has resulted in some significant gains in polling today, but I don't think it's going to stop Mitt Romney. But Jon Huntsman has definitely struck a note with an electorate that is screaming for their political leaders to put the country first.
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[1.] Game Change. John Heilemann and Mark Halperin authors.