The Press Hates Republican Candidates. So Why do They Like Jon Huntsman?

Whenever the mainstream media starts backing a candidate I immediately get the impression there's something they're not telling us about him or her.

Think about candidates the media gets behind. Do you trust any of them? Bill and Hillary. John Kerry. Rahm Emmanuel. Harry Reid. Nancy Pelosi. Barack Obama.

You name a candidate they love, and I guarantee you they'll be proud leftists. So when the mainstream media start treating a Republican candidate nicely, I get nervous.

In 2000, the left-wing media were kind of okay with a John McCain presidency. They suggested he was the kind of moderate our party could benefit from listening too more often. They even brought up his name in 2004 as someone they wish they had the honor to run against. By 2008, when he actually was the Republican candidate, they excoriated him. Suddenly, he was now a hateful right-winger who was just Bush in new packaging.

This year, a few Republican presidential hopefuls have begun their campaigns, and for the most part, the media lambasted them. Herman Cain was a joke. Ron Paul was a bigger joke. Tim Pawlenty was a...wait, Tim who? Now they're savaging Michelle Bachman and it should be no surprise that even though she hasn't announced that she's running, the media prepared a few preemptive strikes against Sarah Palin, too. The only one they left alone was Newt Gingrich because the response from both the left and the right on Newt Gingrich's campaign was BWA HAHA HAHAHAHAHA!

In fact, early on, the only Republican hopeful that wasn't raked over the coals by the press (other than Gingrich) was Mitt Romney, who in 2008 when it began to look like he might be nominated, was subjected to the same treatment Cain and Bachmann are getting now. This time, however, it was pretty clear from the beginning that they really hope he does get the nomination because not only is he guaranteed to lose (like McCain), but if he wins, at least a real conservative won't be in the White House (the same hope they had with McCain).

But now Jon Huntsman's come along. Now, Jon Huntsman calling himself a conservative is kinda like Jack Black calling himself an olympic swimmer. There is not a single issue he agrees with conservatives on, and conservatives, let's face it, are the Republicans' base. Instead, Huntsman seems to want to reach out to independants. Quite frankly I'd love to see him run as an independant, because it's not unlikely he could siphon votes from the Obama campaign.

But instead, he's running as a Republican. Why? Do you know a Republican who would actually vote for him? Is there a single issue he agrees with conservatives on? He's pro-gay marriage. He believes in anthropogenic global warming. He's pro-choice. He wants to raise taxes. He believes in big government. How is this man running as a Republican?

More to the point, why does the media seem to like him? They pillory Republican candidates no matter who they are, don't they? They repeatedly slammed McCain, or, well, they did after he became the nominee. Until then they kinda liked him.

Ah, I think I get it now. Let's think like a leftist. Somebody's gonna be running against Obama, but who would we like it to be? Palin? Oh, god no. Pawlenty? He's weak, but we can't run the risk of him actually winning. Cain? No, if we have to call him an Uncle Tom on the national level it could reflect badly on us, plus we're gonna have a hard time making the racist charge stick to the other side if they run a black man. Bachmann? She's like a Sarah Palin only without the pregnant daughter and downs syndrome baby! Yuck! Romney? He'll be easy to defeat, so maybe. Huntsman? A Republican who agrees with us on everything and loves Obama? GET THAT MAN ON THE PHONE!

And now we come to the conspiracy theory. Here's the thing; Huntsman has to know he's not gonna win. He has to know that. Everyone knows that. So why's he running? He also loves Obama. He's stated publically many times how much he respects and admires the president. So why run against him?

I think it's pretty clear. Someone on the Left, possibly a group of someones, convinced him to do so. They specifically asked him to run a weak campaign for the Republican nomination wherein he would make a point of ignoring the conservative base and remaining "civil" the entire time. "I greatly respect and admire the president, and feel that he's done a remarkable job so far. I agree with him on all points. You will never hear me say anything bad about him. Uh...vote for me." In turn, the media would play him up as a candidate who could turn things around.

The next step: mobilize the liberal base through groups like Media Matters, MoveOn.org and what's left of ACORN and get the vote out in the Republican primaries! Get liberals to nominate Huntsman in droves! In other words, do what they did for McCain in 2008. And then? Trash him. Tear him down and make the world think he's another Bush, or another Palin, or Glenn Beck as a politician. Or, maybe, this time they don't really have to do that. After all, they actually don't have to worry about losing to him, and even if they do he's basically one of them.

Afterward, Obama may grant him an appointed position of power, like he did with Hillary. But heck, the only reward a guy like Huntsman needs is knowing Obama is back in office where he belongs.

Now, I do have some hope. Conservatives are mobilized right now in a way that we just weren't during the 2008 campaign. We let McCain get nominated through sheer apathy. Bush disappointed us almost as much as he did the left, so we really kinda sat that one out. We're not doing that this time. My only worry is that there is yet to be a candidate the true right is getting behind. Personally I think a Bachmann/Pawlenty ticket is the way to go, but her campaign just started and we need to see how she handles the hatchet job the left is already starting on her. She's got ten years on Sarah Palin, and more experience, so she might be ready for it.

At this point, I think that while Herman Cain is a great man with a lot of good ideas, he's just not presidential material. He has, unfortunately, been proving that foreign policy is his Achilles heel, and he may never actually get past it. I'd love to see him as a presidential advisor, but not as president himself. It's a shame because I really like the guy, and I was really hoping I could get behind him 100%. For a while he had me. I would be 100% behind Palin if she ran, were it not for Bachmann.

But while we figure out who we want to get behind, we gotta remain vigilant of the Huntsman campaign, and don't allow it to gain ground just because we can't decide who we like. We can't afford another 2008. Let's hope that the right mobilizes behind a genuine conservative candidate ASAP, or we might be facing Huntsman vs. Obama 2012. And I think we all know who'd win that fight.