on Civility vs. Opposition

Question: What is a Jon Huntsman?

You might have seen Jon Huntsman throw his hat into the GOP ring for President this week, with a speech at the Statue of Liberty.

You will have seen Huntsman, if you have seen Huntsman, because the media wants you to see Huntsman. He is a media creation. A propped-up Republican that the left in America wants the GOP to choose as the nominee. They are not going to vote for him in the general election mind you, but they want the GOP to choose him because he is the current psuedo-Republican that liberals can stand.

No one in the GOP is clamoring for Jon Huntsman to run for president. Oh, we'll vote for him over Barack Obama if he is the nominee. But, he is not the GOP base's choice by any means.

Huntsman, as the left's choice for the GOP, is in other words John McCain all over again - as Michelle Malkin ably points out. Please, no.

It's worth remembering how John McCain became the GOP nominee in 2008. Open primaries. McCain was defeated in early primaries when the Democratic race was still in contention and Democrats and independents were choosing between Hillary and Barack as historic choices. But, when it became apparent that Obama had it locked up, those groups started voting in Republican primaries. And they voted for John McCain as the GOP guy that liberals love. So we got a guy that liberals and independents love but were never going to vote for in the general election. We got a loser, in other words. And he lost. The key to not doing that again is to CLOSE THE PRIMARIES to registered Republicans only. Let us alone choose our nominee, and we'll get a strong conservative who can take it to President Obama and win.

Speaking of taking it to President Obama: the reason the left-media loves Jon Huntsman is that he will attack other Republicans for being "uncivil". Just like they do. It's a partnership made in media heaven. Huntsman played this up in the speech delcaring his candidacy:

Huntsman, who only recently stepped down as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to China, decried the “corrosive” nature of 21st-century politics, saying he won’t “run down” his rivals for the GOP nomination _ or the president.

Well, isn't that nice.

Which brings me to my point: Is there a difference between incivility and opposition?

Yes.

Folks, we are a two party system in America. The two parties have fundamentally different worldviews - as we can see in the current divisions on how to handle the debt ceiling. When one party is in power - as the Democrats are with the control of the Senate and the Presidency - the other party is naturally the opposition party. Their inclination is to oppose the party in power. You can do that in a civil manner.

For example, to say that Team Obama's push for ObamaCare is socialist in nature and will bankrupt the country is OPPOSITION, not incivility. To say that he has blundered us into an illegal war in Libya and is in violation of the War Powers Act is opposition not incivility.

On the other hand, to say repeatedly that Sarah Palin is stupid is incivility, not opposition. Has any politician suffered a political wilding at the hands of the media like Palin has in the last year? It's malicious. It's uncivil. Take a look at today's Huffington Post "comedy" page on Palin if you don't believe me. This is civil?

I expect all of the GOP candidates, including Huntsman, to oppose Obama's record and to do it civilly. For Jon Huntsman to say that he is the "atypical" civil guy is for him to indirectly say that the other GOP candidates are not civil. Which plays right into the media's distorted perception. Which, again, is why they like him.

Game on. It's election season. GOP - oppose the President's faulty record. I expect you to do it civilly and not tout how civil you are so the media will love you. Come November 2012 the media will not love you at all. Governor Perry had that exactly right.