Jon Huntsman: Mitt Romney Should Withdraw Richard Mourdock Endorsement, Pull Ad

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said on Thursday that Mitt Romney showed a lack of leadership with his response to Indiana GOP Senate nominee Richard Mourdock's controversial comments on rape and abortion. Romney has refused to withdraw his endorsement of Mourdock and declined to have the campaign ad he filmed for him pulled from TV.

"[If I were Romney] I simply would have said I'm withdrawing my support," Huntsman said in an interview with HuffPost Live. "Until [Mourdock] proves otherwise, either you lay out an apology, do something else, but as of right now I would withdraw support."

Asked by The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman if he would have had the ad taken off air, Huntsman responded, "I would do exactly that." "I'm here to tell you that there are some independents and swing voters in the middle that I think would respect a candidate who goes against the grain," Huntsman continued. "They're looking for leadership during a time that these kinds of statements are made, as opposed to just the go-with-the-flow kinds of statements we always hear."

Huntsman condemned Mourdock's comments, saying they "don't deserve to be part of our political discourse right now." "I cringe -- it's like fingers on a chalkboard every time I hear men talk about women's health issues," he said.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/jon-huntsman-mitt-romney-richard-mourdock_n_2017322.html

[flamingdem]

1. Thank you Huntsman

good to keep this in the news a while longer

[silvershadow]

2. I refuse to recommend on the grounds that it might encourage him to do just that. :)

Thanks for the post, though.

[lalalu]

3. No he shouldn't.

Leave that AD up and remind everyone of the endorsement.

[squirecam]

4. good for him

Repubs were not ready for him or Mitch Daniels, someone not willing to bomb-throw to rile up the base.

He might gain their eye in 2016. though I forsee a Jeb 2016 push as well.

[SoapBox]

5. Money-Boo-Boo! Don't, PLEASE don't withdraw your support!

Just keep on supporting this pervert! PLEASE!!!!

[Dubster]

6. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[Myrina]

7. Well, only if he disagrees with it.

If Mitt agrees or is ambivalent, he needs to own up to that. Decrying Mourdock simply to retain non-nutbag voters is totally disingenuous (which is totally in character for Mittens).

Whichever way he believes, whatever he says, most of us are going to think he's lying - simply because that's what he does.