Boston Globe Endorses Jon Huntsman

By Mr. Curmudgeon

The media has been a busy participant in the GOP’s presidential selection process. They’ve scrutinized every aspect of the candidate’s past – political, business and personal. Some, like Herman Cain, withdrew from the race rather than subject his wife to the onslaught of media rumormongering. The others have seen their polling numbers fall with every media-spun “controversy.”

So, the Boston Globe took time away from the usual media GOP-bashing to do something positive – at least in their eyes. They endorsed Jon Huntsman for the Republican nomination for president.

“Far from promoting bipartisan unity, the GOP candidates have even abandoned Ronald Reagan’s ‘11th commandment’ (‘Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican’), shattering the party’s customary internal unity in an electric storm of name-calling and accusations. Rather than compare creative policy solutions, the candidates have vied for meaningless titles like ‘true conservative,’’’ said the Globe.

That said, the Globe got down to business. “Huntsman governed Utah as a clear conservative who nonetheless put the interests of his state ahead of ideology.”

It’s interesting that the Globe worries the debate over ideas now raging within the GOP – thanks largely to the Tea Party – might disrupt the cozy bipartisan alliance between the two parties that has expanded the entitlement state and created a debt so large it threatens the existence of the nation.

In 2008, the New York Times endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain for president in the New York Republican primary over his conservative rivals because he was “the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of government from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe.” Later, the same editorial board endorsed Obama over McCain because, in their view, the Arizonan “retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics.” What a difference a few months made.

Here is what we should learn from all of this: 1.) Liberal Progressives have a profound fear and loathing of the “angry fringe.” 2.) The “angry fringe” is comprised of those who think taxes are too high, government is too powerful, and believe our nation-killing debt is too high. 3.) The “angry fringe” is actively working to expel compromising Republicans from office – you know, the kind of Republicans that put the “interests” of the state “ahead of ideology.” 4.) The main interest of the state is to accrue power to itself at the expense of its citizens. 5.) Diminished freedom engenders a seething animosity within a sizable minority of these citizens – those with still-functioning brainstems. 6.) That term “fringe,” those people so frightening to the media, is code for Tea Party.

So, if you are content with the status quo – high taxes, omnipresent government and diminished freedom – the Globe says you should love Huntsman Republicans for setting ideology aside in the interest of the state. If you disagree with the Globe, you are “shattering the [Republican] party’s customary internal unity” and are a member of the “angry fringe.” As we all know, nothing is more important to the mainstream media than preserving Republican unity, especially when that unity helps achieve the aims of Progressive Democrats – who are the embodiment of the omnipresent state.

According to the Globe, religious conservatives and the Tea Party have “pushed Romney in unwanted directions.” The Huntsman endorsement, therefore, is designed to push Romney into the arms of Progressives … like Huntsman’s former boss – Obama.

So, let's sum up: Republican unity is good when it quiets religious conservatives and the Tea Party; social conservative and Tea Party ideology is bad because it moves the GOP’s focus away from the interests of the state and refocuses it on preserving the interests of free individuals; and, last but not least, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the kind of “conservatives” the Globe can tolerate – with a few minor adjustments.

So, will somebody explain why Republican voters would allow the Progressive media to choose their party’s nominee?