3rd Party Stupid

Jon Huntsman, who started out the race for the Presidency as the moderate alternative to the other candidates and finished by trying to portray himself as the “true conservative” in the race is making an equally schizophrenic pitch for the third party.

Jon Huntsman called for the rise of a third party on Thursday as he argued the remaining GOP presidential candidates lack big ideas.

The comments from the former Utah governor, who dropped out of the race in January after a disappointing showing in New Hampshire’s primary, were striking given his support for Mitt Romney, one of the four remaining GOP candidates for president.

“Gone are the days when the Republican Party used to put forward big, bold, visionary stuff,” Huntsman said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“I see zero evidence of people getting out there and addressing the economic deficit — which is a national-security problem, for heaven’s sake,” he said. “I think we’re going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third-party movement or some alternative voice out there that can put forward new ideas.”

…”Listen, until someone comes out that we’re going to sweep-clean the tax code, until we have the opportunity for a manufacturing renaissance … I’m a little disappointed that the big, bold, visionary stuff that the Republican Party is famous for is not on display for people to see,” Huntsman said.

In addition to calling for a third party, Huntsman endorsed campaign finance reform and term limits, saying both would be healthy for a democracy mired in the two-party system.

He also argued that Republicans had made a tactical mistake in embracing a culture-war argument over birth-control mandates.

“Not only is it a waste of airtime, but it’s a political loser, because of the impact it has on the demographic you’re describing,” Huntsman said to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, who had just discussed conservative women in his life who were upset with the party over the issue.

This is a particularly bizarre argument coming from Huntsman.

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