Insult to injury: Huntsman quits; Romney disses him

(My spellcheck thinks I’m misspelling “disses.” Looks right to me…)

Jon Huntsman had been through enough humiliation, what with trailing behind Stephen Colbert in the polls, not getting any bounce from New Hampshire, being called nasty names (like “moderate”!), and then having to face facts and surrender…

But he kept his chin up and quite like a man, giving the nod to Romney and urging all the GOP candidates to pull together like a team and quit trying to eviscerate each other.

And what did he get for it? Dissed, that’s what:

Romney downplays Huntsman support

By Cameron Joseph and Daniel Strauss – 01/16/12 12:12 PM ET

Mitt Romney’s campaign has been notably slow to promote Jon Huntsman’s endorsement, a sign it doesn’t see it as much of an asset in a Republican primary.

Romney did not join Huntsman to receive his endorsement this morning, and his campaign took hours to mention Huntsman at all on Monday, first promoting an endorsement from Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) and sending out an alert about a South Carolina campaign stop.

Romney’s eventual email on Huntsman was terse and, and a tweet barely mentioned the endorsement. “I salute Jon Huntsman and his wife Mary Kaye,” Romney said. “Jon ran a spirited campaign based on unity not division, and love of country.  I appreciate his friendship and support.”

That stands in contrast to Romney’s embrace of Tim Pawlenty’s endorsement. After the former Minnesota governor endorsed Romney in September, Romney named him a national co-chairman of his campaign…

Maybe Huntsman should have just urged the nation to unite around Obama. He might have gotten more respect that way.

5 thoughts on “Insult to injury: Huntsman quits; Romney disses him

  1. Doug Ross

    Gee, Hunstsman has been calling Mitt “unelectable” or worse for the past month and telling everyone how much better he was as a governor than Mitt ever was… and Mitt is supposed to be grateful for his Hunstman trying to save what little face he has left?

    How can you be against partisanship but for guys who tow the party line once they get their A$$ handed to them by the voters?

  2. `Kathryn Fenner

    I just don’t get, on the face of it, why Huntsman didn’t stay in until Saturday just for the heck of it. Sounds like some sort of deal, maybe?

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