Jon Huntsman, Defined....

...by Robert Stacey McCain.  The question, as the Other McCain re-positions it, is not where does he come up with his strange brand of Republicanism, but when.  Because Huntsman has defined himself by a moment in time that he thought - like many liberals - was transitional.

Instead, it was only transitory.  Very much so, as it turns out:

Huntsman doesn’t represents any particular Republican faction. Rather, he represents a point in time — late 2008 through spring 2009 — when a lot of ”smart” people in the GOP seemed to believe that the Obama ascendancy was more or less permanent. The way to succeed as a Republican in the Obama era, these people believed, was to cooperate in the patriotic spirit of Bipartisan Compromise.

You can run down the list of names of those who succumbed to this nonsense: Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist, Dede Scozzafava, Bob Bennett...

When Huntsman accepted an appointment from Obama as ambassador to China, the former Utah governor probably little suspected that the political tide would turn as soon as it did. He might have expected that he could return from Beijing in a couple of years and be welcomed by a GOP chastised by defeat. Instead, by the time he returned to seek the presidential nomination, the Republican Party had rolled to its biggest mid-term landslide in more than half a century...

It's as if a Republican candidate left town in 1976, upon Carter's election, and returned in 1980 talking about detente and appeasement with the Soviet Union, only to be faced with a fellow named Reagan talking about an "evil empire".

Some, of course, believe that Huntsman realizes he's a man out of time and out of a job, and is angling to replace Joe Biden as the Vice President on the 2012 Democratic ticket. What a coup it would be for the "centrist" Barack, and how well it would play at the Convention, a former Republican reciting the many ways "that party left him". How could Obama refuse? Not out of loyalty to Biden....

Also explains why the media loves Huntsman. He may become one of their own any day, and they don't want to tarnish his brand. As a matter of fact, they described him thusly not too long ago:

Contributor Mike Barnicle relayed the enthusiastic tribute of a man he met who said Huntsman reminded him of John F. Kennedy: "The guy was so smooth, the guy was so comfortable, so handsome, so articulate, so composed. he was stunned..."

Who does that sound like they're describing? If you can't get the hint, the Morning Joe crew lays it out:

JOE SCARBOROUGH:  on Huntsman and his wife together -- is it safe to say the most impressive team you've seen on the campaign trail since Barack Obama emerged?

Senior Political Analyst MARK HALPERIN...As impressive as any couple I've seen.

Seems like the media - much like their new hero, Jon Huntsman - fail to realize the moment of the glib and glamorous left-of-center politician is as dead as $2/gallon gas. It's almost sad, like watching an aging women in black lace gloves, spandex and leg warmers get ogled by a bunch of guys with spiky hair and parachute pants...