Lone Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Kyle Leighton reports in Talking Points Memo that Jon Huntsman single-handedly takes on the crazies in the GOP Presidential race.

He criticized Mitt Romney for flip-flopping, Rick Perry as unserious for accusing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke of treason and reserved a unique category for Michele Bachman.

And when it came to Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) contention that she would get gas prices below $2 a gallon, Huntsman simply let go: "I just don't know what world that comment would come from. You know, we live in the real world."

In a transcript released yesterday Huntsman railed against the Republican Party becoming anti-science, as Perry's first week on the campaign trail included comments in which he questioned the validity of both evolution and global warning. Huntsman responded by tweet, saying "To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy," and went on to say the prospect of the GOP embracing denialism on science is "not a winning formula" for them in 2012.

Such sane pronouncements prompted TPM's Thomas Lane to ask whether Huntsman was trying to alienate the GOP base.

--Ballard Burgher