Jon Huntsman: 'I Was Totally Embarrassed' By Republican Debate

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, who skipped Tuesday's GOP debate in Las Vegas since he is boycotting the Nevada caucuses, said he was "embarrassed by the lack of seriousness" of the debate Thursday in an interview with NextGen Journal.

"I was totally embarrassed -- completely embarrassed by the lack of seriousness, the lack of focus on the issues that really matter to the American people -- issues about reviving our economy and addressing joblessness were given short shrift," said the former Utah governor. "Our role in the world and securing our position of pre-eminence were given short-shrift. It was more game-show-like than anything else," he added.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry attacked each other in the debate over immigration. Perry criticized Romney for once hiring a landscaping company that employed undocumented immigrants to do lawn work on his Massachusetts home.

Romney gave the company a second chance after the Boston Globe first reported on the company's hiring practices, but he ultimately fired the company when it was revealed that the company still hired undocumented immigrants. Romney attacked Perry for his signing of a bill that lets undocumented immigrants who are Texas residents to pay in-state tuition rates.

Huntsman's comments echoed another presidential contender, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who said the debate made him "very uncomfortable." "Once or twice last night, the level of intensity, particularly between Governors Perry and Romney, got to be almost like seventh graders in a school yard," he said Wednesday on "The Sean Hannity Show."

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who declined to run for president, criticized the "bickering and fighting" in Tuesday's debate, and compared the candidates to her children coming home from school.

Huntsman is boycotting the Nevada caucuses for threatening the seven day window required by New Hampshire law after its first-in-the-nation primary. He is also focusing all of his resources in New Hampshire. Tuesday he skipped the debate to hold a town hall in the Granite State. At the town hall, he called the debate a "game show."

Comments

[OhMyBoehner]

04:32 PM on 10/22/2011

Does this mean huntsman thought cain's 999 plan was all smoke and mirrors like the rest of the country has learned?

[sshepherd70]

01:24 PM on 10/23/2011

I think he did

[OhMyBoehner]

04:01 PM on 10/22/2011

What does huntsman expect when you put a bunch of republican hate spewing clowns on a stage and turn on the cameras!

A RIGHT WING FRACAS!

[sshepherd70]

01:25 PM on 10/23/2011

then you have a side show

[Forrester1]

03:43 PM on 10/22/2011

"I was totally embarrassed -- completely embarrassed by the lack of seriousness, the lack of focus on the issues that really matter to the American people -- issues about reviving our economy and addressing joblessness were given short shrift,"

Welcome to the GOP John.
Go tell it to congressional repubs......please

[theiFyoU]

02:50 PM on 10/22/2011

One of the 7 signs of the Apocalypse.
Lego head model Gingrich, and Joan of Anchorage think things are getting childish in Republican debates.....................And only one of them is smart enough to quit!

[1mansop]

02:00 PM on 10/22/2011

John, you should go back and watch yourself in the debates. You are the pot calling the kettle balck.

You blow by the way.

Ron or revolution!

[Mr Crabs]

12:31 PM on 10/22/2011

Good, eventually intelligence prevails and sometimes you just gotta let the pigs wallow in their own mud while you go and take care of more important things than how to throw mud at everyone around you.

[sshepherd70]

01:26 PM on 10/23/2011

oink, oink

[Mollyj]

12:00 PM on 10/22/2011

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, who skipped Tuesday's GOP debate in Las Vegas since he is boycotting the Nevada caucuses, said he was "embarrassed by the lack of seriousness" of the debate Thursday.

My only regret is, Rick Perry didn't punch Mitt Romney on the face!

[TimFredrickson]

11:46 AM on 10/22/2011

I would say that Huntsman may be the only intelligent and sane Republican out there except for the fact that he said he could be Michelle Bachman's running mate.

[GDWhiteman]

08:20 AM on 10/23/2011

Here I was thinking that Huntsman might be the only sane one in the bunch, but if he said he could be Michelle's running mate, there goes that idea.

[SocratesSiddhartha]

11:07 AM on 10/22/2011

The only GOP candidate of worth is of course marginalized by the Baggers and corporate Overlords.

[DANIELISTICALL]

09:15 AM on 10/22/2011

REPUBLICAN IDEAS
CUT: 650 billion -- Special education, student aid, asst to low-income schools
GIVEN TO RICH: 690 billion – Bush tax cuts for wealthiest 2%
CUT: 310 billion -- National Institutes of Health

GIVEN TO RICH: 321 billion – Extra benefits for itemized deductions for wealthiest
CUT: 100 billion -- Center for Disease Control and FDA
GIVEN TO RICH: 129 billion – Subsidies for foreign profits
CUT: 98 billion -- Head Start and Child Care
GIVEN TO RICH: 97.5 billion -- Subsidies for business inventorie­s
CUT: 47 billion -- Energy grants for low income families
GIVEN TO RICH: 44 billion -- Subsidies for oil and gas programs
CUT: 20 billion -- Job training for unemployed adults
GIVEN TO RICH: 21.4 billion -- Loophole for hedge fund/priva­te equity fund managers
CUT: 11 billion -- After school tutoring programs
GIVEN TO RICH: 10 billion -- Tax break on loans for vacation homes and yachts

[sshepherd70]

01:28 PM on 10/23/2011

very well side

[mdmccormick]

07:11 AM on 10/22/2011

Remove the R from behind your name and call me in the morning, and I assure you that you will be feeling better in no time.

[Nonnie22]

08:43 PM on 10/22/2011

How very "independent" of you.

[sshepherd70]

01:12 PM on 10/23/2011

That is better then being a tea bagger

[Bueno Hombre]

06:51 AM on 10/22/2011

To think, this is the best that a political party could deliver. I am saddened that the Republican Party has not found a person who has a "Vision for America". Not one candidate has stepped forward with a plan, or even suggestions, on how to increase jobs in America, stop companies from moving jobs overseas, making education affordable, saving peoples homes, or making medical care affordable to all citizens. All the candidates say is "What the current administration is doing is wrong." WOOPS, I forgot, I do know how they stand on abortion, homosexuals, marriage, gays in the military, and evolution. Evidently, the people supporting these candidates also think these are the most important issues in America and are not worried about the influence of lobbiest in Washington, pollution, wars, people without jobs or homes, a weakend educational system, senior citizens going hungry, and a weak economy. I find it horrifying to think that a large segment of our society feel that if a candidate has the "correct" view on homosexuals, abortion, creation, marriage, and says he prays then he can automatically solve all other problems in America.

[Sidley]

04:37 PM on 10/22/2011

Do you ever listen to Newt? Or Ron Paul? Does anyone?

[PepCap]

05:26 PM on 10/22/2011

your party does not listen to them, why would anyone else?

[sshepherd70]

01:30 PM on 10/23/2011

He doesn't have anything intelligent to say

[okornot]

06:19 AM on 10/22/2011

I am DEEPLY saddened that the only GOP candidate who even seems to get it doesn't even get 2 cents worth of coverage or attention. The republican party doesn't deserve someone like Huntsman, anyway.

Hey Jon - you why don't you jump this ship and leave these fools, blind idiots and belly-aching cry babies to their folly.

[tifosies]

04:42 AM on 10/22/2011

Jon Huntsman is waaaaay too sane to be a candidate in the Teapublicon party this year. However, he's getting some big R endorsements & big R bucks. The Roves know that the far right will hold their nose and vote for ANYBODY against Obama and Huntsman is probably the only candidate that may attract moderates, even some Dem voters. All they care about is having an "R" after the president's name...so... yeh, I think he's a good possibility... OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!!

[sshepherd70]

01:15 PM on 10/23/2011

I think you hit it on the head

[madisonlike60]

02:08 AM on 10/22/2011

Huntsman obviously didn't sign Grover's pledge.