Joe Scarborough: Who is the real RINO?

Started chuckling when I read this article by Scarborough because for the most part he said what I have been thinking and saying about the word 'RINO' which is way overused.  When a conservative who might not even be a Republican doesn't agree with a Republican office holder, out comes the term RINO (Republican in Name Only).  Think Dr. Coburn, the Republican Senator from Oklahoma, who doesn't always go along to get along (understatement) which was the reason we elected him -- go to DC and shake things up like our other Senator Jim Inhofe.  So many times I have seen third party people use that term which irritates a lot of us to no end the way it is thrown around.

We thought this was an interesting challenge, but was not surprised by the outcome for Romney and Gingrich who appear to be conservative when it suits them.  Judging from the fact that Scarborough served in the House when Gingrich was the Speaker speaks volumes about his view of Gingrich not being very conservative which matches mine.  No way Romney is conservative as he flip flops his way across the landscape of the Republican Primary trying to convince voters what he said before doesn't matter as he is now conservative.  If you believe that, I have swampland for sale in Arizona right in the middle of the desert.  The outcome for Huntsman does not match many of his statements today which are listed below the article making him moderate not a conservative.

Who is the real RINO?

By JOE SCARBOROUGH | 11/28/11 2:52 PM EST 

The insult du jour for Republican candidates this election cycle is being labeled a RINO, a Republican in Name Only. Unfortunately, the insult has been so overused lately it’s been rendered meaningless. The insult is even emptier because it is so detached from actual statements, campaign promises and voting records. 

A candidate like Newt Gingrich can get away with supporting the biggest socialist scheme in American government over the past 30 years because he says nasty things about the press and calls Barack Obama a Marxist. Jon Huntsman, on the other hand, can have a stellar conservative record as Utah’s governor, be anti-abortion and adored by the NRA. But if he refuses to spit out angry screeds against Obama, he’s dismissed as a RINO, the facts be damned. 

So as a public service to POLITICO readers, I, your humble conservative servant, have put together a “Who is the Real RINO?” test. based on voting records, candidate quotes and facts! (Shocking, I know.) 

Good luck! 

2. Who bragged about being a moderate with this comment, “There is a new synthesis evolving with the classic moderate wing of the party, where as a former Rockefeller state chairman, I’ve spent most of my life”?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

3. Who starred in a 2007 global warming commercial with Nancy Pelosi that was sponsored by Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

4. Who once famously said, “I don’t line up with the NRA”?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

5. Who was paid $312,000 by ethanol interests and then said ethanol is good for national security and for the economy?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

6. Which candidate bragged about not being a Republican during the Reagan presidency and promised that if elected he would not “return to Reagan-Bush policies”?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

7. Which candidate told Planned Parenthood that he supported state funding of abortion?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

8. Which candidate has consistently supported the type of individual mandates for health insurance that conservatives are trying to overturn through court challenges to Obamacare? (Trick question: Two of three are correct answers.)
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

9. Which candidate went on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and called Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan “radical” and “right-wing social engineering”?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

10. Which candidate is the only GOP presidential contender to come out in full support of the Ryan plan?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

11. Which candidate bragged to CNN that he’s “the most seriously professorial politician since Woodrow Wilson”?

A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

12. Which candidate told Planned Parenthood that he supported the “substance” of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

13. Which candidate said of the Medicare prescription drug plan that was the largest expansion of entitlements since the Great Society, “Every conservative member of Congress should vote for this Medicare bill. Obstructionist conservatives can always find reasons to vote no”?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

14. Which candidate attacked Steve Largent, Tom Coburn and other conservatives as “the Perfectionist Caucus,” while giving his last speech as speaker in support of Dick Gephardt and Dave Obey’s colossal Omnibus Bill of 1998?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

15. Which candidate was ranked by Cato Institute in 2008 one of the most fiscally conservative governors in America?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

16. Which candidate was cited by the Pew Center for running the “best-managed” state, hailed by Forbes magazine as the “most fiscally fit” and ranked first in the country for job creation?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

17. Whose economic plan does The Wall Street Journal consider the most impressive and conservative of the Republican presidential field?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

19. Which candidate was praised in a Club for Growth report for reforming health care with “no individual mandate, no employer mandate and no provision for a massive expansion of subsidized care unlike Obamacare or Romney’s plan”?
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

20. Who are the real RINOs here? (Feel free to circle two.)
A. Mitt Romney
B. Newt Gingrich
C. Jon Huntsman 

Answers: 1) A; 2) B; 3) B; 4) A; 5) B; 6) A; 7) A; 8) A and B; 9) B; 10) C; 11) B; 12) A; 13) B; 14) B; 15) C; 16) C; 17) C; 18) C; 19) C; 20) you decide. 

A guest columnist for POLITICO, Joe Scarborough hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.

Source:  Politico

Agree with Scarborough on two of the outcomes (Romney and Gingrich) but I also do not think that in recent years that Jon Huntsman is much of a conservative.  He also flip flopped on his support of healthcare mandates:

In 2004, Huntsman promised to reform Utah's health care system. He vowed to fix a system that had left thousands of Utah residents without health insurance, even telling the incoming executive director of Utah's Department of Health that his goal was to insure everyone. During his first term, Huntsman became smitten with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Health Connector plan, which included a mandate.

Huntsman and his administration went on to support a 2007 United Way of Salt Lake City plan which called for a mandate. That same year, his cabinet and others pushed draft legislation that mirrored the Massachusetts model and the United Way plan and included a mandate. When the Utah legislature balked at such a mandate, it was taken off the table. Instead, in 2008, Huntsman passed a reform bill that established a health care exchange for small businesses known as the Utah Health Exchange that left uninsured individuals unaddressed. Huntsman has denied that he ever supported a mandate.


Source: Huffington Post, "Individual Mandate" , Jun 17, 2011 

Then there are these snippets about the 'moderate' Jon Huntsman:

Jon Huntsman stands apart from the other Republican presidential candidates. He’s comparatively moderate on gay rights (he supports civil unions), evolution (he believes in it) and immigration (a border fence would be an American “embarrassment.”) 

Jon Huntsman had a strong showing in tonight’s debate if you consider it from the perspective of appeal to moderate voters. If anyone from the pack of Republicans has a chance of appealing to both moderate Republicans and Democrats, it is probably Huntsman. Of course this means he has no chance to win the Republican nomination. 

Why is Jon Huntsman running to the political middle? 

GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is making statements that appeal to moderate Republicans. Is this a good idea during the primary season? 

Jon Huntsman is going GOP rogue - by being moderate. 

The former Utah governor and US ambassador to China has used his Twitter feed, his appearance on ABC’s Sunday political talk show “This Week,” and a profile in Vogue magazine to take shots at the rest of the GOP presidential primary field. 

That’s nothing new for the GOP primary field. What’s unique is that he’s hitting his opponents from the political middle. 

It’s telling that the Democratic National Committee blasted out a sort of “greatest hits” e-mail of Huntsman’s ABC interview to supporters, including these nuggets:

• “The minute the Republican Party becomes the party, the anti-science party, we have a huge problem. We lose a whole lot of people, who would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012 when we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, we take a position that basically runs counter to what” many climate scientists have argued. 

 Read More at:  CS Monitor

There you have a few examples of the 'moderate' Jon Huntsman who seems to be honest about where he stands today in his wanting to attract moderate Republicans (establishment) and Democrats disenchanted with Obama.  The question is this honesty or a ploy as is he running to the middle to set himself apart from the other candidates?  The jury is still out on that question.