KAMIKAZE – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Is Jon Huntsman on a suicide mission?  The former Utah governor and current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has launched an outlandish attack on his GOP rivals.  Even by political standards, which are low enough, this is over the top.  It will win Huntsman some notice, but will win him no friends and will not get him the nomination.  From the Washington Post:

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., looking to jump-start a slumbering presidential campaign, ripped into his Republican rivals Sunday, saying the field has “zero substance” and saving his harshest comments for front-runners Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry.

“I wouldn’t necessarily trust any of my opponents right now, who were on a recent debate stage with me, when every single one of them would have allowed this country to default,” Mr. Huntsman said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Mr. Huntsman, who has campaigned as a “center-right” candidate, said the other Republican candidates, as well as President Obama, are out of the political mainstream: “Right now, this country is crying out for a sensible middle ground. Right now, we have people on the fringes … . We have zero substance.”

The candidate’s dismissal of the Republican field — except for himself — drew immediate applause from the Democratic National Committee, which sent out a mass email Sunday afternoon highlighting the former Utah governor’s remarks.

The email, under the heading “Don’t take our word for it,” broke out several of the most incendiary quotes from the interview.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who appeared later on the same program, warned that Mr. Huntsman’s decision to go negative could backfire in the upcoming GOP primaries.

“Republicans don’t want to hear Republicans attacking other Republicans,” Mr. Luntz said.

And...

Mr. Huntsman — who said via Twitter on Thursday that “I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming” — criticized Mr. Perry’s skeptical comments last week about global warming.

I could never understand why evolution is a presidential issue.  As for global warming, I think we ought to trust scientists, too.  The problem is, which scientists?  True, most scientists, include many who don't know a thing about climate, are on the climate-change bandwagon.  But the number and quality of those who aren't simply can't be ignored.

Science isn't about numbers on board.  It's about proof and observation.  What many are saying is that the proof just isn't there to win acceptance of the sweeping "science" of global warming, and that observation often negates the most extreme claims.  We need more work on this.

“The minute the Republican Party becomes the anti-science party … we find ourselves in a losing position,” Mr. Huntsman said. “I think when you find yourself at the extreme end of the Republican Party, you make yourself unelectable.”

Look, that is true.  But it is also an undeserved indictment of his competitors.  I've been critical of Rick Perry, and his getting into a discussion in New Hampshire about evolution was not a smart move.  But I can't say he's anti-science.  Romney certainly isn't.  Michele Bachmann?  She's deeply religious, but that doesn't make her anti-science.  I think that when you suggest that you can't ask questions of scientists, that may be anti-science, and it is certainly anti-intellectual.

Huntsman has a perfect right to criticize his rivals, but his interview was over the top and sounded desperate.  Not a good thing. 

August 22, 2011