Huntsman Staffers Vent About How Much They Don’t Like John Weaver On Twitter (Updated)

17 Jan, 2012 by John Hawkins

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The funny thing about Jon Huntsman was that since he was the governor of Utah, he had a fairly conservative record of governance. Although it wasn’t rock-ribbed as say, Rick Perry’s record, he certainly was considerably more conservative than say Mitt Romney. Given the nature of the race, where the field has desperately been searching for someone other than Mitt as a candidate, it’s entirely possible that if Huntsman had started his campaign like he ended it, pushing himself as the “consistent conservative,” he might have gotten his turn at the top.

Instead, Huntsman hired John Weaver, who famously detests conservatives. When you combined that with claims that Huntsman was a RINO, his time working with the Obama administration, and some early shots that were taken at the conservative base, the die was cast. Conservatives didn’t know whom they wanted as their nominee, but they did know that they didn’t want a guy who held them in contempt as their standard-bearer.

Of course, it all ended in tears with Huntsman getting out and endorsing the guy he was constantly attacking, Mitt Romney. Apparently, some of his staffers weren’t too happy about how it all played out. I say “apparently” because although @jon_huntsmanusa says it’s done by his communications team and I believe that to be the case, I haven’t been able to find any links back to the account on the Huntsman website. So, for that reason, take these comments with a grain of salt.

Hat tip to my pal, Jerri Ann Henry at JDA Frontline for the story.

Update #1: Here’s an update that I received tonight from the people who run the account, “This was an official Huntsman campaign account. Our side of the campaign was vehemently against the John Weaver strategy.”