Aqua Seafoam Shame

One thing I’m pretty sure Phil and I share is an inability to warm up in any way to Jon Huntsman. For me, he verges on smug, like in Sunday’s debate when he, more than once, berated the others on the stage for their “political spin.” A total commonplace for a presidential debate, obviously, nothing to get too worked up about, but something in his demeanour when he said it, the way he held himself above the fray, repeating the words like just the fact of him saying them was proof alone that he’s a man to be taken more seriously than the others because… well, because he’s Jon Huntsman and there are wise people in various quarters pining for the guy to be much better than he actually is? I don’t know, in any event, he gets on my nerves. (I realize that what I just described could be said about virtually every candidate on that stage, if not every candidate who ever set foot on any stage. Perhaps it’s his body language I’m responding to here. When I guffawed on one such occasion regarding his charge of “spin,” Jackie chimed in: “He seems slimy.”) His Chinese moment was okay, though — so odd to hear something like that at a Republican debate, and it caused genuine bafflement all around.

I’m ambivalent, on the other hand, about his rock credentials. I mean to say, I’m literally split down the middle on them. I can think of four instances in which his clear interest in rock has come to light, and by my calculations, he’s currently batting .500.

1) The beyond awkward Cobain reference in that early debate, in which he sort of cross-pollinated Romney (author of No Apologies) and Kurt. To me, it sounded exceptionally rehearsed, and it fell flat on that stage regardless. 0 for 1.
(Note: I do actually smile a bit at his later explanation: “You can’t say ‘no apologies’ on the 20th anniversary and not have Kurt Cobain come to mind.”)

2) His advocacy of Captain Beefheart — yup, he’s a fan. This one’s weird and interesting enough that I thought for sure it was a joke when I first came across it. It’s not. 1 for 2.

3) As reported today in Mother Jones: “The next generation deserves trust in government. We have no trust left. The next generation deserves a Congress with term limits. We need a candidate who’s going to lead a Grateful Dead tour of this country, who rallies the support of the American people in getting term limits and closing the revolving door of lobbyists.” Wait a second: Grateful Dead? Term limits? Sorry, does not compute. 1 for 3.

4) Out of that same MJ piece comes word that Huntsman was once in a seventies prog rock band called Wizard. No relation to Roy Wood’s Wizzard, of course, but pretty cool just the same. The snapshot below confirms it — that’s Huntsman in the top right hand corner. Santorum should fold up his sweater vest and go home. 2 for 4.

Despite Huntsman’s current status as the People’s Choice for not-Mitt in New Hampshire, he will be gone shortly. Hopefully not without squeezing in one more reference on his way out the door so we can break this tie once and for all (engineered the first Poly Styrene solo album? played maracas for a time in the Little River Band? copy-edited Gina Arnold in the mid-80s? The mind rather boggles at the possibilities…).