Gov. Jon Huntsman is ever the optimist about his campaign. From Face the Nation this morning:
“The political junkies [are] all saying, ‘You know, how come this thing hasn’t solidified?’ But I think for the most part, people are just beginning to tune in. And that’s why I like our chances.”
Huntsman criticized GOP opponents Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry for what he called “soundbite campaigning” on the issue of zeroing out foreign aid:
“Well, it’s called sound-bite campaigning. These are easy sound bites, they get an applause line,” Huntsman said. “The fact of the matter is we’re broke as a country, and we’re going to have to look very, very carefully at foreign aid. But we also have to look at it through the prism and through the analysis of what kind of return we get on our national interests.”
Huntsman argued that while it’s “fair enough to say we have to start with a zero-based budget approach,” America also has to be “smart enough to say that we do as a people get a certain return through foreign aid.
“We have to carefully identify what that return is, explain it to the American people, but to say we’re just going to wish it all away, I think, is a political sound bite,” Huntsman added.
More here.