Cong. Duncan Hunter seems like a perfectly nice man--except, of course, when he's angry. And that might be a little too often.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran, a Congressman for nearly three decades, Hunter is a strong proponent of our national defense, and a fierce proponent of homeland security. So that's all to the good.
Having said all that, though, Hunter is NOT going to be the next President of the United States, nor is he even going to be the Republican nominee. The expert data-crunchers and chart-keepers at RealClearPolitics.com,for example, no longer bother to tally his percentage in their running polling tallies.
So as his campaign fades away, who does Hunter choose to get mad at? The Republican primary voters who don't support him? No! He gets mad at the media! Sometimes that's OK: The media, including the cable newsers, deserve their lumps--why do you think I started this blog?
But there's a lot to be said for accuracy, too. And an accurate account of recent events on the campaign hustings holds that Hunter simply did not click with the voters. That's just the way it goes. Shooting the messenger might seem satisfying for Hunter, but it doesn't reflect the true state of play in presidential politics: Plenty of other candidates, including another hawkish Republican war hero, Sen. John McCain, have played well on the media.
So in the interest of keeping the record straight, The Cable Gamer will give the last wordto National Review Online's Jim Geraghty, who wrote a sharp piece entitled, "Duncan Hunter Plays the Chickenhawk Card on 'Corporate Media Executives.'"
Geraghty's article is worth posting in full:
XM POTUS08 just played audio of Duncan Hunter's press conference from earlier today, and it didn't sound pretty. He sounded angry and bitter over being left out of this weekend's debates, and appeared to argue that he should have been included because of his military service, and/or his son's.
He lashed out at "corporate media executives" who work "ten stories above Central Park in New York City" for excluding him from the debate. He asked how many of them had worn the uniform, how they served their country, or how many had children serving in the military today.
Yes, Congressman, play the "chickenhawk" card. Because that always works.
Duncan Hunter hasn't hit 3 percent in any recent New Hampshire poll. If he's ever hit three percent nationally, I haven't seen it. ABC News, as well as Fox, had every right to start establishing a minimum threshold to participate in a televised debate. (Otherwise, we might as well bring in Alan Keyes and John Cox.)
UPDATE: Leon Wolf has some wise words for Congressman Hunter.
This video of Hunter walking onto the set of a live broadcast MSNBC's "Morning Joe" earlier today is a little disturbing, as he repeats, "I got a delegate in Wyoming!"
Running for president can make a man do some strange things, but one of the things that was most appealing about Hunter was that he seemed like such a grownup about all of this. This isn't dignified, Congressman.
