Well, the purging of the GOP of its moderate members began before the election… witness the demonization of moderate Republicans like Colin Powell who came out in support of Obama. As far as running McCain…. The others were running more to the right of McCain and they scared a lot of people. If a conservative Republican could not win the Republican primary, then there was no way a conservative Republican would have won the general election. It's not as though there was a “Group of Twelve” Republicans who sat around some table and debated the merits of running a moderate or right winger and decided to go with a moderate. The Republicans themselves voted for McCain in the primary season. And many of the “more moderate than McCain” Republicans switched parties in the primary and voted for Obama.

The purity tests are only more evident now. In the past a Republican had to actually DO something to “betray” the Republican Party (such as support a candidate of another party). Now the Republican leaders are saying (essentially), “We don't want you at our table unless you are willing to accept all our positions, no exceptions.” Now the GOP is in effect thought police. The GOP tells you what to believe and if you don't then you're out.

Though I DO get that many Republicans think that they need to “get back to basics.” Unfortunately they run for office saying one thing and then do something completely the opposite once they are in office… they have zero credibility left. And their “leaders” right now are just entertainment… metaphorically and literally.

American contributes more pollution per capita than China esp. some pollution is caused by manufacturing for global consumers.

We can build carriers powered by two nuclear generators and China cannot build helicopters. What a joke!

Maybe after being in China for a few years, he will understand what happens to a government in a country that must support unsustainable population growth.

C'mon StockBoy, who did the Republicans just run for president? I know they are in their own special version of AA, but I think some of the folks on that side of the aisle can say that they tried moderating and they lost anyway. Hence all of the ideological purity tests going on now.

To the post at hand, I share the same question you do. Why would this stint as ambassador take Gov Huntsman out of the 2012 cycle? It seems to me that this would polish his credentials more than anything else he could do at the moment.

Besides, why does this take him out of the running for prez in four (or three) years? He has the creds as a guv, and this post- to China, hugely important, only gives him additional experience. And if he does run as prez he can link himself to the popular Obama (if Obama stays popular).