Earlier this week during a Twitter Town Hall meeting hosted by former Utah Governor and U.S. ambassador to China, and current would-be GOP Presidential nominee Jon Huntsman, the Republican hopeful began to receive a few odd questions about his candidacy.
When a politician exposes themselves up to this level of open communique with we, the people, you expect a certain level of unpredictability, as a wide assortment of topics will raised. The President of the United States of America is the most powerful man in the world, so literally, almost no question is out of bounds, both in terms of the candidate’s policies and their personal life. From their stance on gay marriage to their foreign affair policies, a potential nominee must be able to field almost any possible query. That may come in the form of a person asking “What would your first 100 days look like?” to the slightly more personal questions, like “How many of the actresses from Mad Men have you slept with?”
Huntsman, possibly thinking that the tweeter had confused him with Bill Clinton, simply ignored the first few tweets like that. But the American people would not be denied, and soon a theme began to emerge.
“Jon who makes all of your suits? They look great retro,” one tweet, according to The Hollywood Reporter, asked.
“Do you [think] you’ll be able to snag the Emmy this year – even with Brian Cranston’s brilliant performance in S4?”
While politicians are typically required to be at least partly performers, there is very little chance that Huntsman will be able to defeat Cranston. Especially after that incredible Breaking Bad season finale, where Cranston was incredible.
After several dozen questions asking Huntsman for details on season five and if he was upset that he wasn’t cast as Superman despite a solid grassroots movement, Huntsman and his crew realized that they had been the victims of a Twitter prank (a Twirank?), courtesy of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.
Earlier in the day, Stewart posted on The Daily Show’s page a call to fans of the show Mad Men, asking them to send their questions via Twitter to the show’s star, Jon Hamm, using the “Q4Jon” hashtag that Huntsman had taken for his Twitter questions.
“@MadMen_AMC fans: tweet Jon Hamm your questions by 4:15 Eastern? Hashtag #Q4Jon,” the call-to-tweet read. People responded in volume.
To his credit, Huntsman took the prank in good stride, and even answered some of the questions meant for Hamm: “In ten years do you see yourself following George Clooney’s or Tom Selleck’s career path?” One tweet asked.
“I definitely want Clooney’s career path. But I think that Q was for Jon Hamm. Funny prank @TheDailyShow! #Q4Jon,” Hunstman replied.
But not everyone was quite as amused by some of Huntsman’s replies. The candidate was later asked “Do you feel those who spell John w/ H are wasteful liberals using consonants wantonly & w/o discretion?” The candidate replied “Yes!” thus potentially costing him the powerful and influential “Johns with an ‘h’ in their name” demographic.
Huntsman continued to field more serious, and much less amusing questions, before eventually signing off and promising to host another Twitter Town Hall meeting soon.
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