So... Jon Huntsman, the Republican Governor of Utah, of whom I am a bit of a fan, is set to visit Michigan later this week in a trip that could, if one were cynical (and of course I'm not cynical in the least), be seen as an initial testing of the waters for a 2012 presidential run. And it looks like some folks up there aren't happy about it:

A Michigan GOP organization canceled an appearance by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. this weekend, apparently because of his support for civil unions.

The decision by the Kent County Republican Party drew praise from the head of a conservative pro-family group in Michigan critical of what he called Huntsman's "homosexual agenda."

[...]

Gary Glenn, head of the Campaign for Michigan Families, said in an e-mail release that Kent County's "principled stand sends a strong message nationwide that grass-roots conservatives will not embrace liberals who want to abandon the GOP platform's commitment to traditional family values in favor of promoting homosexual activists' incremental assault on religious freedom, marriage and the family."

Fortunately, it appears that the new Chairman of the MIGOP had the good sense to step in and do something sensible here:

The new chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, Ron Weiser, stepped in Tuesday. Now Huntsman will appear at a state party fundraiser during his two-day swing through the state.

"The state party chair called the governor to apologize and said the state is excited to have the governor coming and looks forward to seeing him this weekend," Huntsman spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said.

Michigan GOP spokeswoman Jennifer Hoff said the conversation between Huntsman and the party chairman was private....

I noticed this in a Glenn Thrush post earlier about liberal interest group Americans United for Change attacking Susan Collins, very likely one of President Obama's best potential Republican allies and someone who, in my opinion, it makes no sense for Democrats and groups friendly to them to be alienating right now.  Tom McMahon, the Acting Executive Director of Americans United for Change apparently says, while blasting Collins for allegedly opposing $800 million-plus in panedemic preparation, that "Eight years of shortchanged priorities in critically important things like pandemic preparation in order to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and big oil subsidies were quite enough.”

Did I read that right?  Big oil subsidies?  Maybe McMahon should go back and look at the voting record, because he seems to have missed the memo: Obama voted for the 2005 Energy Bill (oft-styled by Democrats and left-leaners as "Dick Cheney's Energy Bill") which contained $2.8 billion in subsidies for... oil and gas companies!  Maybe if AUC has an issue with shortchanged priorities, apparently including big oil subsidies, they should take it up with the guy whose agenda they've been pushing for this whole time? [intro]

This is just so right-on, I can't do better than repost it in full. So here goes:

Fiscal Responsibility

The Washington Post reports:

President Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, and he will order its members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90 days, according to a senior administration official....Earlier this month, both chambers of Congress passed Obama's $3.5 trillion budget outline for 2010, which includes unprecedented new investments in health care, education and energy. But the huge budget, which contemplates a $1.2 trillion deficit, has drawn the ire of small-government conservatives, who say that such high deficits jeopardize the nation's economic future.