Huntsman Woos Colbert in Mandarin, But 'Delivery' Joke Falls Flat

Republican presidential hopeful and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman appeared on Comedy Central's Colbert Report last night, and during the segment he proposed to host Stephen Colbert in Mandarin: "I wish you'd be my running mate" (我很想你做我的副美国总统 or wǒ hěn xiǎng nǐ zuò wǒ de fù měi guó zǒng tǒng ). But what most media outlets are talking about today is a would-be attempt at humor by Huntsman that got cut out of the episode.

Republican presidential hopeful and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman appeared on Comedy Central's Colbert Report last night (complete episode here), and during the segment he proposed to host Stephen Colbert in Mandarin: "I wish you'd be my running mate" (我很想你做我的副美国总统 or wǒ hěn xiǎng nǐ zuò wǒ de fù měi guó zǒng tǒng ). But what most media outlets are talking about today is a would-be attempt at humor by Huntsman that got cut out of the episode. (Really, the fact that the media is talking about Hunstman at all is probably good news at his campaign headquarters. He's currently polling at less than 2 percent which, Colbert said, puts him "among the top two Mormons in the Republican presidential race.")

Here's how Politico broke down Huntsman's unaired "gaffe":

A less-than-tasteful joke was edited out of Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman’s appearance on “The Colbert Report.”

When the show played a stereotypical Chinese musical jingle, Huntsman joked, “When’s the delivery food coming?” After a few moments of awkward silence, host Stephen Colbert asked the former U.S. ambassador to China, “Did that go over well in Beijing?”

That portion of the interview caused the crowd to groan and was later cut from the Monday night broadcast because of time reasons, ABC News reports.

Other news outlets called Huntsman's comment a "big gaffe," a "tasteless joke," "cringe-worthy" and "extremely awkward."

What do you think? Less-than-tasteful or simply less-than-funny? Tell us in a comment.