diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/httpapi.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/httpapi.py
index 7919964065..9d7ffdeb97 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/httpapi.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/httpapi.py
@@ -277,9 +277,9 @@ class Connection(NetworkConnectionBase):
             if is_handled is True:
                 return self.send(path, data, **kwargs)
             elif is_handled is False:
-                raise AnsibleConnectionFailure('Could not connect to {0}: {1}'.format(self._url + path, exc.reason))
-            else:
                 raise
+            else:
+                response = is_handled
         except URLError as exc:
             raise AnsibleConnectionFailure('Could not connect to {0}: {1}'.format(self._url + path, exc.reason))
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/__init__.py
index 6801abc72e..8611a83b00 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/__init__.py
@@ -61,19 +61,20 @@ class HttpApiBase(AnsiblePlugin):
         :returns:
             * True if the code has been handled in a way that the request
             may be resent without changes.
-            * False if this code indicates a fatal or unknown error which
-            cannot be handled by the plugin. This will result in an
-            AnsibleConnectionFailure being raised.
-            * Any other response passes the HTTPError along to the caller to
-            deal with as appropriate.
-        """
+            * False if the error cannot be handled or recovered from by the
+            plugin. This will result in the HTTPError being returned to the
+            caller to deal with as appropriate.
+            * Any other value returned is taken as a valid response from the
+            server without making another request. In many cases, this can just
+            be the original exception.
+            """
         if exc.code == 401 and self.connection._auth:
             # Stored auth appears to be invalid, clear and retry
             self.connection._auth = None
             self.login(self.connection.get_option('remote_user'), self.connection.get_option('password'))
             return True
 
-        return False
+        return exc
 
     @abstractmethod
     def send_request(self, data, **message_kwargs):
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/ftd.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/ftd.py
index ec4b5cec7a..560331186e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/ftd.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/ftd.py
@@ -217,8 +217,8 @@ class HttpApi(HttpApiBase):
             self.connection._auth = None
             self.login(self.connection.get_option('remote_user'), self.connection.get_option('password'))
             return True
-        # None means that the exception will be passed further to the caller
-        return None
+        # False means that the exception will be passed further to the caller
+        return False
 
     def _display(self, http_method, title, msg=''):
         self.connection.queue_message('vvvv', 'REST:%s:%s:%s\n%s' % (http_method, self.connection._url, title, msg))
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/restconf.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/restconf.py
index 3a5def2c97..b883ccaf4b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/restconf.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/restconf.py
@@ -62,30 +62,26 @@ class HttpApi(HttpApiBase):
             'Content-Type': message_kwargs.get('content_type') or CONTENT_TYPE,
             'Accept': message_kwargs.get('accept') or CONTENT_TYPE,
         }
-        try:
-            response, response_data = self.connection.send(path, data, headers=headers, method=message_kwargs.get('method'))
-        except HTTPError as exc:
-            response_data = exc
+        response, response_data = self.connection.send(path, data, headers=headers, method=message_kwargs.get('method'))
 
-        return handle_response(response_data)
-
-    def handle_httperror(self, exc):
-        return None
+        return handle_response(response, response_data)
 
 
-def handle_response(response):
+def handle_response(response, response_data):
     try:
-        response_json = json.loads(response.read())
+        response_data = json.loads(response_data.read())
     except ValueError:
-        if isinstance(response, HTTPError):
-            raise ConnectionError(to_text(response), code=response.code)
-        return response.read()
+        response_data = response_data.read()
 
-    if 'errors' in response_json and 'jsonrpc' not in response_json:
-        errors = response_json['errors']['error']
+    if isinstance(response, HTTPError):
+        if response_data:
+            if 'errors' in response_data:
+                errors = response_data['errors']['error']
+                error_text = '\n'.join((error['error-message'] for error in errors))
+            else:
+                error_text = response_data
 
-        error_text = '\n'.join((error['error-message'] for error in errors))
+            raise ConnectionError(error_text, code=response.code)
+        raise ConnectionError(to_text(response), code=response.code)
 
-        raise ConnectionError(error_text, code=response.code)
-
-    return response_json
+    return response_data