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Political Hay
Why Romney Couldn’t Kill
He’s too late to say it’s killing him not to be in the White House.
Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday was a lament for his failed presidential bid and a lament for the nation.
In his first interview since the election, Romney expressed his dismay in not having the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. “I wish I were there. It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done,” said the former Massachusetts Governor.
It is interesting that Romney should use the word “kill” in describing his feelings about losing the election. After all, back in the summer of 2011, the Obama campaign concluded that the President could not run for re-election on the basis of his accomplishments in office. Instead, the Obama campaign made it their mission to “kill Romney.”
In the year that followed, the Obama campaign and their surrogates portrayed Romney as a tax cheat, a felon and a murderer, not to mention a man leading the “War on Women” by trapping them in binders. Not only was Romney ineffectual in fighting back, he occasionally handed the Obama campaign extra ammunition as was the case with his infamous 47% remarks.
Yet all that effort was nearly for naught as Romney exceeded all expectations during the first presidential debate while Obama suddenly no longer looked immortal. Had this been replay of 1980 in which this was the only debate between Obama and Romney and if it had been scheduled to take place five days before the election, chances are Romney would be in the White House doing what needs to be done. Instead, Obama had time on his side to get back into the game with two more debates and we have our present state of affairs.
Shortly before Christmas, the Boston Globe published a story on the Romney campaign. The article quoted his eldest son Tagg who revealed that his father did not want to run for President for a second time:
“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to …run. If he could have found someone else to take his place… he would have been ecstatic to step aside.”
There is no reason believe that Tagg Romney isn’t telling the truth and no one has suggested so. So it is quite possible that after the first debate, Romney thought to himself (perhaps on a subconscious level), “Holy crap, I could actually win this thing.” In which case, instead of spending the final month of the campaign going for the knockout punch (in effect “killing Obama”), he spent it resting on the laurels of the first debate.
Sure Obama had an abundance of help from the media (especially from CNN’s Candy Crowley during the second debate). But if Romney didn’t want to be President in the first place it certainly goes a long way in explaining his posture during the final weeks of the campaign. If you don’t want to be President there’s a good chance you’re not going to beat a guy who wants to be President more than life itself. If you don’t want to be President then you certainly won’t be prepared to “kill” for it. Obama was prepared to “kill Romney”; Romney wasn’t prepared to “kill Obama.” That Romney now says it kills him not to be in the White House is a day late and at least $1 trillion short.
Yet all of this is not to castigate Romney. What’s done is done. Rather, this is a cautionary note to Republicans aspirants for 2016. Any Republican who makes a bid for the White House had better be damn sure that this is what he or she wants and wants it more than life itself. Because any Republican that does will have to accept everything that comes with it, up to and including being called a cheat, a felon, a murderer — and spend at least $1 billion for the trouble. The Republican nominee in 2016 will also probably be facing Hillary Clinton. Like Barack Obama, Hillary wants to be President more than life itself and plays for keeps. The fact that Hillary was denied her place in the White House by Obama in 2008 makes her all the hungrier to be President. There will be a huge target on the back of the Republican nominee in 2016. Whoever Republicans nominate had better be prepared to place a bigger target on Hillary’s back. Otherwise, in four years time, we will have yet another Republican telling us it kills them not to be in the White House.
Photo: UPI
About the Author
Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (102) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 3.4.13 @ 6:28AM
I would say "Don't nominate a guy that the Northeastern Liberal Elite believe is "next in line" and then spend all your time telling us that your handpicked guy is "our only hope" -- and threaten us if we don't believe it." But this is exactly what they will do, and instead of spending their time crushing Hillary, they will spend their time crushing the would-be nominee that the people on our side actually support, and telling us we are stupid beause we don't choose their annointed one.
But this is all water over the dam of course, because ever since the nomination of Bob Dole, this is exactly the playbook Gucci Gulch has turned to, and every time they open this playbook, they lose...but they never learn their lesson. So, I am serving notice this one time that if y'all do this again, I will not support your East Coast Liberal Nominee, because he will not in fact be Our Only Hope.
Maxwell| 3.4.13 @ 8:22AM
Are you thinking of Chris Christie? Ann Coulters home boy? Where are the Republicans that have a set of stones that will bring a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) to a knife fight?
Occam's Tool| 3.4.13 @ 11:57AM
Allen West 2016.
We need an asskicker. We need an attack dog. We need another Black Guy to take it to Hillary.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 1:21PM
Then all the lefties voting against the black guy would be racist yes?
TLP| 3.4.13 @ 1:55PM
No.
They'll be voting against the Oreo Uncle Tom House Negro.
Where have you been, the last 40 Years?
George S| 3.4.13 @ 2:27PM
White people who want to vote for West will be the racist because they are hiding their racism by voting for an African-American. A clever ruse the media will be quick to catch on to.
Stan Redmond| 3.4.13 @ 7:10PM
You forgot about the one way valve installed on such things.
Guimo| 3.4.13 @ 6:53AM
Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, That's all Romney had to say in the third debate.
Stormzeye| 3.4.13 @ 7:19AM
Jim DeMint........where are you?
fmm| 3.4.13 @ 10:05AM
DeMint was not cut out to even be a senator because of the games one has to play. read his books.
SUBVET| 3.4.13 @ 11:32AM
Ben Carson..........throw it back at em.
Martin kzovich| 3.4.13 @ 7:21AM
Romney did everything he could to kill of his Republican challengers and then decided he really did not want the job. If this is true then Romney is full of shit. I did not choose Romney as my best choice at all. He was the Establishment Republican choice. His campaign was much like McCain's--lackluster. No the problem goes deeper than Romney alone--though he certainly has a lot to answer to to those of us who did not want Obama. There is something terribly wrong in the Republican Party leadership itself and Romney is a symptom of that problem.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 8:39AM
Romney is a republican not a Conservative. He is therefore too gentlemanly to fight in the gutter when he needed to. After winning the first debate he (or his handlers) decided to play it safe and play the prevent defense. All that has ever done is prevented a team from winning.
CJW| 3.4.13 @ 8:46AM
Al Adab
I agree and add that Romney, like McCain, seemed to hold back because Obama is black. They did not want to be seen as attacking the first black candidate/pres.
This "gentleman" conduct also hurt Dole and Bush when they did not attack Bubba who provided more material for attacks on his behavior than any other candidate in history.
RCV| 3.4.13 @ 11:13AM
So that's what a "conservative" is - someone who is not a gentleman and is willing to fight in the gutter? If that's the lesson you've learned, it doesn't bode well for the future of conservatism.
CJW| 3.4.13 @ 11:47AM
The lesson is that Dems like Obama fight in the gutter, so if you want to beat gutter Dems like Obama then you have to respond and attack.
Do you think the Dems charges that Romney did not pay taxes for ten years and was responsible for the death of some woman that did not have health insurance were accurate?
You are correct that if the Reps/conservatives have to fight in the gutter because that is where the Dems chose to fight, this does not bode well for our politics, not just conservatives.
Occam's Tool| 3.4.13 @ 12:00PM
RCV: spare me the genteel lessons of Obama's campaign.
Yes, what your campaign taught me is that to beat you, I need to go to the bathhouses. Had the GOP followed my advice and gone NUCLEAR, Romney might have won.
Hillary is another dirty Chicago politician. She will need to be beaten Chicago style. I mean, your guys were going after Romney for something he MIGHT have done in high school. In high school your guy was doing heavy drugs. Spare me the sanctimoniousness.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 1:24PM
What RCV forgets is that Conservatives believe, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." Time once again to put ourselves on the line and our money where our mouths are.
BTW has everyone sent money to AmSpec?
TLP| 3.4.13 @ 1:56PM
I sent them a Check, but they Banned It.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 2:53PM
Given your reputation perhaps so. LOL
TNRebelRouser| 3.4.13 @ 8:53AM
You only have to read today's companion article titled "Eight GOP Governors Squander SCOTUS Decision" to see how right you are. I personally thought highly of several of those governors and after their decision to expand Medicaid in their states I am left to wonder if I can ever support another Republican. Apparently, convictions/principles mean little in today's Republican party. Does the Republican establishment really expect Caesar (that's we the conservatives) to keep writing checks and voting for Brutus (that would be the likes of these 8 governors)? I guess time will tell but for me, I'm all done. My money will be better spent on "assaualt weapons" and ammo before the RINO's vote to ban them.
Alan| 3.4.13 @ 7:40AM
Really simple, a party of squishy cowards with no leadership.
rjh| 3.4.13 @ 8:24AM
I still marvel at the fact that the Republican "establishment" backed the only candidate that effectively took obamacare off of the table as an issue...makes you wonder.
Bob Grant| 3.4.13 @ 8:26AM
With all due respect to Mr. Goldstein, this article is a load of crap.
Didn't want to run for president? Please! The man had been running for president non-stop for five years. He conveyed a sense of entitlement and inevitability throughout.
My only beef with the Romney campaign was his choice of "wiz kids" running the electronic part of it. It was a disaster! Two steps behind the REAL wiz kids running obama's campaign. Remember the "Dinner With Obama" ads you'd see on every website you'd go to? Refresh my memory, but I can't recall a "Dinner with Romney" ad. Romney had virtually zero Social Media presence but he won the battle of bumper stickers and yard signs. Obama won with VIRTUAL bumper stickers and yard signs.
Blame the wiz kids!
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 8:41AM
If Romney has used the same tactics against Obama that he did against his republican opponents we would have a different result. Yes, Bob, blame the wiz kids, the handlers who tried to sit on their lead following the first debate.
Nancy in NC| 3.4.13 @ 8:46AM
I'm with you, Al. Romney eviscerated his GOP opponents. obama could have been eviscerated as well. (Not like there wasn't plenty of areas which could have been attacked.)
Bob Grant| 3.4.13 @ 8:54AM
These "wiz kids" were also feeding him bogus polling data. Perhaps that explains him pulling back a few months before the election; That, and his horrible advisers, who I believe, were more of Romney's "wiz kids".
Remember when republicans won elections via THE MAIL? That was their secret weapon.
Obama's secret weapon was social media, and the fact that his advisers (see "wiz kids") were blindsided by this is staggering.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 1:26PM
Same wiz kids who put the lid on Palin for three weeks after she electrified the party because the "elites" though she was unsophisticated.
Crassus| 3.4.13 @ 11:35AM
Blame the wiz kids! doesn't let Mittenz off the hook. He's one one who hired them in the first place, Gigante.
bc3b| 3.4.13 @ 4:23PM
Agree. Romney's whiz kids included every party hack that had been snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for the past 20 years: Ed Gillespie, Stu Stevens, Mr. "Etch-A-Sketch," Andrea Saul, Kevin Madden, Mike Murphy, Alex Cattellanos. It reads like the starting lineup uf the Houston Astros, or should I say ORCAs.
Nancy in NC| 3.4.13 @ 8:48AM
How about we nominate someone who can do more than spell the word conservative. Christie is another Romney...just bigger and with different baggage.
fmm| 3.4.13 @ 10:09AM
No. Christie is a liberal in all but fiscal matters. Romney is a moderate. Having Christie as POTUS would be just barely better than the current one.
Maxwell| 3.4.13 @ 11:25AM
fmm, thank you!
Howard| 3.4.13 @ 7:55PM
Obama was the real "Teflon President". He is bullet proof. You criticize him and you are "racist". Try been a GOP figure in D.C. and find yourself isolated from dinner parties, receptions, etc, if you hardball Obama. Not gonna happen.
Kwan| 3.4.13 @ 9:06AM
It all boils down to the ignorance of the electorate. If a majority of the electorate believe that the further Detroitification of the United States under a leftist fifth-columnist like Hillary is just fine, then the country will continue it's slide into failed-state status.
TLP| 3.4.13 @ 1:59PM
Actually?
It's all about Demographics.
If you don't believe me?
I refer you to The Fall of Rome.
Kwan| 3.4.13 @ 4:39PM
That's true also. The left has managed to Balkanize the country, and then cobble together groups of misfits, reprobates, congenital morons, slackers, moochers, layabouts, and bums to somehow give them close election victories. As a result we have psycho leftist jihadists trying to collapse the country.
jaytrain| 3.4.13 @ 9:14AM
Three points . The first , when the Obama machine announced / threatened that it would have a $ billion $ to use for character assasination , it reduced the field mightily ( Here's lookin at you Mitch ) . Romney did take Obamacare off the table . Another candidate could have hammered , as the 2010 elections did , Obamacare ; you will lose your doctor : you will lose your insurance . Over and over and over . And the next candidate needs to take out the MSM , Refuse to answer the gotcha questions and get in their face with the interviewer hack with their record of political contributions . All very polite , but a few comebackers like " It says here Candy that you gave $500 the the Kerry campaign . Just how impartial are you , Ms Crowley" . In their smartbutt face , 24/7 . And lastly , nominate someone who wants to winn , not just go thru the motions . Win at any cost .
CrackerHound| 3.4.13 @ 11:53AM
TED and TED 2016!
Ted Cruz/Ted Nugent
Hell yeah!
RCV| 3.4.13 @ 12:01PM
As a Democrat, I second those nominations. We could win even bigger than Johnson over Goldwater with that ticket!
Kingofthenet| 3.4.13 @ 1:12PM
The Dramatization of Nugent's 'Stellar' war record where he literally DEFECATED on himself to avoid the war, would be...priceless
TLP| 3.4.13 @ 2:00PM
This, coming from a guy who Craps on himself everytime he posts a comment.
cicero| 3.4.13 @ 9:56AM
To say that Romney really didn't want to be president is just plain silly. Anyone who runs for that post wants the White House more than anything else in life. To see why he lost, all you have to do is go back and reread the posts at this site. 4 million voters didn't turn out to vote for the Republican candidate, because he was not their first choice. The Dems didn't have that problem. The Republican/conservative electorate didn't just lose, they committed suicide.
They are now faced with a systemic problem, in that they have handed the progressives the machinery of electoral politics. They didn't challenge the obvious incidents of voter fraud. They didn't back their own candidate (the only one they had). They didn't even back their own candidates for the Senate. They were playing Simon Pure, when the other side was playing Power Combat. Well, here we are now, in total disarray. The R's are debating who the D's will run next cycle, and whether she will be more or less of a disaster for the country. Maybe they are too silly to survive. Perhaps we heed an organizational convention for the New Constitution Party.
CJW| 3.4.13 @ 10:16AM
I agree. The simple Simple Simons still brag they did not vote or voted third party, as they did in Carter v. Ford and Dole v. Bubba and Bush v. Bubba. But they still complain daily about Obama and the Dems.
An acquaintance still brags he voted for Virgil Goode and complains all the time about Obama.
There must be a brain defect or just plain stupididty that prevents understanding that if you do not vote for the Rep candidate against the Dem candidate you are helping the Dem.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 11:42AM
Always the dilemma we Conservatives find ourselves faced with. After a republican ends up as the nominee what do we do? We vote for the republican and watch him lose or we stay home and exacerbate the problem. It is high time Conservatives became precinct committeemen, local office holders, county chairmen and so on within the GOP. It is only when Conservatives preponderate that the GOP enjoys success. Lets take the party back.
CJW| 3.4.13 @ 11:57AM
You are correct. But we cannot concede to the Dems and give up on any election.
The damage done by electing a Dem is always much worse than electing even a squishy Rep..
The best example is 1976 when many stayed home or voted third party, did not vote for Ford, and Jimmy Carter gave us the Dept of Energy and Dept of Education, and abandoned our ally, the Shah of Iran. We are still living with the consequences of Iran being the prime sponsor of terrorism. And now, everybody on this site says we have to get rid of the Dept of Energy and Education. Or voting for Perot in 92 and 96 .
Does anyone seriously believe that Bubba was better on fighting terrorism than Bush and Dole would have been?
Jake| 3.4.13 @ 12:26PM
" The Republican/conservative electorate didn't just lose, they committed suicide."
Absolutely.
The Democrats are much more savvy than conservatives.
They may have ideological differences , but, they always pull together when it matters.
They're willing to compromise within the party
for their greater good.
The exact opposite is true of conservatives and the Tea Party.
Jim DeMint often said
that it's better to lose
and be in the minority than to sacrifice one's principles.
Romney was ( and is ) constantly belittled by the conservatives and falsely smeared by Limbaugh and his cohorts.
As was McCain, George W Bush, Bob Dole and
George HW Bush before him.
The excuse from the far right when their candidates always lose
in the Republican primary
is to blame some
unnamed cabal of eastern elites.
It's easier to do that than to look at the quality of their candidates and recognize the reality that most Republicans
are not rigid far right .
Romney appealed to a majority of Republican primary voters ,
the far right should stop insulting
their integrity and intelligence by claiming they were duped into supporting him by the mystery elites.
The Tea Party and conservatives have been bragging about how they stayed home rather than vote for Romney.
Which was in effect, voting for Obama.
Hope they enjoy their Obamacare and their tax increases and their gutted military and the next couple of liberal USSC Justices.
CrackerHound| 3.4.13 @ 1:09PM
No, the problem is that Republicans consider the combination of pro-life and favoring smaller government to be too extreme.
To me, Romney was about as conservative as was possible to get elected. Many were already calling him too extreme if you can believe that. On the other hand, my top two (Perry and Gingrich) were called RINO's by many conservatives.
How do we win with dynamics like that?
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 1:29PM
Romney was to the left of McCain for heavens sake. We continue to let the opposition claim all republicans are Conservatives and therefor extreme. Good grief how extreme are the Lefties in charge of the Dem party?
CrackerHound| 3.4.13 @ 1:39PM
I don't believe that. I might have been proved wrong had he been elected, but I believe Romney's record had a lot to do with trying to effectively govern a northeastern, blue state.
Romney is a religious, venture capitalist. Those don't come with a liberal mentality very often. Romney could not have gotten away with governing with a liberal agenda after the campaign he ran.
I truly believe that Romney is slightly more conservative than GW Bush and much more conservative than Mc Cain.
CrackerHound| 3.4.13 @ 1:41PM
But Al....it's hard to argue with you looking at Romney's health care law and his evolving stance on abortion....but I fall back to the belief that he was trying to survive as a New England Republican.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 2:57PM
Yes, a member of the eastern, accomodationist, elitist Rockefeller, Romney (his father), etc. wing of the party which has opposed the Conservative movement from the beginning. Even Nixon was too Conservative for Rocky, remember the compact of fifth avenue? Ford took Rocky as VP over Goldwater just as Nixon took Ford over Goldwater. It is hard to fight a two front war one against The Left and another against our own party establishment.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 3:00PM
Oh and Cracker (from GA?) remember what we were taught about being tepid and lukewarm?
CrackerHound| 3.4.13 @ 3:14PM
From South Texas....
you mean this one from Revelations?
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. "
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 5:25PM
That's the one Cracker. Lots of nice territory in south Texas in the lower valley.
Mike Daly | 3.4.13 @ 10:30AM
People seem to keep ignoring that Obama was rescued by an unexpected slacker vote in the election - a vote that isn't sustainable. Romney's campaign perhaps should have hit harder, but the debates were a blow from which Obama couldn't recover in most elections.
Kingofthenet| 3.4.13 @ 1:08PM
Yeah, except Cory Booker is primed to be Obama 2.0 or Bionic Obama, better Faster,smarter..
CrackerHound| 3.4.13 @ 1:12PM
Yea, but unfortunately for you... Booker is not a communist like Obama. He is a Democrat though so maybe he can be "fundamentally transformed".
Dennis Bergendorf| 3.4.13 @ 10:50AM
The Romney fiasco dives home a critical fact: Democrats live and breath (and even kill) to govern. It's in their DNA, just as an inability to understand basic economics is in their DNA. Republicans? Their hearts are in raising families and growing businesses (that create wealth).
Butch| 3.4.13 @ 3:51PM
Agreed. We confine our politics primarily to writing checks and voting because we have other priorities. We just want to live in freedom and to be left alone to pursue our interests, primarily our living on behalf of our families. For democrats, politics IS their living. In a battle between full-time politics and part-time, I'm afraid the full-timers have a significant advantage that is growing larger.
Bandido| 3.5.13 @ 1:30PM
At heart they are totalitarian. For them, politics pervades every aspect of life. It is the bone marrow of their existence and has been throughout history. Compromise is not in their vocabulary. It's killed or be killed, conquer or die. Unless the Right is prepared to engage in a political death struggle, it is doomed to defeat.
RichTex| 3.4.13 @ 10:57AM
What Tagg Romney really reveals is that it was much more important to his father (and his backers) to keep the Republican Party out of the hands of conservatives than it was to actually win the election.
JimP| 3.4.13 @ 10:59AM
I have absolute faith in the GOP primary voters once again choosing the moderate Republican to be the candidate. They chose Dole, McCain and Mitt. The leading moderate will move heaven and earth to kill his/her conservative/TeaParty/libertarian opponents and then go soft during the general election because they don't want it enough or because Hillary or whomever will be an historic first time minority or just because moderates think gentlemanly forebearance ("being nice") and acting like the Marquis of Queensbury is more important than saving the country. Better to go donw in style and grace than get grubby and keep the Titanic afloat.
Heard Beck this morning. He let it be known that the polling shows Mitt won the moderates over Obama. It was normal Republican voters who didn't show up and vote for Mitt. They warned you GOP and they obviously meant it.
Butch| 3.4.13 @ 3:59PM
I've never seen hard numbers regarding just who it was in the Republican voter base who stayed home. I know Christian conservatives carried the day for Bush in 04, citing "values" as their main issue. I also know that at least Southern Baptists consider Mormans to be worse than heathens--more like heretics. I wonder if Romney's Mormanism affected the turnout. And I am just wondering.
JimP| 3.4.13 @ 6:48PM
First, let me correct my statement. I meant to say independents, not moderates. Beck didn't give any particular source or get into more specifics before I lost the radio signal. I live on the periphery of two markets and travel between them going to work. I am familiar with what you are speaking of and I wonder the same thing myself. It wouldn't surprise me if that didn't account for a significant number of non votes. What Beck was indicating clearly though was that many normal GOP voters stayed home. I wish he had said more before I lost the signal.
N8tivTxn| 3.4.13 @ 11:07AM
I don't buy the schtick that Romney didn't want "it".
Losers should just go away.
Why is he there?
What image does Romney have to rehab?
Perhaps this is his subtle attempt to salvage the NE Establishment wing of the party, since Rove keeps shooting himself in the foot?
Romney proved he is good at finding runaways, perhaps he should establish such a foundation, and market that skill.
Makes you wonder if all that business success was merely riding the wake of his forebears effort...
like GWB's
20% CAP GAINS Mitt! UGH!
Crassus| 3.4.13 @ 11:33AM
The Republicans won't have to worry about facing Hillary in 2016. Her liver will give out by then. She's drinking herself to death.
Guimo| 3.4.13 @ 11:46AM
Crassus, what's your proof of this?
Al Adab| 3.4.13 @ 2:58PM
80 or 86 proof.
RCV| 3.4.13 @ 12:02PM
There is not a shred of evidence to support such a ludicrous charge. None. Zero.
Crassus| 3.4.13 @ 4:58PM
Then why did she disappear for almost a month in December/January before her Senate testimony.? She claimed it was a blood clot but in reality the old fat ass was in detox drying out so she would be coherent for her testimony. The witch stays drunk so much that she'll probably choose Lindsay Lohan as her running mate---if she lives that long.
Kingofthenet| 3.4.13 @ 5:25PM
Maybe she was using Liquor as a Mouthwash to disguise the smell of Pu$$Y on her breath?
Aladin Sane| 3.4.13 @ 8:57PM
Ouch!
Bandido| 3.5.13 @ 1:34PM
Maybe not, but she looks to be alcohol-poisoned. She is Dorian Grey come down off that canvas. A more hideous creature is impossible to imagine.
Bandido| 3.5.13 @ 1:36PM
Medusa herself would be terrified by the countenance of Hillary.
Occam's Tool| 3.4.13 @ 12:02PM
I think we need to be going after Hillary NOW with dirty tricks. Picking the top Democratic likelies should be easy. Nuke 'em now. Every dirty trick in the book.
Hillary as secret lesbian, for example.
Bob Grant| 3.4.13 @ 12:14PM
Secret lesbian? In today's World, she might pick up a few votes.
CJW| 3.4.13 @ 1:04PM
Hillary gets the sympathy vote from women married or divorced from the Bubbas.
Crassus| 3.4.13 @ 5:01PM
No need to worry about dirty tricks on Old Fat Ass. Have you seen her lately? She'll look even older and uglier in a few years--provided she's still alive. All the GOP needs to do is let the camera do their dirty work.
Kingofthenet| 3.4.13 @ 5:23PM
You can smell it on her breath. The Lesbianism, NOT her being a Lush.
Occam's Tool| 3.6.13 @ 2:09PM
Ya see, when King and I agree on a DEM politician, things are problematic. No disrespect to King, but this woman is as Sapphic as they come.
Bandido| 3.5.13 @ 1:41PM
Or persistent rumors of Hillary as a masochist, with Barbara Mikulski as her dominatrix. Late night trysts at sex clubs, Mikulski leading a muzzle-wearing Hillary along on a leather leash and carrying a hand taser.
Hardcard| 3.4.13 @ 12:12PM
Remember debate #1 ; obamao-jdingo did not know what to do his earpiece was not transmiting, this POS was on the way out of office in a shyt slide. Then the transmissions were tuned up and the media went into panic rescue mode, Romney fizzeled, I think he still can't believe his total fold-up, if he was fed bad info he was too stupid to be POTUS. Now we are stuck with obamao jdingo, Romney was played like a fiddle.
JFGalt| 3.4.13 @ 12:39PM
This party did not put up someone who could have defeated OBAMA! and they still don't have anyone that can defeat him in the next election. You have got to know that this guy has got to be working on a plan for this already. These people plan and stage every event like good little collectivists.
Kingofthenet| 3.4.13 @ 1:04PM
Oh Man, If I was Obama and had Mittens in MY Oval Office, I would start off talking to my chair and the 'bad' President Obama
Bill8472| 3.4.13 @ 1:13PM
It's too late now, Mitt. Where the hell was your campaign when you could have made a difference?
Joe D.| 3.4.13 @ 1:15PM
The problem is that I don't think the wimp Republicans want to fight the "War on Women" title. However, as we all know that title belongs to the democrats far more.
Occam's Tool| 3.4.13 @ 1:22PM
Mitt didn't take the DAMN GLOVES OFF! He should have been SCREAMING WITH RAGE in the 3rd debate that our ambassador was being SODOMIZED while Obama went off to a fund raiser. He should have called Obama a loathsome bag of scum. Instead, he farted gently.
Kingofthenet| 3.4.13 @ 2:13PM
Right you are, because if a Presidential Candidate isn't Foaming at the Mouth and possibly Mentally Deranged, I don't want them anywhere near the Nuclear Launch Codes.
Vic| 3.4.13 @ 3:33PM
Mitt is a weakling. I think he was scared that if he started screaming in the debate then Obama would scream back and call him out for being a tax cheat, a vulture capitalist, an insensitve and out of touch clown. Remember Obama is an angry redistributor and just plays calm. There is a seething rage within.
Actually guys, can we start by getting over this thing. This fellow was the wrong man for the job and a scoundrel to boot. All he could do was berate decent common sense conservatives like Rick Perry, Gingrich and Santorum in the primaries. When the shoe was on the other end and he was made out to be the clown, its amazing to see him wince and cry wolf
Louis Jenkins| 3.4.13 @ 1:40PM
Mitt was just too soft in the last two debates. So what about the 47% comments, they're the truth. Romney lost it during those two last debates, or maybe he scared himself when he came out on top. We have Obama, come he-- or high water, and according to rumors he may be looking at a third term.
Besides, the ambassador was a white man. Do you really think that Obama's supporters care? Hillary has already said, "So what?" Had Stevens been black the fangs and claws would have come out, but we can tolerate the loss of another white man. The whole issue was not even a sidebar. That would have lost the re-election back in the good old days.
TLP| 3.4.13 @ 2:08PM
Are we really still talking about this?
Obviously, this guy had Nothing, so he entered something that he wrote 3 Months ago, that he found under his desk.
Pathetic.
George S| 3.4.13 @ 2:39PM
The lesson for Romney is that you cannot beat an incumbent unless you offer a reason to vote for you. Romney never went after Obama; never pinned any illegal activity (ignoring a federal judge, Fast & Furious, non-recess recess appointments, etc.).
Second, is that Obama as an incumbent has the upper hand. The GM bailout was popular in Ohio; Obama had that sewn up while Republicans were savaging each other in the primaries.
In short, Romney figured everyone was fed up with Obama. They may have been but without a clear vision of what he wanted to do coupled with being respectful of Obama lost him the election.
You cannot beat an incumbent unless you do what Reagan did to Carter -- take it to him personally while expounding common sense (i.e., conservatism). Other than that, it becomes a toss-up in the minds of those who hate to admit a mistake in they voted skin color instead of competence. Those voters could not face their friends had they abandoned Obama without an articulate reason why to vote for Romney.
bc3b| 3.4.13 @ 4:14PM
I have asked myself repeatedly, why would a man work for 6 years and spend $50 million of his own money to gain the GOP nomination and then throw it all away by assembling a team of losers like Ed Gillespie, Stu Stevens, Mike Murphy, Kevin Madden, Andrea Saul, Alex Castellanos and Mr. "Etch-A-Sketch?" It makes no sense.
Purp| 3.4.13 @ 4:29PM
As if Romney could do anything in the White House. He wanted to close loopholes - not with the Republican House he wouldn't. What next?
The Ryan budget - DOA ...
He'd be lucky to have a full cabinet by now. He and his wife should just keep their mouth shut - the more he talks, the worse Republicans look.
Stan Redmond| 3.4.13 @ 7:20PM
Thank you so much for your concern.
Would Romney be closing the loopholes available to your multi million dollar business or Fortune 10 company? Do you use any loopholes like capital expense depreciation?
What am I thinking. With the faith you have in the Obama adminstration to spend your money better than yourself I'm sure you pay your greedy profits direct to Obama, or was that buying multiple multi million dollar houses... I foget.
Stan Redmond| 3.4.13 @ 7:17PM
The good news for us anti- flavor aid drinking conservatives is our skin will be pretty thick after 8 years of being called racists every minute of everyday. When Hillary runs the "y'all sexist" should bounce right off us.
Mitt didn't win because Mitt assumed he was dealing with reasonable people and a reasonable president. I don't know if it was naivety or a part of his strategy. The only way Mitt would have won is to completely destroy Obama the way he destroyed his republican rivals. Why he took the gloves off when it came to Obama I have no idea. You can not beat someone like Obama by clearly showing you are the better man. Obama got where he is being a nasty and mean assasin. Him and his cohorts are out to kill and destroy. No tactic is too low or too vile as long as the king Obama is on top. Romney dealt with people in business who are not made from the same cloth as Obama and that's why he lost.
Aladin Sane| 3.4.13 @ 8:46PM
Aaron,
With all due respect, I'm not ready to listen to anyone armchair quarterbacking Romney's campaign. Might be more productive to enumerate how Obama bought/stole the vote.
Aladin Sane| 3.4.13 @ 9:42PM
I don't see how that puss bloated travel-worn fat-assed toad Hilary can win in 2016. What's the opposite of photogenic, photovomitic?
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Let's rumble| 3.5.13 @ 9:03PM
Puleeez. It kills us too..... and where you man enough you would have taken your testosterone shot in May and crushed the community organizer like a bug. Never again......will I support a Rove rino. And who's worried about looseing to Hillary? There won't be anything left for her to drag her big fat arse across.
FeFe| 3.9.13 @ 6:47PM
Do horror movies scare you? Your focus on the campaign kill never mentions blood. Tis true Romney didn't pull the trigger when he had the chance in the third and final debate on foreign affairs to cover Obama in blood: Benghazi, Fast & Furious, pitiful Status of Forces agreements and Blue-on-Green SuperPACs in Iraq and Afghanistan, more American deaths in Afghanistan than under Bush, media open doors to flag draped coffins at Dover, and the great migration of lowest common denominator drone strikes. Now, the nation has 5,000 released criminal illegal aliens returned to criminal activity to add to Obama's bloody chaos. Furthermore, you neglect the word victory, like the Obama Department of Defense; but if you want a knockout punch, how can you fail to mention our military, their honor and last full measure of devotion? Silent as Romney's bloodless rated G convention.
One candidate went for the jugular in the debates on Obama's bloody and deadly Rules of Engagement for our soldiers. However, Santorum's political past was too violent for you, the legislation as sausage compromises too bloody. Odd considering you claim as a socialist it took the mass murdering 9/11 sucker punch to steer you away from ideological collectivism for collective safety drew you to moderate, indeed, to champion moderate Mitt, no? But here you are left wanting for on target action. It is rather like your Canadian heritage, the image of the proud and prolific peacekeeper is a millstone around your neck.