March 6, 2016

Mitt Romney on his recent sojourn into the 2016 campaign: "I don't know what impact these things have politically."

Just now on "State of the Union," responding to Gloria Borger's question about that speech he gave recommending that voters vote strategically state by state to produce an open GOP convention.



Borger pushes him: "You could potentially drive his supporters into his arms even more because you're the symbol of the Republican establishment," and his response is: "Well, I've spent my life in business...."

So he's a businessman who doesn't know what impact things have politically....

This was the party's candidate — who lost the election 4 years ago — and he's admitting (or pretending) that he doesn't really do politics. He's a very handsome, polished man, and I voted for him 4 years ago, but give me a break. Either he's lying and conning us now, or he's reminding me of what Trump said about him: "You ran against Obama four years ago. It was a race that should have been an easy win... He made a fool of himself in the second and third debates. I don't know what happened to him.... What the hell did happen? Does anyone know?"

ADDED: Watch Borger's full interview with Romney here.

48 comments:

bleh said...

Candy Crowley and Superstorm Sandy.

rehajm said...

Yeah, we need a boring president with a great mind and sound policies based on time proven principles but we won't get one.

Skeptical Voter said...

The nation lately doesn't much care for guys with sound policies and an experienced background. Like our host, I voted for Romney in 2012---he's a decent man. But he has no damned business telling me how to vote. Go home Mittens.

Big Mike said...

He's trying to con us, and doing a miserable job of it.

Jimmy said...

This short clip of Samuel Jackson pretty much sums up what most Trump voters think of Romney, and the establishment. Its NSFW due to language. http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/cat_5minute_arguments.php

Laslo Spatula said...

Poor Mitt. He can't even throw a turd into the punch-bowl correctly.

I am Laslo.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

As much as it pains me to defend Romney, I don't think the last election was all that winnable for the Rs. Currently Obama has an approval rating of 51%. He is no Jimmy Carter or Bush.

rehajm said...

Trump didn't drag us into the gutter Mitt. We had no problem getting there on our own. Trump's only demonstrated he has some skills in a gutter fight.

Gahrie said...

Romney was the right man last time. I truly believe he could have fixed the country....but his unwillingness to aggressively confront Obama or the MSM did him in.

Having Romney attack Trump was just throwing fuel on the fire...

What was needed was an apology to the base, and an endorsement of Cruz.

robother said...

Like Ann, everything Romney has said the last week has made me regret ever voting for the man. He claims to want to stop Trump, but doesn't adopt either of the only two honorable way of accomplishing that:
(1) announce his own candidacy or
(2) endorse a single candidate already in the race.

Gutless, dishonest and self-serving: in other words the perfect avatar of today's Republican establishment.

rhhardin said...

Romney has a corrupt sort of decency.

Big Mike said...

Currently Obama has an approval rating of 51%.

Fifty-one percent of the American population are certifiably insane.

Sydney said...

I volunteered for Romney the last time around. First time I ever volunteered for a political campaign. Wish I had that time back. Worse mistake I ever made. I remember how betrayed I felt when he refused to refute the mess he made of Massachusetts healthcare. He remains proud of it to this day. Loser.

Qwinn said...

Romney lost when he meekly let Candy Crowley get away with her debate sabotage. That was pretty pathetic.

Whatever chance he had remaining at that point, Chris Christie destroyed by boosting Obama at the perfect moment to do so.

So yeah, BDNYC pretty much nailed it in the first post.

Anonymous said...

Laslo: Poor Mitt. He can't even throw a turd into the punch-bowl correctly.

This killed me.

Psota said...

Trump is right. Romney let us down. No need to listen to him.

Qwinn said...

Oh, and I suspect Obama's poll numbers are up because, for the first time in 3 years, he seems to be trying to stay out of the spotlight. He's been almost worse than Trump in that regard, and if you've enjoyed the 24/7 non stop media worship of Obama these last 3 years, just think how fun it'll be with Trump hogging even more of the media's attention and the media hostile instead of smitten.

Sebastian said...

"It was a race that should have been an easy win..." No. All prediction models had O winning, regardless of Mitt's performance.

Mitt is being disingenuous about being just a businessman but he is not conning anyone about not knowing "what impact these things have politically." No one knows.

SteveR said...

"You ran against Obama four years ago. It was a race that should have been an easy win... He made a fool of himself in the second and third debates. I don't know what happened to him.... What the hell did happen? Does anyone know?"

I have the same feeling.

Krumhorn said...

It was a pretty well-written speech. It's too bad he didn't bring it like that when he was running against Dear Leader. Anyone who had claimed to have been able to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the earth presented a far more target rich political environment than Trump has.

He was a terrible candidate as it turned out. He should tell his grandchildren that grampa was a loser and incapable of influencing anyone of substance in this race.

- Krumhorn

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Romney's OK. I just wished you would have shown half the passion he has against Trump to attack Obama. Obama ran the most negative and desperate campaign ever. They accused Romney of killing a woman! And he kept to his milquetoast persona. Unbelievable.

Michael K said...

"I don't think the last election was all that winnable for the Rs. "

No, the 2008 election was unwinnable but the 2012 was.

Romney failed in two areas. One was the Candy Crowley episode and his failure to take on Obama over foreign policy which was already showing a disaster.

The other was his failure to say that MassCare was an experiment but was not a model for national reform, because it wasn't.

robother said...

That smug little smile as he says I'm just a simple businessman, I came to politics quite late in life. He shares a tell with Rubio.

Fabi said...

If the question is "Miss me yet?", then the answer is "No, Mittens, we do not. And where's my refund from your insipid campaign?"

Hagar said...

"A well written speech," but written by who?

I think "the establishment" (which claims it does not exist) begged Romney to please come help them out in return for all they did for him in the past, and he felt obliged to do so.

Though I think they did as much or more to him as they did for him.

Roger Sweeny said...

I kind of think Mitt Romney feels, "I know how to run for higher office. I know what works and doesn't work. Well, I don't know it all but I know enough to hire advisors and consultants and vendors that do. Then I hire them, listen to them, work with them, and if I lose, it was a fair fight."

But Trump has come along and done all these things that the conventional wisdom says won't work--but they do! Other candidates (Jeb! being the biggest example) have done what the pundits and professionals said would work but it hasn't. This suggests that much of the "human capital" that has been accumulated by people in the business is actually worthless. Which really, really, really bothers them. Disorients them. Scares them.

Michael K said...

Romney is part of the top down GOP organization. When the Tea Party started I had hopes they (we) would take over theGOP local organizations and start responding to real concerns. Romney could have joined that effort as part of his campaign. Dick Armey did but then, like so many GOP politicians, he decided to cash out.

The Tea Party could have become part of Romney's GOTV movement which collapsed on election day. The GOPe is not interested in volunteers. They hire consultants instead. The stupider, the better.

Michael K said...

Roger and I are saying the same thing.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Stop Donald Trump? Why stop? He's just getting started.

mccullough said...

Romney didn't let anyone down. People convinced themselves he was something he wasn't. He is a finger to the wind, draft dodging plutocrat.

shiloh said...

Just the obvious ~ Willard mittens trying to save the Rep party after his total ineptitude in 2012 is slightly amusing.

Speaking of Willard and as mentioned here in 2012 some presidential trivia: No president has ever been elected without using his/her "real" first name ie Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz.

Yes, Willard even lied about his first name.

And is it any surprise after the Reps nominated a fool like mittens (4) years ago that they're on the "verge" of nominating Trump in 2016.

Rosalyn C. said...

I'd add another point that sunk Romney was that he was seen as completely out of touch with common people. I recall the endless carping about Romney's wealth, his homes and his wife's horse, etc. No one does that with Trump. Donald Trump actually has much more money and more spectacular homes, but he is not out touch with ordinary people. His "vulgarity" works for him. That probably also pisses Romney off.

rcocean said...

All the loser Republicans: Dole, McCain, Romney need to shut up and go away. These characters didn't just lose, they quit on us - as Trump said. They refused to what was necessary to win because they didn't want to get their skirts dirty.

Even putting aside their lameness and lack of fight, all 3 of them ran terrible stupid campaigns. Dole running around croaking "Where the outrage?" McCain suspending his campaign to go back to DC to support TARP, and Romney writing off 47% of the electorate and attacking the Auto Bailout while defending TARP.

rcocean said...

Trump is different. He not only will attack Hillary for her scandals, he'll attack her for supporting open borders and illegal immigration. She's a globalist who's in the tank for Wall Street and Trump will hammer her into the ground on that.

Krumhorn said...

His "vulgarity" works for him. That probably also pisses Romney off.

Excellent point! Trump's taste is execrable. But the decor in his homes, plane and boat have a certain rarified trailer trash appeal to it that seems almost accessible when you are sitting on a Goodwill sofa with a velvet painting of Elvis on the wall behind you and a painting of Jesus on the wall over the Vizio flatscreen....both in gilded frames with lots of scrollwork.

He doesn't give off that whiff of Biff and Muffy that Mitt carries with him.

- Krumhorn

Krumhorn said...

And one other thing. Mitt is a member at various clubs where he plays golf. Trump owns the damn clubs where he plays. Like Doral or Trump National in Westchester.

- Krumhorn

walter said...

Blogger Michael K said...
The other was his failure to say that MassCare was an experiment but was not a model for national reform, because it wasn't.
--
If you mean failure to be convincing on that..he did say exactly that at times.

Biff said...

I always had thought of Romney as a good and decent man. The last week has me questioning that.

I'm not sure which would be worse: that the last week was Romney acting out of character, or that the last week was Romney revealing his character.

mccullough said...

Romney wasn't even a good governor. Rick Perry had some sort of medical issues and the US won't elect another Republican governor from Texas (or another Bush) but Perry was a much better governor than Romney. Pawlenty was a much better governor than Romney.

Romney was a technocrat with vast knowledge but what he knows is wrong.

mccullough said...

Biff,

Romney is not a bad man. He is not corrupt. But he is not a good man. He made a lot of money in private equity, which thrives on favorable tax and bankruptcy laws, and the net benefit of private equity to the US economy is zero. It is not positive or negative. It is zero. Romney is a perfect symbol of private equity (as is Illinois governor Bruce Rauner). They aren't positive, they aren't negative, they are zero.

c365 said...

He didn't say he doesn't understand politics. When told he represents the establishment, he says he had spent his life in business (that's a push back against the establishment accusation, not on confession of ignorance).

Captain Drano said...

Biff at 12:48 - Ditto here.

walter said...

Plenty of good points in his speech.
Transcript of Mitt Romney’s Speech on Donald Trump

But it still remains that he was the wrong messenger. He kinda sorta addressed it in the post speech interview, but he should have known that he was poorly positioned to question Trumps business acumen (and inheritance) after nearly breathlessly extolling it back when accepting Trump's endorsement. Did he honestly think no one would call him on that?
I'm not understanding his strategy for beating Trump when it entails keeping all the current opposing candidates alive.

mccullough said...

Romney stakes the investments of his squad of sons, no different than Trump's Dad. They invest in for profit universities and other fraud.

Trump's daughter would eat the Romney boys as a snack between lunch and breakfast.

Romney has better manners than Trump. That's about it.

Michael K said...

" Pawlenty was a much better governor than Romney. "

Daniels is far better then either and would be a wonderful president but 1. He's short and 2. His wife is crazy.

Little Miss Deplorable said...

Romney is helping to push the insipid narrative that somehow Trump can be defeated by a brokered convention. He is doing this by denouncing Trump but failing to support any of the current candidates left in the race.

This pisses me off.

Do they really not know that if they toss Trump out at the convention, even though he has a plurality of the votes, it'll cause a revolt in the party and there is zero chance the Republican they choose will win?

Yes, they know this and they don't care.

They don't care because they are spoiled rotten little babies. It's their way or the highway. We've seen this in several tea party elections where their candidate lost to the tea party candidate and instead of throwing in their support behind the tea part Republican, they went scorched earth on them.

They would rather maintain their power and have Hillary win and try again in 4 years, than allow someone of whom they do not approve win. It's disgusting and they deserve a solid electoral thrashing because of it.

Even people like Hugh Hewitt are on board, even though he pretends not to be and insists he is "Switzerland" in this election. And yet, being Switzerland, he focuses on stupid stuff and makes pronouncements like, "The KKK incident with Trump is his 47%". Oh? It is? What did Hugh Hewitt say at the time about Romney's 47%? He wrote it was a big nothingburger and just the MSM trying to take down Romney, but that it won't work.

See the difference? Hugh wrote a book called "A Mormon in the White House." and he wanted Romney to win so badly that he spun everything positively for Romney, no matter how bad it was. Now that he's supposedly neutral, he spins everything negatively for Trump.

I was so very glad to see Cruz step up and denounce this strategy. I wonder if Trump and Cruz fail to have a majority at the convention, if they can combine their delegates as a big FU to the establishment.

eric said...

I apologize. That last comment was not by my daughter, but by me. I hadn't realized she logged into my computer.

Phil 314 said...

No one loves a loser.

This statement:

"Romney was the right man last time. I truly believe he could have fixed the country....but his unwillingness to aggressively confront Obama or the MSM did him in."

I've heard this over and over. The sentiment leads me to believe that '12 was less about Mitt but more about a the first signs of a dramatic shift in the mood of the electorate that is now manifest in Trump.

As a friend and co-worked said to me a couple days ago

"I don't know what 'conservative' means anymore"