Romney gave a long interview, and maybe you saw a clip of it, but I want to do my own edit:
ROMNEY: Donald Trump won. He won overwhelmingly. He said what he was going to do, and that's what he's doing. I mean, people are saying, oh, I don't like this appointment or this policy that he's talking about. But those are the things he said he was going to do when he ran. So you can't complain about someone who does what he said he was going to do. And I agree with him on a lot of policy fronts. I disagree with him on some things. But it's like, OK, give him a chance to do what he said he's going to do and see how it works out....
TAPPER: Are you worried at all about being a target for retribution, you or members of your family?
ROMNEY: No, actually, I have been pretty clean throughout my life. I'm not particularly worried about criminal investigations. And I don't know how much, by the way, of what the president says is hyperbole, because there was a lot of this person ought to be jailed and that person ought to be jailed that was said during the last two campaigns. But I think President Trump is likely to try and focus on the future. People who committed crimes, I'm sure, will be prosecuted. But I think that's few and far between....
TAPPER: ... I'm wondering... what you've learned from things that didn't go the way you wanted.
ROMNEY: ... I had some campaigns that didn't work.... I should have been more assertive in some places, pushed harder than I did, created more energy and heat than I did, went along quietly a little longer than I probably should have....
TAPPER: What's an example of someplace that you wish you had been more assertive?
He doesn't say in that second debate with Obama, when I let Candy Crowley push me back, so I'm not that interested in what he did say. You can go look it up. I linked to the transcript. Something vague about China.
After a break, Tapper brings up Romney's performance in the second debate — but it's not the Candy Crowley pushback! It's just the unfortunate locution "binders full of women."
TAPPER: Kind of incredible that that was considered a gaffe when you look back at it, 2012. Mitt Romney was pilloried by Democrats for saying that he had -- quote -- "binders full of women" -- unquote -- applicants for his Cabinet, his governor.... But, like life, politics ain't fair....
ROMNEY: ... as I look back at campaigns and think about the angst that surrounded any mistake that I or a campaign member made... And so these things were blown at a huge proportion. And in this campaign, and in the prior campaign that President Trump ran, I mean, they talked about flooding the zone with various excrement.... It's like, hey, if you make a mistake, just make a bunch more, and people will forget the first one. It's like -- and so we look today, it's like -- it's like, that's kind of amusing to see the kinds of things that, looking back, look quaint. But, by the way, you look at President Obama's campaign, he was, in some respects, smart to go after me and say, OK, here's a rich business guy. We're going to characterize him as a plutocrat that doesn't care about people. And he -- he went with that narrative, put it out there before I could really effectively respond, and was successful in doing so. I'm honored by the fact, by the way, that David Axelrod, who was his strategist -- and I have become friendly and had a number of events together since then. He said: "I'm glad I didn't know you, because I couldn't have said the things about you then that I know about you today."...
Ironically, that makes me want to say OK, here's a rich business guy.
After a break, Tapper plays a clip of Romney, in March 2016, saying: "Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill." But Tapper doesn't invite commentary about that. His next question to Romney is:
TAPPER: You said in an interview a few months ago that -- quote -- "There's a good chance that the Republican Party is going to be -- is going to need to be rebuilt or reoriented" and that you want to have a voice in the post-Trump Republican Party. Do you think that there's still -- you think there's going to be a post-Trump Republican Party, or is MAGA now the Republican Party?
Romney's answer to this question is, I think, what got quoted most in social media yesterday:
ROMNEY: Oh, MAGA is the Republican Party, and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today. And if you were to ask me who the nominee will be in 2028, I think it'll be J.D. Vance, all right? He's smart, well- spoken, part of the MAGA movement.
TAPPER: You said something pretty harsh about him a few months ago, though. You're -- you could not have less respect for somebody than J.D. Vance.
ROMNEY: Long ago. I'm not going to rehash history. And we've worked together in the Senate since then. But I -- you know, that is what the Republican Party is. And will the party need to change? Look, the Republican Party has become the party of the working-class, middle-class voter. And you've got to give Donald Trump credit for having done that, taken that away from the Democrats. Democrats pushed them out, all right? The Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren faction of the Democrat Party, with some of this, you know, defund the police and transgenders in -- or -- excuse me -- biological males in women's sports, these things had a lot of people in the middle class just flee the Democratic Party. They're now Republicans.
Now, one of the challenges in my party is that our policies do not necessarily line up with the interests of our voters. And so there'll be some -- you know, some reorientation that's going to be necessary in my party. The Democrat Party is the one in trouble. I mean, I don't know how they recover. And, you know, I'm not going to tell them what to do, because I wouldn't begin to have the capacity to do so. But they've lost their base. I mean, union guys and gals have left the Democratic Party and are voting Republican. And the Democratic Party is seen not as rich people, but as college professors and woke scolds. And that's not an attractive feature....
TAPPER: You've talked about your family a lot. I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about Ann, who's -- how long have you been together, since you were 19 or something?
ROMNEY: Yes, we started dating when she was 15 and I was a senior. She was a sophomore in high school. We've been going steady ever since. And...
TAPPER: And you have 25 grandchildren?
ROMNEY: Twenty-five, yes.
TAPPER: Five kids and 10 -- five spouses of those kids. It's a 35- person brood.
ROMNEY: Yes.... Yes, Ann's my best counselor and adviser. So, any policy decision, any life decision I make is shared with Ann. She has, if you will, diverted me from a course I might otherwise have taken. So, for instance, when I was at Bain Capital and was really getting into the financial success that has now been developed there by a stronger team than I represented, I was asked to go off and run the Olympics in Utah. And I said, absolutely not. And she said: "You've got to do it." And I said: "No, I don't." And then she began to describe why this was something I needed to do... I mean, I hadn't lived in Utah. It was my -- place of my family's heritage, my mom and dad. But I hadn't lived there. My faith was based in Utah, but I had never run a big event. And the Olympics is a big event.... I was not a -- I was not a great athlete. So there was not an obvious connection. I said: "Well, no, why would I do that?" And she said: "The Olympics is one of the few places where people in the world get to see the great qualities of humanity, teamwork, determination, sacrifice. These are things that are extolled in the Olympics. We can't have the Games just removed and eliminated because of what's happened in Utah. You've got to go fix it." And she said: "You know, that's your background, is trying to fix troubled things." And so Ann helps me makes critical decisions. She keeps me from making bad ones, usually, and is very honest in her occasional criticisms.
TAPPER: In 2016, you wrote in Ann's name for president. Did you write her in again in 2024?
ROMNEY: You know, there's a wonderful thing we have in this country, which is the secret ballot. So I'm not telling you I voted for in 2024....
TAPPER: Four years ago next month, you were running for your life from the mob on January 6. And now the person that you said was responsible for that day is about to return to the White House. He says he's going to pardon a lot of the people that have been convicted for the crimes committed on that day. What do you think the legacy of January 6 will be in the history books, given the fact that, as they say, history is written by the winners, Donald Trump won, and there's been this attempt to whitewash the whole thing?
ROMNEY: I'm not sure history is written by winners in this case. Politics is written by -- by winners. But the history books are typically written by scholars of one kind or another....
One kind or another! We'll see if Trump's impact is so great that he wins not merely the voters but the historians. He could. The trick is to do great good for the people of the United States. He needs to do more than any other President. But he is aiming high. And who is rooting for him to fail?
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I am glad I stuck it out to the end. Yes, history is written by the scholars, but so far, the record on J6 has been produced by partisan Democrats and little miss neocon, Dick Cheney's daughter. So another side of the story is about to come out on the official record to give those scholars something to chew on. But it will be a long time before the first disinterested scholar on the issue is even born.
Who is rooting for him to fail?
Thomas Crooks, looking up from the depths of hell. Ryan Routh. Luigi. Kathy Griffin. Liz Cheney. Peter Strzok. Barbara Streisand. Chris Wray. 51 current and former heads of America's intelligence services.
Plenty of people are hoping that Trump fails ... some that he never gets the chance to fail.
The Democrats are not done trying to murder Donald J. Trump.
Four years ago next month, you were running for your life from the mob on January 6
What fucking garbage. The video of Jacob Chansley being toured around the building by security was making the rounds again this week. If the political prisoners aren’t pardoned before lunch on inauguration day it will be a travesty.
Democrats called his wife a Nazi because she endorsed motherhood.
Romney makes a good point. History is not written by winners. It's written by survivors. Usually, survivors with an axe to grind.
Romney is an example of virtue that goes public turns into the worst sort of evil.
We still get the Christmas card at the office and work with those he mentions so perhaps that alters the perspective a bit but he would have been fine. Think about the petty things and sound bites that at the time were valid reasons why he was disqualified…they’re the reason why decent normal people don’t succeed at politics.
I’m no fan of Romney, but that is fairly described as “shark jumping”. Ridiculous.
how f*cked must the Democrat Party BE, to think Romney is a viable asset?
how f*cked must ROMNEY BE, to think Romney is a viable asset?
what is he trying to sell now?
Bygone era of losing and being a punching bag for the Dems.
Axelrod should read Luke 6:32-35, but I'm sure he would be very contemptuous if he did. Most people have no moral compass whatsoever.
Was it a cold and stormy night when that virtue that went public turned into the worst sort of evil?
I despise the fact these guys (like Tapper) think they can just roll along not acknowledging that we are ALL aware of the "strange new respect" phenomenon. I don't believe that these "news" anchors are the last to know about it, since they all do it!
Fuck! Just cop to it already. Nobody believes your treacly sincerity!
“ And who is rooting for him to fail?” Ben Wikler, the Fake News and all the elected Dems in DC.
I always felt like Romney lost the election because he hid behind his political spinmeister handlers. After the election Nancy pelosi's daughter screened a documentary of the Romney campaign. It showed mittens in his natural state of being which is that of someone who is not afraid of rolling up his sleeve listens well to others and was overall a great human being. None of that came through in the campaign and he lost.
Everybody is kissing Donald's ass now, LOL
"Republicans" with selective amnesia piss me off. It's like a RINO acid test.
Who cares about this discount don draper
"And the Democratic Party is seen not as rich people, but as college professors and woke scolds." That's a pretty great line. The party of woke scolds.
I like how he's making them come to Mar-A-Lago to do it. Hope he's overcharging them for their rooms and adding on stuff from the mini-bar that he knows they didn't touch.
Not just college professors ... but college professors who got their jobs only by plagiarizing the work of others. People need to look at the Democrat Party as it truly is ... it is a criminal organization that has taken over local government. Al Capone on steroids. And we need to make sure they cannot ever take the federal government again because they're EMPTYING the Treasury right now ... just MASSIVE theft via government "grants."
And the Democratic Party is seen not as rich people, but as college professors and woke scolds. "
The Democratic Party is full of Rich People, Entertainers, College Professors and Woke Scolds.
Now, one of the challenges in my party is that our policies do not necessarily line up with the interests of our voters. And so there'll be some -- you know, some reorientation that's going to be necessary in my party.
As I’ve been saying in my comments, those “working class, middle class” Trump voters, and Romney is premature to call them Republican voters. Romney recognizes that, but does Thune? Tillis? Ernst? Cornyn? I’m pretty sure Mitch McConnell does not and never will.
The Democrat Party is the one in trouble. I mean, I don't know how they recover.
They recover by waiting for Republicans to screw it up. It’s always worked before.
Hannah Arendt. The Nazis were founded on virtue and decencies, love of family, kindness to animals, patriotism. Hermann Goring was head of the Tierschutzverein, the humane society.
The key is that they're public virtues.
"you were running for your life from the mob on January 6" I call BS.
"Are you afraid of retribution?" = puts in MSM decoder ring = "Are you afraid Trump will do what Biden has been doing for 4 years?"
Anyway, great job my Althouse in analyzing this interview. It makes me hate Romney all over again. Of course, like all these MSM interviews, the reporters leave the real world, the real America, and go with their guest into Liberal/left Gaslite fantasy land.
There was no 'Mob' threatening Romney or Senators on J6. No one is talking about "Retribution" against Mitt Romney. . Romney should have gone and talked to the "Mob" and shown some courage. But he was among the most scared and hysterical. He even hired security for his wife back in Utah, because "the mob" might threaten them. God, what contempt he had for his own voters!
The real question is why does Mitt Romney still claim to be a Republican? He's a proud friend of Joe Biden and voted for every radical cabinet pick and SCOTUS Judge Joe Biden appointed. He's consistently "crossed the aisle to help biden his agenda. He refused to campaign for Trump and against BIden, Hillary, or Harris. Romney didn't even register as a "R" till 1993! He talks about how great Reagan was, but there's no record of him supporting him in 1976 or 1980.
And notice how he walks back every extreme statement, so are which are in his authorized biography. Typical Romney. No doubt next year, he'll be flip-flopping back to what he really believes.
I don't think I've met a politician whose words were so worthless. If you look at Mitt Romney's actions, he's a liberal/moderate Democrat. Its too bad he didn't stay in Massachutes and run as a Democrat. He would've fit right in and been another Chris Murphy.
"Pilloried by Democrats during his 2012 run, Romney has emerged as a strong voice for a bygone kind of politics."
The bygone type of politics that rolled over and played nice to the left, whose party consists of terrorists, antisemites, child molesters, murderers, embezzlers, and thugs, who will gladly stab you in the back. Washed up and snivelingly trying to maintain any relevance, he is an east coast carpetbagger and we can finally say good riddance to him.
Soeaking of bygone era, the leftists media must give up the old days where it can say anything and lie and get away with. Jake Tapper and CNN are about to get their rears handed to them, a la George Stephanopoulos, for lying and defaming Zachary Young.
But [Trump] is aiming high. And who is rooting for him to fail?
Agreed. Ben Wikler for one, and by extension the sort of people who support Ben Wikler. Every hard core Democrat. Every woke scold. Everybody who has enjoyed playing the aggressor in the neverending culture wars. Every neocon who ever made money from a defense contract. Every talking head on ABC, CBS. NBC, CNN (except Scott Jennings), etc. Every writer for every newspaper except the Free Press and the Epoch Times. Do I need to go on?
Romney says whatever he thinks makes him look best. Every time it's a deep analysis, like when he impeached Trump.
"Not assertive enough"? Let's put it this way...this interview confirms that if Romney had been shot in the ear while giving a campaign speech, instead of getting up and having to be restrained while yelling "fight, fight, fight," he probably would have written a statement a couple days later apologizing for having said anything that might have angered someone enough to do that.
Romney is the cleaned-up Ivy-elite version of Kamala Harris. All MSM political sound bites, zero personal integrity, a model of opportunism and narcissism, and still not popular with mainstream voters.
Sorry, Mitt. You are still not relevant. Repubs seem to have moved on from selecting candidates based on blandness and Party seniority.
Sorry, Mitt. You are still not relevant. Repubs seem to have moved on from selecting candidates based on blandness and Party seniority.
"Donald Trump won." Yes. "He won overwhelmingly." No.
Not unless one considers a total popular vote differential of only 2.5 million voters (a percent differential of only 1.6% ) "overwhelming." I don't. It was a very close election. A victory is a victory, but to mischaracterize the degree of the victory distorts the actual temper and preferences of the nation as a whole. Trump is not as popular as is supporters suppose (or wish him to be), and Harris' supporters* were not as few as others try to assert.
*(I voted for Harris because she was the Dem candidate, Trump's opponent, not for her, the individual. It was a "Vote Against," not a "Vote For." This was the first election in 30 years I didn't vote for the Green Party Candidate, also all "Vote Against" votes. Appallingly, we have had decades of completely unsatisfactory candidates by the major parties. I do not foresee a change in the weather.)
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nothing but a Ken doll
Did Romney just admit that his version of the Republican party supports policies that are against the working class? A moment of honesty.
Ugh. Jake Tapper is insufferable.
Wasn't close. 312 to 226. We use an electoral vote system. Not popular vote.
IMO, the 2012 POTUS election was biggest nothing-burger ever, next to McCain-obama. Or Dole v. Clinton. Romney would've done almost everthing Obama did, and probably passed Amnesty in addition. Despite the "campaign rhetoric" the two men, on policy, were peas in a pod.
Judge Smails
The Gang of Six. Make them as notorious as The Squad, except in a bad way. MAGA Republicans should practice some intra-party discipline, be doing their level best to out these slackers every time they stray, and make sure they get stigmatized. Instead of 'nobody left behind, they should start a 'nobody left alone' policy. Once the Gang starts getting direct feedback from their voters, they'll come around.
Romney is the type of plain vanilla Conservative everybody used to make fun of. Go away, and stay wherever that is.
Historians will shit all over Trump, and any revisionism on him will be reviled as a resurgence of Fascism blah blah blah. I love history but don't trust historians.
Maybe a hundred years from now, we'll get some objectivity...nah...it's all in service of the present.
"Wasn't close. 312 to 226. We use an electoral vote system. Not popular vote."
That's only due to the skewed nature of our (undemocratic) electoral vote system. I'm referring to the actual choices and preferences of the citizens who populate the US, the people who cast votes in their towns and cities and states. According to their votes, the individual voters who preferred Trump were a bare trickle more than those who preferred Harris. It was not a landslide of the peoples' votes, and the US population is not all in for Trump.
Well I think Romney is playing nice with Trump for self or family preservation. I believe his family was involved with the Hunter Biden Ukraine money laundering scheme or something similar.
Good-by Senator Pierre Delecto. Good riddance. Complete phony.
Romney seems different in this interview … like maybe he’s had a tad of self-reflection. I’ve always thought his Mormonism is what ruined him. When you’re in a group that everyone thinks is the world’s most successful cult, one whose origin story is off the charts stupid, you spend a lot of your life spinning. Mormons are truly nice people but I credit that to this spinning they must do. Being nice was their testimony Then Romney came along, got scorched by Trump, and we peered beneath the nice facade.
We’re all sinners. The difference in humans is, like the two convicts hanging on crosses next to Jesus, some of us admit it and some can’t.
While reading the section excerpted by Althouse, I found it interesting how uninteresting and pedestrian Mitt Romney’s thoughts are. Interesting…
I didn't watch the interview, but judging by the Althouse analysis, he didn't push back at all on Tapper's b.s. I suppose you can call it gentility, but that's not what people want. The J6 people were not above reproach, but they definitely were not a lynch mob. J. D. Vance would have cocked an eyebrow and in a calm, statesmanlike way pointed out what a partisan hack Tapper is for making such asinine remarks.....Romney was unfairly criticized by the media and never responded in kind. If he didn't get mad at what people said about him and his wife and kids, I don't suppose you can expect him to get mad what the media says about Trump and his supporters. Never bring a Brahmin to a knife fight.
Trump wiped the floor with Romney and his RINO ilk. Anybody heard from Paul Ryan lately? Does anyone give a shit what Paul Ryan thinks?
I suppose Tapper's extolling of Romney's domestic virtues was meant as an implicit criticism of the way Trump has handled his marriages. Well and good. Romney as a father and husband is worthy of praise. I would say, however, that Trump was successful as a father and as a husband he had some good times. He's not so worthy as Romney, but he's a quantum jump ahead of Biden and the average Kennedy.
Donald Trump is getting the honeymoon he didn’t get his first time around. On the Republican side, I think the honeymoon will last until he signs the extension of the Trump tax cuts that expire at the end of 2025, the tax cuts devised by Paul Ryan.
Romney is vain. At least from your excerpts, he has some ability to understand the political scene, but Tapper keeps flattering him on that last question, build up his idea of heroism and he completely folds. It's the same thing McKay Coppins probably did to get that juicy JD Vance quote. I think Romney knows he was played by real criminals and he's trying to save face.
“popular vote” isn’t too popular with Bob. Not such a big deal.
Aren't historians 'experts'?
I doubt Trump is going to go after Romney. Romney's not that important, but more to the point Trump seems to get satisfaction from lampooning his opponents or enemies in his speeches, not in lawfare or other machinations. People who have committed crimes or other offenses are going to be investigated and possibly prosecuted, but I don't see real vindictiveness in Trump. So far, anyway.
Doesn't Romney have a son involved with Ukraine, though? Maybe the family isn't as clean as Mitt thinks.
I voted for Romney in 2012 and I still think he would have been a far superior president than Obama. However, given hindsight, it is good that he lost because he would have just been a mile marker of our national decline and it is highly probable that he would have lost a rematch with Obama in 2016 and the Supreme Court would probably have 6 Democrats on it rather than 3 1/2.
25 grandchildren, though, is the mark of a winner- I don't care what else Romney has or hasn't done- that is winning in the game of life.
Romney is a plain vanilla something. The "conservative" label gets bandied about a lot, but was he ever really one of those? He wasn't even a Republican until he wanted to get into politics, but I suppose one could see him as 1960s-era Rockefeller-Romney-Scranton Republican due to his lineage.
Robert Cook said...
"Donald Trump won." Yes. "He won overwhelmingly." No.
Not unless one considers a total popular vote differential of only 2.5 million voters (a percent differential of only 1.6% ) "overwhelming." I don't...Trump is not as popular as is supporters suppose...
*(I voted for Harris because she was the Dem candidate, Trump's opponent, not for her, the individual..."
LOL! TFG.... No one gives a sweet goddam how or why you voted, Cook, or for your libtard opinions on Trump. Know why? Because braindead leftists and Party members like yourself are shitheads, to be charitable. The fact that you blindly and proudly support baby-killers, child mutilators, child molesters, rapists, traitors, thieves, thugs, and terrorists makes you a certified scumbag who ought to be put on a watchlist like local sex offenders are.
12/16/24, 8:16 AM
He's had some of the same kind of foreign nepotism the others have had, getting extended family members posh postings for do-nothing work, embedded in far-eastern corporations. It wasn't just Hunter - a lot of politicians have made these arrangements, including Pierre. There's always a black-sheep nephew somewhere that needs a boost.
Yes. The first analytical history ever written (The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides) was not written by the winners. It was written by a pissed off fired general of the losers.
As Koot Katamandu points out above, Pierre Delecto there didn't have a change of heart, he is merely crapping in his magic underwear because he knows he's dirty and crooked like his senate pals Biden and McConnell.
"TAPPER: Are you worried at all about being a target for retribution, you or members of your family?"
The media has framed the topic of seeking accountability over Democrat law-breaking as retribution.
There is a difference between a manager and being a leader. Some can do both well - others can do it occasionally. Romney showed some leadership in business and in his church work , but didn't seem to have it in politics
Micheal Fitzgerald, as that feature is absent on this blog, consider this an upvote. Re: Cook. Going from playing Pontius Pilate to becoming a co-conspirator is not an admirable career path. Cook seems so civil, but by their fruits...
Always fun for me in Austin to hear from well-meaning L pals re: the Republicans who really ought to run. McCain, Huntsman, Romney, Kasich. Thanks for the suggestions.
Everything we know about the flaws of historians, we know because of other historians.
Romney is the Nostalgic Republican.
Robert Cook: "...I'm referring to the actual choices and preferences of the citizens who populate the US..."
Citizens? That's actually debatable, since verification of that voting requirement is fiercely resisted and obstructed by people like you. That's why the electoral vote is still the best method for electing a President, since the red states are more committed to verifying that requirement.
Yes, 312 to 226 is indeed a legitimate indicator of the size of the victory.
you were running for your life from the mob on January 6
wow
given that he's "not an athlete," I think they would have caught him!
You have to give it to Jakey. He can shovel more "stuff" faster than a champion barnyard worker.
"Running for your life"? Tapper is a shameless posturing prevaricator.
Go back and see what Romney said about Gabbard when she dared dissent from the Blob’s orthodoxy on Russia/Ukraine. He called her statements “traitorous “ IIRC. He’s the epitome of civility bullshit.
One of the fun things to do with any liberal you come across is to say
"Mitt Romney is a really nice man, don't you think?"
And they will always agree, in my experience.
And then you go, "Don't you feel bad about all the shit Democrats said about him?"
The answer is always - Fuck the Legacy Democrat Party Media"
too bad he didn't say it.
Back during the Republican Primary, I thought the strongest reason to not vote for Trump was to acknowledge a Heckler’s Veto. The benefits Trump would bring would be outweighed by the damage done by the left’s reaction to Trump. Maybe DeSantis could bring the benefits without triggering the crazies.
Today I am optimistic about the benefits, and pessimistic about the crazies. Inauguration Day is over a month away and the left is cheering the assassination of a random capitalist. Our best hope is for the establishment Democrats to renounce the revolutionaries (and Bernie Sanders socialists) and re-embrace traditional American values. I see no sign, yet, they are able to do so. The traditional, liberal, moderate Democrat is now a vanishing politician without a home. Schumer has no mandate to lead, only a mindless mandate to resist.
G-Pub
I hope I live long enough to hear Democrats, and the press (but I repeat myself) say wonderful things about Donald Trump. Sometime in 2030, I think.
"Why can't you be more like Donald Trump? He supported the working man!"
"Why can't you be more like Donald Trump? He kept us out of foreign wars!"
TAPPER: Are you worried at all about being a target for retribution, you or members of your family?
ROMNEY: No, actually, I have been pretty clean throughout my life. I'm not particularly worried about criminal investigations.
That is a very subtle dig at the people who are worried!
I liked his comment that Trump would only go after real criminals. And that mostly it was campaign BS and Trump really just wants to get to work. Kudos!
Popular vote? I can imagine a political system where every policy issue is decided by a coalition of California, New York, and some riff-raff New England states. I would not care to live in a place like that.
Presidents, and the number of individuals that they have of pardoned, commuted, or rescinded:
- John F Kennedy: 575
- Lyndon B Johnson: 1,187
- Richard Nixon: 926
- Gerald Ford: 409
- Jimmy Carter: 566 people + 200K Vietnam War draft evaders
- Ronald Reagan: 406
- George H. W. Bush: 77
- Bill Clinton: 459
- George W Bush: 200
- Barack Obama: 1,927
- Donald Trump: 237
- Joe Biden: 8,062
I think that Mitten's brand is being reformulated by the Progressive Legacy Mainstream Media to increase his gravitas. He's being elevated now, on the way out, so that his 'sage emeritus' history can be consulted to provide ready, dependable criticism over the next 4 years or more. You haven't seen the last of Mittens, he's too photogenic and too potentially useful.
@Sebastian, actually he was. Every report I’ve read (not that there have been many of them) indicate that he was in a state of total panic.
Attaboy, Bobby. Whine some more for us.
Mitt Romney and John Kerry are like a set of bookends.
Each with about as much self-awareness as your average bookend.
Yep. Totally standard playbook. The second coming of Adolph Hitler when he’s running, coupled with “new respect for the elder statesman” years later. They’ll keep doing it until it stops working (which might just be the years 2024-2025).
He did not govern MA as a conservative, Romneycare and his abortion stance were not at all conservative, but then when running for POTUS he claimed to be a "severe conservative." Uh huh. He was a poorly rendered Obama copy so Obama thumped him.
I think ultimately history will not be kind to Joe Biden.
Historians who have to explain how Donald Trump got re-elected will go the route of shitting on Biden for running when he had Parkinson's. And Biden's debate performance will go down in history as the worst debate ever. His mental ability was so bad his own party sacked him. And the Democrats were saddled with a candidate who had no grassroots support.
Biden will get blamed for the Russia-Ukraine war, and Trump will get credit for ending it. Ultimately I think historians will have no choice but to agree that Trump was a better president than Biden. Clearly the American people thought so.
TAPPER: Are you worried at all about being a target for retribution, you or members of your family?
ROMNEY: No, actually, I have been pretty clean throughout my life. I'm not particularly worried about criminal investigations.
This was a, perhaps unintentionally, good exchange. The Democratic Party establishment and their supporters in the media have been trying to portray a scenario where a retributive Trump will unfairly target those who were his political opponents, who did nothing wrong other than oppose Trump. Romney's response belies that framing. Of course folks on the right would view the democrats as crooked, but even a lot of the Left-Wing media is showing a view that Biden and the Dems aren't fully above board. SNL, Jon Stewart, and Chris Rock have all torn into Biden and the Dems for the sweeping pardon of Hunter. I think folks on the right underestimate just how much support the Democrats get because they are seen by some as the party of the nice guys and the good guys. Trump has absolutely energized his base of supporters, but another huge component of the political realignment we have seen in the past 8 years or so is people now seeing the Democrats as morally questionable.
I also expect Democrat historians to rank Trump higher than W or Nixon or Ford or Hoover or Harding. Under Lincoln (of course). Compatible with Reagan and Eisenhower and Coolidge. Mid-tier, maybe in the top 25, while Republicans would put him in the top 15, maybe even top 10 if his 2nd term is sensational.
The most consequential thing Trump could do is shrink the federal government. If he pulls that off, it would be an amazing accomplishment.
Were you born yesterday, chicken? Every single Republican president is reviled in his time, and then once safely dead we get the thumbsucking columns in WaPo and NYT asking "why can't we have reasonable Conservatives like [insert dead R name here] anymore?"
If you live long enough you will see it happen to Trump too. Just like Reagan. Just like Bush 1 and Bush 2. Just like Nixon. Yes, fucking Nixon! If you don't believe me scan the Limbaugh archives for "strange new respect."
Four years ago next month, you were running for your life from the mob on January 6
Kind of incredible that that was considered a bloodthirsty mob when you look back at it
And George W Bushitler isn't even DEAD yet! Hell, you saw them resurrect Darth Cheney right in front of us two months ago. Again, not even dead yet.
And....?
Well said.
Funny thing is no one was chasing ANY of the idiots who were "running for their life." The worst offenders were simply carrying off their trophies.
I need illustration of Romney in Pillory!
does anyone know what is Pillory?
Well--they got the "bygone" part right.
is he still Pierre D...electo on X?
That's why he lost. They tried to respond to the petty crap. Trump just rides right over it.
…yes so far Trump 2.0 looks good in pre season friendlies. I’m reserving judgement of his swamp draining abilities when the games count. Swamp depth chart is deep with talent..,
"And who is rooting for him to fail?" Academicians, including historians. I went to school when academics were, like Ann, arrogant about their intellects. Today they are arrogant about their ideologies. In my opinion, the former is beneficial to students and the universities. The latter, not so much.
Axelrod is a Jew. Pick another reference.
My favorite Romney moment has to be his march for BLM in the summer of 2020. Putting on a mask (out-of-doors!) he and some other White Man establishment types in $1000 suits, marched in support, and ended by singing "We shall overcome".
Basking in the MSM praise, Romney told them, he was never prouder of his father then when George Romney marched for Civil Rights, and he was glad to emulate him.
Then came the backlash, as in "Why are marching for BLM when they're burning down cities and looting? Why aren't you denouncing Antifa?"
So, instead of being honest above his motivates, Romney claimed he was trying to reach out to black voters (you know the two that live Utah) because the R party needed be inclusive. This from a man who a smaller percentage of black votes since Barry Goldwater and did zero outreach in 2012.
And that's Mitt Romney. He just says stuff. And doesn't care if its true or false. Because what you tell the plebes and the rubes doesn't matter.
A liberal historian's top 10 presidents list might include...
Lincoln
Washington
Jefferson
Madison
Roosevelt
Roosevelt
Reagan
Kennedy
Coolidge
Obama
In the next tier...
Eisenhower
Monroe
Truman
Clinton
Adams
LBJ
Trump
Jackson
Adams
Polk
Here's a survey done in 2021, when Trump was probably the most hated he'll ever be. What surprises me in that ranking is that 13 presidents are under Nixon.
Kennedy and Obama get liberal fantasy points. That doesn't surprise me at all.
The high ranking of Wilson continues to astound me. I guess your average historian loves pointless and stupid World Wars that kill 20 million people. I rank Wilson dead last, so fuck academia. Liberals have no idea who Coolidge is.
Does McKinley get points for being assassinated? He's ranked #14. I'm going to have to google him to find out what the fuck he accomplished.
Eisenhower at #5 is kind of a shock. And Truman at #6. These are WW2 bonus points.
All I know is, you don't want to end up BC ("Below Carter"). He's #26. I was alive for that! That's some serious disco fans voting for Carter. "I love disco, hate the Olympics, and admire hostage negotiations that take a year or more. Also, stagflation!"
"According to their votes, the individual voters who preferred Trump were a bare trickle more than those who preferred Harris."
And according to supporters of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, all the electoral votes from those states should go to Trump.
Right?
Mr. Cook, I completely disagree with your take on the electoral college. You call it undemocratic (and I suppose that is literally the case) but I think it is the piece of glue that holds this republic together. Without it, you'll have the large population centers make all the rules/laws. Even a blind man can see what a mess they have made of things.....
"The fact that you [Robert Cook] blindly and proudly support baby-killers, child mutilators, child molesters, rapists, traitors, thieves, thugs, and terrorists makes you a certified scumbag who ought to be put on a watchlist like local sex offenders are."
Now, now, Michael Fitzgerald. Watch Robert Cook? Who wants to be bored to death?
That's why he lost. They tried to respond to the petty crap
What? So many Monday morning quarterbacks including here said he lost because he didn’t respond enough to the candy Crowley petty crap. Oh what to believe??
Dollar munching RINO vulgarian.
I know, I know, I go off the rails on occasion. I actually value commenters like Cook and Inga and Freder and rich. It takes all kinds to make the world go round.
That being said, it's fucking galling to be lectured on principles, ethics, and morality by people who celebrate and praise the degenerate, despicable Democrat Party.
Hannah Arendt was naive. Soap opera woman
Who wants to listen to a guy who wears weird underwear and straps his dog to the roof of his car?
I hear he used to drive around the country giving women cancer.
Happy Holidays, Cookie
"You may ask why old Bob Dole is running for President. You may ask why old Bob Dole doesn't retire."
Please.
Go back to trying to spam post us about how great inflation is.
At least those made your lack of math skills appear less wretched.
The left's adoption of the Cheney clan in 2024 was an absolute shock versus their Bush/Cheney "pure evil" rhetoric of 2001 to 2009.
Leftism = constant panic about the present and a perceived urgent need to fully transform whatever the status quo is right now. At the same time, nostalgic reverence for "ultimate best" and "first ever" historical symbolism and everything that makes them feel calm. See the massive FDR monument, the dramatic MLK Jr. monument, and the everyone-except-for-black-conservatives African-American museum in D.C.
Romney is a “strong voice for rolling over and playing dead.” Jake can see himself out. CNN is dust
Biden will be remembered as (1) an empty vessel for backroom donors and activists -- he delivered on what he promised as a mouthpiece and marionette, and/or (2) fully corrupt and beholden to backroom donors and purchased votes. His promise of "$2,000" --> $1,400 in unneeded COVID moeny for everyone if elected predated his rampant inflation but set off inflation. Offer a bribe with one hand and take it back with the other.
A while ago I commented that most of the Republicans on capitol hill were really Democrats but none of the Democrats were really Republicans. Romney was one of the Republicans I had in ind when I wrote that.
You are confusing perhaps McKinley, who died second term, with Garfield, who was shot early. Eisenhower and Truman get bonus points for managing Cold War as not a hot war with USSR. Wilson won WW1, entering as Russia exited and most of the 20 million gone already.
Well, he's a better family man than he was a politician. At least his priorities are straight.
He didn't respond by treating it as the petty BS it was, and blowing right through it. Romney responded as a "normal" Republican would. As we have all learned, that plays into the hands of the Dems and their MSM allies. Trump found a way to fight that.
he used to drive around the country giving women cancer.
============
any sniffer drone sightings in his vicinity?
One historian said that history is written by those with an axe to grind.
Dang it! I just put that in at the bottom of the thread!
"Truman at #6. These are WW2 bonus points."
Truman isn't my favorite. But here are just two examples where he did great things:
- Integrated the Armed forces at a time where than was tremendously courageous.
- Sacked MacArthur. Whether you agree with the decision or not, Truman stood up to the immensely popular General maintaining the Constitutional principle of civilian leadership of the military.
Another historian said, "Speak for yourself."
Anyone with a better way of learning about the past than consulting historians and their thoughts had better pipe up.
Readering is confused. McKinley was assassinated, propelling TR into the White House.
For those who actually care, Robert Merry published a pro-McKinley bio a few years ago, in which he argues that McKinley is both caricatured and lost in TR's glare.
“It makes me hate Romney all over again.”
C’mon, man! That kind of emotion makes a people remain in stasis, lethargic and doing nothing to improve their lot. Oh, and also rape, torture, pillage and brutally murder thousands of their neighbors.
Hardin finally finds a woman he doesn’t feel deserves the usual disrespect and misogynistic insults he’s normally fond of. 👍
“magic underwear”… you can take your bigotry, couple it with a shamrock some yellow moons, pink hearts, a leprechaun and stuff the concoction up your backside.
You are not from NJ. 1st VP, Hobart of Garden State, died in office. TR picked for second term in days open position left vacant rest of term. McKinley shot in 1901. True I have not read Merry.
Excellent point!
Damn straight!
Romney is irrelevant to these times. Political career: toast; respect of the people: none; value as an adviser: none;
And I remember about the BLM march, as we were in Springville, UT burying my 85 year old mother in June of 2020. Much of my extended family lives in the Provo area -for the most part, not fans of Romney - and they could make no sense of this. I thought it was a chickenshit approach to dealing with voracious black grifters.
McKinley started and won the Spanish-American war. So I think many historians love wars and give a lot of points for winning them. (See also the relatively high ranking of Grant, who was a great general but a crappy president).
Roosevelt said McKinley had the backbone of a chocolate eclair. That's a great insult.
Coolidge still cracks me up, 100 years later.
Garrulous hostess: "I heard your nickname is Silent Cal. I'll bet I can get you to say more than two words!"
Coolidge: "You lose."
It's kind of funny to go through our presidents and look at what the world would be like if the other side won.
1960 -- Richard Nixon
1964 -- Barry Goldwater
1968 -- Hubert Humphrey
1972 -- George McGovern
1976 -- Gerald Ford
1980 -- Jimmy Carter
1984 -- Walter Mondale
1988 -- Michael Dukakis
1992 -- George Bush
1996 -- Robert Dole
2000 -- Al Gore
2004 -- John Kerry
2008 -- John McCain
2012 -- Mitt Romney
2016 -- Hillary Clinton
2020 -- Donald Trump
2024 -- Kamala Harris
I wonder if Goldwater would have kept us out of the Vietnam war? Or nuked them?
The 1970's and 1980's would have been horrifying, with McGovern then Ford then Carter then Mondale then Dukakis. Yikes! The 1990's would have been Republican all the way.
Would Gore have invaded Iraq? Would he have gone climate crazy if he was in the White House?
The 21st century would have been Gore, and then Kerry, McCain, Romney and four years of Hillary, followed by a Trump term. That's not so worse than what we got, I would argue. Although four years of Kamala would be kind of terrifying.
Bush, Bush, Obama, Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump or
Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney, Clinton, Trump, Harris?
You could argue that alternate presidential timeline is superior!
But man on man, the 1970's and 1980's would have been some kind of horrific alternative universe. Hurray for Nixon and Reagan!
Robert Cook- we don't know what the actual popular vote would be. A lot of Republicans in CA and NY and MA don't bother to vote. Decision by popular vote nationwide would change how campaigns were run. And voting behavior. And would require a nationwide voter verification system with uniform rules. No state by state shenanigans.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
""'Republicans' with selective amnesia piss me off. It's like a RINO acid test."
So like the electric kool-aid acid test, but for politicians with an R after their name.
The Armed Forces that had been integrated before a Democrat named Woodrow Wilson came along. He also integrated the whole federal workforce, that had been integrated until a Democrat President named Woodrow Wilson came along...
Lincoln also sacked a popular General- who ran against him in 1864. And lost.
Interesting to note- Jefferson Davis carried all 109 electoral votes of the Confederate states in 1861, with 97% of the popular vote. A true Democrat for certain. Rivals the vote percentage in any dictatorship.
Robert Cook
"That's only due to the skewed nature of our (undemocratic) electoral vote system."
Don't forget to subtract out the fake manufactured votes for Kamala. How many states with voter ID did she win again?
People are talking upthread about Truman. Truman was 10x better than FDR. Unlike FDR, he wasn't pro-communist, wasn't an egomaniac (Ike called FDR that), cared about people, and wasn't a liar.
That said, he was a small man. And much more leftwing than people remember. The damage he could do was limited by a Republican Congress, the Southern Democrats, and the conservative press (which still existed then). Truman wanted universal military service. He vetoed Taft-Hartley. He was implementing open borders (Ike shut that down and deported the illegals). He seized the Steel industry (the SCOTUS shut that down). He got us into a useless war in Korea, and couldn't win or get us out. He turned a blind eye to Communist infiltration and spies, and said "the Hiss case was a Red herring". He was a partisan Hack who constantly called Republicans like Taft and Dewey "Nazis" and "friends of fascism".
He was unpopular and barely won in 48. People used to say "To err is Truman". And more bilge has been written about Truman-MacArthur than almost any USA Historical event.
After the Red Chinese attacked us in November 1950, MacArthur called for reinforcements, and permission to bomb the Yalu Bridges and Chinese airfields. He kept asking truman, what is our plan? Are we going to evacuate Korea, or am I to get more men so I can counterattack and win? And Truman keep telling Macarthur, no more men, just hang on.
So you ended up with 4 months of fighting, see-sawing up and down Korea with nothing being accomplished except 4 or 5 thousand dead GIs. So when the R leader of the House asked MacArthur what he thought in April 1951, he told him. This wasn't Truman's policy, so Big Mac got fired. He wasn't "insubordinate". And Big Mac later said, that if Truman had asked him to resign, he would have gladly gone.
I want to acknowledge Readering's observation--I am not from NJ (NTTAWWT).
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