WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said in an interview that aired Sunday “it kills me” to have lost the election to President Obama, but he acknowledged his campaign’s failures, including the harm done by his remarks widely perceived as denigrating less fortunate Americans.
Among the failings: “We weren’t effective taking our message to minority voters. . . . That was a real mistake,” Romney said on Fox News Sunday in his first interview since losing in November.
Comments
Start with the wack-job VP selection. You already had the extreme right wing but lost everyone close to the center with that mistake. And you paid for political advce?
Mitt was never all that popular to the extreme right wing. He needed them to turn out in big, big numbers.
You're right vladjr, thank goodness Biden is not a "wack-job"
It would have killed the country if he had been elected. Now just go away.
like we have now?
“What I said is not what I believe........... Let's turn that around and we have another more accurate statement "What I believe is not what I say."
Mitt, cheer up, you would have had to have been born in a manger to have brought more joy to suffering humanity, than you did, when you were rejected by the American electorate last November.
Mitt, you lost when you agreed that you would not go along with a tax increase to budget cut ratio of 1:10. The moderate center said to themselves that anyone who wouldn't do that is an idiot or a fraud. The 47% comment was just the icing on your bs cake.
Hmm, let's see; you ran two very poorly managed campaigns and you and your staff seemed to go out of your way to put your feets in your mouths. Yet you think you would be doing a much better job getting some semblance of function out of our disfunctional federal government as compared to Mr. Obama? Earth to Mitt ....
It kills me that you blame everyone but yourself. Loser.
Gee, why all the hate toward our former Governor? I didn't vote for him for President, but, really, considering all the Republican nut-jobs attempting to get the nomination (can you imagine, for a second, President Santorum, or President Perry, or President Pizza-Man Cain?? My lord, what a bunch of nincompoops) Governor Romney was the sanest, most reasonable person the GOP had. Mitt help create universal health coverage here in MA, the blueprint for the Affordable Care Act. The Republican Party is slowly fading away nationaly, their solid base of older, less-educated, less-affluent rural white men is a demographic in serious decline. The radical-right-wing controls their primaries, putting forth unelectable candidates in general elections. Mitt Romney probably got closer to being elected President than any Republican will for the next 20 (or more?) years.
BUT this article confirms what I felt during the Presidential campaign that Mr. Romney was more interested in being President than in serving the nation. I never felt I had any feeling for what kind of President he would be. He had become inscrutable.
He wasn't a terrible governor, but he wasn't a very good one either. He spent 3 of his 4 years refusing to court the legislature and thus accomplished little. In his last year, he finally got to work on universal health care while spending most of time out of state running for President.
@who-cares-1940: I actually blame George W. Bush for Mitt's desire to be President. Seriously. They both came from political families, both famous fathers, both educated at the highest Ivy League schools. Mitt then went off and had a very successful financial career, while George got drunk, lost money pretending to be an oil man, and didn't succeed until his Dad's friends gave him a piece of the Rangers, got the taxpayers to pay for a new stadium, then sold his share for millions. Being Governor of Texas is, at best, a part-time job. At some point, maybe during the Olympics, hyper-competive Mitt must have looked at Bush and thought, "Gee, if that moron can get elected President of the United States, why not me??"
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Mr. Romney didn't get his message to more voters, especially minorities? It was not the dissemination of the message, Mr. Romney, that did not get you elected. It was the message itself. And, Mrs. Romney, please go away before I cry. Whenever I think of those tough times when you and your husband had to sell securities . . . sniffle sniffle. That's just not right. That's not the America that white people deserve.
You are angry because you don't have ANY securities! You are probably sucking off the public trough like about have of the electorate.
What are you sucking off of, cindyloulou. It couldn't be your outstanding intelligence and knowledge, or your good manners. All those things seem to be missing since birth.
Mitt has always thought that it was his destiny to be POTUS, just ask anyone who knows or knew him. Everything that he's done in life was done as a checklist item. He made sure to list several in nearly every speech or interview he gave.
Huh??
Huh??
Why doesn't the Globe tell us how it greatly aided the Obama campaign, by bashing Mitt whenever it could?. And the campaign didn't even have to ask the Globe for help..I wonder why the Globe is so modest here?
Because it's noy true. Romney blames Obama for everything but he just made a few mistakes. Repugs don't play politics? He didn't change his positions? The man is a liar and anyone whoe believes him is an idiot
One note Miker.
He remains an self righteous idiot- of course the campaign caused your loss and your stance on abortion and gay rights. I can't stand this man.
Mitt's going to help the poor?!! Check your wallets poor people!
Oh, yes, it was the media's fault, Ann. Of course, that darn media, yup, they put all those stupid words in Mitt's mouth. Oh, wait, didn't he speak mosly on Fox network?
Mitt.. The everyday american lounging in a sport jacket dreaming about his 20 grandchildren and making this a world where a Romney doesn't have to sell securities to make it through college.
Sjpare me. Mitt was, is and always will be a corporatist. His view of the middle class and the working poor is simply one of specks on the ground as his jet flies past. Not saying he's a bad man. He just never got it and never will. He's another one of those it's "his" country and everyone else is welcome to hang around.
A pleasure to see the NON-Ivy league grads speak loudly with their votes when the elitest P.E. types try to land their jets @Joe Public's Airport.
A pleasure to see the NON-Ivy league grads speak loudly with their votes when the elitest P.E. types try to land their jets @Joe Public's Airport.
Oh please, Mitt...get over it......you did nothing for us here in MA when you were governor; health care and then tried to distance yourself from it; chose Kerry Healy for your running mate because she and her husband have millions of dollars and then when you were elected you assigned her to the back room never to speak again, and she still is loyal to you! Can't figure that out...
Can't and don't want to respond to most of the haters here, but this one represents the local Mitt-haters who helped damage him for the general election and now are responsible for what is happening to America. Just to note the inaccuracy: Kerry Healy was an active lt. gov. and those who say she wasn't weren't paying attention, just licking their wounds over their guy not getting chosen for Mitt's running mate. How the petty brings down the great, then tries to justify itself.
What about the "Binders of woman!?" lol
Mitt was our one real chance for leadership and direction again in our country. Obama doesn't have the experience or skills to lead--to bring people and ideas together for common good. Our country is being managed and coached like an impromptu touch football game at a picnic.
I say again, with emphasis that Mitt admits this in this very article; he ran two terrible campaigns and stuck his own foot in his own mouth. What evidence do we have that he would be able to lead the federal government? And don't get me started on private equity.
It kills me that he still has something to say. Go away already!
Off topic, but who are these grandkids Mitt and Ann are holding? The twins by surrogate that Tagg and his wife had last MAY? They don't look 9 months old!
They just had a new set of twin grandchildren, went from the 16 mentioned during the campaign to twenty. Which I think are twenty reasons that Mitt is sick over not being president with a chance to save the country for them. As a grandmother of twins myself, I relate.
Mitt's PRIVATE comments about the 47% were secretly recorded and he was caught. Now he's saying he never should have commented about the 47% (as if it were originally delivered publicly). This was a private meeting in a private setting with weathy contributors where he spoke in a way they all think. This revealed the inside thinking of Romney and it was authentic. It was an extremely rare moment when he was actually truthful.
Translating his comments in the interview: Speaking the truth in a private setting was wrong because nothing is private. Meanwhile he's telling us today that he should have payed attention to the 47% while campaigning. Of course, that would have been impossible for him because he saw them as a lost cause anyway. He is really pathetic!
if a similar comment was caught on Obama the media would have gone after the source, not the messsage
Which translates into Obama being the source and the messenger. Try again Romney fan.
He will never get it. His interview with Fox just comfirms it. He could never face true newsmen who would ask real questions. He still thinks he was this magic manager who made his fortune, rather than a rich man's son who had his way greased for him. And it is tiresome to hear the Globe berated for reporting what actually happens rather than creating the news like Fox.
He STILL doesn't get it! This poor deluded fool thinks the underclass he so despises didn't get his message. Oh, they got his message all right. He is not a bit regretful for his 47 percent remarks, only sorry they came to light. Mittsy is still blaming everyone else, and his harsh words about Obama are simply wrong. It's the Republicans in Congress who are utterly intransigent, refusing to do anything to help America out of its slump, because some credit might accrue to Obama, whom they hate with unremitting loathing. Romney ran a disgracefully inept campaign, and he had no choice. In order to run under the banner of the extreme right, he had to echo their message without a scintilla of deviation.
His 47% comment was correct
Good enough, begolfing. If summarily writing off 47% of the electorate with an intemperate comment you don't need to make is a smart way to campaign, Mitt's a smart man. If doing that is not so smart, then you can draw your own conclusions.
Right here on the Globe comment section: a representative sample of fools who voted for Obama, who were either naive or actually thought he is qualified to be president after the first four years, who can't defend the current examples of appalling presidential behavior, so hope to justify themselves by attacking Mitt Romney, again -- while the rest of us, watching Mitt and Ann yesterday, either say "I told you he would have been a better choice" or, "gee, I guess I made a mistake in not choosing him." Mitt and Ann: a class act. The commenters here: range from silly to ugly. America's majority made a very big mistake and now we will all pay for it.
As we are already paying, Barbara, for Dubya's years in office.
Obama's first four years were devoted to pulling us out of a crash dive induced by Bush. Meanwhile, they continue to harrass him at every turn all for the sake of saving the rich from small increases in taxes.
Franklin Roosevelt inherited the same problems from a disconnected Herbert Hoover who plunged this country into a screaming crash dive. Bush and Romney remind me of Hoover.
Left unsaid is the fact not one of the Romney's five sons served in the military and neither did Mitt.
Oh wait, I should make an effort to feel compassion for the Mitt-haters. How difficult it must be to see a happy man, successful in everything except winning the presidency yet one of the few ever to be on that stage at all, lucky in so many ways, with such a beautiful smart wife and wonderful family -- a contrast with the lives of most haters, by definition. Oh never mind: at an early age I asked God to excuse me from feeling pity as long as I never feel envy.
Maybe you should ask God to excuse you for being so arrogant.
Another thank you. My favorite personal quality, to be used to battle the arrogance of liberals, Obamas, etc.
We did get to know Mitt Romney during the never ending campaign. Mr.Romney let us know him by the following: 1) Not opening up his tax returns for more than two years but having his VP running mate turn over ten years of his. 2) Rebuking his best piece of legitimate legislature, the GIC. His healthcare law in Massachusetts. You develop and pass it, you own it. Not a bad plan but couldn't take the "heat" from lightweights like Santorum, Bachmann, Gingrich, et al, so you didn't get to even enter the WH kitchen, to paraphrase President Harry S Truman. 3) Just plain changing so many views during the run. 4) The Op-Ed piece on Auto Bailouts - opposing them. Recall the bailout was a Bush Administration initiative. 5) Self-deport no plan, plan on immigration. Use of the "slippery tongue" is a compliment here. 6) When an enormous natural disaster did occur, your own words from your debating appearance showed you did not believe in helping American citizens in very deep trouble. Hurricane Sandy's debacle was way beyond all charity aid. These are just few of the ways we got to know Mitt Romney during the campaign. Please, enough of the "blame the media" tactic. Both sides received enormous coverage through regular media, vastly increased social networking, Citizens United funds in the 100's of millions of dollars and people like myself using the Internet for informatial and fact checking sources at our fingertips, stylus tip in my case. Thank you, Mitt Romney, I really mean that, for running for President. Your views were presented over time and after really reading them at length over time some voted for you and some voted for Barack Obama. We all got to know both you.
At least we got to know him. What did you know about Obama when you voted the first time he was on the ballot?
We immediately knew without question that Obama was the best choice. You had John McCain who could only provoke anger and incite fear by often calling out Obama's middle name. And he couldn't remember how many homes he owned. Meanwhile the laughable Sarah Palin was scary when she often revealed how limited and ignorant she was. However, she was entertaining and that's why Fox hired her. And now she's gone. Hard to believe she was chosen to run for VP. Because of all this, including Romney, the Republicans are in trouble.
Twenty grandchildren!!! Hasn't he heard of birth control?
And when all else fails to sound rational, attack the babies -- whom I think it's safe to say won't be on welfare, so none of our business.
It was a joke Barbara. Potlemac's comment had nothing to do with politics so most people with any sense of humor would laugh. Lighten up.
The babies have nothing to do with politics. Odd joke to be used against a Mormon. Can't laugh at religious intolerance or racism or any of those politically incorrect things, where have you been?
Mitt Romney was fine in his comments to Chris Wallace. For Anne Romney however,to blame the media for Mitt's defeat is a far stretch of sour grapes. The media only reported the many changes in Mitt's positions from the primary season to the general election. This accented Mitt's reputation as a "flip flopper".
I gotta love "Barbara" the supposed libertarian supporting Mitt the corporatist. Amazing bedfellows. I've never figured out what these "libertarians" are thinking when they say, "Hey I love Mitt." It seems to me more of a plutocratic love affair than a philosophical one. You know kind of "I fawn over rich folks." I mean you know these monopolistic oil companies, drug companies, they don't seem to bother these libertarians. It just seems more like wannabe rich folks than libertarians. I don't know maybe I'm too cranky after all I'm 65 and a bit of a curmudgen myself.
I don'tknow why he says Obama does not reach out to his Republican nutcakes. He has, he does but is only banging his head against a wall.
Georgey Podgy Pudding and Pie,
Killed all the soldiers with his lie.
Said Hussein had mass destruction,
Then he led with mass dysfunction.
That's because he was out to luncheon.