Romney/Ryan Lose 2012 Election Thread

[Buford]

The way former Romney supporters vocally turned on him after the election tells you everything. Nobody really liked the guy. He was a bad bet and was the worst choice against maybe the weakest incumbent in a long time. He didn't carry any of his home states or his VP's home state. He didn't get Florida or even Virginia.

Reality is that the make-up of the voters means guys like him probably will never win again.

[Burgold]

The last two election cycles the GOP made the conscious choice to select the candidate that they thought was the most electable. Not the guy they liked best or believed in most and not the guy who represented what they believed in most. It's tough to win when you are so embarrassed by your own face in the mirror that you choose to run in opposition to your identity.

And frankly, I think the etch a sketch thing did more damage than the 47 percent thing

[AsburySkinsFan]

The last two election cycles the GOP made the conscious choice to select the candidate that they thought was the most electable. Not the guy they liked best or believed in most and not the guy who represented what they believed in most. It's tough to win when you are so embarrassed by your own face in the mirror that you choose to run in opposition to your identity.

Not only hat, but they tried the same exact tactic to remedy that problem by picking a younger, more ideologically uncompromising running mate. But where Palin refused to be muzzled and cost McCain with moderates and independents, Ryan seemed to accept the nomination like he was taking one for the team. He was so quiet that at times I tended to forget he was even there. That probably had more to do with the fact that Romney wasn't going to live in his shadow like McCain did with Palin's.

And frankly, I think the etch a sketch thing did more damage than the 47 percent thing

Agreed, the 47% came so late in the race and it just basically just confirmed the "rich out of touch white guy" label he'd been saddled with before. The etch-a-sketch/empty-suit IMO became much more of a liability. The 47% comment was still an attack, sure it was on the voters but the Right has been attacking voters for years (Real-Americans etc), plus it was readily defended as true by the talking heads as well as the rank and file...as we saw so clearly on here. So while 47% was offensive, it was only offensive to people Romney wasn't going to try and court anyways, plus it had the added affect of being ideologically in line with Ayn Rand's Objectivism which is solidly in Ryan's wheelhouse. The empty suit unprincipled say whatever you have to in order to get elected may have allowed the Right to read into him what they wanted, but it scared off Moderates/Indys who didn't know which one was the real Romney.

[Elessar78]

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. The election is over. The electorate has spoken, and the Republicans need to get with the program. If they don't, they'll get more of the lesson in 2014, regardless of gerrymandering.

It's not too long ago that we lost after 8 with Clinton and the GOP lost after 8 with bush. The demographics and mindset haven't changed all that much. I wouldn't get too assured about things staying the way they are.

[Mad Mike]

The last two election cycles the GOP made the conscious choice to select the candidate that they thought was the most electable. Not the guy they liked best or believed in most and not the guy who represented what they believed in most. It's tough to win when you are so embarrassed by your own face in the mirror that you choose to run in opposition to your identity.

And frankly, I think the etch a sketch thing did more damage than the 47 percent thing

I said it from the start. Romney was chosen because the GOP thought he was the slickest salesman. This election wasn't really about Romney vs Obama. It was the tea party with Romney as it's puppet and "sellable" face vs Obama.

I have to disagree on the second part. The etch a sketch comment hurt, but that was by an advisor and easily dismissed as "not how Mr. Romney feels". The 47% video was devastating because it came straight from the horses mouth. The person who recorded that video gets my vote for Time Magazines Person of the Year. And I'm dead serious about it.

[Jumbo]

I wonder if they'll share a beer with lunch.

Oh, forgot, Mitt's a Mormon.

The GOP was actually willing to settle for a Mormon.

A rare moment of desperation in religious diversity for the religious right.

Still better than a Muslim or an unbeliever.

I wonder where Scientology ranks.

[twa]

just above atheist most likely, or just below

maybe it depends on if they are activists....let me find the book

[JimboDaMan]

just above atheist most likely, or just below

maybe it depends on if they are activists....let me find the book

Atheist? What is this "atheist"?

Ohhh, I get it. You must be new. You mean "godless".

[Burgold]

I have to disagree on the second part. The etch a sketch comment hurt, but that was by an advisor and easily dismissed as "not how Mr. Romney feels". The 47% video was devastating because it came straight from the horses mouth. The person who recorded that video gets my vote for Time Magazines Person of the Year. And I'm dead serious about it.

I think it was because even though Romney didn't say it, I think it stuck to Romney like flip flop did to Kerry and it became baggage that he couldn't shake. It became a primary narrative in how he morphed at debates, on the stump, and before different audiences. It made him incredibly untrustworthy.

[Rdskns2000]

The election has over for over weeks. So, he had lunch with Obama. Just a courtesy thing by Obama. Nothing will come of it and Romney will be forgotten to the dustbin of history.

Time to move on and forget about this guy.

[twa]

I'm sure he will get by somehow

[China]

Here's what Mitt is up to these days:

Mitt Romney celebrates 66th birthday with fluffernutter cupcakes



Apparently celebrating with all his friends a la Kirk Cameron.

[Rdskns2000]

After his stupid speech at CPAC, he will fade away.


2012 is past tense. 2016 is full steam ahead, people and the candidates are already into 2016 mode.


President Rand Paul, President Chris Christie, President Andrew Cuomo, President Martin O Malley, President Jeb Bush, President Paul Ryan, President Rick Santorum, PResident Michelle Obama, President Joe Biden, President Hillary Clinton, etc...

That's where the focus is now.

[Elessar78]

Aren't the GOP going to try even harder and send up Bobby Jindal and/or Marco Rubio—hey we're NOT the party of rich white guys. REALLY.

[mjah]

We all know how the GOP primaries work. Being the only serious candidate and having the deepest war chest makes you a slam dunk; otherwise it's a wide-open field of crazies. They'd be ultra-smart to keep the Bush name as far away from that race as humanly possible. Jeb would be a serious candidate but his last name might as well be Nixon at this point. Rand is his party's Kucinich; zero shot once people actually start looking at him seriously. Christie could get the nod if Middle America and Fat America don't see him as just a Jersey loudmouth pretender; hard to gauge how likely that is. He already has lots of party enemies and lots of very reasonable decisions to "atone for" within the GOP. Ryan is a dork, Jindal is a dork, Rubio is a child playing a man's game, but hey -- you have to nominate someone. Time to trot out Huckabee and his stated insistence on rewriting the Constitution to better fit the Bible.

As for the Democratic side, there are some slim pickins there too. Biden will run; Hillary may; O'Malley and Cuomo will try but nobody will care. Then you have a wide field of nobodies trying to be the next successor to the Clinton out-of-nowhere primary model that Obama built and improved upon. That might be enough to win. As always... the economy in 2016 vs. 2012 will be the biggest single factor and it's far too early to judge that.

I'd like to see Newt jump into the GOP race again. By 2016 he'll have completed his physical transformation into a geriatric lesbian with a lump of mashed potatoes for a haircut. How could you NOT want to watch him drop entertaining grenades into the primary during another doomed quest for power?