Sorry, critics: We at Team Romney ran a good campaign
In doing so, he raised more money for the Republican Party than the Republican Party did. He trounced Barack Obama in debate. He defended the free-enterprise system and, more than any figure in recent history, drew attention to the moral case for free enterprise and conservative economics…
On Nov. 6, Mitt Romney carried the majority of every economic group except those with less than $50,000 a year in household income. That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters. While John McCain lost white voters under 30 by 10 points, Romney won those voters by seven points, a 17-point shift. Obama received 41 / 2 million fewer voters in 2012 than 2008, and Romney got more votes than McCain…
There was a time not so long ago when the problems of the Democratic Party revolved around being too liberal and too dependent on minorities. Obama turned those problems into advantages and rode that strategy to victory. But he was a charismatic African American president with a billion dollars, no primary and a media that often felt morally conflicted about being critical. How easy is that to replicate?
Blowback
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Was more a problem of the party than the candidate.
Pablo Honey on November 28, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Your arguments might hold more water if “We did better than McCain” actually meant you did well.
“Not as bad as the last loser” does not mean “ran a good campaign.”
makattak on November 28, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Yep, and your dear leader, the severely conservative dude is gonna lunch at the White House with O. You guys are just plain weak.
tommy71 on November 28, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Sure.
the_nile on November 28, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Spoken like a true RINO squish.
bgibbs1000 on November 28, 2012 at 12:09 PM
Romney lost Hispanics by record numbers thanks in part to his amateurish attempt to outflank Perry in the primaries. And there was absolutely no damage control done by the campaign.
He got successfully painted as a heartless robber baron because he didn’t spend any money on ads during the summer – something that could have been rectified had his wizards of smart recommended a short-term personal loan to the campaign.
Nice CYA, fools.
KingGold on November 28, 2012 at 12:09 PM
Yeah, those under 50K amount to 56% of the people. That isn’t much of an argument. The median is 44K. So, no, he did not carry the majority of middle class voters. If he had he would have cruised to victory. The idea that you think the majority of middle class voters are above 50K in household income is the main reason you lost.
Rocks on November 28, 2012 at 12:10 PM
He ran a very good campaign.
He hit Obama hard and often but he could not run everything.
Why don’t we ask the Republican governors of three swing states that went to Obama what they did to GOTV and to insure the polling places were honest and all votes were legitimate….?
This business where the GOP just concedes the absentee ballots, the polling places and the vote counting to Democrats is suicide.
They couldn’t care less about honesty.
Only winning.
NeoKong on November 28, 2012 at 12:10 PM
It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but how you play the game is a nice thing to tell a 7 year old who is learning how to play a game. But for a grown up to say it about something as important as the Presidency is just sad. Lets give Team Romney a Participation trophy so they’ll feel better.
Flange on November 28, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Outside of immigration, he did do a halfway decent job as a candidate. Much better than the other fools would’ve done. And as for hispanics, he only did about 10 points worse among them than W. They did not make the difference. The GOP has to figure out what’ll be a winning majority.
IR-MN on November 28, 2012 at 12:13 PM
If you ran a good campaign, you wouldn’t have to tell us.
CurtZHP on November 28, 2012 at 12:15 PM
He ran a campaign based on over inflated polls, overpaid for mediocre staff, played it safe, ignored the base, and alienated hispanics & women.
Romney aimed for the Middle. He won them, but bled off everyone else.
So if by “Success” you mean he met his goal? Yes. He was successful.
portlandon on November 28, 2012 at 12:16 PM
I thought Romney did a very good job as a candidate. I think a lot of the stragegists and consultants did a not so good job.
It’s a pity. I started out in the ABR camp but came to believe that Romney would have been an exceptional president. America’s loss.
dczombie on November 28, 2012 at 12:16 PM
So, Romney staff etal,
Put on the record all the Tea Party events Romney attended.
Put on the record his out reach to say conservatives as going on Mark Levins talk show.
Little things like facts.
Thanks,
APACHEWHOKNOWS on November 28, 2012 at 12:17 PM
He would be in the news now if he ran a good campaign
Flapjackmaka on November 28, 2012 at 12:17 PM
Stevens is 100% correct. Mitt Romney was the greatest Republican Presidential candidate in our lifetimes. I’d go so far as to say, even better than Reagan.
And that’s the problem right there. We cannot win even with a superior candidate.
America is dead. We’ve gone way too far down the road of moocherism and thievery through confiscatory taxation.
It’s over. The sooner we conservatives and libertarians acknowledge that the better off we’ll be. Time to De-vorce, De-friend and De-employ all the Democrats in our lives, and separate ourselves from Blue State American in every way.
ericdondero on November 28, 2012 at 12:18 PM
You came in last place…just sayin
trs on November 28, 2012 at 12:19 PM
ps
What the hell is he doing makeing nice today with the liar, commie thug in our White House.
He should be telling the truth somewhere else.
Fight them, do not even look at them, shun them they are not of U.S..
APACHEWHOKNOWS on November 28, 2012 at 12:19 PM
I assume Stuart Stevens will soon be taking his place alongside Steve Schmidt at MSNBC.
steebo77 on November 28, 2012 at 12:20 PM
trolled softly
Flapjackmaka on November 28, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Face the facts: we have reached a critical mass of low-lifes, moochers, layabouts and leeches. That is not Romney’s fault, who was a good candidate and would have been a good president.
Ted Torgerson on November 28, 2012 at 12:21 PM
If it was such a good campaign, why did you lose?
Tasha on November 28, 2012 at 12:21 PM
That’s just crazy talk.
steebo77 on November 28, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Pretty much speaks for itself on the idiocy of the RINO squish.
bgibbs1000 on November 28, 2012 at 12:23 PM
No, Romney did not make the moral case nearly strongly enough. You must out-Alinsky the Alinskyites. The modern Democrat party is the party of FREELOADERS mooching off the future of their children. Yes, they are that selfish and despicable.
John the Libertarian on November 28, 2012 at 12:23 PM
He’s right. In a sane world, Ogabe wouldn’t have won a first term let alone a second.
For the past 50 years, Democrats have been very successful in dumbing down the electorate through the disintegration of our culture. We’ve reached critical mass. More Obama voters can identiry Honey Boo Boo than the Speaker of the House. More people care about gimmick handouts than opportunities to work toward a meaningful and rewarding life.
The Count on November 28, 2012 at 12:23 PM
LOL.
It’s too early to laugh this hard.
portlandon on November 28, 2012 at 12:24 PM
When a team wins the stands are full of people who paid for tickets.
When the team is a loser the stands are 1/3 filled by people the team bought tickets for to hide the fact they are not winners.
APACHEWHOKNOWS on November 28, 2012 at 12:25 PM
No. We will never die. Hope springs eternal.
It is not over. How do you define a BSA? What if they agree with you on every issue but two. No, you keep being a good person and American and if they want, THEY can divorce, defriend and or fire YOU because they can’t stand the good.
thebrokenrattle on November 28, 2012 at 12:26 PM
Bumper sticker:
Republicans—losers who run good campaigns.
conservative pilgrim on November 28, 2012 at 12:27 PM
They didn’t lose, they made millions…
the_nile on November 28, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Good points..
Dire Straits on November 28, 2012 at 12:29 PM
They let Obama define Mitt as evil rich guy all summer without responding. That isn’t “good.”
conservative pilgrim on November 28, 2012 at 12:29 PM
So says a guy on the romneycare payroll. While he gets paid, we get stuck with Obama for 4 more freakin years.
Hey stuart, you azz, you rigged the primaries, bought off the RNC/elected political officals, closed out competition, cornered the donors, then in the general, took conservatives for granted, coasted the last two debates, didn’t attack on bengazi, played to the mushy middle, focused on Wisc/Phila while losing Fla., Va., Ohio, NH by 400,000 votes etc. etc.
Oh yeah, jerk, you guys did great. Only in romneycare’s world you lose a sure fire win and you think you did a good job
Danielvito on November 28, 2012 at 12:30 PM
This. Those looking around the edges for what exact issues he didn’t address or how his strategy could have been better are missing the point.
Resolute on November 28, 2012 at 12:30 PM
Honey Boo Boo is a trainwreck of a cultural phenomenon. She’s very distinctive. John Boehner, aside from his tan, is not. I wouldn’t be surprised if just as many Romney voters could pick her out of a crowd but couldn’t with the Speaker. He gets badmouthed enough around here anyway, who would give him attention if everyone supposedly hates him?
thebrokenrattle on November 28, 2012 at 12:32 PM
He let Obama define Bain as a negative. He became the outsourcer-in-chief.
The campaign was shocked to find out they got the polls wrong.
These are professional campaigners, who couldn’t bring the campaign to victory.
amazingmets on November 28, 2012 at 12:33 PM
Not Romney fault?! You just listed his selected campaign team!
the_nile on November 28, 2012 at 12:35 PM
So, the problem was the candidate. The campaign was perfect, Romney was flawed!
Oh, no, I looked at it wrong. Romney was perfect, the campaign good, but the people of the united states of america were the failures!! (lower case intentional, as this guy does not respect us!)
Anything, any reason whatsoever to take the blame off Romney, and as an extension the people that the greatest CEO this nation has ever known, the most competent man to ever run for the white house since Thomas Jefferson, hired.
Um, yeah, sure.
astonerii on November 28, 2012 at 12:36 PM
They shunned the Tea Party, never responded to the outright lies by Cutter, DWS, & the ads (moral indignation “take it back!!1!!11″ doesn’t cut it), or addressed voter fraud. Romney took Obamacare off the table and never addressed it sufficiently to assuage the skepticism of many in the base. In spite of those mistakes, Romney still could’ve won but for the third “I agree with him” debate.
conservative pilgrim on November 28, 2012 at 12:37 PM
Historically, it’s pretty difficult to take down a cult of personality.
Red Cloud on November 28, 2012 at 12:37 PM
So explain how it works when Romney proposed to fix and pay for the very same programs that created these low-lifes, moochers, layabouts and leeches!??!
I want an explanation of how beneficial Romney’s presidency would be when he planned to ensure that the programs that create the problem you see as the reason for his failed run continue forever.
astonerii on November 28, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Evidence, see post failure Romney supporters.
astonerii on November 28, 2012 at 12:40 PM
Nailed it as usual, KingGold. Romney raised a lot of money, sure, but he didn’t spend it until after Obama had spent months smearing him. He won every major economic group except one, sure, but not by enough to offset the loss of that one.
I can’t fault the campaign for making these mistakes since I doubt I could do better, but we’d better be clear-eyed about it in hindsight if we want to learn from it. You can’t let your enemy define you early and Stevens allowed that to happen. And you can’t continue to lose Hispanics by as much as Romney and still win a national election anymore, period. Romney threw that demographic away in the primaries.
Caiwyn on November 28, 2012 at 12:41 PM
It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, but how you play the game is a nice thing to tell a 7 year old who is learning how to play a game. But for a grown up to say it about something as important as the Presidency is just sad. Lets give Team Romney a Participation trophy so they’ll feel better.
Flange on November 28, 2012 at 12:11 PM
THREAD WINNER.
ToddPA on November 28, 2012 at 12:41 PM
Remember the last two weeks of the campaign Obama went on the view, the comedy network (jon stewart), leno/letterman, nickelodeum, univision etc.. He was tring to reach the uninformed/ethics. It worked. Did romneycare even attempt to do these network interviews, no because he doesn’t have a bone of populism in his body. Only Palin in the GOP would do all these networks.Stuart, moron, you realize that’s free media.
The GOP establishment feels it’s unworthy to do these network interviews that why we keep losing.
We need to get rid of the GOP stuarts of the world, the bushies, etc.. We need the grassroots to take over or else we go third party.
I HATE FREAKIN LOSING BECAUSE OF INCOMPETANCE!!!
Danielvito on November 28, 2012 at 12:42 PM
I may be wrong but wasn’t he painted as a heartless robber baron by so-called conservatives during the GOP primary?
Hint: I’m not wrong.
Joey24007 on November 28, 2012 at 12:42 PM
I’ve heard and heard of Honey Boo Boo just through societal osmosis, but I don’t think I could pick her out of a lineup. I know what Boehner looks like because I follow current events. I bet my experience tracks more closely with the typical Romney voter vs Obama voter.
The Count on November 28, 2012 at 12:42 PM
That seems to be were the evidence points me.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/333344/party-s-problem-ramesh-ponnuru
ChrisL on November 28, 2012 at 12:43 PM
Agree
Joey24007 on November 28, 2012 at 12:43 PM
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