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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 11:30 AM Dec 2012

Tagg Romney: Mitt had “no desire” to run


A behind the scenes account in the Boston Globe finds cluelessness at the Romney campaign's highest levels

BY DAVID DALEY

Just how bad was Mitt Romney’s campaign? So bad that top Republican officials are now trying to “reverse engineer” his race to make sure no GOP candidate ever makes the same mistakes.

According to a behind-the-scenes story of the Romney campaign in today’s Boston Globe — by reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Holman, who co-authored the biography “The Real Romney” — Mitt’s aides are still in disbelief over what hit them.

It describes a campaign that was deeply divided on whether to run on Romney’s biography or on his business record. Ultimately, the paper reports, Romney sided with campaign manager Stuart Stevens rather than with the family members who wanted to stress his biography.

Among the revelations in the story:

* Romney’s Ohio director had no idea what Obama’s campaign was doing with all of its ground-game power. In a hilarious quote, Rich Beeson tells the paper: “Now I know what they were doing with all the staffs and ­offices. They were literally creating a one-to-one contact with voters.”

-snip-

more:
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/23/tagg_romney_mitt_had_no_desire_to_run/

Link to Boston Globe article:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/2012/12/23/the-story-behind-mitt-romney-loss-the-presidential-campaign-president-obama/2QWkUB9pJgVIi1mAcIhQjL/story.html
37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Tagg Romney: Mitt had “no desire” to run (Original Post) DonViejo Dec 2012 OP
{{{{shaking head}}}} ywcachieve Dec 2012 #1
He is re-writing history Evergreen Emerald Dec 2012 #2
yep. Liberal_in_LA Dec 2012 #34
So he ran twice...This is not the way to save face...LOL.. monmouth3 Dec 2012 #3
Well, that's the romneys for ya.. always doing the wrong Cha Dec 2012 #24
No retroactive reverse engineering will give them a clue either lunatica Dec 2012 #4
What a revolutionary concept for an election! DFW Dec 2012 #5
Republicans don't like voters and don't want to talk to them because Republican JDPriestly Dec 2012 #8
It's the vast left wing conspiracy.... Wounded Bear Dec 2012 #17
exactly!! d'oh -- but it shouldn't surprise us. The Republicans generally seem to have a Voice for Peace Dec 2012 #28
Gee, don't all of us spend nearly all our time for 8 years working for things we don't want? karynnj Dec 2012 #6
The Romneys cannot stop Cha Dec 2012 #25
Zing!!! dimbear Dec 2012 #30
We have to thank republicans for that lame primary. Sunlei Dec 2012 #7
He might be right. Rozlee Dec 2012 #9
I disagree. I think the LDS CHURCH wanted Rmoney to win the presidency kestrel91316 Dec 2012 #12
Huh. Rozlee Dec 2012 #13
interesting point, maybe in their secret meetups they believed Mitt was the chosen one. Sunlei Dec 2012 #14
Thus the real takeaway from this election: NYC Liberal Dec 2012 #10
+ 1000! NICO9000 Dec 2012 #19
I have no desire for him to run either. Auntie Bush Dec 2012 #11
He just wanted a coronation, not an actual contest. Motown_Johnny Dec 2012 #15
He has that "I'm a CEO! What do you mean I have to APPLY for a job?" attitude. JHB Dec 2012 #21
Lets hope tagg and the rest of the romney's feel that way LynneSin Dec 2012 #16
Sour grapes Mz Pip Dec 2012 #18
But he was the White Horse!!! backscatter712 Dec 2012 #20
Romney is retroactively NOT running for president... Jeff In Milwaukee Dec 2012 #22
Oh, that definitely earns a +1 JHB Dec 2012 #23
Got it.. Cha Dec 2012 #26
I beat you to it..... Fresh_Start Dec 2012 #31
Looks like little Tagg has Daddy's gift for lying rurallib Dec 2012 #27
How could someone Third Doctor Dec 2012 #29
That is it in nutshell Cosmocat Dec 2012 #33
Not to mention all the personal money he spent. IIRC, the first time around it was like $50 million, Hassin Bin Sober Dec 2012 #37
Damn, these reporters/folks just don't get it. Ignore the substance...it's all about form!!! Malikshah Dec 2012 #32
I'm guessing he was made to say this Superbot Dec 2012 #35
Is it sour grapes, or MurrayDelph Dec 2012 #36

Cha

(295,899 posts)
24. Well, that's the romneys for ya.. always doing the wrong
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 07:32 PM
Dec 2012

thing. How much better it would have been to come out and say; "they all fought hard(read LIE) because dad wanted it and thought he could do a good job"?

Now.. they've only given accurate well deserved talking points to their oppostition.

DFW

(54,050 posts)
5. What a revolutionary concept for an election!
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 11:56 AM
Dec 2012

Creating contact with voters. Amazing!! Your goal is trying to get people to vote for your candidate and here, the opposing campaign comes up with the unheard-of concept of talking to them. Wow, no wonder they won. Who would EVER have thought up such a brilliant devious scheme?

I'll tell y'all what's unbelievable--not that Obama's people thought to do that, but that Romney's people DIDN'T!!!

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
8. Republicans don't like voters and don't want to talk to them because Republican
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 12:43 PM
Dec 2012

ideas don't present well. They are too crazy. They make no sense.

You have to be a true believer in -- well -- Republican ideas in order to talk with someone who wants to talk about Republican ideas.

When Republicans try to talk to voters, the Republicans just get embarrassed. That is the problem.

Republicans need to rethink the fundamentals about what their party stands for.

Born-again, fundamentalist Christians pretty much can only talk to each other about their fundamentalist, Christian ideas.

Same for the Ayn Rand types. Most people just don't buy into those ideas.

Republicans won when they talked about family values, but once their own lack of family values came to light, they couldn't win on that point any more.

Ahhhh, the poor Republicans.

What they need to do to win is to become Democrats, proud and free Democrats.

Wounded Bear

(58,437 posts)
17. It's the vast left wing conspiracy....
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 03:40 PM
Dec 2012

They should talk to Bernie Sanders, a socialist who wins cycle after cycle in a rather conservative state. Yes, upper New England is fairly conservative, and was for many years a stronghold of fiscal/economic conservative Republicans. The "Southern Revolution" of the last couple of decades have pretty much rooted that out.

How does Bernie do it? Mostly by going around and holding town hall meetings and talking to voters. He's famous for that.

 

Voice for Peace

(13,141 posts)
28. exactly!! d'oh -- but it shouldn't surprise us. The Republicans generally seem to have a
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 07:56 PM
Dec 2012

missing piece where it counts.

karynnj

(59,474 posts)
6. Gee, don't all of us spend nearly all our time for 8 years working for things we don't want?
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 12:16 PM
Dec 2012

Very few people in each generation have the chance to be their party's nominee. If you ignored that people are the nominee more than once and assumed that the probability was equal for all birth years, it would be 1/ (4 * the average number of births in the period you are speaking of). Note this is an over estimate as there often are incumbents running again.

If you define a generation as a dozen years, there are usually no more than 6 people who become their party's nominee. This does not just happen.

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
7. We have to thank republicans for that lame primary.
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 12:17 PM
Dec 2012

The billion they squandered in the 50 states gave a lot of people jobs and was a nice economic stimulus.

Saddest thing was when they stuffed bloggers with mac n cheese, pulled pork and open bar. Was sad, they killed poor Breibart with that heat attack diet and making him scream at protesters.

Rozlee

(2,529 posts)
9. He might be right.
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 01:07 PM
Dec 2012

ANN ROMNEY wanted Mittens to win the presidency more than anything in the world. Mitt was just the hapless hostage.

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
12. I disagree. I think the LDS CHURCH wanted Rmoney to win the presidency
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 01:48 PM
Dec 2012

more than anything in the world. I think they ORDERED him to run, and being an obedient member, he did.

They overlooked the fact that they couldn't MAKE him want to win.

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
14. interesting point, maybe in their secret meetups they believed Mitt was the chosen one.
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 03:29 PM
Dec 2012

Could be that blind faith. I think it was more the republicans running the show, wanted someone really clueless in the presidents seat, so they could continue to bleed Americas Federal and State funds into their pockets.

Romney never was presidential material at all, never.

NYC Liberal

(20,132 posts)
10. Thus the real takeaway from this election:
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 01:32 PM
Dec 2012

A huge portion of the country these days will vote for the Republican no matter what, no matter how awful they are.

Not only did Romney run one of the worst campaigns ever, Obama ran one of the best (again, along with his 2008 campaign). Given that, I don't think many people -- if anyone -- could have done much better than Obama did

Auntie Bush

(17,528 posts)
11. I have no desire for him to run either.
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 01:41 PM
Dec 2012

It's a lie he didn't want to run! Another LIE! Why the hell had he been campaigning for 6 years?
He and Ann both wanted to be President Romney and clothes horse First Lady. They just feared the pain of being losers again. But they wanted the presidency so much...it overrode their fears.

 

Motown_Johnny

(22,308 posts)
15. He just wanted a coronation, not an actual contest.
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 03:31 PM
Dec 2012

I don't think he really wanted the job either, just the power.

JHB

(37,128 posts)
21. He has that "I'm a CEO! What do you mean I have to APPLY for a job?" attitude.
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 06:24 PM
Dec 2012

The article stressed how much the family wanted to stress "what kind of person he was" through anecdotes about people he helped.

But that also shows the disconnect: there are relatively few "warped frustrated old men" of the Mr. Potter/Ebeneezer Scrooge vein who are uniformly sour. Most people can find it in themselves to be kind to individuals.

The key is when that gets abstracted a level and one starts thinking of groups. At that level, how freely do your prejudices flow? Romney put his on display in the 47% video, and has followed up showing it in his post-election excuse-making about "gifts".

So Romney proposed months of intense preparation, with 16 mock debates. (Obama did 11.) Then, just as Romney seemed ready, the campaign ­received news that a video had been leaked in which the candidate characterized 47 percent of Americans as “victims” who wanted government benefits and would never vote for him. That left the impression that Romney was referring not just to people on welfare but also to recipients of Social Security and veterans benefits. It seemed to confirm the worst view of ­Romney, that he didn’t care about average people. His poll numbers plummeted

Yeah, it left that impression... because to hit that 47% number, you are talking about Social Security recipients and veterans. And people on unemployment for economic reasons that Mitt only had experience in exacerbating, not counterbalancing. And people who do work at a job (or jobs) using Republican-supported tax credits, so that the income tax liability on their low-paying jobs is zero.

People noticed that it was the most honest he'd been in the entire campaign. The rest was all "Who let the dogs out". Months and months of it.

Mz Pip

(27,403 posts)
18. Sour grapes
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 03:45 PM
Dec 2012

Do they really expect us to believe that the guy who ran for 7 years didn't really want it? Ha Ha.

He wanted it so much he thought he had it in the bag and put together a $8.9 million transition plan that now has to be paid by the tax payers.

Jeff In Milwaukee

(13,992 posts)
22. Romney is retroactively NOT running for president...
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 07:00 PM
Dec 2012

Gotcha, there, Tagg.

Tagg -- Isn't the name of a popular end table at Ikea?

Fresh_Start

(11,330 posts)
31. I beat you to it.....
Mon Dec 24, 2012, 10:48 AM
Dec 2012

Romney announcements 11/6/2012 10:59 Eastern

I retroactively retired from my position as GOP candidate for the office of President.
Posted by Fresh_Start | Mon Nov 5, 2012, 12:51 PM (0 replies)

Third Doctor

(1,574 posts)
29. How could someone
Sun Dec 23, 2012, 08:40 PM
Dec 2012

run for a office for 6 years and go through two bruising primaries and not really want the office? How could he be shellshocked after the loss and even ordered a fire works to display to start the minute after he won, if he did not want or expect to win? Romney wanted the office but did not want to be properly vetted (taxes ect) that went along with it. He did not like campaigning and mixing up with who he views as the help either. Tagg, seems to be a chip off of the old block. A damned liar.

Cosmocat

(14,543 posts)
33. That is it in nutshell
Mon Dec 24, 2012, 02:05 PM
Dec 2012

he darn well wanted the job.

he just didn't feel that he needed to do what was needed to get it

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,272 posts)
37. Not to mention all the personal money he spent. IIRC, the first time around it was like $50 million,
Tue Dec 25, 2012, 02:33 AM
Dec 2012

How much money would he have spent if he REALLY wanted to be President?

Malikshah

(4,818 posts)
32. Damn, these reporters/folks just don't get it. Ignore the substance...it's all about form!!!
Mon Dec 24, 2012, 11:35 AM
Dec 2012

What complete and utter tripe.

Romney-- you lost because your vision of the country is skewed in the wrong direction, pure and simple.

Give it the fuck up, pollsters.

MurrayDelph

(5,279 posts)
36. Is it sour grapes, or
Tue Dec 25, 2012, 02:03 AM
Dec 2012

their own belief in themselves:

i.e. If Mitt really wants something, he gets it.
He didn't get it, therefore
He didn't really want it.

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