Why did Romney Lose?

[Greenbeard]

I'm not saying the conservative ticket will win at the moment. That is not what I said at all. But, what I did say was that Romney is a liberal who tried to trick conservatives into believing he was "one of the good ole boys". He failed... he lost.

Romney's only good month, October, happened when he finally and abruptly pivoted away from pandering to his rabid base and etch-a-sketched his way to moderation before our very eyes in the first debate (leaving many observers, the President apparently included, slack-jawed in amazement). Yet the softening of his positions and rhetoric didn't drive away the rightwing base, it actually consolidated it because they finally felt like they were backing a winner.

If you want to run candidates who can't even try to credibly make that pivot back to the mainstream, then you're not even going to get as close as Romney got.

 

[Politicskid]

Bullshit.

Grow up and take responsibility for what you say and do.

The LAST thing we need is another Reagan.

Pay for your own health care insurance instead of depending on Libs to pay for you ER trips.

And, for Pete's sake, turn off Fox, Lush, Beck, Dredge, Britbart.

Think for yourself.

Take responsibilty? Uh, okay, I said that Obama bought votes because he offered free stuff to people. Do you not think this caused a lot of people to vote for him.

As for Reagan, he easily is one of the top five presidents of all time. He restored American prosperity and greatness that we were so lacking. He was a great speaker, even better than Obama. That's what we need right now. I think his farewell address sums it up well, if you ever have the time to watch it. It'll bring tears to your eyes, I gurantee it. Google "Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address" and it should be the 21 minute YouTube video that comes up.

And I'm 14; my parents cover my health coverage. But I'm glad to see you don't support universal healthcare!

And regarding my news source, I get information from many sources. I trust fox the most, though, because even though I do believe they have conservative bias they have a lot of liberals on it that pretty much even things out. They also are the minority in terms of having lots of conservative commentators; so if they mess up, we'll all here about it on the other outlets. Where do you get your news, MSNBC?

Ronnie sucked.

Reagan cut taxes for the Rich, increased taxes on the Middle Class.
He Tripled the National Debt. Do you know anything about Iran/Contra? Did you know he funded terrorists? How can you say he was one of the best?

Yeah, no. He lowered unemployment by multiple percentage points. And he did not raise taxes on the middle class. That is a total myth. Please show some evidence of it. The bottom line is Reagan turned a recession into a boom, and that's what we need right now.

 

[Politicskid]

It's nothing Romney did. Obama played a dirty campaign by bribing people to vote for him. We'd need another Reagan to have beaten Obama, and we will brew one in 2016 to beat whatever democrat is running. The fact of the matter is people like free stuff, and that's what Obama offered.

Bullshit. There were many factors, but to say that it wasnt Romney's fault is naive and partisan. Romney could never shake the stereotypical rich CEO image that was pinned on him in the primaries. And the things he said, whether misconstrued or accidental, only reinforced that image.

Republicans need to grow up and stop trying to pin the blame on everything but Romney.

Of course, Romney could've campaigned differently. But do you really think that there aren't a lot of people who'd vote for Obama regardless due to the favors he offered? Not to mention the fact that Obama ran the most negative presidential campaign in American history!

 

[Politicskid]

The "he is a Mormon" is the most ignorant answer of them all.
"It is a cult", what an absurd claim. I know many Mormons here in Atlanta area and they are all fairly moderate and independent good family hard working community folks from all walks of life.
If there ever was a cult in this country it would be right wing Christian and the nation is full of politicians in office that fit that profile.

And Romney has never and will never be close to what those people believe in.

I've known Mormons, and they were the creepiest, most back-stabbing mother effers I ever met in my life.

His Mormonism SHOULD have been an issue, but the media refused to talk about it. Thankfully, the man had so many other flaws he lost anyway... so there's that.

This is very offensive and I don't know what kind of Mormons you know, but I live one block from a Mormon church and am on a heavily Mormon sports team and I can tell you they are some of the most well-meaning and kind people I know. The coach is also Mormon, and he to is a very good man and from what I hear, a great teacher.

 

[Sallow]

I'm not saying the conservative ticket will win at the moment. That is not what I said at all. But, what I did say was that Romney is a liberal who tried to trick conservatives into believing he was "one of the good ole boys". He failed... he lost.

Romney's only good month, October, happened when he finally and abruptly pivoted away from pandering to his rabid base and etch-a-sketched his way to moderation before our very eyes in the first debate (leaving many observers, the President apparently included, slack-jawed in amazement). Yet the softening of his positions and rhetoric didn't drive away the rightwing base, it actually consolidated it because they finally felt like they were backing a winner.

If you want to run candidates who can't even try to credibly make that pivot back to the mainstream, then you're not even going to get as close as Romney got.

Exactly.

It's funny that they called Obama an empty suit, then ran one.

 

[JoeB131]

The "he is a Mormon" is the most ignorant answer of them all.
"It is a cult", what an absurd claim. I know many Mormons here in Atlanta area and they are all fairly moderate and independent good family hard working community folks from all walks of life.
If there ever was a cult in this country it would be right wing Christian and the nation is full of politicians in office that fit that profile.

And Romney has never and will never be close to what those people believe in.

I've known Mormons, and they were the creepiest, most back-stabbing mother effers I ever met in my life.

His Mormonism SHOULD have been an issue, but the media refused to talk about it. Thankfully, the man had so many other flaws he lost anyway... so there's that.

This is very offensive and I don't know what kind of Mormons you know, but I live one block from a Mormon church and am on a heavily Mormon sports team and I can tell you they are some of the most well-meaning and kind people I know. The coach is also Mormon, and he to is a very good man and from what I hear, a great teacher.

Well, I met some Mormon ROTC Cadiots from BYU, and they were all the nice, dumb-ass corn fed smiles on the outside, but man, when they could stick a knife in your back, they did.

Give me a man straightforward in his hostility to someone who pretends to be your friend any day of the week.

Not to mention their religion is batshit crazy and their fouding prophet was a con man with a thing for teenage girls.

 

[Mac1958]

.

1. GOP absolutists and kooks wrecked the GOP brand top to bottom
2. Romney was/is a symbol of the 2008 meltdown, deserved or not
3. Electorate was/is not convinced that the GOP has the answers

.

Yikes, I need to add one more:

4. The GOP walked, face first, into one of the biggest sucker punches in American electoral history: With 8% unemployment, they allowed themselves to be dragged into a slap fight over social issues. Too funny.

.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Poll to follow...

Edit- It's an open poll, vote for as many options as you like.

I think they all applied except Mormonism and Paul Ryan.

I don't think Ryan really helped his campaign, but he didn't really hurt it that much.

I also don't think anti-Mormonism hurt his campaign as much as it should have, because he didn't talk about it and no one else wanted to talk about it, either.

I checked them all except the Mormon bias. Obama's campaign couldn't really go there on religion as the whole Rev. Wright fiasco was always waiting in the wings and Evangelicals were trapped by political ideology into voting for Romney.

Ryan's rollout as running mate was a disaster, and at the end Ryan failed to even carry his home state. Romney ran away from everything that made Paul Ryan popular from Conservatives. He really should have gone for someone else if he wasn't going to at the very least embrace his ideology.

 

[JoeB131]

I checked them all except the Mormon bias. Obama's campaign couldn't really go there on religion as the whole Rev. Wright fiasco was always waiting in the wings and Evangelicals were trapped by political ideology into voting for Romney.

Ryan's rollout as running mate was a disaster, and at the end Ryan failed to even carry his home state. Romney ran away from everything that made Paul Ryan popular from Conservatives. He really should have gone for someone else if he wasn't going to at the very least embrace his ideology.

I don't think Obama himself would have ever gone there on religion.

Just like Obama never had to say in 2008, "Boy, that Sarah Palin sure is stupid." You really don't need to state he obvious. The media didn't go after how weird the Mormons were, their history of racism, their whackadoodle beliefs about ruling planets in the hereafter. Stuff that makes you really worry if Romney believed this stuff.

As for Ryan, I guess my problem with that thing is that Wisconsin was never going to be an easy state for Romney. The last time the GOP took it was 1984.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

S
2) Mitt alienated Conservatives

I agree, he alienated Conservatives. His "big" debate win in the first debate was accomplished by tossing all of the Cons under the bus at once in a spectacular move that has to be seen to believe.

But the problem was, Conservatives were so strongly motivated to beat Obama, that I can't believe it was alienating Cons that actually cost him the election. We were assured that most Cons would have crawled over broken glass on their stomachs to vote against Obama, and literally every indication I've seen is that they did exactly that.

The problem that Conservatives need to accept is that there isn't nearly as many of them in the population as they think. I've heard for years that this is a "Center-Right" nation, but I have to say that after years and years of the kind of dialogue that Conservative heroes Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter advocate the whole Conservative movement is pretty much dead. That kind of dialogue sells books and ad time, but it kills your appeal for moderates.

The GOP desperately needs a Reagan figure. The GOP really does have some good ideas, but as long as they want to talk like Limbaugh instead of Reagan and belittle opponents rather than reach out to them, the movement is dead.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

I checked them all except the Mormon bias. Obama's campaign couldn't really go there on religion as the whole Rev. Wright fiasco was always waiting in the wings and Evangelicals were trapped by political ideology into voting for Romney.

Ryan's rollout as running mate was a disaster, and at the end Ryan failed to even carry his home state. Romney ran away from everything that made Paul Ryan popular from Conservatives. He really should have gone for someone else if he wasn't going to at the very least embrace his ideology.

I don't think Obama himself would have ever gone there on religion.

Just like Obama never had to say in 2008, "Boy, that Sarah Palin sure is stupid." You really don't need to state he obvious. The media didn't go after how weird the Mormons were, their history of racism, their whackadoodle beliefs about ruling planets in the hereafter. Stuff that makes you really worry if Romney believed this stuff.

As for Ryan, I guess my problem with that thing is that Wisconsin was never going to be an easy state for Romney. The last time the GOP took it was 1984.

I could see picking Ryan, knowing you may not carry Wisconsin, if you're going to actively embrace what makes Ryan popular with the Conservatives and fire up the base. But that is not at all what happened. Romney treated Ryan like an empty suit that would bring in his home state.

He should have picked an empty suit from Florida or Ohio as that would have helped him with his Electoral math issues he faced right from the start. Instead, he picked ideology and then ran away from it as hard as he could. I'd say that's a surprise, but Romney was always a flip flopper.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

QUOTE=Avorysuds;6367211]

Shitty poll, it didn't even have:

1) Mitt Romney is and has admitted to being a progressive liberal

2) Mitt alienated Conservatives

3) Mitt Romney is the definition of "flip flopper"

It also didn't have "Mitt was a magic Unicorn".

I really did limit it to PLAUSIBLE explanations.

Now, just as Predicted, (many times) the minute Romney lost, we would hear the whine about how he wasn't a "real conservative", and that only a "real" conservative who embraced every bit of religious right and TEAbagging batshittery could have won.

I suspect that the only way we stop hearing this nonsense is if the GOP actually gets its way, and loses by Goldwater level proportions.

Like I said, it was a shitty poll seeing as it didn't list the main reasons Mitt couldn't pull the votes to beat one of the worst Presidents in US history.

"Anyone but Obama!!!" Annnnyone.... Even Mitt fucking Romney... Or not!

It was predicted that Romney was not a conservative since before the Primaries started... That's why there was a "Anyone but Romney" movement in the Republican party, all the way to election day.

And those ‘main reasons’ were Romney was a ‘progressive liberal,’ alienated conservatives, and was a flip-flopper.

That Romney was inconsistent may have indeed been a factor.

But you’re deluding yourself if you think that had Romney been a conservative he’d actually beat Obama, particularly with regard to social conservative issues, as the voters clearly rejected that agenda.

 

[Gadawg73]

YOU and you alone should be responsible for YOUR own health benefits and those of your family.
Group health insurance put on the backs of someone else is what has ruined American health care.
Why is being responsible for your own bills such a problem with you communists?

Why is acting like decent human being such a problem for you plutocrats?

Here's the thing. I got insurance through my job. And I paid my co-pays, a little extra to get the top-notch plan because I'm getting up there in years. And then I had to get a couple of operations. And lo and behold, my company was suddenly looking to get rid of me. Imagine that. And I wasn't the only person they did this to.

What has ruined American Health care is the greed. What had ruined America is greed.

If we did what Germany, the UK, Canada did, we wouldn't have an issue with this. Instead, we are all carrying Ed Hanaway and his 72 million dollar severance package at Cigna.

You are right, greed has ruined American health care.
Your greedy ass expecting someone else to pay for your health care bills.

 

[Gadawg73]

What I find amazing the total ignorance of those that spout all this "plutocracy" crap and "the rich do not pay their fair share" and "the wealthy control" Congress.
Well, they have at least one thing right. The wealthy IN Congress, mostly Democrats, do control a lot.
But we never hear about them because they BE DEMOCRATS.

Actually, we don't hear much because they try to do the right thing.

Can you name one instance, when there was a dispute between the Plutocrats and the rest of us, that the GOP didn't come down solidly on the side of the Plutocrats.

PLutocracy was on the Ballot on Nov. 6 And it lost.

Richest folk in Congress would be Democrats.
And you give them a free pass.

 

[Gadawg73]

Now we also have them claiming that Romney NOT being a right wing religious was a bad thing.
Amazing.

 

[JoeB131]

YOU and you alone should be responsible for YOUR own health benefits and those of your family.
Group health insurance put on the backs of someone else is what has ruined American health care.
Why is being responsible for your own bills such a problem with you communists?

Why is acting like decent human being such a problem for you plutocrats?

Here's the thing. I got insurance through my job. And I paid my co-pays, a little extra to get the top-notch plan because I'm getting up there in years. And then I had to get a couple of operations. And lo and behold, my company was suddenly looking to get rid of me. Imagine that. And I wasn't the only person they did this to.

What has ruined American Health care is the greed. What had ruined America is greed.

If we did what Germany, the UK, Canada did, we wouldn't have an issue with this. Instead, we are all carrying Ed Hanaway and his 72 million dollar severance package at Cigna.

You are right, greed has ruined American health care.
Your greedy ass expecting someone else to pay for your health care bills.

No, my expectation was that if I pay for insurance, I should get insurance.

Remember, this is the Plutocrats plan. "Don't have universal coverage. Trust us. We'll give you insurance if you work for us. Honest. Would we lie?"

Never had one of these mother-fuckers who didn't lie to me.

I guess I did better than the guy whose 17 year old daughter died because Cigna wouldn't spring for her liver transplant.

 

[JoeB131]

Richest folk in Congress would be Democrats.
And you give them a free pass.

Oh, I love this. The "rich democrat" whine.

Better cut that out, the Plutocrats might not invite you to get the scraps from their table you keep that shit up.

 

[JoeB131]

Now we also have them claiming that Romney NOT being a right wing religious was a bad thing.
Amazing.

Romney lost because he put Plutocracy on the ballot.

Christianity would probalby win an election pretty easily.

 

[freedombecki]

Romney lost after the ACA ruling.

He was banking on that going the other way..and it was a grand example of conservative over reach.

His face that day did speak volumes.

Priceless.

Why, Mr. Sallow. I'm surprised and your joy at the expense of another person's misery.

 

[JoeB131]

His face that day did speak volumes.

Priceless.

Why, Mr. Sallow. I'm surprised and your joy at the expense of another person's misery.

Mitt Romney's whole fortune was built on other people's misery.

His humiliation is ALMOST enough to make me beileve in a just God.