Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Romney lost by playing defense, Santorum says
CNN ^

Posted on 11/09/2012 3:51:17 PM PST by Arthurio

(CNN) - Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum offered no insight into his own political future in a Friday CNN interview, but did offer his thoughts as to why the Republican nominee lost to President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

"What Mitt Romney, in my opinion, didn't do was go out and vigorously defend the beliefs that he said he espoused and didn't go on the offense," Santorum said in an interview to air Friday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." "And when you're playing defense, which is what I believe the campaign was doing and Republicans were doing generally throughout the course of this campaign you're not going to win.

"He didn't make it about those two fundamentally different visions for America," he said of Obama's re-election campaign, "and I don't think we did a very good job either as Republicans pointing out those fundamental differences and what type of freedom we're talking about."

(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: notavisionary; romney; santoeum; whatanidiot
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-70 next last
To: 3Fingas

Willard was scared he was going to be asked something he couldnt answer or defend...

like being pro-abortion,
father of same sex marriage,
gays in the military,
his lack of service in the military,
cap n trade,
his business friendship with China,
his global warming
his lack of plans
his push for AMNESTY
pushing bailouts
against 2A

and so on...


21 posted on 11/09/2012 4:05:57 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Hugin

What is wrong with you scoffers? Every word Rick said is exactly right. He had nothing but praise for Mitt during the general campaign. But all of us attuned politically was frustrated to the point of madness with Mitt’s Milquetoast impersonation during the 2nd and 3rd debate. If Mitt had attcked the Puke as he had his primary opponents, he be taking office in January. Bob


22 posted on 11/09/2012 4:07:33 PM PST by alstewartfan ("I'm a graduate of rock&roll, Class of '58!" Al Stewart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: A_Former_Democrat

Rick Santorum endorsed the man...twice.


23 posted on 11/09/2012 4:10:16 PM PST by tsowellfan (Allen West for Speaker!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

Sanotrum is wrong. Romney lost because dems have huge pools of taker voters in urban America and the dems can get them to the polls in national elections with a marxist candidate of color at the top of the ticket. Their pool of voters is bigger than ours and will remain so. Deluding ourselves that we need to tune our message or get on the amnesty bus to win national elections is, well, stupidity.


24 posted on 11/09/2012 4:11:07 PM PST by jwalsh07
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: alstewartfan
If Mitt had attcked the Puke as he had his primary opponents

Dead wrong. Mitt would have turned off even more women.

Mitt did a great job in the debates. He ran hard.

He even got JimRob's support and that was just about impossible.

25 posted on 11/09/2012 4:11:36 PM PST by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: what's up

Santorum was doing pretty damn food in the republican primaries until the GOP establishment squashed him when he became a threat to the preselected annointed one, Mitt Romney

Go back and look at recent histroy


26 posted on 11/09/2012 4:11:53 PM PST by silverleaf (Age Takes a Toll: Please Have Exact Change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: what's up

Santorum was doing pretty damn good in the republican primaries until the GOP establishment squashed him when he became a threat to the preselected annointed one, Mitt Romney

Go back and look at recent histroy


27 posted on 11/09/2012 4:12:08 PM PST by silverleaf (Age Takes a Toll: Please Have Exact Change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: silverleaf
Santorum would have been scorned to oblivion in a general against Obama. He would also have gotten far less of the women's vote.

2% would not have been the margin. Obama would have won by 7-10%.

28 posted on 11/09/2012 4:15:11 PM PST by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Steelfish

Lets not forget that he tied Romney in the Michigan primary as well. That alone didn’t bode well for Romney considering the fact that in 08 Romney flogged McCain here by nearly 10 points. Romney ran a Detroit centered race and won in places that were the least likely to vote for him in the general.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2853480/posts


29 posted on 11/09/2012 4:16:17 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: tsowellfan

Romney lost because he is a Republican. The DNCmedia will not allow ANY Republican to win. That is the straight up truth about the country we live in now. Propaganda, pure and simple.


30 posted on 11/09/2012 4:16:29 PM PST by shelterguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Hugin

Santorum is accurate, and the LOSER was Romney-the-Weak,
who COULD have spoken up, but that would have
meant interrupting his wife who was always defending him.


31 posted on 11/09/2012 4:17:24 PM PST by Diogenesis (Vi veri veniversum vivus vici)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio
I tried to listen to what he was saying last night on Greta, but had to tune him out. He is a very bad communicator. Stop interrupting, Rick.

And....his message stinks.

32 posted on 11/09/2012 4:24:22 PM PST by EnquiringMind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tsowellfan

He’s still correct that “playing defense” was the main reason Romney lost.


33 posted on 11/09/2012 4:24:41 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: jwalsh07

Yeah, I agree to that. Makes me sick when people think that winning elections is all about being the most vicious, radical, candidate there is. Sort of like thinking everytime you get turned down for a job, you cut an extra finger off your hand for your own self-inflicted punishment.

Right now, the best thing to do is work toward the 2014 midterms, and as voters, make sure that we give charitably and simply reach out with conservative values as opposed to conservative politics to people who need help right now, and frankly, as a rephrase of a prior meme, “let D.C. Bankrupt itself and let the currency inflate.


34 posted on 11/09/2012 4:26:04 PM PST by Morpheus2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: what's up

How much of the “women’s vote” did Santorum get in Missouri, Tennessee, Colorado, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississipi, Louisiana and other states he won, and in Michigan and Wisconsin where he got within 3-5% of Romney who outspent him by about a hundred million bucks?

Santorum turned out to be a real sleeper and was coming on strong when the GOP-e smothered his inconveniently successful campaign


35 posted on 11/09/2012 4:27:41 PM PST by silverleaf (Age Takes a Toll: Please Have Exact Change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: ontap

2012 is OVER

we should be working on 2016

No more RINOs

surely in the 300 Million Americans we can get behind early ???

LIke starting next year ???

Governor Sarah Palin or somneone with guts and Conservative creds like her...

Ask Sarah next year “Are you going to run ???” and expect an answer right away...

dont wait months...

if shes not there find sommeone else...

Sanctorum should not have lasted so long...his fathers citizenship was never questioned early...

Was Rick an NBC ??? we still deomnt know

Michelle Bachman and Newt and Herman were about the only REAL Conservatives we had...

Rick Perry loved his illegal aliens ...

NO THANKS REikck...

Vett EVERY candidate EARLY...

TEA Party be SPEAK OUT ...

Thats the only way we want be saddled with a poor loser candidate like Willard in 2016...

Will the 70 year old Willard run again in 2016 ???

What do you think ???

Hes too obsessed and arrogent and entitled and elitist and the material of pagan prophecies to retire and go away

after all is your Daddy had groomed you all your life to be president and king over America all your life would you accept whatr you considered bunkis ???


36 posted on 11/09/2012 4:29:45 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: silverleaf

He, Rick Santorum, lost because the voice of GOP primary voters was cast, and it wasn’t for him by majority, it ended up going to Romney instead.

As for Nationally, who are you thinking, Gingrich? Santorum? Cain? All of these people had either such poor organizational skills, poor appeal to women, or stupid abortion/rape rants that they would lose more handily than Romney did. The problem is an increasingly taker electorate, combined, with a “Howard Stern” electorate.


37 posted on 11/09/2012 4:31:51 PM PST by Morpheus2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: 3Fingas

I have to admit, I was thinking that all during the Biden/Ryan pseudo-”debate”.The Romney-Ryan ticket obviously thought there was more to be gained by taking the high ground
and acting like serious gentlemen. They were wrong, and the disappointment was just a wee bit more delayed than when we watched McCain slowly capitulate and resentfully kick his campaign away four years earlier, and NOT EVEN ALLOW Sarah Palin to take up the slack.Obama and Biden, after all had four solid years of FAILURE, so you just KNOW their demeanors would have to reflect the idea that they had four years of blazing successes, and just who are these upstarts Romney and Ryan to challenge us???We just didn’t have two candidates who had it in them to butt heads with the likes of Obama and Biden and launch a withering attack on them commensurate with the totally disrespectful, juvenile, and cynical way they were treated by the Dem candidates.Your imaginary dialog offered for Ryan would’ve at least given the Republican side a fighting chance,and put the two teams on even ground.But inevitably, Romney or Ryan taking that tack would’ve been roundly criticized by the MSM, so who really knows what would’ve worked?


38 posted on 11/09/2012 4:32:25 PM PST by supremedoctrine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

What does Santorum know? He lost to Mitt.

up Santorums backside.


39 posted on 11/09/2012 4:32:49 PM PST by Venturer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tennessee Nana

Romney’s finished. The only exception I have seen in terms of age is Ron Paul, who frankly is unelectable for plenty of reasons, one being he decides to blame America first, sort of like Obama’s apologize for America first.


40 posted on 11/09/2012 4:34:50 PM PST by Morpheus2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-70 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson