Romney didn't want to run for president, son says

france24.com ^ | 12/23/12

[Evil Slayer]

AFP - No one wanted to be president less than Mitt Romney, his son said in an interview out Sunday that raises new questions about the candidacy of the losing Republican nominee.

In an interview with the Boston Globe examining what went wrong with the Romney campaign, his eldest son Tagg explains that his father had been a reluctant candidate from the start.

After failing to win the 2008 Republican nomination, Romney told his family he would not run again and had to be persuaded to enter the 2012 White House race by his wife Ann and son Tagg.

"He wanted to be president less than anyone I've met in my life. He had no desire... to run," Tagg Romney said. "If he could have found someone else to take his place... he would have been ecstatic to step aside."

Mitt Romney "is a very private person who loves his family deeply and wants to be with them. He loves his country, but he doesn't love the attention," his son said.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and multi-billionaire businessman, has been widely criticized for blaming his loss in the November 6 election on President Barack Obama's "gifts" to Latinos, women and the poor.

"What the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote," Romney said during a call with campaign donors in mid-November that represented his first public reaction to his election loss.

The Globe story sought to look beyond that narrative and examine what really went wrong.

It focused on the fact that Romney was unhappy that one of his most trusted advisers, Mike Murphy -- the architect of his successful 2002 run for governor

[TomGuy]

Unlike his nomination campaign, Romney ran his POTUS campaign like someone who didn’t want to win - it was weak and sad.

I made this comment in an election thread a few months ago:

John Kerry -- Theresa takes over the campaign, Kerry loses.
McCain -- Cindy takes over the campaign, McCain loses.
Gingrich -- Calista takes over the campaign, Gingrich loses in the primary.
Romney -- Tagg and Ann take over the campaign, Romney loses.

==

I sense a pattern -- when family think they know better than the professionals.

[LibLieSlayer]

romney didn't want to be President but he did not want any Conservative influence to take root in the GOP... so he ran just to make certain that the CONSERVATIVE candidates would NOT win. romney stole the Iowa Caucus and then got caught and the result was reversed but by then... romney had the BIG MO. The GOP/e then controlled certain primaries in certain States that allow dims to cross over and vote in our primaries and then he conspired with party hack SoS’s in Missouri and Virginia to keep the two men that were beating him off of the ballot... and then he spent 10’s of millions of dollars in Florida destroying Newt... thereby protecting the control of the GOP by the elite progressive socialist cabal that romney is a part of. FU romney... you certainly ****ed us!

LLS

[wesagain]

And besides, he knew you can't beat Santa Claus!......

Get you free OBAMAPHONE!

[LibLieSlayer]

He had obama on the ropes and refused to take him down... he did the high road thing and that is how he lost. He did not want to win... his son is telling you this. Why would he say it if it were not true? Why would he admit that he and his mother talked romney into running if it never happened? I believed it when he refused to even mention Benghazi and he threw the last two debates without question. Maybe I am wrong but I do believe that romeny was part of the cabal that anointed obama for a second term.

LLS

[LibLieSlayer]

BINGO!!!

LLS

[LibLieSlayer]

I agree with you as my posts on this thread confirm.

LLS

[knife6375]

So, mitt had to be forced by his wife to run for President! Can we call him PW’ed?

[Fiji Hill]

When Crowley ganged up on him and sided with Obama, he backed off and stayed hunkered down during the final debate which was on foreign policy. In coast-mode, Romney couldn't deliver a knock-out punch.

Crowley's kibitzing should have made him angry enough to ram Benghazi down Obama's throat at the next debate.

[Theodore R.]

Still the only net difference between McPain and Romney was IN and NC. And we were told that Romney “could” win.

[redgolum]

Makes sense.

[TiaS]

I thought he really wanted Obama in there for another four years. Hope my comment is not too “libertarian” for your discussion.

[xzins]

Romney didn’t want to run.

Not to worry, Tagg.

He didn’t run.

(More like a slow crawl.)

[a fool in paradise]

The feeling is mutual. Now go AWAY.

[Uncle Miltie]

“Romney didn’t want to run for president”

And it showed.

[upchuck]

On one hand you have a relative unknown. He’s a business man or something.

On the other, a man with a proved record of handing goodies out like every day is Christmas.

Now, what chu gonna do?

Herein lies the absolute biggest problem the GOP has. How can you compete with Santa Claus?

[Resettozero]

Third paragraph is true history. Would like to know if you’re on the mark also with paragraphs one and two.

[Pinkbell]

Right. That’s why he put so much effort into destroying his Republican counterparts. Yep.

[Terry Mross]

He DIDN’T run for president. He ran for the position of obama’s best friend.

[Theodore R.]

Romney didn’t have a single attack ad, did he? Even Albert Gore, Jr., had Willy Horton in 1988 against another MA governor.