It's no surprise that Mitt's grasp of the consequences of four more years of comrade obama's administration was much better than that of the LMSM which chose to ignore bad omens.
Posted on 09/05/2013 9:40:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Ten months after Mitt Romney shuffled off the national stage in defeat — consigned, many predicted, to a fate of instant irrelevance and permanent obscurity — Republicans are suddenly celebrating the presidential also-ran as a political prophet.
From his widely mocked warnings about a hostile Russia to his adamant opposition to the increasingly unpopular implementation of Obamacare, the ex-candidate’s canon of campaign rhetoric now offers cause for vindication — and remorse — to Romney’s friends, supporters, and former advisers.
“I think about the campaign every single day, and what a shame it is who we have in the White House,” said Spencer Zwick, who worked as Romney’s finance director and is a close friend to his family. “I look at things happening and I say, you know what? Mitt was actually right when he talked about Russia, and he was actually right when he talked about how hard it was going to be to implement Obamacare, and he was actually right when he talked about the economy. I think there are a lot of everyday Americans who are now feeling the effects of what [Romney] said was going to happen, unfortunately.”
Of course, there is a long tradition in American politics of dwelling on counterfactuals and and re-litigating past campaigns after your candidate loses. Democrats have argued through the years that America would have avoided two costly Middle East wars, solved climate change, and steered clear of the housing crisis if only the Supreme Court hadn’t robbed Al Gore of his rightful victory in 2000. But a series of White House controversies and international crises this year — including a Syrian civil war that is threatening to pull the American military into the mix — has caused Romney’s fans to erupt into a chorus of told-you-so’s at record pace.
In the most actively cited example of the Republican nominee’s foresight, Romneyites point to the candidate’s hardline rhetoric last year against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration. During the campaign, Romney frequently criticized Obama for foolishly attempting to make common cause with the Kremlin, and repeatedly referred to Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe.”
Many observers found this fixation strange, and Democrats tried to turn it into a punchline. A New York Times editorial in March of last year said Romney’s assertions regarding Russia represented either “a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics.” And in an October debate, Obama sarcastically mocked his opponent’s Russia rhetoric. “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” the president quipped at the time.
That line still chafes Robert O’Brien, a Los Angeles lawyer and friend of Romney’s who served as a foreign policy adviser.
“Everyone thought, Oh my goodness that is so clever and Mitt’s caught in the Cold War and doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” O’Brien said. “Well guess what. With all of these foreign policy initiatives — Syria, Iran, [Edward] Snowden — who’s out there causing problems for America? It’s Putin and the Russians.”
Indeed, earlier this summer, Moscow defiantly refused to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to the United States, prompting Obama to cancel a meeting he had scheduled with Putin during the Group of 20 summit. Russia has blocked United Nations action against Syria. And on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers that Russia was one of the countries supplying Syria with chemical weapons.
To Romney’s fans, these episodes illustrate just how unfairly their candidate was punished during the election for speaking truths the rest of the country would eventually come around to.
“The governor tried to enunciate how to deal with these very hard, tough issues, and we were met with slogans,” O’Brian lamented. “And now the real world is exposing the slogans as being totally trite.”
Admirers point to other examples of Romney’s unrewarded wisdom, as well.
During a foreign policy debate in October, the candidate briefly expressed concern over Islamic extremists taking control of northern Mali — an obscure reference that was mocked on Twitter at the time, including by liberal comedian Bill Maher. Three months later, France sent troops into the country at the behest of the Malian president, bringing the conflict to front pages around the world.
On the domestic front, Obamacare — which Romney spent more time railing against on the stump than perhaps any other progressive policy — is less popular than ever, while the federal government struggles to get the massive, complicated law implemented. (One poll in July found for the first time that a plurality of Americans now support the law’s repeal.)
And while the unemployment rate has, in the first year of Obama’s second term, gradually fallen to post-crisis lows, the still-ailing U.S. economy, which served as the centerpiece for Romney’s unsuccessful case against Obama’s reelection, was given a potent symbol earlier this summer when Detroit became the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy.
The Motor City became a symbolic battleground during the election, with Romney proudly touting his father’s ties to the auto industry, and the Obama campaign relentlessly attacking the Republican for a Times op-ed he had written years earlier headlined “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
“The president took the title of that op-ed, which of course was written by editors of the New York Times, and used it to say Gov. Romney was being insensitive about his own home city,” complained former campaign spokesman Ryan Williams. Romney’s article argued that beleaguered automakers should consider going through a managed bankruptcy instead of taking a bailout but, Williams said, “the president’s campaign intentionally tried to blur the lines. It worked. And several months later, the city is going bankrupt because of liberal democratic officeholders.”
Referring to the bankruptcy, Putin’s posturing, and the Mali conflict, Williams added, “Obviously, it would have been nice if any of these incidents would have occurred during the campaign to vindicate Romney. You would never want to see the bankruptcy of a major U.S. city, or the president embarrass himself on the world stage like he has, but Gov. Romney did discuss these potential outcomes.”
Romneyites are processing these feelings of vindication in different ways. The campaign’s chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, said he has been disappointed to see their central message — that Obama would be unable to restore America’s strength — turned out to be so accurate: “If there is a part of the world in which America is stronger, it’s hard to find. What’s the president doing? Attacking a talk radio host. He has criticized Rush Limbaugh with more conviction than the leaders of Iran… We can only hope it improves. ”
And Jennifer Rubin, the conservative Washington Post blogger who became Romney’s most outspoken advocate in the press, accused members of the news media of failing to take the Republican’s arguments seriously, while allowing the incumbent skate through the race untouched.
“As for the media, they are the least self-reflective people I know,” Rubin said. “The left-leaning media has carried the president’s water faithfully, eschewing the least bit of critical analysis. Now they don’t like the result?”
For Zwick, perhaps the closest thing to a true Romney loyalist on the campaign last year, the belief that his candidate turned out to be right offers little comfort. “It’s frustrating because there’s no way to correct it,” Zwick said. “We don’t do what they do in the U.K. and lead the opposition party when you lose. When you lose there is no way to sort of be vindicated. There’s no way to say, ‘OK, well, I didn’t win the presidency but I’m going to continue to fight.’ There’s no fighting. There’s no platform to do that. Fifty million Americans voted for the guy and yet it’s all for nothing.”
“I wish he’d run again,” Zwick added. “He’s not going to. But if he did, I’d be right there.”
Mitt isn’t my friend, he was simply the only other choice over Obama. It was a waste if a Nomination, just like McCain in 2008, but that’s how the game is played.
I was simply pointing out that he was the Republican Nominee, whether we liked it or not, and we ended up with Obama because we didn’t like it.
Cutting off your nose to spite your face only accomplished getting eight years of Obama. What is this thread about anyway? Blame the Primary Voters that made Romney the Nominee, not the guy they Voted for.
I was a Newt supporter, the only guy I gave money to. He didn’t make it and the Republican Primary Voters picked Romney. Facts is facts. I didn’t pick him, you didn’t pick him and I doubt any FReepers picked him, but he won the Primary despite our obviously inflated influence.
When that happened, I followed the Levin Doctrine, you Vote your Candidate in the Primary and you Vote your Party’s Candidate in the General.
Everyone here bitching and moaning over how bad Romney was instead of talking about the DISASTER that is Obama, boo friggin hoo.
Didn’t Vote for Romney in the General Election, good for you. Bad for America, but good for you. Your wish has been fulfilled, Obama rules. Now enjoy the ride.
Your tirade doesn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but your NOT Voting for Romney did more to support Obama’s Regime than my Vote for Romney did. That’s the fact Jack.
Romney ending up losing by 5 million votes (and 166K in Ohio). This in spite of facing one of the worst presidents in the last 100 years, who has buried the country in debt, and saddled us with european levels of unemployment. Romney lacked passion, vision, and human connection. I’m sure there was plenty of voter fraud, but this wasn’t close enough to matter.
Very true. It's also sad testimony to the ignorance, greed, and gullibility of the electorate; to the extent that if the GOP ever got its strong conservative and appealing candidate, it's quite possible that even he/she could not get elected.
Thanks SeekAndFind.
And how many in OH without voter fraud? Nobody really knows. Again, no saying that Romney would have won the election. But his crowds were bigger than Zero's so it is a bit puzzling.
Hope everything is going great on your side :) Haven’t heard from you in awhile..
Nice job! ;^)
Apologies, I posted one of the same pics.. didn’t see that you had already posted it >.<
Romney sucked, get over it.
Yeah. And this was how I was treated by some Freepers:
I know, sir. Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine some people as actual conservatives.
I’ve said it to you before and I’ll say it to you again: you’re the strongest and staunchest pro-lifer I’ve ever seen post here — and I thought I was until you got hold of me.
Compare and contrast to Mr. Romney. Or better yet, don’t, because there really isn’t a comparison.
This thread has made me muse about things a bit.
What has Romney done since the election? The only thing I’ve seen is his appearance up in New Hampshire a few weeks ago to urge Republicans to go ahead and fund Obamacare.
What have I done since the election? The same thing I’ve always done, which is to advocate as strongly as I can in every available forum for all the things FR says it stands for.
The thing of it is, you’ve both stood up for what you believe in.
The problem with that is, in Romney’s case that’s still good enough for a lot of posters here.
I’m conservative and I don’t give a flying fig about members of the establishment/elite party. They are nothing but socialists who are a little easier on the marxism than the democrats. Both McCain and Romney were wastes of a nomination. The only thing good to come out of the entire situation was Sarah Palin.
If some of you go alongs would grow a pair and tell both sets of socialists to take a hike, we could take this country back. It seems some peoples’ heads are too far up their backsides to see the truth. They are playing you. The democrats play their supporters like fiddles. The GOPe tries to play its people and are unsuccessful because too many of us see what they are doing. But they rely on the blind to keep their power.
That’s bad for America. The two Soros puppets that socialist party number two nominated and the see no evil go alongs, just keep perpetuating the socialists’ reign.
We do talk about what a disaster Obama is for this country. Ooops. That’s another thing your candidate Romney was never able to make himself do. So maybe you should place your non discussion complaints, about what a disaster Obama is, with him.
Neither Levin, or Rush or any other political guru/god you worship is right 100% of the time. So before you lock yourself into voting for a Barak Obama, or a Joseph Stalin with an R next to their name, you might want to rethink bragging about following either of those gurus of yours off a cliff.
Actual fact: Romney’s non campaign against Obama did more to support Obama’s regime than anything anyone else (except Obama) did.
Face it, your candidate Romney, is the reason we have Obama by design and you fell for it. Wake UP!
Massive new Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The return to Christianity in Russia is real, nobody spends that sort of money for show and tell. 200 New Christian churches being built in and around Moscow as we speak.
You must be joking. Buildings, no matter how big and beautiful and many, do not equal faith. Russians just replaced ruling Communist Party with another corrupt monster which happens to call itself Christian. It is very naive to think their blend of superstitions has anything to do with Christ, what they call “church” is, in fact, powerful commercial structure tightly knit into government. And, it was besides my point: Russians en masse hate Americans.
>”Face it, your candidate Romney, is the reason we have Obama by design and you fell for it. Wake UP!”<
Hey Bud, you wake up. I never said Romney was my Candidate. I said he was the only one running against Obama. You and others didn’t Vote for him in the General Election and guess what, we ended up with Obama.
Gee, I wonder how that happened? Buy a clue Bud, and don’t put words in my mouth.
The Primaries picked the Republican Candidate. Do you know anyone here that Voted for Romney in the Primaries? I know I don’t.
Thanks! How are you?
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