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

Skip to comments.

7 Reasons Why Mitt Romney’s Electability Is A Myth
RightWingNews.com ^ | 27 Dec 2011 | John Hawkins

Posted on 03/30/2012 4:17:44 PM PDT by SoConPubbie

Mitt Romney was a moderate governor in Massachusetts with an unimpressive record of governance. He left office with an approval rating in the thirties and his signature achievement, Romneycare, was a Hurricane Katrina style disaster for the state. Since that’s the case, it’s fair to ask what a Republican who’s not conservative and can’t even carry his own state brings to the table for GOP primary voters. The answer is always the same: Mitt Romney is supposed to be “the most electable” candidate. This is a baffling argument because many people just seem to assume it’s true, despite the plethora of evidence to the contrary.

1) People just don’t like Mitt: The entire GOP primary process so far has consisted of Republican voters desperately trying to find an alternative to Mitt Romney. Doesn’t it say something that GOP primary voters have, at one time or another, preferred Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and now even Ron Paul (In Iowa) to Mitt Romney?

To some people, this is a plus. They think that if conservatives don’t like Mitt Romney, that means moderates will like him. This misunderstands how the process of attracting independent voters works in a presidential race. While it’s true the swayable moderates don’t want to support a candidate they view as an extremist, they also don’t just automatically gravitate towards the most “moderate” candidate. To the contrary, independent voters tend to be moved by the excitement of the candidate’s base (See John McCain vs. Barack Obama for an example of how this works). This is how a very conservative candidate like Ronald Reagan could win landslide victories. He avoided being labeled an extremist as Goldwater was; yet his supporters were incredibly enthusiastic and moderates responded to it.

Let’s be perfectly honest: Mitt Romney excites no one except for Mormons, political consultants, and Jennifer Rubin. To everybody else on the right, Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama would be a “lesser of two evils” election where we’d grudgingly back Mitt because we wouldn’t lose as badly with him in the White House as we would with Obama. That’s not the sort of thing that gets people fired up to make phone calls, canvass neighborhoods, or even put up “I heart Mitt” signs in their yards.

2) He’s a proven political loser: There’s a reason Mitt Romney has been able to say that he’s “not a career politician.” It’s because he’s not very good at politics. He lost to Ted Kennedy in 1994. Although he did win the governorship of Massachusetts in 2002, he did it without cracking 50% of the vote. Worse yet, he left office as the 48th most popular governor in America and would have lost if he had run again in 2006. Then, to top that off, he failed to capture the GOP nomination in 2008. This time around, despite having almost every advantage over what many people consider to be a weak field of candidates, Romney is still desperately struggling. Choosing Romney as the GOP nominee after running up that sort of track record would be like promoting a first baseman hitting .225 in AAA to the majors.

3) Running weak in the southern states: Barack Obama won North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida in 2008 and you can be sure that he will be targeting all three of those states again. This is a problem for Romney because he would be much less likely than either Gingrich or Perry to carry any of those states. Moderate northern Republicans have consistently performed poorly in the south and Romney won’t be any exception. That was certainly the case in 2008 when both McCain and Huckabee dominated Romney in primaries across the south. Mitt didn’t win a single primary in a southern state and although he finished second in Florida, he wasn’t even competitive in North Carolina or Virginia. Since losing any one of those states could be enough to hand the election to Obama in a close race, Mitt’s weakness there is no small matter.

4) His advantages disappear in a general election: It’s actually amazing that Mitt Romney isn’t lapping the whole field by 50 points because he has every advantage. Mitt has been running for President longer than the other contenders. He has more money and a better organization than the other candidates. The party establishment and inside the beltway media are firmly in his corner. That’s why the other nominees have been absolutely savaged while Romney, like John McCain before him, has been allowed to skate through the primaries without receiving serious scrutiny.

Yet, every one of those advantages disappears if he becomes the nominee. Suddenly Obama will be the more experienced candidate in the race for the presidency. He will also have more money and a better organization than Mitt. Moreover, in a general election, the establishment and beltway media will be aligned against Romney, not for him. Suddenly, Romney will go from getting a free pass to being public enemy #1 for the entire mainstream media.

If you took all those advantages away from Romney in the GOP primary, he’d be fighting with Jon Huntsman to stay out of last place. So, what happens when he’s the nominee and suddenly, all the pillars that have barely kept him propped up in SECOND place so far are suddenly removed? It may not be pretty.

5) Bain Capital: Mitt Romney became rich working for Bain Capital. This has been a plus for Romney in the Republican primaries where the grassroots tend to be dominated by people who love capitalism and the free market. However, in a year when Obama will be running a populist campaign and Occupy Wall Street is demonizing the “1%,” Mitt Romney will be a TAILOR MADE villain for them. Did you know that Bain Capital gutted companies and made a lot of money, in part, by laying off a lot of poor and middle class Americans? Do you know that Bain Capital got a federal bailout and Mitt Romney made lots of money off of it?

“The way the company was rescued was with a federal bailout of $10 million,” the ad says. “The rest of us had to absorb the loss … Romney? He and others made $4 million in this deal. … Mitt Romney: Maybe he’s just against government when it helps working men and women.”

The facts of the Bain & Co. turnaround are a little more complicated, but a Boston Globe report from 1994 confirms that Bain saw several million dollars in loans forgiven by the FDIC, which had taken over Bain’s failed creditor, the Bank of New England.

Did you know Ted Kennedy beat Romney in 1994 by hammering Mitt relentlessly on his time at Bain Capital? No wonder. The ads write themselves.

Imagine pictures of dilapidated, long since closed factories. They trot out scruffy looking workers talking about how bad life has been since Mitt Romney crushed their dreams and cost them their jobs. Then they show a clip of Mitt making his $10,000 bet and posing with money in his clothes. All Mitt needs is a monocle and a sniveling Waylon Smithers type character to follow him around shining his shoes to make him into the prototypical bad guy the Democrats are trying to create.

Now, the point of this isn’t to say that what Mitt did at Bain Capital was dishonorable. It certainly wasn’t. To the contrary, as a conservative, I find his work in the private sector to be just about the only thing he has going for him. But, people should realize that in a general election, Mitt’s time at Bain Capital will probably end up being somewhere between a small asset and a large liability, depending on which side does a better job of defining it.

6) The Mormon Factor: This is a sensitive topic; so I am going to handle it much, much more gently than Hollywood and the mainstream media will if Mitt gets the nomination. Mormons do believe in Jesus Christ, the Mormon Church does a lot of good work, the ones I’ve met seem to be good people, and two of my best friends are Mormons. That being said, Mormons are not considered to be a mainstream Christian religion in large swathes of the country. There will be Protestants who will have deep reservations about voting a Mormon into the White House because they’ll be afraid it will help promote what they believe to be a false religion. There have also been a number of polls that show that significant numbers of Americans won’t vote for a Mormon as President.

Just look at a couple of the more recent polls and consider how much of an impact this issue could have in a close election.

The poll found 67 percent of Americans want the president to be Christian and 52 percent said they consider Mormons to be Christian. Twenty-two percent of those polled said they don’t think Mormons are Christians and 26 percent are unsure.

“I do believe they are moral people, but again there is a difference between being moral and being saved,” Linda Dameron, an evangelical Republican in Independence, Mo., told the Tribune.

More than 40 percent of Americans would be uncomfortable with a Mormon as president, according to a new survey that also suggests that as more white evangelical voters have learned White House hopeful Mitt Romney is Mormon, the less they like him.

A survey by the Public Religion Research Institute released late Monday also shows that nearly half of white evangelical Protestant voters — a key demographic in the Republican primary race — don’t believe that Mormonism is a Christian faith, and about two-thirds of adults say the LDS faith is somewhat or very different than their own.

You should also keep in mind that if Mitt Romney gets the nomination, Hollywood and the mainstream media will conduct a vicious, months’ long hate campaign against the Mormon Church. They will take every opportunity to make Mormons look weird, racist, kooky, scary, and different. Would this be a decisive factor? I’d like to say no, but by the time all is said and done, it’s very easy to see Romney potentially losing hundreds of thousands of votes across the country because of his religion.

7) He’s a flip-flopper. Maybe my memory is failing me, but didn’t George Bush beat John Kerry’s brains in with the “flip flopper” charge back in 2004? So now, just eight years later, the GOP is going to run someone that even our own side agrees is a flip-flopper right out of the gate? Romney doesn’t even handle the charge well. When Brett Baier at Fox pointed out the obvious, Romney’s response was to get huffy and deny that he was flip flopping, which is kind of like Lady Gaga denying that she likes to get attention. If Mitt can’t even handle run-of-the-mill questions from FOX NEWS about his flip flopping, what makes anyone think he can deal with the rest of the press in a general election?

There are a lot of issues with trying to run a candidate who doesn’t seem to have any core principles. It makes it impossible for his supporters to get excited about him because you can’t fall in love with a weathervane. Even worse, since politicians tend to be such liars anyway and you know Romney has no firm beliefs, it’s very easy for everyone to assume the worst. Democrats will feel that Romney will be a right wing death-beast. Republicans will think that Romney will screw them over. Independents won’t know what to believe, which will make the hundreds of millions that Obama will spend on attack ads particularly effective. Ronald Reagan famously said the GOP needed “a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors.” That’s particularly relevant when it comes to Mitt Romney who has proven to be a pasty grey pile of formless mush.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: mittromney; romney; romney2012
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 next last
To: matthew fuller

Because only men remain in the hunt. Bachmann dropped out long ago due to lack of support.

If you are thinking of Palin, she is primarily a TV personality now. I don’t think she will ever again offer for high national office.


41 posted on 03/30/2012 7:17:21 PM PDT by citizen (Well, what happened to my tagline?? I must have overwritten it...time for a new one anyway.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: IrishBrigade
I.B., sorry, my error. I didn't realize that your first sentence was a quote.

I have a bad habit of sometimes scanning posts rather than reading them completely.

.

42 posted on 03/30/2012 7:37:24 PM PDT by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: citizen
hmmmm....If Romney gets elected, will you continue this daily assault? Just wondering...

Why would I stop, it's his record.

Are you ashamed of his record?

Is it something we should hide?

Listen, if he is your guy, why run away from his record?

To answer your question, I'll be posting his record up to and including the day of the election if Jim will let me.

I don’t know how things work out but I’m smart enough not to root against the only guy, at this point, that can eject Hussein from the People’s house.

That's where you are wrong. The exact opposite is true, he is the only candidate who will guarantee an Obama win and this is verified by the very articles you are taking me to task for posting.

The content of those very articles will be used by Obama and his minions in the Media to destroy the candidacy of Romney if he is nominated.
43 posted on 03/30/2012 8:33:39 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: IrishBrigade
...well, probably by reading the comments on this thread... of course, if we were to ‘gold’ our noses for anybody, Mitt would be the one...

Could you point me to the post that led you to believe anyone was suggesting that any republican should be voting for Obama, because I can't find it.
44 posted on 03/30/2012 8:36:37 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: NavyCanDo
Don't think anyone will notice how old these articles you are posting are?

I'm assuming you, and every other poster on FreeRepublic can read, or is that an incorrect assumption?
45 posted on 03/30/2012 8:38:04 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: rogue yam
This article states things that were interesting and important back in December when it was written.

Now, not so much.


So show me how the passage of a few months have changed the factors that this author presents as obstacles for Romney to overcome to get elected:

1) People just don’t like Mitt:
2) He’s a proven political loser:
3) Running weak in the southern states:
4) His advantages disappear in a general election:
5) Bain Capital:
46 posted on 03/30/2012 8:43:04 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom
Hopefully after he gets the nomination, and focuses on Obama, the new , new, new, Romney will appear and you will be able to hold your nose and vote for him; to keep Obama from appointing Supreme court justices, and Obama turning his present appointees to the highest levels of Government loose and unrestrained for 4 years to further wreck this country. - Tom

I understand the need for you to hope for that type of conclusion to this problem, however, there is nothing in Romney political career that would lend you or I hope that this is plausible.
47 posted on 03/30/2012 8:45:22 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
So show me how the passage of a few months have changed the factors that this author presents as obstacles for Romney to overcome to get elected:

What has changed is the answer to the question "Therefore what?"

In December the answer to this question might have been "Nominate someone else."

Now the answer is what?

48 posted on 03/30/2012 9:42:28 PM PDT by rogue yam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
Oh boy...let's run the guy who lost to McCain last time to run against the guy McCain then lost to. Great plan. I love that plan. What could go wrong with such a great plan?

Here's one problem: By the time obama and company finishes spending $1 Billion doing to Romney what Romney did to the Republican primary field, obama, dirty tricks and all, against "Let's hold our noses and vote for Romney!" will end with an obama landslide.

Which will give obama both a popular MANDATE and a second term with no fear of another election.

Yeah, love this plan.

49 posted on 03/30/2012 10:01:15 PM PDT by GBA (America has been infected. Be the cure!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: citizen

I think that if she is asked, she will serve. IMHO. And, she is the only person that I can think of at this date that can whip Obama. Romney is the only one of the four that can get nominated and that’s dubious unless there are some quitters, but if he does, way too much of the conservative base will sit out the General. Romney can’t win. That’s our only chance that I can see.


50 posted on 03/30/2012 10:57:01 PM PDT by matthew fuller (Pray for an open convention!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: GBA
Oh boy...let's run the guy who lost to McCain last time to run against the guy McCain then lost to. Great plan. I love that plan. What could go wrong with such a great plan?

Here's one problem: By the time obama and company finishes spending $1 Billion doing to Romney what Romney did to the Republican primary field, obama, dirty tricks and all, against "Let's hold our noses and vote for Romney!" will end with an obama landslide.

Which will give obama both a popular MANDATE and a second term with no fear of another election.

Yeah, love this plan.


There are people who sadly think Romney has a chance and they are going to ignore everything you just said.
51 posted on 03/30/2012 11:38:40 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

It will all hinge on the debates between Oblamer and Mitt.

If Mitt can make Oblamer look like the fool he is, then Mitt wins.

If Oblamer manipulates and character assassinates Mitt like most sleazy democraps do, then Oblamer wins.

I have a feeling Mitt will hit hard on issues like free markets vs. socialism. Any Mitt doubters cannot deny that Mitt’s business acumen is far above a loser President who hasn’t run a company in his life.

Obama will look like a simpleton when discussing economics vs. a business guy like Mitt.

I really think the debates will change the game at some point. Recall how Reagan made some key soundbyte wins in the debates and then there was no looking back for Reagan?


52 posted on 03/30/2012 11:45:56 PM PDT by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
The only difference between Rommey and Obama is Mitt will slow the Socialism Express Bus down to a mere 100-mph before he drives America right off Freedom/Liberty cliff instead the of 200-mph that BO is currently at.
53 posted on 03/30/2012 11:47:16 PM PDT by Captain Beyond (The Hammer of the gods! (Just a cool line from a Led Zep song))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

===”Could you point me to the post that led you to believe anyone was suggesting that any republican should be voting for Obama, because I can’t find it.”

A conservative not voting at all out of pride (e.g. “I won’t vote for a RINO”) is one less vote to fight Obama.

The real question is do conservatives want Obama or a RINO. Two choices, folks.

I wish Cain was in the running.


54 posted on 03/30/2012 11:50:21 PM PDT by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

MandateMitt, the fascists’ desperation candidate. And if selecte-nominated, should his poll numbers drop vs The Undocumented Fake, watch for the desperation file to be pulled out, forcing The Undocumented Fake to step aside.


55 posted on 03/31/2012 12:02:56 AM PDT by Varsity Flight (Phony-Care is the Government Work-Camp: Arbeitsziehungslager)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Rmoney bump


56 posted on 03/31/2012 1:19:21 AM PDT by Dajjal ("I'm not concerned about the very poor." -- severely conservative Mitt 'Etch-A-Sketch' Rmoney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
I understand the need for you to hope for that type of conclusion to this problem, however, there is nothing in Romney political career that would lend you or I hope that this is plausible.

We know what Obama is all about- an American hating Marxist.
We have to get him out of office, and get his minions out of key positions in the Fed. Govt. and stop him from appointing more left wing justices.

We have to play the lousy hand we are dealt by the Republicans. Staying home and not voting is giving the go ahead to the Marxists to destroy this country.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face is OK if it's just your nose that is involved. Unfortunaely we are talking about further getting our Constitution thrashed, and our great country, military,and Supreme court put into shambles with 4 more years of Obama and his high placed minions.

So I suggest not cutting off your nose, just hold it and vote against Obama. - tom

57 posted on 03/31/2012 6:45:39 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Capt. Tom
So I suggest not cutting off your nose, just hold it and vote against Obama. - tom

Sorry, but I can't vote for someone who is as left-wing, who is constantly lying, who will destroy the GOP if he was elected.

And frankly, Mitt can't win, he'll be destroyed.

I'll spend my time in more productive manners supporting those down-ticket who are actually republican AND conservative.


58 posted on 03/31/2012 7:31:19 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: AlanGreenSpam


There are three more that don't involve dishonoring yourself as a conservative:

1. Vote Third-Party
2. Write-in
3. Leave it blank.

59 posted on 03/31/2012 7:33:51 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: AlanGreenSpam
If Oblamer manipulates and character assassinates Mitt like most sleazy democraps do, then Oblamer wins.

You, I, and everyone else who is even slighly informed KNOWS that this will occur and that the media will be screaming it 24/7 until the election.

Like I've been saying, Mitt Romney is toast before he even starts.
60 posted on 03/31/2012 7:35:56 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 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