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Life After Defeat For Mitt Romney: Public Praise, Private Questions [Recriminations Begin!]
Washington Post ^ | November 07, 2012 | Philip Rucker

Posted on 11/07/2012 10:26:27 PM PST by Steelfish

Life After Defeat For Mitt Romney: Public Praise, Private Questions

By Philip Rucker November 7

BOSTON — Mitt Romney began his retreat from public life Wednesday at a private breakfast gathering with a couple hundred of his most loyal and affluent campaign benefactors. The former Massachusetts governor, humbled by the thumping that ended his six-year pursuit of the presidency, reminisced about the journey and tried not to cry.

Romney waxed about the roaring crowds in the campaign’s closing days and the feeling that he was winning, said donors in attendance. He commended Stuart Stevens, his chief strategist, as well as his senior aides, and then went around thanking donors one by one.

“Mitt was vintage Mitt,” said L.E. Simmons, an oil investor on Romney’s national finance committee. “He was analytical, no notes, spoke from the heart and was very appreciative.”

But Romney’s top aides, who only a couple of days ago were openly speculating about who would fill which jobs in a Romney administration, woke up Wednesday to face brutal recriminations.

Some top donors privately unloaded on Romney’s senior staff, describing it as a junior varsity operation that failed to adequately insulate and defend Romney through a summer of relentless attacks from the Obama campaign over his business career and personal wealth.

“Everybody feels like they were a bunch of well-meaning folks who were, to use a phrase that Governor Romney coined to describe his opponent, way in over their heads,” said one member of the campaign’s national finance committee, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 11/07/2012 10:26:34 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

The Republican/conservative consultancy industry needs an enema.


2 posted on 11/07/2012 10:32:27 PM PST by RichInOC (Palin 2016: The Perfect Storm.)
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To: Steelfish
OK.

Well, bye.

3 posted on 11/07/2012 10:33:31 PM PST by TigersEye (Who is John Galt?)
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To: Steelfish

Bye Mitt, enjoy your money.


4 posted on 11/07/2012 10:34:44 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Steelfish

I hope we never hear from him again


5 posted on 11/07/2012 10:36:12 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: Steelfish
I don't know how to tell you this, but in one of my infrequent postings to Free Republic, I posted this: Mitt Romney: How to lose an election without really trying. One can see the comments I received telling me that Don Feder, one of the greatest Conservative writers, was unknown and wrong. Well, he was not wrong. I was caught up in the enthusiams of Rush Limbaugh and Charles Krauthammer; etc., but the first inkling I got that my original prediction was correct when I posted this post was when I voted and seeing the long lines of people there and the black mn I spoke with and his enthusiams for Obama.

If we had listened to Don Feder in electing Michelle Bachmann or Newt Gingrich (my choices), we would have had a better fighting chance.

6 posted on 11/07/2012 10:36:44 PM PST by Stepan12
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To: Steelfish

Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have beaten Obama yesterday.. give it a rest


7 posted on 11/07/2012 10:37:52 PM PST by Lib-Lickers 2
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To: Lib-Lickers 2
Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have beaten Obama yesterday.

Sad but true.

8 posted on 11/07/2012 10:42:51 PM PST by windsorknot
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To: Steelfish

Mitt Romney was not the conservative candidate of our dreams, but I don’t believe he deserves to be trashed. Sure, we can criticize campaign performance and weaknesses, but unlike McCain, Romney wanted to win and he fought for it.

He is also a good man and an accomplished man. If we trash that and ridicule him for being financially successful, we are no better than the welfare state addicts who re-elected Obama.


9 posted on 11/07/2012 10:49:36 PM PST by sockhead (Socialism: trickle up poverty.)
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To: Lib-Lickers 2

Yes he would have. And he would have run a 50 state national campaign.


10 posted on 11/07/2012 10:54:44 PM PST by Arthurio
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To: RichInOC

>> He commended Stuart Stevens, his chief strategist ...

Well, now, isn’t that sweet?


11 posted on 11/07/2012 10:57:27 PM PST by QBFimi (When gunpowder speaks, beasts listen.)
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To: Lib-Lickers 2
Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have beaten Obama yesterday.. give it a rest

I disagree. People think of Ronald Reagan as this guy who gives great speeches. Actually, Reagan was a seasoned political operative from his days as president of the Screen Actors Guild all the way through California's governorship. The problem with Romney is that he's a political novice - he's only won one election in his life and never spent any time figuring out the ins-and-outs of winning elections. Romney has 20 IQ points or more on GWB, but GWB has superior political judgment from being immersed in politics his whole life.

12 posted on 11/07/2012 10:57:36 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Lib-Lickers 2

Who knows? If we knew what it takes to win, we’d be doing it ourselves instead of hoping someone else would do it for us.


13 posted on 11/07/2012 10:57:56 PM PST by ari-freedom (Election Day should be after Thanksgiving, not right after Halloween)
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To: Zhang Fei

I read that Romney’s ground campaign was practically non existent. Where did the 1 billion go?


14 posted on 11/07/2012 11:00:05 PM PST by Arthurio
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To: Zhang Fei

One reason why it bothered me that McCain picked Palin. She’d be a better candidate today if she was ‘allowed’ to quietly finish her term and get re-elected.


15 posted on 11/07/2012 11:01:54 PM PST by ari-freedom (Election Day should be after Thanksgiving, not right after Halloween)
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To: Arthurio

“I read that Romney’s ground campaign was practically non existent. Where did the 1 billion go?”

I guess that shows he wasn’t the guy we need to get our fiscal house in order.


16 posted on 11/07/2012 11:03:11 PM PST by ari-freedom (Election Day should be after Thanksgiving, not right after Halloween)
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To: Zhang Fei

And W had Rove.

Love him or hate him, the guy knew how to win.


17 posted on 11/07/2012 11:04:02 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: Lib-Lickers 2

GWB supported the auto bailout because he understood the Electoral College and down ticket effects from the effect on the Rust Belt states. He won OH in 2000 and 2004. Romney should have said nothing or kept a low profile. Instead, he had to grandstand and pen a newspaper editorial. GWB’s gaffes were mainly mispronunciations of words or malapropisms. Romney alienated big chunks of the population with mentions of 47% and his two Cadillacs. Romney’s are the kinds of mistakes experienced pols don’t make.


18 posted on 11/07/2012 11:04:24 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: ari-freedom

The ground game can call and knock and walk, but only voters can vote.


19 posted on 11/07/2012 11:05:02 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: sockhead

He is also a good man and an accomplished man. If we trash that and ridicule him for being financially successful, we are no better than the welfare state addicts who re-elected Obama.

I agree and would like to add: America turned down a great opportunity to get its economy in order. He lost now leave him the hell alone.


20 posted on 11/07/2012 11:09:42 PM PST by RightLady (Take out the trash Nov 6th--too late)
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