10 warnings for the 'Romney in 2016' crowd

Washington Post ^ | 01/13/2015 | Jennifer Rubin

[SeekAndFind]

Mitt Romney’s big donors and his misfit band of 2012 advisers (who managed to make one of the most competent and generous men to run for the presidency look like a bumbling Scrooge) are trying, obviously and frantically, to keep their own hopes alive for another Romney run. They might want to rethink what they are doing. Here are 10 tips for the “Romney in 2016 crowd:

1. Using talking points like “Ronald Reagan ran three times” treats Republicans like dolts. Fellas, Reagan lost in 1976, then won in 1980 and 1984. Romney might, however, move in on Harold Stassen’s legacy. (Stassen tried for the presidency nine times. Never got there.)

2. The “rivalry” between Romney and Jeb Bush is like that between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The former is so confident of its own stature that it does not know there is a rivalry. Romney is Los Angeles.

3. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell doesn’t buy into a 2016 Romney run. (“I think Mitt Romney’s motivation here, people close to him think, in the end, he won’t do it, that all this talk is really antagonism against watching Jeb Bush getting so far out front that this is kind of, ‘If Jeb can do this, I can do it.’ But that in the end, he’ll realize, there’ll be a reality check. The third time is not a charm.”) Neither does the conservative blog Hot Air. When neither the liberal media nor sober conservative bloggers want to play along, Spencer Zwick needs a different hobby (other than trying to spin the media).

4. If Romney had really learned anything from 2012, he’d be telling his 2012 team to scram and he’d be out getting new, serious advisers who know how to poll, how to message and how to defend from smears.

[CommerceComet]

I think Romney would make a good president.

Then why was he such a lousy governor?

[JoeFromSidney]

Far and away, Romney’s best adviser in 2012 (maybe his only competent one in the top tier) was Ed Gillespie.

I wasn't impressed with Gillespie before. I don't think he's going to help Mittens much.