"What precipitated Shitt Romney's downfall the most?"

By request.

• 47%

  Mother%20Jones

• Here Mr. Burns explains it all:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltCIEbLMaQg&feature=relmfu

• People just weren't that into him.

• Sanity.

• Also: The Jeep ad "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" "Binders full of women" "Big Bird" "I like firing people" So much ...

• The secret 47 percent video shafted Shitt Romney but good. People don't like being talked about and told that they're pieces of shit. And then being asked for their vote via a series of lies, deceptions, fraud and bullshit from someone who woke up on third base and thought he hit a triple.

• What am I, chopped liver???

  Sandy

• Not even Republicans liked him. He told so many lies he no longer even knew what he was saying. Paul Ryan was a disaster, couldn't even carry his own state, they had to hide him out most the the election season. Willard was not trustworthy, his wife sucks everytthing except dick. The whole family made me sick. The thought of that brood in the white house ordering the staff around wiping their asses with special interest money.

• Sandy, you were a bit late to the game. You helped, but you went a little overboard, bitch.

• This thread was meant to come with a poll, but thanks anyway, OP-by-proxy. The poll would have included these options: 1) the dog on the roof, 2) his ill-advised trip to London, 3) Clint Eastwood, 4) James Carter IV / 47 percent, 5) Big Bird, 6) binders full of women, 7) not disclosing his tax returns, 8) not using Ann sparingly, 9) lying Mitt underestimating the American public, 10) Sandy. Maybe someone can start a new thread, *as a poll* ? TIA.

  original%20OP%2C%20part%20of%20the%2047%2C%20and%20without%2018%20dollars.

• People still having a character trait called common sense and him coming off as the shiftiest car salesman ever.

• He is the stereotypical angry old white American.

• Clint Eastwood.

• I tried to overlook it -- but, really, he had no prayer with me once I heard about that poor dog (and how glib Romney acted in regards to it, no big deal). Ann's patronizing "I looooooove women!" stuck in my craw too. I find myself repeating it once a week whenever I see that kind of fake stewardess sweetness. And Ryan in that workout gear with backwards cap, pure doofus and he POSED for it, wasn't caught in an off moment. So much. almost depressing. all that money spent and that out of touch?

• Where's your empty chair now, Mr. Eastwood? Oh right... at the RNC headquarters!

• Since Bill Clinton left office, I had lost faith in the American public. Every voting cycle seemed to dumb down the country further and further. The right-wing was ruining everything. My candidates or issues never seemed to win for more than a decade. Even is 2008, my candidate lost. I was and still am a huge Hillary supporter. To this day, I always believed that she should have been president in 2008 and 2012. I still have that regret, and now she has to wait untl 2016 to be president, and who knows if she'll run or win. But last night, at least some of my faith was restored in the American public. I'm still not completely sold on Obama but I'm coming around, but he won and I'm very happy albeit a bit regretful for Hillary. Obama won over an evil Romney and the public recognized that and soundly defeated him. The American public also sent a wave of new Democrats to Washington. And even same-sex marriage won several long, hard battles. Maybe the country is changing if only for the next fout years. Today is a great day.

• GOD

• He veered too far right to appease the TP wackos in the party

• He's too far right.

• Tbere were many, many reasons, but I think the non-stop lies did him in. Also, more men than women voted for Romney, the rape comments cost him big time too. And, of course the 47% remarks. And the fact that republicans were the biggest factor in the economic meltdown and I think many people get that. The autobail out cost him Ohio, which cost him the election.

  Many, many reasons

• 47%, the pathological lying, no tax returns (and no taxes, apparently) and Hurricane Sandy.

• That is was a robot?

  Ashe

• R16, I totally agree. Well put.

• Let's not forget appearing on Univision in brownface. It was kind of like the Howard Dean scream. Candidates have a hard time recovering from looking like fools.

• Because Democratic politicians are educated, intelligent, thinking people and not a bunch of rock pickers with Divinity degrees from Oral Roberts U.

• [quote]Even is 2008, my candidate lost. I was and still am a huge Hillary supporter. To this day, I always believed that she should have been president in 2008 and 2012. I still have that regret, and now she has to wait untl 2016 to be president, and who knows if she'll run or win. MARY!

• A woman's right to chews, auto bailout.

• It's true. There are too many reasons to count. WORST candidate for POTUS in US history - that much is clear. And history will not look kindly upon the Republican Party for running atrocities like Sarah Palin, George Bush, and Romney, all in the same decade. What the Republicans have done to the US in the last twelve years makes countries like Venezuela or the Ukraine seem stable by comparison.

  Original%20OP.

• His whole cold uncaring billionaire and inability to seem human thing 47%

• Of course they will run a Hispanic candidate in 2016. Because they really do think that's all it takes. But then the south and mid-west will say, "Wait a god-dern minute," and hilarity will ensue.

• Lost the independents by pandering to the far right. He should've ignored the Tea Party, they had nowhere else to go.

• 47% was the official end of his campaign and consigned him to irrelevance for eternity. It's why you won't know or remember who he is a year from now.

• 47 push him over the edge, but it was really Clint Eastwood and, before that, his trip to London that exposed and confirmed to a wider audiece that he was ineligible. He'd kept the veneer or electability until then. By the time the 47 percent video came around, it was already clear he had had no chance. The debate hype was contrived bullshit. London, Eastwood and 47 had already buried him.

  Original%20OP.

• It's tempting to attribute this just to Romney's inadequacies, but I think the reason is more basic: Republican strategy, which paired big money with white male chauvinism and evangelical fervor, is just not demographically sound.

• Bill Clinton going all out to help Barack Obama also hurt Mitt

• His heart is two sizes too small.

• Dear Roger Ailes, Will Mittens be getting his own show on FOX like Mike Huckabee, or will he become a FOX 'contributor' like me?

  Sincerely, Sarah Palin

• All of the above. The impression he was desperate for the title but actually didn't care about the people of the job, at least half of them anyway. The fake Ryan photo ops in the soup kitchen, the buying of the food to have it fake donated to him in order to be photographed collecting it. It all said he was only pretending to care. The man SAID he LOVES firing people. WHO LOVES firing people?? Psychos and Sadists. Most people don't like to be played. For me though, it was the dog. That straight up told me everything I needed to know about the concrete character of the man and what was missing. And I believe him when he says he loves firing people. He's a natural vulture and good at it. There is a place in this world for vultures, I just don't want them as my President telling me my country is a business when his business, as successful as it was, was gutting companies and destroying jobs. I could never get a read about what he really stood for because he tried to stand for everything and he said we would have to elect him to find out the fine points of his plan for the economy. Appeared like a crap shoot. The casual and frequent lying during the debates. Ryan and his attempting legislation of women's vaginas. The knowledge that his own party didn't think he was right wing enough but were puttting up with him to get a toehold in order to sock it to us later with their rigid plan for this country. Republican now stands for crazy old white men. They don't appeal to moderate independents like me.

• It is very frightening how close the race was given how evil Mitt is.

• What does Sandy have to do with anything?

• I doubt that r37, Shitt has no appeal, whereas Huckabee has some, in his own bigoted and idiotically perverse way.

• It wasn't just the 47% comment but an open disdain for so many groups -- women, gays, etc. There was no way he could claim he was misquoted or misspoke, these were words directly from his mouth. As my mother said shortly before Election Day, "look at the photos of Obana visiting the people at the Jersey shore. You get the impression that he genuinely cares about people and feels their pain. You don't get that with Romney".

• I agree, start a new thread with a poll.

• That thought crossed my mind too R37 (or, Suck-it Sarah as I like to call you.) I hope he doesn't become a talking head on TV. They really were the most repulsive little group - Mitt, Ann, "the boys" (yuck) and Paul Ryan. Horrible, horrible people every one.

• That's because Huckabee is funny, R41. Like Abe Lincoln & Will Rogers, only nuts. But still kind of likable.

• It's a downfall of the entire party which is completely splintered, 100% divorced from reality and blinded by their own self-preservation mixed in with a bunch of ignorant, irrational lemmings who go around spouting FNC talking points without any idea of what they're actually talking about (you can see them on YouTube). And it's ALL WHITE PEOPLE. A lot of them STUPID WHITE PEOPLE. They're so convinced of their own superiority that they're all over the tube this morning pretending they still have cards to play - none of which would be in the interest of the country - and they somehow hold all the power that being President really isn't the best thing, etc. I mean, they are DELUSIONAL. They represent the worst of America - just look at their history, just go back 40 years. Nothing to be proud of except their vain, self-interested materialism. I mean, Fox News is still acting like Obama won this by a "sliver." Yeah, it was over before 11:30 PM, Fox News. It was hardly a sliver. They're already trying to de-legitimise his win, already saying he has no mandate. No mandate when he won the Electoral College with CONVICTION and his popular vote numbers are nearing the same margin between Bush/Kerry in 2004. He's less the 100,000 votes right now from matching or over-taking Bush's lead and we all remember how then they went on like Bush could re-enact the slave trade so powerful was his MANDATE. Ridiculous. But I think even their followers are tiring of the pundits always being wrong. My freeper brother couldn't fathom anything but a win for Romney when I spoke with him on Monday afternoon. He said, "If Obama wins then it means that I am so out of touch and just completely clueless." It must be a big day for him today.

• It wasn't really a major downfall. "Romney had 45.2 million votes, or 49 percent. Obama had 45 million, also 49 percent" Conventional wisdom is that usually when the economy sucks an incumbent is easier to topple but in the years following 9/11 I think the climate is different. People are afraid of cutting social benefits that otherwise might not be. We are still at war with the world which, rightly or wrongly makes Obama right with the right wing. In fact the powers of the Pariot act have been expanded. We are bombing supposed al-Qaeda bunkers in Yemen without declaring war killing innocent people. Which of course will make civilians hate us more and might easily increase membership. We can now lockup and even assassinate people without trials. And torture them. These are things that in the past have appealed to the right wing. I think we are too busy to question the 500 page NAFTA ('94?) which led to job loss as it's critics predicted.

• It was a major downfall, R47. Get over it.

  https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/c23.0.403.403/p403x403/602618_521169771228250_1145768663_n.jpg

• [quote]It wasn't really a major downfall. Wow. Just wow.

• I think Mitt Romney now understands his relationship with the camera and that every time he steps in front of it, it makes him look like a scheming, unscrupulous, shallow liar. I don't think we'll see him near one again for a long, long time. Tagg Romney has Liz Cheney potential, if that really counts or is meaningful in any way. I mean, it's not like either one of them has to work.

• Republicans still having trouble with that reality thing.

• BTW, R47, the popular votes haven't all been counted.

• Right r46, Bush claimed a mandate in '04 even though he didn't really have one. Now it's up to Obama to do the same, but I don't think he will. He loves bipartisanship, not mandates. Get ready for Simpson-Bowles grand bargain.

• Hispanics voted for Obama in droves. Repubs are too far right. Women alarmed by war on women. The election wasn't all that close.

• I posted this yesterday on another thread but I think this makes a lot of sense...

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burnett/top-ten-reasons-romney-lost_b_2087664.html

• Another Request for a new thread... "Republican Meltdowns" Whether you find them on Free Republic, saw them on TV or can link to YouTube video, post them here!

• everything you all said... But, I feel the number 1 reason is the 47% comment.

• The truth shall out!!

• MORMONISM

• The fact that he's a profoundly unlikeable person.

• I know this won't be a popular reply, but I think Romney is a fairly decent man, given his background and circumstances (born to wealth, career in private equity). The pressure on him to appease the Tea Party and other nutters in the GOP to keep his show on the road distorted his whole personality during the campaign and made him come across as fake and slimey. He sounded more authentic and relaxed in his concession speech than he has for months. The same phenomenon was observable in McCain last time, although he cracked at one point when some nutter at a rally said Obama was a Muslim terrorist (or some such nonsense). McCain's response - that Obama was a decent family man - was his finest hour. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Obama won, but I think Romney is not naturally at home with the driving forces within his own party, and it was that which people subconsciously tuned into.

• It kills me that they're such sore losers that they're already starting with the "Global Economy Dives Post Obama Win" story. European markets actually opened high today and, in the UK at least, where I live, the response has been very positive if a little muted which I think is indicative of an overall lack of interest in this election compared to previous years. Frankly, we have our own problems. But Cameron is excited. R53, I don't Obama is in a position to enact a full ideological agenda based on personal issues with his father or anything but the fact remains - there is a lot of work to do. Americans are far too aware of the problems the country is facing in terms of the economy, jobs, health care, the deficit, regulatory work, the tax code, entitlements, etc., etc., energy! A ton of issues. And I'd rather have somebody like Obama in power when the country is finally forced to deal with these problems than a Republican.

• [quote]Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Obama won, but I think Romney is not naturally at home with the driving forces within his own party And this is based on what, exactly?

• CNN is asking "Where did Romney go wrong?" The real question is "Where Romney didn't go wrong?" Idiots.

  Rafalca

• [quote]He sounded more authentic and relaxed in his concession speech than he has for months. I thought he sounded full of simmering rage covered over with a simulacrum of cordiality.

• What bothered me most was that his scripted or posed appearances seemed awkward, robotic and obvious. His unscripted appearances….well he didn't have many of them. That left me with the feeling that he couldn't be trusted.

• I think we have to give credit where credit is due... Miss Dionne Warwick & her clever infiltration of the Romney camp.

• Truth. Justice. Diversity. what needful else That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace, We will perform in measure, time and place: So, thanks to all at once and to each one,...

• I would also give the Rolling Stone article about him and Bain Capital credit for explaining IN DETAIL how Bain Capital destroyed so many US companies and as a result destroyed the financial well being of lower and middle class. It must have been impossible for any man with common sense to see him as nothing but a traitor who screwed fellow US citizens over for his own personal gain. And you just don't elect someone like him into a position where he could do even greater harm. I am not a spiteful person, but I did hope that the entire Romney family would get tarred and feathered and then get carried away on railroad tracks to be never heard of or seen again (and with Ralfalca riding into the sunset all by itself).

• [quote]The fact that he's a profoundly unlikeable person. Do not underestimate affability.

  Ronald%20Reagan%20and%20Bill%20Clinton%2C%20in%20unison

• Americans don't mind millionaires succeeding, but Romney and Ryan had no interest at all in economic justice. No one wants the deck stacked against them. Romney had contempt for non-rich, non-white, non-straight Americans and that showed through.

• The 47 Percent. The Year's Best Movie.

• George. W. Bush. Try as they might to hide him, not many had amnesia. Those years were so miserable. He and Cheney can take the brunt of blame for the demise of that party. An ugly time in American history that we want to get away from and hopefully Obama will at least get us in the right frame of mind to do so. It's only hope but it's something.

• He was fundamentaly unfit to serve even the base knew this which is why they were looking for a Great White Hope (or Herman Cain) til the convention.

• More than anything, it's that people don't believe that our deficits and national debt pose a threat to our economy. If that threat materializes, Ryan will be your next president. If not, Hillary or another Dem will win. How many people stop using their credit-cards until they are cut off?

• Another reason Republicans lost is they refuse to rely on intellect and instead appeal to base emotions, at a time where we need brains to get us out of this mess.

• [quote] A woman's right to chews I don't recall this ever coming during the debates.

• [quote] it's that people don't believe that our deficits and national debt pose a threat to our economy. I don't think it's been adequately explained how national debt really does affect our economy, or if it does. And I would also say that even if it does, a lot of people don't believe Romney/Ryan were anymore serious about it than Obama/Biden. We all know candidates all talk about this when running for office, then really do nothing about it when elected.

• [quote]Americans don't mind millionaires succeeding, but Romney and Ryan had no interest at all in economic justice. No one wants the deck stacked against them. [/quote] In another thread I noted the problems with bailouts (socialism), and was told I was "jealous that others had their debt covered," as if I would envy a deadbeat. Using that same logic, I could argue that the people who re-elected OWEbama are just jealous that they couldn't become wealthy, like Mitt. This economy has been propped up by almost $10 trillion in bailout money, and money-printing by the fed, while people act like we're actually earning the money. All we've done is double-down on the phantom wealth from the Bush years, by shifting the bubble from the private balance sheets to the national treasury. It's not going to be too much longer before we get a replay of 2009, this time without the bailouts. Nature will eventually assert itself, as history has proven (Germany 1923, Zimbabwe, etc.). Carter lost in 1980 because inflation was so high that wealth was being wiped out. We are now going to see what would have happened had Carter won instead in 1980. Godspeed. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not.

• Bill O'Reilly:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3DvZXzTOqs9eM

• [quote]CNN is asking "Where did Romney go wrong?" The real question is "Where Romney didn't go wrong?" Idiots.[/quote[ More like the country has too many people feeding off the treasury, to the point where they can elect people who will keep the gravy train going until the global economy collapses.

• R81, could you list the 'gravy train' you are referring to? What comprises the 'gravy train'? If you are including the millions on social security who are currently in their 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's, they paid into the system for years in order to have some money to live on in their older age.

• [quote]I don't think it's been adequately explained how national debt really does affect our economy, or if it does. And I would also say that even if it does, a lot of people don't believe Romney/Ryan were anymore serious about it than Obama/Biden. We all know candidates all talk about this when running for office, then really do nothing about it when elected.[/quote] That's the other problem, and I agree with you on the lip service. Humans are reactive, and will react to this only when the shit hits the fan. If they don't impose austerity, nature will, but even then, we have so many resources we'll just have another New Deal and start over, but at least then everyone will be broke, so no one will have the advantage of undeserved wealth. This is what we had in 1932 and 1933, and it's when the true recovery from the Great Depression began. If the rich won't lift the poor, through sound economic policies, the poor will eventually bring down the rich, by spending us into bankruptcy. It is truly fascinating to watch the political tug-of-war between those who want us to serve capitalism, and those who want capitalism (or socialism) to serve us. I can't say the poor and unskilled are wrong for voting in their sel-interest. Socialism benefits the many at the expense of the few, but benefitting the many also benefits society. It's just not a meritocracy. We are so wealthy as a nation that we do not need a meritocracy, and can function just fine as socialists, but those of us who get ahead on merit will find that abhorrent. By definition, we will be in the minority. Tax me at 10, 20, or 90 percent, and my skill will still prevail, but with different economic outcomes.

• [quote]could you list the 'gravy train' you are referring to? What comprises the 'gravy train'? If you are including the millions on social security who are currently in their 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's, they paid into the system for years in order to have some money to live on in their older age.[/quote] First off, the "gravy train" goes beyond entitlements, and just the use of bailouts to circumvent nature and not allow capitalism to take its course. I trust in capitalism, and would rather we let the carnage hit now, so we can get into the recovery phase faster. It's like if you try to suppress vomiting; whatever is making you sick will remain in your stomach until you expunge it. Letting the banks and automakers fail was that "vomit." Think of entitlements as a pie to be shared by all who are entitled. Everyone is taking too big a slice, and no one wants to give up anything from their slice. Collectively, they are bankrupting the nation. You are correct to the extent that we do not need to balance the budget or pay back the debt. The real problem is that individuals like me, who could really balance the budget, would never be given the chance, because everyone has an opinion, all opinions are valid, and everyone deserves a trophy for just showing up. If in fact I am the "smartest guy in the room," I'll be that way under any system, as long as I know what that system is. The bailouts were just a bait-and-switch that forced me to radically adjust my long-term planning. It has delayed my rise into the one percent, but by no means has it been derailed.

• Ask not what your country can do for you, because it cannot do shit.

• This election was over the moment the GOP primary lineup opened their mouths. Clown car is putting it mildly.

• The 47% comment was the tipping point. It showed exactly what Romney was like. People usually say what they really mean when they think no one can hear them - in this case, even though the comment was made in a room with a lot of people, he could hardly deny the comment as it has been recorded.

• No, it was because a majority of voters refer to the losing candidate as Shitt Romney, defining effectively where we are as a nation now and will likely remain for some time.

• Yeah, I agree with those who said it was EVERYTHING. It all culminated in revealing a man who was not prepared for the position he was running for. One down, the next to go. I already fear Paul Ryan.

• I agree, R87. The minute that story broke I knew it was the end of the Romney campaign's hopes. The 47% includes conservatives as well as liberals. Romney couldn't afford to alienate them all.

• A lot of people are missing something very obvious: his Boston campaign team was grossly incompetent and refused help from seasoned Republican operatives. And Project ORCA was a colossal failure. A massive fail. The idea that election day was a good time to get out the vote is insane. You should really do that before election day. Just saying.

• I truly believe this election serves as wake up for the Repukes. The simple fact is, the minority coalition of blacks, Latinos, Asians, single women, gays, and the under 30s make it almost impossible for a them to win a general election. Romney SHOULD have won. Twenty years ago, before the coalition voted as they do now, Romney would have won this election in a landslide. It's time for the right to realize they can't get away with backwards social policy and expect us "minorities" to just grin and bear it.

• I think it's really premature to say that R92.

• I agree, R93, much too sweeping of a proclamation and conclusion at R92. Romney won 72 percent of the white vote. They had calculated winning 78 percent of the white vote.

• Maybe, R93 and R94. But if I was a republican strategist, I certainly would take a long, hard look at my social issue platform and see if the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater. I contend that many, many moderates, or even closet conservatives (fiscal), would have voted for Romney over Obama if many of the arcane social issues weren't on the table.

• I don't think you mean 'arcane'. perhaps you mean anachronistic

• I see your point R95.

• [quote] I certainly would take a long, hard look at my social issue platform and see if the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater. There may be a way to say that in a way which cannot possibly evoke women's reproductive rights.

• I meant archaic, R95. Sorry, was posting from work and doing a few things at once.

• The biggest failure of all is Mitt himself, and I'm sure he's been whipping himself all day (or whatever it is that sociopaths do) over it. He's a failure in daddy's eyes - you know that's true. But he can't connect with people. The votes and support he got are from people who vote Republican 'just because'. Whatever people say about him is canned rhetoric. I don't think many supporters can truly say what they think or feel about him other than to repeat what they think they're supposed to feel about him.

• I think it was simply his utter lack of authenticity.

• Billionaires Boys Clubs are OBSOLETE

• It's hilarious how no one even bothered to address R84. The Republican Party truly is dying, and the rest of us are moving on with our lives.

  Rafalca

• R1 is right

• R84 is like some super Republican. It has mutated.

• [quote]people don't believe that our deficits and national debt pose a threat to our economy There's a name for those people, they're called REPUBLICANS!!! At least while George W was in office. All this Republican concern over debt magically materialized on Obama's inauguration day. It's appropriate that the Republicans selected Mitt, because, like him, they have no governing principles. They have one set of beliefs when they are in power, then the opposite set of beliefs when they are out of power. [quote]I think Romney is a fairly decent man, given his background and circumstances (born to wealth, career in private equity). I couldn't disagree more. The man's entire life and career, as summed up by other posters on this thread, indicate that he is fundamentally indecent, and no one has even mentioned the bullying incident in private school where he cut off the gay kid's hair, then claimed he DIDN'T REMEMBER the event. Bullshit. And no one HAS to go into a career in private equity where you put other people out of work and ruin companies. I know politicians are a different breed, but no decent person tells so many bald-faced lies, including ones that assume that his listeners are complete idiots, which is not only dishonest, but insulting. [quote]The pressure on him to appease the Tea Party and other nutters in the GOP to keep his show on the road distorted his whole personality during the campaign and made him come across as fake and slimy There's a reason there were so many freaks and losers in the Republican primaries: the more accomplished and stable chose not to subject themselves to the process. Most of us make some compromises in life, but Romney showed he has absolutely no inner core, no set of real beliefs, at least none he would talk about. You don't HAVE to run for president, and if you do, you don't have to tell a lie with every other sentence.

• One of the first things that stuck with me was Shitt Romney saying, "I was a severely conservative governor." First of all, no, he wasn't. Secondly, no one talks like that--not even the hardcore conservatives.

• Every word Romney says is a lie including "and" and "the."

  Mary McCarthy

• I have heard from a reputable source that God did not want Romney to be corrupted by the White House so He did what He needed to do.

• R109, do you have a hot-line to Kolob, the star-planet where the Mormon God lives?

• R110--Lighten up, girlfriend!

• Awful, awful man. Mitt Romney has actually been ELEVATED by his loss, because he now gets to be mentioned in the same breath as men of real achievement and conviction as Adlai Stevenson, Hubert Humphrey, Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, Bob Dole, and Al Gore. He doesn't deserve that.

• It's a fair trade, R112. Let him be regarded as an honorable also-ran. The alternative is too dreadful to contemplate.

• [R107] -- I was lurking at Redstate back when he said that, and they thought it was a particularly awkward and stupid thing to say.

• Republican attempts to suppress minority voters.

• No recognition for Team Obama? They spent millions and did a ton of early work on a depiction of Romney as an out of touch, kind of weird, middle-class hating, rich fuck who didn't care about the lives of ordinary Americans. They did that knowing that he actually IS like that. They bet that it would eventually come out in the campaign. Romney helped the strategy along by shooting his mouth off in the 47% video and proving them right in every possible respect. But mostly what killed him is that Romney is not personable or likable. People don't want him in their televisions every day for the next four years. The President we have is actually pretty easy to take as a constant presence in American life. And the ghost of Seamus got some sweet revenge.

• After reading 116 posts, gosh I get the impression that Hate was pretty much the only factor in this election. I take you guys as being fairly representative, intellectually anyway, and very few of you say anything about the guy who won.

• It's a little late for a Republican to start sniffing about the incivility of politics, r88/r117.

• Well yeah, genius at R117, the thread is call "Shitt Romney's Downfall." We're just staying on topic.

• Tell it to Karl Rove, R117.

• Romney just doesn't seem to like people, which was evident throughout the campaign. He was like the R1 of campaigners. He would always make some mean-spirited or cunty remark to insult his hosts. Like when he criticized the cookies he was given in Pennsylvania because he thought they had come from a 7-11 (when they were actually from the beloved local bakery). Or when he insulted NASCAR fans by mocking their plastic rain ponchos (and insisted that he could relate to NASCAR fans because "some of my best friends own NASCAR teams"). Or when he insulted the Brits by saying he wasn't sure whether they were prepared for the Olympics. The first rule of campaigning has to be "Don't insult your hosts," but Romney couldn't even master that.

• [quote]No recognition for Team Obama? [quote]They spent millions and did a ton of early work on a depiction of Romney as an out of touch, kind of weird, middle-class hating, rich fuck who didn't care about the lives of ordinary Americans. Honest propaganda is effective. Some documentary on the OSS included an interview with a woman who wrote propaganda during the war. I remember her saying that when discussing what they did and what worked.

• As I have stated several times, George was too good a man to be tainted by the White House What is--is-- Give me some credit here!

  God

• Wow R117, to complain about "hate" when the Republican platform was based on nothing but hate--hate for the 47%, hate for gays, hate for "victims" hate for people who "want stuff" hate for women, hate for immigrants, hate for minorities etc.-- just goes to show how hypocritical and/or delusion you (and yours) truly are.

• He totally lost the Muppet vote. Nobody has ever won the White House without the support of the Muppets.

  http://i.qkme.me/3ron0e.jpg

• Romney finally fell down the rabbit-hole and believed the lies, believed FOX News.

• r117 and r61 are the most hilarious posters, precisely because they aren't trolls. Their delusion is real, and it's just delicious to behold. r61: a man who straps his helpless dog to the roof of his car, drives off, with the dog shitting down the windows, in agony - a man who does that is not a 'decent man', and certainly not 'just misunderstood'. He is a sadist, a sociopath, and a menace to society. Your idea of decency is truly odd. Maybe Adolf Hitler was misunderstood as well? He had to act all evil to get ahead, and just never had the chance to show his inner kindness. And r171? Shitt Romney is hating on gay people, so we're hating back on him. Deal with it, Quisling.

• d

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DwUFa6d4R6OU

  PS%3A%20Mitt%20did%20this%20too

• I think Ann's "stop it!" was just as damaging to Shitt's image and campaign as the 47 % comment. They weren't ready for the White House, and there is no better way to broadcast that than whining about the hard work to get there. Shitt's entire campaign really was Ab Fab mixed with Felliniesque madness. Ann as a poor man's (how ironic) Patsy Stone. Well played, Ann!

• R129. That's funny. Good 'ol Patsy.

• Well, she does look like Joanna Lumley, a bit.

  r129

• This explains it.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DOTxzcKHYgos

• Let's count the ways. 1. He couldn't connect with voters because he didn't stand for anything. Who is Mitt Romney? 2. His base didn't embrace him. Most voted for him because he wasn't Obama. Wall Street supported him because he was going to roll out the goodies. No matter what Rush and O'Reilly say about democrats giving out free stuff, there are a lot of republicans, wealthy republicans, with their hands out looking for free stuff. 3. He's kind of creepy. His wife comes across as snotty. His children are weird.

• Yeah, cheers, thanks a lot.

  http://media.theweek.com/img/dir_0086/43335_article_main/on-election-night-mitt-romney-remained-stoic-ann-romney-cried-paul-ryan-was-shocked-janna-ryan.jpg

• BWHAAAARR!

• What precipitated Mitt Romney's downfall the most? Mitt Romney did. No one wanted THAT to be president. But can't we start dropping the unnecessary potty talk, with names and such? It makes me feel like we're just the other side of the mob that calls Obama names. We can be gratified that the better man won, that for a moment the nasties lost (although not enough to show a sea change among whites and male voters, who remain scary), and that our rights are a bit more secure.

• I live in Michigan and Obama did help us and business is slowly picking up. On election night one of our local newscasters broadcast from Ohio and you could tell it was not going tor Romney due to his false claims that Jeep was moving production to China They were pissed. It gave me faith that people are finally waking up and using common sense to vote. I hope people are sick of the tea party and the extreme religious views. I grew up in the South with that backward mentality and don't want that type of leadership in this country. Here is to life getting better for all of us.

• "Fuck you, Katy Perry! I hope someone punches you in your stupid big tits!"

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DOTxzcKHYgos

  Mittens

• In one word: Arrogance.

• I'm surprised that Obama only beat Romney by two percentage points in Ohio. That's pretty damn close for how much Obama helped Ohio with the auto bailout. Obama won most of the other swings states by three to six points, amd he didn't do nearly as much for those other states. And in the final days of the campaign, Romney came out with his huge lie about Jeep moving Ohio jobs to China when it was not true as stated by the GM executives. What the fuck is wrong with Ohio that the Dems didn't have a bigger victory than two friggin points? Quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of worrying every goddamn election about what friggin Ohio thinks. After this election, Ohio appears to be pretty goddamn ungrateful. Get it fucking together, Ohio. You're driving everyone crazy, and you're just not all that important.

• If the Republicans have any sense, they will forget the Tea Partiers and the extreme bigots come 2016. If they have any hope of regaining the White House, then they should spend the next four years wooing Condolezza Rice. The Ideal candidate. She's a woman, well educated, has served two terms in a Republican administration, is experienced in political office, rather in business and is black. Pair her with a candidate from a hispanic background, have a mixture of both conservative and liberal polices, and bob's your uncle. Plus draft in Laura Bush while they're at it, since she might be able to bridge the divides between the conservative and more liberal factions. The country is changing and they need to be able to reflect that, if they don't, then it's The Handmaid's Tale scenario for America, where an extreme faction took out the government and staged a coup. One of the most frightening books I've ever read and I'm a conservative Catholic. In other words I'd hate to live in Country like the Republic of Gilead where only privileged white men had rights and everyone else was practically reduced to slavery. And the film version was pretty spot on too. Perhaps it's time for a remake. And while they're at it in Hollywood, they should look at 'Resistance', 1992, as well. The movie bombed simply because it was made in the wrong country, Australia. If set in the US, then it would have made far more sense and be far more successful at the box office. It explores the issues of military rule in a democratic country and how ordinary people react.

  anonymous

• Mrs. Petraeus

• R140. Right on. I'm sick og Ohio too. Enough spending this much time for a bunch of ingrates.

• He beat up a gay kid in high school and never apologized or even admitted it. He claimed he "didn't remember". Multiple witnesses have described the scene of him cutting the kid's hair while other guys held him down. The guy later killed himself. That and his comment to a lesbian mother that he "didn't know you people had families" (and referred to her biological daughter as adopted, after she told him she was her biological mother)...tell me all I need to know about this man. He's evil. That any gay person can not just defend him, but VOTE for him, boggles my mind.

• Mitt was the bigger fake in an election of fakery, and enough people saw that.

• R141, you really think the bigots who would never vote for a black/Latino president if their lives depended on it only make up the EXTREME wing of the Republican party?

  I%20don%27t

• R145 said it all. He was a fake. For me it was the arrogance of not feeling like he had to disclose his tax returns, or tell us what his plans were. It was the contempt he had for me the voter by lying, and blatantly switching positions.

• Romulus's breasts were so tender to the touch, and America can't stand those mewling fibros.

  Rafalca

• People didn't believe Romney's lies. It as simple as that.

• Watch The Walker. It's a good American story.

• What was funny was Dick Morris on FOX. Every prediction he made, was wrong.

• Romney is, was and always will be a fraud. He probably belives that the lies, deception, secrecy, privileged life and above-it-all attitude is normal because he can't imagine that anyone does anything differently. Even the privileged life...he probably thinks if you dolts would just work harder, you'd be able to figure out the system and get ahead. Liars think everyone lies. They are immoral people and can't imagine operating any other way. Snobbery and fraud is at Mitt's core.

• The Romneys are the type who woke up on third base and thought they all hit a triple. Well guess what? You're out. All of you. You see Romney, we like firing people too.

• Romney: Need money for school? Just borrow it from your parents.

• They are so out of touch, so completely detached, they didn't think there was anything wrong with the way he was responding. Nothing wrong at all with him refusing to divulge his plans, or his tax returns. All those lies? So what. When you don't have any respect for someone you lie to them constantly. Well he isn't even someone I'd want as a neighbor. He's that odd supervisor at work who goes around talking to subordinates then ridiculing them behind their backs.

• Little things are telling. The dog incident. Cutting that poor guys hair. The picture of him and his school buddies with money sticking out of their pockets, laughing. The car elevator. It goes on and on.

• The GOP base. Romney had to pander to the crazies in the base to get the nomination. Then he had to shape shift back into Moderate Mitt. He tried really hard, and no one is better at shape shifting than Mitt, but there's just so far one can go.

• Mitt is the victim of unbounded self-delusion.

• I'm with R144. When I heard the bullying story and his "I don't recall it" response it freaked me out. If nothing else, someone that capable of violence (any kind of violence) and trying to deny it is evil.

• R159, I agree. If MR had any capacity for sympathy, or an ounce of decency, he would have apologized if anyone in his entire school shamed or hurt anyone at any time. That's a president I would want; someone who takes responsibility for any wrong doing, and then makes sure that it's corrected.

• Sandy could have helped him as well. If he had shown one ounce of genuine compassion, he already had enough loony bin followers who had drunk the tainted KoolAid that the extra nutcases could have made a difference.

• "Vote for me" "You're as stupid as I think you are" "It's my turn" "What have my taxes got to do with the little people???" "Eating is a benefit" "47 per cent" And the ultimate - if you need the wife and family to "humanize" your candidate, make sure the wife and family are human...

• Oh I hardly think Romney is a sociopath - he's lived in a very different version of American than most of us would recognize and he's had nothing but yes men buzzing in his ear for the last two years. He's out of touch and would have been a clueless puppet for Republican interests from Day One, but ultimately I don't think he's a bad person: just self, stupid, and naive.

• r163 willfuly ignores all evidence to the contrary of his simpering conclusion.

  Seamus

• Thanks, R144. Thank you for reminding us what was relevant about this fool's nomination and election defeat for us gay people on the DL.

• Yes he's a good person!

  Kid%20he%20gay%20bashed%20who%20committed%20suicide

• You bet your fucking ass, R67. My cooch has callouses from spreading the Dee-Struction to all those Republicans so they would be too distracted to close the deal. Now how about showing your patriotic gratitude and sending me some money. This Escalade doesn't pump its own gas, and we've been driving back to LA with no windshield wipers since Dayton. And that big meal of Romney-Spawn that Nippy had has given her an appetite that keeps us detouring to rural maternity wards. But I'm still waiting for that call from Barry to sing for him and the nation in January. I got me a medley in mind, closing with my Scar Strangled Banner disco thing. I guess he's been a little busy. I heard Michelle is demanding foot massages as pay-back, and you've seen the size of that girl's feet. Send the money to my Brasil address. Soon.

  Miss%20Warwick

• Too many contrary positions and too many equivocations: no one had any idea what he really stood for.

• No, he's a sociopath. There are multiple stories of him doing cruel, sadistic things just for kicks, e.g., cutting the gay kid's hair, forcing his children's faces into plates, driving hundreds of miles with a terrified dog strapped to the roof of his car. Connect this with his career as a financier involving firing countless people and stealing their pensions, and you've got a world-class sociopath.

• Zodiac. Killer.

• He lost because he's a poor leader who was scared of the tea baggers. The majority of voters do not want wacko tea baggers in power, and it was obvious Mitt did not have the spine to deal with them. Also, Ann was repulsive. America's verdict: Do not want.

• Ann was repulsive. Even Pickles had more warmth and sweetness.

• I don't think Condeleeza Rice wants to run. She seems like a very introverted person who somehow ended up with a bunch of extroverts. Probably they needed a token Republican and she was the only one they could find. She doesn't seem to be mean and vindictive like the rest of them, just a naturally reserved person. That doesn't work in politics, and I think she would hate to be out in front calling the Dem nominee a bunch of names. It's not her style.

• The GOP is not going to nominate a black closeted lesbian in four years, so just drop that fantasy right now. It's ludicrous. Any woman they nominate will be lily white and vehemently pro-life, with a husband and a brood of children, a la Palin.

• They miscalculated how many votes they had to steal.

• Free press represented by blogs, a couple of yet liberal leaning newspapers, and the Rolling Stone article about Romney and Bain Capital. Without them and/or Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert the whole American public would have bought Mitt Romney line, hook, and sinker.

• It would be hilarious if Condeleeza Rice came out of the closet and said she was a lesbian R174. The Republians would shut up and leave her alone forever and the rest of us would all read the posts at Redstate and laugh our asses off.

• RACHEL MADDOW. One of our own. Let's give credit where credit is due.

• [quote]Ann was repulsive. Even Pickles had more warmth and sweetness. ...and she killed a guy.

• Good points, r176 and r178. A few journalists who were relentless, and - Rolling Stone. Who would have thought?

• Bill Clinton's speech. That reminded people that this was George Bush all over again.

• Romney stood for nothing. He was racist america answer to get the black man out of office. Rush Limbaugh compared Romney to Howdy Dodee. He was Regan with out a sole.

• Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear....

• The truth is, most Republicans who voted, were holding their noses.

• Reagan had a soul? No. He just had a lot of lies that he told over and over again. His own son said Reagan had no compassion.

• He stood for nothing.