SALON

Monday, Mar 4, 2013 10:40 PM UTC

6 most absurd remarks from Romney’s post-election interview

Mitt's latest chat with Fox News' Chris Wallace shows he still has a gift for sticking his foot in his mouth

By

Topics: AlterNet, Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, Fox News, Obamacare,

6 most absurd remarks from Romney's post-election interview (Credit: AP/ Evan Vucci)
This article originally appeared on AlterNet.


AlterNet Mitt Romney is back. The former Massachusetts governor and failed Republican presidential candidate gave his first post-election interview to Fox News, and the results weren’t pretty — though they were absurd.

Mitt and Ann Romney gave Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday the honor of hearing them babble. From blaming minorities’ love of Obamacare to whining about their election loss, the interview was chock-full of ridiculous moments and quotes.

Here are six of them.

1. Blaming Minorities’ Love for Obamacare

Given the fact that the Republican Party staked out a totally anti-Obamacare political position throughout the 2012 campaign, it’s striking to see their former standard-bearer blame the legislation for his loss. It is admitting political failure of the highest degree.

Mitt Romney told Fox News’ Wallace that “We did very well with the majority population, but not with minority populations, and that was a failing, that was a real mistake.” After Wallace asked him why, Romney added: “I think the Obamacare attractiveness and feature was something we underestimated, particularly among lower incomes.” As Think Progress points out, this comment “is reminiscent of the explanation he gave his donors for his defeat shortly after the election — Obama won because of ‘the gifts’ he gave to African-Americans, Latinos and young voters.”

2. Romney’s Heart Lies to Him

During the election, Mitt Romney was living in an alternative universe — the same universe where most of the Republican base lived. Romney told Wallace that his “heart” told him he was going to win the election. His heart lied to him, then — all the polls in the run-up to the election accurately showed that Obama would win.

“We were convinced we would win. We saw that the polls were very close, but we knew that the energy and passion was with our voters. My heart said we were going to win,” Romney said on Fox News. “It was a slow recognition, until ultimately when the Ohio numbers began coming in and they were disappointing, I said, ‘Look, this looks like we lost.’ Wasn’t certain. Some people said, ‘Oh, look, if this number comes in you could win,’ but by 8 or 9 o’clock it was pretty clear that we were not going to win.”

Romney was reading too much of the conservative press and watching too much Fox News if he really thought he had a good shot of winning.

3. Mitt Romney Thinks He Could Be a Better Leader Than Obama

Washington, D.C., is bad now. Romney thinks he could have fixed it with bold leadership — perhaps by slashing tax rates for the suffering wealthy and repealing healthcare legislation that helps out ordinary people.

Romney told Fox News he could have avoided the sequester. “I don’t see that kind of leadership happening right now,” he said. “It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done. It’s hard.”

4. Blaming the Media

Ann Romney knows what made Mitt lose: the media! It wasn’t Romney’s 47 percent remark; nor the Republicans’ insistence on austerity; nor their utterly tone-deaf positions on immigration. Nope — the mainstream media was in the tank for Obama.

“I’m happy to blame the media,” Ann Romney said. “It was not just the campaign’s fault, I believe it was the media’s fault as well. He was not being given a fair shake.”

5. Our Campaign Also Screwed Up–By Not Letting Mitt Be Mitt

Ann Romney also engaged in a bit of hilarious reflection on how the Romney campaign was run. She thinks that if Mitt Romney was allowed to let his true colors show, he would have done better. Indeed — more of those unfiltered remarks like his 47 percent speech would have really gone a long way.

Wallace asked her if she was upset by the Romney campaign’s unwillingness to “let Mitt be Mitt,” and she said yes. “Well, of course … it’s true,” she said of the campaign keeping Romney from showing his true self.

6. Don’t Worry, America — Mitt Will Continue to Offer His Sage Advice

Mitt Romney did not get the message from American voters. He vowed to continue to be engaged in political life, even when it’s clear the vast majority of Americans — Democrats, for sure, but also many Republicans — never want to hear from him again.

“I’m not gonna disappear. I’m not running for office …. but I care about America,” said Romney. “Sitting on the sidelines when so much is at stake is just not in my nature.”

Alex Kane is a staff reporter at Mondoweiss and the World editor at AlterNet. His work has also appeared in The Daily Beast, the Electronic Intifada, Extra! and Common Dreams. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane. More Alex Kane.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 35 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

Salon is proud to feature content from AlterNet, an award-winning news magazine and online community that creates original journalism and amplifies the best of hundreds of other independent media sources.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations