Romney breaks silence to accuse Obama of bestowing gifts for ballots

“You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care"

Yes, how dare people expect to have health care: if they can't afford it, let them die.

The reason Romney lost is that he doesn't care about anyone, except himself.

A little more than a week after the election, Romney in a phone call with his national finance committee accused Obama of following the “old playbook” by bestowing favors on key Democratic constituencies in exchange for their support at the ballot box

And what do we call Romney's tax cuts for the rich, who tend to be Republicans? Romney's just sorry he never got to make it rain.

He told the donors on Wednesday’s conference call that Obama “made a big effort on small things,” while his own campaign had been about “big issues.”

Here's a little strategic tip for the Republicans:

The purpose of analyzing your opponent's Win is not to whine about how he won. The purpose is not to expose what they did wrong. The purpose is to find out what you did wrong, and what they did right.

For instance: You see a leader listening to his people, finding out what problems they consider significant in their lives, and attempting to ameliorate those problems, and then you see these people voting to keep that leader in place.

Claiming that what these people wanted was "small", and what you are trying to do is "big", is a rather foolish reaction. He won, you lost, and making excuses isn't going to teach you anything. It doesn't matter how "big" you believe your issues to be; if the people don't share your view, they aren't going to vote for you, and you are going to lose. If you aren't going to question your perspective, there is really no point in analyzing how your opponent won.

Romney, who apparently had been convinced that he would be moving into the White House, said he and his campaign advisers were still sorting out what their futures would hold. “So now we’re looking and saying, ‘OK, what can we do going forward?’” he said. “But frankly we’re still so troubled by the past, it’s hard to put together our plans for the future,” the defeated candidate said.

Of course you are troubled. If you are so completely confident that you are going to be elected as president of the United States that you don't make contingency plans for failure, and you are so sure you are advocating the "big" issues, to the point that you can't even conceive that other groups may have issues they consider more important, yes, you are going to be in for quite a shock when it is pointed out to you that you are not the be-all-and-end-all to America.

Here's a humility review for you:

1) Common people have major problems in their lives. Just because you don't have these problems does not make these problems "small issues".

2) Solving the problems of the common person is not a "gift". Fruitcake is a gift. A Get Well card is a gift. Healthcare, college loan interest forgiveness, legal residence, these are not "gifts"; They are a freaking huge slice of hope in the face of overwhelming odds.

3) The United States isn't divided into Republicans and Everyone Else.

You had no right to assume you would win. You had no right to assume you knew what the "big issues" were. You have no right to be surprised that your party is rapidly becoming a minority.

Unfortunately, this mentality is pervasive in America today and it is why hasn't had it's national debt under control for nearly 50 years. And the worst is yet to come!

In the words of Dan Ackroyd, "Jane, you ignorant sl_t"

I'm sure it has nothing to do with our trillion $/year military budget or the fact that top marginal tax rates were 90% plus under Ike, who, if I recall correctly, was a republican. Ironically, he also warned us about the military industrial complex that's since contributed mightily to bankrupting the nation. There has been class war waged against hard working Americans since Reagan took office. It's been waged by elites against the rest of us. In a just world, these parasites would be imprisoned or have their heads on pikes.

BTW, I'm no democrat--their neoliberal "medicine" is also amenable to the oligarchy which long ago bought both parties outright and used its corporate media to propagandize foolish rubes like you to misdirect your anger against your fellow citizens.

Ah, so Mitt was hoping to win with unpopular policies against minorities.

tantanka

all you liberal posters who think health care is an entitlement -- its not. If you didn't pay for it -- you are not entitled to it.

The main drive behind the Affordable Care Act is to make sure everyone does pay into affordable health insurance. But requiring people to pay was deemed a "socialist" idea by the tea party loons. The GOP plan was to essentially keep the status quo in which insurance companies choose who lives and who dies, based on pre-existing medical conditions and income. I'd rather have an elected government regulating health care than greedy bottom-line insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

promising "gifts" to certain groups

A massive tax cut to the rich isn't a gift?

In the last days of the campaign it seemed like Romney was making promises to everyone without a clear explanation of what spending he was going to cut to pay for it all. It's a campaign, and all politicians promise what they can't deliver. That's politics.

However, Romney's flipflopping on his basic attitude toward 'the 47%' was amazing. He toned it down for the end of the race. Now he's gone back to his elitist rich boy snobbery. And I might add, racist. Labeling 'free health care' (again, it ain't free) as a 'gift' to Hispanics is both arrogant and presumptuous.

I'm glad Romney has opened his mouth. That makes me even more glad that he didn't win, and even more convinced that the GOP is truly screwed.

Romney will always wonder why he lost. He lives in a tower looking over the masses. He belongs to the party of exclusion - that being of rights to women and minorities and gays. The Republicans are that out of touch with the self-entitled Americans that don't want to work. Yes, that is true. I can only imagine how may fiscally responsible women, minorities, and gays their are and how the Republicans let them all slip away because of their idiotic moral, religious, and ignorant beliefs. Cry away Romney, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Mitt would do well to keep his mouth shut, fade into the background and allow the GOP to move forward and away from the disastrous position it is in. Rich old white guys banging on about handouts to parasites has made them unelectable. You failed miserably, Mitt. Do the decent thing and allow a new generation to forge a party which can become sane, relevant and electable.

By this logic a tax break for the wealthy would be a gift, had Romney won. Is it really news to Romney that people vote for the candidate that will benefit them the most?

Angry old white men are on the decline, thankfully: another generation will see them silenced.

This guy got caugt again.

NY Times reporter secretly taped his comment. He is convincing me even more that he was NEVER for the 100%. He was only for the 47%.

I guess this guy is a bad loser slamming a door shut behind. . A good leader leaves the door open for everyone to succeed. He is making everything bad to worse for GOP.

I do not know how GOP can repair their bad image for next elections to come. I suppose he. does not care about anybody else except himself. American public is smarter than he thinks. I am glad he did not win. .

willie

bribing the ever-more handout-dependent populace.

Are you aware that lower income Americans vote much less frequently than rich ones? Ever think about why?

You think people vote to be on food stamps? Do you know what it's like to be poor?

Funny old Mitt talks about GIFTS, when most of the parasites who live on the GIFTS from all of our taxes are right there in Washington DC! In the Senate and in the US Congress!

I hope Bill O'Maher toasts Romney for this. :)

Could someone PLEASE change that record that is playing? The tune called SORE LOSER is hurting my ears. Still licking the wounds I see.

One thing I wanted to add is that it's amusing watching Romney return to his true character now that he's lost (and doesn't know why!). He's back to blaming minorities, calling people loafers, and trying to appeal to the rich.

What an arrogant self serving dweeb! Romney is a sore loser and is looking for any excuse, save for the actual one of his policies not being what the American people wanted.

Romney you are pathetic! And you have once again proven that you are out of touch with the people you aspired to lead. We don't need you now, won't need you later. So please... get off the stage and go away. We have important work to do and can't waste time with you any longer.

one person, one vote. That's what sunk Mitt. He forgot he's not in the mall

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Romney’s comments just hours earlier in a conference call with top donors were "absolutely wrong."

"We have got to stop dividing the American voters," Jindal ... told reporters here. "If we’re going to continue to be a competitive party and win elections on the national stage, and continue to fight for our conservative principles, we need two messages to get out loudly and clearly. One, we are fighting for 100% of the votes. And second, our policies benefit every American who wants to pursue the American dream, period."

"With taxpayers' money, lol."

Otherwise known as using the budget to help citizens, not just those corporate welfare parasites who suck up billions from the federal teat, pay it to themselves and then stash it in the Caymans.

The election is over. Analysis now largely replaces partisanship for me. Here are two interesting observations, with which I agree.

From the Votemaster

Losers are often criticized, but one has to go a long way back to find any losing candidate who has been repudiated as much by his own party as Romney. Even George McGovern, who was beaten far worse than Romney, was not the subject of such bitter attacks as Romney.. The Democratic Party quickly moved to the center after McGovern's loss in 1972, but McGovern personally was not the subject of the kind of vituperation we are seeing now. When he died last month, McGovern was largely regarded as a hero, someone who flew 35 missions over German-occupied territory in WWII and after he entered politics, someone who fought for what he believed in, even if it wasn't popular at the time. It is hard to imagine any future obituary of Romney saying: "He didn't win, but he spent his life fighting for a cause that millions of others believed in." More likely is: "He made a lot of money in private equity and he thought that qualified him to be President. Because then-President Obama hadn't been able to dig the economy out of the hole he inherited from George Bush, Romney almost made it."

From Ramesh Ponnuru

All of these writers are intelligent people (some of them friends of mine). None of them makes the mistake of assuming that this election should have been easy to win given the weak economy, the public’s dissatisfaction with the status quo, and the unpopularity of Obamacare. They know that the economy has been improving, that the Democratic base in presidential races has been expanding for decades, and that the public still blames George W. Bush and his party for an economic crisis that began during his second term. Nor are they entirely wrong in their diagnoses of Romney’s distinctive weaknesses and errors. They err mainly in attributing too much importance to them.

Romney was not a drag on the Republican party. The Republican party was a drag on him

In short, the Republicans blame Romney when they should be blaming themselves.

Here comes some food for Jon Stewart.

"free health care"

That's nice, but what I want is free shelter. Gimme shelter!

pffffft! sore loser...

“So now we’re looking and saying, ‘OK, what can we do going forward?"

Well, you can only move forward when you're not walking backwards, Romney, so cop to it and hop to it instead of blaming the loss on everything under the sun besides the actual reasons.

CRYBABY !

He dangle the carrot of freedom from Rrest to the illegal aliens, mostly Latinos, in lrder to get their vote.

That makes about as much sense as your far-right cohorts have made all day.

Many Americans do not really know the kind of man they have reelected to the White House.

But you, of course, do.

Mitt Rimney was right. Obama "bought" the votes he needed for his reelection.

And Romney didn't? The Republicans were voting for him out of the goodness of their own hearts, were they?

He dangle the carrot of freedom from Rrest to the illegal aliens, mostly Latinos, in lrder to get their vote. He pandered to the GLBT community, and got their votes,

How horrifying! You mean to say that I voted for a man who would impose FREEDOM and EQUALITY on persecuted groups?

and there are rumours that in many of the Swing States, the election was rigged.

Yeah, but don't let that worry you too much. Even with the rigged votes, Obama still won over Romney.

While I was not completely sold on Mitt Romney, I think he was definately the lesser of two evils.

Yeah, you totally don't sound like an embittered Romney cheerleader.

He dangle the carrot of freedom from Rrest to the illegal aliens, mostly Latinos, in lrder to get their vote.

Don't worry, realist - I could decipher your rambling. You are saying that Obama pandered to people who cannot vote in order to get their vote. Trust me: Stay cryptic. While it still doesn't make any sense, it adds a sense of mystery to what otherwise are ridiculous statements.

The USA is the ONLY modern industrialized nation on the face of the earth with out universal health care!!! Just let the poor die in the cold?? Let the poor starve to teach others to work harder and harder to pay more taxes so the top 1% can sit back and laugh at the rest of us??

He was only for the 47%.

Geez. Correction to my previous comment.

It should read as "He was NEVER for the 47%" and "He was NEVER for the 100%"

I hope you understand what I meant. My apology.

Old Mitt should keep on listening more to old fat full of hot air Rush Limbaugh and they will both keep on digging their own graves deeper and deeper with all the BS right wing propaganda that they love to spew!!

What? Obama cheated in the election by offering to make life better for them? How dare he?

I guess the graceful concession couldn't last. It's not like Mitt and co didn't make all sorts of promises to their core constituency. That's US politics these days - money, money, money.

Romney is a total idiot!!! He is no better then Donald Trump in his tower of gold that was created by the sweat of people that is not even from the U.S.A.!!!!

Romney, along with his gang of wealthy bureaucrats are turning the U.S.A. Into a country that will soon be worst then a 3rd world country,

Yes, the U.S.A. Is in a bad situation right now, and on a downward spiral towards bankruptcy, but without Obama in the White House, America would probably be in a hole that is so big where there would be no way out.

Bust was a terrible President and Romney would probably be worst than he is if he was to be President.

When will the people in the White House wake up and work together to make things better for everyone in America!!!

Until everyone sits at the table and work with each other, America will continue to sink into the ocean with no life jacket to save them,

The American people have failed themselves by letting insurance companies dictate everything. Romney isn`t wrong with his statement.

When the country goes into a deep crisis there will be nothing for most. That`s when the crap will hit the fan.

Cry some more. Both candidates promised everything they could think of. If you play with other peoples money I guess you have to play big to win. I guess I can take solace in the fact that my president is the champion among champions at spending other people's hard earned money.

I'd rather have an elected government regulating health care than greedy bottom-line insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

You see, the problem with that is that those government regulators are not elected, they are appointed by elected officials, there is a difference. And those appointed regulators have a nasty habit of writing regulations for a few years that benefit certain large companies and then leaving their job as regulators to become exceedingly well paid consultants. We have one of those at my company's headquarters. He worked at the SEC for 20 years, now he takes home a tidy chunk of change because he knows all the ins and outs of the regulations that he helped write. Think it's any different for the healthcare industry? By all accounts it's actually worse.

Angry old white men are on the decline, thankfully: another generation will see them silenced.

I live in Detroit. They've been giving free IPads to Detroit students to 'enhance' their education. Detroit has among the worst test scores and drop-out rates in the country, at 17 they are more likely to have gone to jail than to graduate. If the next generation leads to silence it will only be because they don't know how to communicate. At least all the old white dudes I know can write a letter without using acronyms, no decent human being should ever use those in casual correspondence.

“You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care—particularly if you don’t have it—getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 per family, in perpetuity,” Romney said. “I mean, this is huge.”

I wish something happens to his fortune and he and his family are left without any health insurance and $ 35 000 a year per household to live. Mrs Romney that now cures her illnesses by collecting horses, she would have to go begging charity to just cover her basic treatment. Then ask him again about free health care.

Romney - simply a sore loser.

"The sad thing is is that we're all going to realize that damn he was right when we look back from the bottom of the impending fiscal cliff."

You mean the cliff created by Republican "opposition"?

Rmoney - the gift that keeps on giving. How fortunate the U.S. is not to have allowed this Mittstake to buy the election!

Well, its true all you liberal posters who think health care is an entitlement -- its not. If you didn't pay for it -- you are not entitled to it.

Uhm, TAXES??? Everyone pays for the "free" healthcare if they have to pay taxes in the US. Its just that we won't have to be tied to HMO's unaffordable, screw you when they want to, coverage specific insurance policies.

Serrano - why is it "Porkulus" to help working-class families attend school to give themselves a better chance at the Pursuit of Happiness, or to get a child with leukemia the treatment she needs without costing her parents their house, but it's fine to give billions from the same pot of resources - federal revenue - to Exxon Mobil and Monsanto?

When people looking for a tiny fraction of the help given to corporate socialists, it's always the ones asking for pennies who receive derision, while the ones who glut themselves off the corporate teat get to stash the cash offshore and call themselves "job creators" - without, of course creating any jobs.

Socialism = Bad.

Corporate Socialism = The American Way.

WilliB

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic". (Benjamin Franklin)

You take that quote out of context to an extreme.

Benjamin Franklin was obviously talking about a ruling class oligarchy in positions of power as elected representatives in congress voting themselves what today is referred to as "pork barrel spending".

The reactionary streak of the republicans is turning dayglo orange as the hysteria about the fear that they have lost their ability to claim privileged status builds.

Sorry, but meritocracy needs to be restored in the USA.

Down with the cleptocrat republicans.

He dangle the carrot of freedom from Rrest to the illegal aliens, mostly Latinos, in lrder to get their vote.

Since when have illegal aliens been allowed to vote?

"93% of African-Americans... casting a ballot for the president"

Only 93%? I don't believe it. Heck, Al Gore got 95% of the African-American vote.

If 93% of whites had voted for Romney, Obama would have been shut out of the stupid electoral college instead of getting 332 electoral votes.

And the demographic trend being what it is, this is the future for the US. The Republicans will have no choice but to become a Democrat No.2 party and compete in bribing the ever-more handout-dependent populace.

Welcome to 3rd world politics.

^^^Exactly!

Socialism = Bad.

Corporate Socialism = The American Way.

Both are bad - but that is Obammunism is in a nutshell. Government deciding who get's what doesn't facilitate "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The people cannot decide for themselves what they want for themselves - the messiah Obama and his acolytes do.

When all it takes is 51% of the people to vote themselves the wealth of the nation, American democracy and it's economy is dead. The tyranny of the majority and crony capitalism is wrong and certainly is not justice. The US government was supposed to protect the peoples innate and inalienable rights - not redefine what they are and provide these for them. American society is sick and getting sicker under Obama.

"Just let the poor ( Americans without health insurance ) die in the cold"

That won't happen, just ask the illegals, they are not refused medical treatment at U.S. hospitals, the hospitals just get stuck with the unpaid bills. This is one reason why insurance and medical fees are so high.

"Obama... offering to make life better for them"

With taxpayers' money, lol.

The worst is undoubtedly yet to come, but it's beginning to arrive. As the stock markets tumble, retirement savings vanish and jobs will, too.

American public is smarter than he thinks.

If offered a cookie, some mice choose it, rather than the way out.

Being "smart" has no bearing...

Does this signal the emergence of a strategy from the landed gentry among Romney's handlers?

Their front man wasn't selected by the people to lead the country based on the substance of his ideas and values, but bought and paid for by a socialist... type of attack.

Pathetic.

they want to replace the welfare state with the Corporate Welfare State.

..administered by the Corporate Oligarchy

Many Americans do not really know the kind of man they have reelected to the White House. Mitt Rimney was right. Obama "bought" the votes he needed for his reelection. He dangle the carrot of freedom from Rrest to the illegal aliens, mostly Latinos, in lrder to get their vote. He pandered to the GLBT community, and got their votes, and there are rumours that in many of the Swing States, the election was rigged. While I was not completely sold on Mitt Romney, I think he was definately the lesser of two evils.

"Otherwise known as using the budget to help citizens"

Or, otherwise known as Porkulus.

Obama is Santa Claus who will shower the gifts to 47%. However he has no money to pay for it. He will act as Robin Hood for robbing better off! Before he was elected for the first term, he promised that he will half the sovereign debt into half after first term. His promise was evaporated as steam right now. He is a darling of young women who want to get free contraceptive pills. He is a darling of Illegal immigrants who want to get free tuition, free health care and free lunches.

No wonder 53% got resentment who have contributed something before. After all most of them grew here. They did not cross the border like some of 47%. They are protected by wise Congress who will block the unbridled spending from Santa Claus. The course of Congress is not depending on 47% demand and pressure.

Obama dangled the carrot of freedom from arrest and deportation to the mostly Latino illegal aliens. Obama knows very well what he is doing. He is actually a racist at heart.

Romney is of course exactly right. The democrat campaign was based on exactly what Benjamin Franklin already foresaw:

""When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic". (Benjamin Franklin)

And the demographic trend being what it is, this is the future for the US. The Republicans will have no choice but to become a Democrat No.2 party and compete in bribing the ever-more handout-dependent populace.

Welcome to 3rd world politics.

Well, its true all you liberal posters who think health care is an entitlement -- its not. If you didn't pay for it -- you are not entitled to it.

There is no Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative; there are now just people who want free stuff and people who have to pay for it -- that is a fact -- that is why Obama won and Romney lost. Across party lines "takers" voted for Obama. So yes, Obama ran a brillant campaign dividing Americans and promising "gifts" to certain groups, but he is using a credit card to pay for it and we all know the interest credit card companies charge. As Wolfpack stated: "the worst is yet to come" especially when the "takers" will have to start paying their share -- soon there will be no more free lunch....

The sad thing is is that we're all going to realize that damn he was right when we look back from the bottom of the impending fiscal cliff.

It is always difficult to compete against a party whose sole purpose is to take from the groups that the Left consider to be "bad" in order to give to those groups they consider to be "good". This sort of arbitrary wealth redistribution is what makes the Democrat party so harmful - it caters to the envy and greed of those that are not willing to work for it themselves. No doubt those one million free cell phones in Ohio went a long way towards Obama's re-election. It's corrupt government - and it's what the Democrat party is all about. Unfortunately, this mentality is pervasive in America today and it is why hasn't had it's national debt under control for nearly 50 years. And the worst is yet to come!