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The Sorest Loser: Romney Claims Obama Won After "Gifts" To Minorities, Young Voters
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 15, 2012
Modified Nov 15, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 15, 2012
Modified Nov 15, 2012
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Governor Mitt Romney may have given a graceful concession speech when he lost the 2012 Presidential Election to President Barack Obama, but he still seems "shell-shocked" about the loss—and completely tone-deaf about America. During a conference call with his finance team and donors yesterday, the NY Times reports that he "attributed his defeat in part to what he called big policy 'gifts' that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies, including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics."
According to the Times, Romney said he was "troubled" by the loss and explained, "With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift. Free contraceptives were very big with young, college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”
As for Obama's minority support, Romney chalked it up to, "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 — I mean, this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus. But in addition, with regards to Hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called Dream Act kids, was a huge plus for that voting group."
Naturally, that's freaking out Republicans still active in politics who are desperately figuring out how they can win. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said at the Republican Governor Association meeting:
I think that’s absolutely wrong. Two points on that: One, we have got to stop dividing the American voters. We need to go after 100 percent of the votes, not 53 percent. We need to go after every single vote.
And, secondly, we need to continue to show how our policies help every voter out there achieve the American Dream, which is to be in the middle class, which is to be able to give their children an opportunity to be able to get a great education. … So, I absolutely reject that notion, that description. I think that’s absolutely wrong.
NY Times reporter Ashley Parker told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell that the Romney call was described as a "spin and grin" and that the candidate seemed matter-of-fact as he was doing a post-election post-mortem. The Nation's Ari Melber thought Romney's attitude was appalling, saying, "It's a real loser's analysis. People over 55 went for romney. We spend as a government more on them than we do on the groups he mentioned."
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The LA Times also heard the call and reports that Romney apologized, telling listeners, "I am very sorry that we didn’t win. I know that you expected to win. We expected to win…. It was very close, but close doesn’t count in this business."
Tagged
sore loser
idiot
president obama
election 2012
mitt romney
minorities
gop
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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