I can remember when Romney stood out from the 2012 field bc the REAL GOP talent was waiting for 2016.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 9, 2015
I’m stocking up on blood pressure medication. Annie Linksey & Lisa Lerer at Bloomberg Politics, “Romney Opens the Door to Another Run at the White House“:
Mitt Romney told donors in New York on Friday that he may run for president in 2016, a development that could upend the Republican field.
Toward the end of a meeting with about 30 donors at a midtown Manhattan office, he said: You all can leave from here and tell your friends I’m considering a run, according to a person who was there. When asked if he would like to be president, Romney smiled and said that he’s run twice and so of course he wants the job. The person declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly…
Previously, Romney has told former aides that he didn’t believe Bush could win. In a hypothetical Bush-Clinton match-up, Romney told confidants that it would come down to a referendum on the dynasties previous administrations, and that voters would opt for Clinton nostalgia over Bush because it was a better economic period, two former advisers to Romney said. At least a few former aides were caught off-guard by Romney’s remarks, as they had no indication this kind of an announcement was coming…
Apparently, Mitt Romney's remaining ambition is to replace Harold Stassen's photo in the political dictionary next to "Perennial Candidate."
— Billmon (@billmon1) January 9, 2015
Team Romney is probably rebooting ORCA at this very moment
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) January 9, 2015
In Taken 3, Liam Neeson rescues his daughter from having to endure another Mitt Romney presidential campaign.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 9, 2015
Actually, the one time I met Mitt Romney in person, I was impressed by his impeccable tailoring. So perhaps he just doesn’t want the Plutocrat’s Party to be represented by this:
Awww hell no pic.twitter.com/0fNxZpjAfT
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) January 8, 2015
askew
The only thing more depressing than Hillary vs. Mitt is Hillary vs. Romney. Any way those contests end, Americans lose.
David Koch
R.I.P Rod Taylor
Baud
Romney better set the record straight soon, or some people might start to think he’ll say anything to win the election.
Baud
I’m getting ads for Russia Dating Online.com.
Thanks, Bob in Portland!
David Koch
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Mittens was running all year long. That’s why he was on all those tee vee shows feeding red meat to the teatards. Plus, Chaffetz revealed 6 months ago that Mittens would run again.
srv
It’s time for another liberal president, we haven’t had one since Nixon.
Omnes Omnibus
@askew: Golly, you managed to mention Hillary here. One is so surprised. Obsession is unattractive.
Villago Delenda Est
Just as his dad didn’t quite grasp some of the precedents for the term “New World Order”, Jeb doesn’t quite get that “Right To Rise” has the same sort of cadence and impression as “Triumph of the Will.”
RaflW
Mitt Romney told donors in New York on Friday that he may run for president in 2016, a development that could upend
the Republican field.the Republican biscuits and gravy platter.What a shitshow. And these jokers are one of our two “major parties.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud:
I cannot imagine how anyone would ever get that impresssion from Mitt “Obamacare, based on Romneycare, is terrible!” Romney.
Peale
@efgoldman: a brawl between those two would have all of the excitement of snails in heat without, without the fiery passion.
Little Boots
it is entirely wonderful that mittens might be back among us. it is even appropriate.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: We’re going to need to open up negotiations with the Skrull Galaxy for popcorn imports, stat.
Little Boots
the thing is, hillary is not a walk, but it is really hard to see who on the right is not a joke at this point?
Hal
Has there ever been a general election candidate that previously ran in the general election and lost, or would Romney be the first?
Also, another lovely GOP Pres Candidate, Mike Huckabee, wonders if Beyonce just might be a protitute.
http://mic.com/articles/108072/gop-presidential-hopeful-mike-huckabee-says-jay-z-acts-like-beyonc-s-pimp?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social
RaflW
And let’s just unpack that “voters would opt for Clinton nostalgia over Bush because it was a better economic period” crack that Romney is reported to have said.
It’s not like the economy just sort of happened to Bush. Or to Clinton. I know whole PhD dissertations are written on whether presidents impact economies very much, but the Clinton/Bush approaches couldn’t have been more different.
Clinton – balanced budgets to the point of surplus, and a great economy.
Bush gave away the farm to the rich and we’re still f*ked lo these years later. Sure, the caviar set is flying high, but it’s been 12+ years of Bush shit running downhill for middle and workingclass folks.
So, yeah, Mittens. Voters would opt for Clinton nostalgia over Bush. Because it was a better economic period!
jl
Hey, wait a minute.
Sure Stassen made himself into a joke with the perpetual candidate stuff, but Mitt Romney is no Harold Stassen.
And Harold Stassen is not alive to defend himself against being associated with what the GOP has become…
While Mitt Romney is… well…
OK, let me think that one through.
OK, I’ll try another way to contrast the two. Stassen politically was much more like Mitt Romney father, George Romney.And IIRC, Stassen actually did march with Dr. King, which was slightly better than George Romney, though I think it was just accident that George never actually was in the same march as King. But anyway, George Romney was a sincere supporter of civil rights, so you should get the contrast.
max
@David Koch: That’s why he was on all those tee vee shows feeding red meat to the teatards.
And everybody on this blog, in December 2012 (actually November as well, I think), poo-pahed me when I said the SOB would run again. The dude thought he got ripped off in 2012, you could see it in his face. He was *supposed* to win damn, and save the nation from !Communism¡ and other UnAmerican brownsters.
@Villago Delenda Est: Jeb doesn’t quite get that “Right To Rise” has the same sort of cadence and impression as “Triumph of the Will.”
I think he gets it just fine. It has three meanings: The ostensible Romneyesque Up With Rich People! theme, the implicit ‘We’re gonna win this time!’ theme AND the Seig Heil theme.
Very Bushie.
max
[‘It’s their crazy Nazi in the attic riff.’]
Little Boots
@Hal:
nixon, but he was smarter.
Peale
@Hal: I didn’t realize Beyoncé gave up control of her career when she married him.
Tenar Darell
Why won’t it go away and “get lost!” Wasn’t this robot properly imprinted with the three laws?
Little Boots
and the question is, as always, so do progressives get a vote? hillary ain’t a progressive, but she may be the closest we come to white house. in the immediate future.
RaflW
@Hal:
Does it occur to Huckabee that Beyonce is a self actualized woman who uses the allure of sex to enrich herself? Shocking, I know. That self-actualized part is just too much to contemplate.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal: Richard Nixon lost in 1960, then went on to lose the California governor’s race in 1962 (“You’re not going to have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore”) then went on to take the Presidency in 1968, and get reelected in a landslide in 1972. Of course, we all know what happened after that….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
God that is such a steaming pile of Rafalca shit, even making allowances for politicos and their families. If it did come down to Willard vs The Smart Bush, I’d put my money on Willard. The White Horse Mormon JFK wants it more than Oedipus Minor.
Villago Delenda Est
@RaflW:
Yes, it causes Huckabee’s fragile cerebellum to lock up and go into maintenance mode.
Little Boots
@Villago Delenda Est:
exactly. not unprecedented, but takes a hell of an effort. mittens? not sure.
Little Boots
seriously, would love to see John’s opinion on this whole thing. like me, he comes out of the conservative movement, and it affects how we think about these things.
Little Boots
although I’m pretty much always right, I do have my biases.
RaflW
@Villago Delenda Est: There’s more than a whiff of fascism in that name.
Little Boots
seriously, not just my odd obsession, would love to know omnes’ opinion on this whole thing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: I grew up as a pro-union Democrat. And I see no reason to alter that view;
jl
@Hal:
” Has there ever been a general election candidate that previously ran in the general election and lost, or would Romney be the first? ”
I know Andrew Jackson lost to J Q Adams then won. Grover Cleveland won one, lost one, then won the next. I think William Jennings Bryan ran in two races in a row and lost both, but not sure. Too lazy to look it up. Must be a few more who ran more than once. (Edit: and as a commenter above mentioned, there was the Nixon incident).
I think domestic economy will be still on a long slow upswing until election, Maybe right now is when suboptimal macropolicy that is not quite bad enough to interfere with a long desultory expansion will help the Democrats. So I don’t think Mitt would have much chance. And Mitt has less personality than Nixon, which given who Nixon was, is one good thing you can say about Mitt personally, but not sure it helps him politically.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
good, we need to talk about hillary.
Mike in NC
@David Koch: Damn, he was so good as Winston Churchill in “Inglorious Basterds” and in dozens of other roles.
srv
OSHA, EPA, CPSC, Federal Affirmative Action… any other Executive Orders?
Boy, we could use a president like Milhous again.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:
” I grew up as a pro-union Democrat. And I see no reason to alter that view; ”
Harrumph… seems like a rather evasive answer to me…
Now excuse me while I down my Fool’s Gold special with some good whiskey.
KG
Is Mitt Romney capable of running a campaign that doesn’t amount to “told ya so!”?
Because I don’t think he is capable of doing that. And if the economy is still improving, it’s going to be a terrible campaign strategy
Little Boots
we need to figure out what we want. I know I’m not sure.
Little Boots
omnes, democrats are not exactly pro union these days. pisses me off.
Tonto2
He might have a chance if he can convince us all to celebrate his success in bankrupting companies and stealing employee pensions funds.
On the down side, he appears to be one of the few multi-millionaires on the planet whom “W” could spot 30 points in an IQ match and still beat.
Little Boots
it’s pissing me off, lawyer. what can we do?
Mike in NC
@Tenar Darell: I do look forward to more shots of the Rmoney campaign bus pulling into random places, where Mittens emerges and pretends to be completely surprised by the love of the crowd of the unwashed masses.
Little Boots
omnes, you’re brilliant, we all know it. what the hell is going on here?
Hal
Romney’s best chance at winning was against Obama in 2012. Given that Romney’s entire campaign strategy was his version of Olive Oyl’s “If I Were President” in which the country becomes a paradise immediately after inauguration, I just don’t see what platform or strategy Romney has left.
NotMax
Perhaps he’ll self-finance.
With Mittcoins.
Little Boots
sorry to lay all this on you, but damn, I just don’t know. it all sucks so much sometimes. it is not your obligation to solve this nation’s problems, but damn, just sometimes I wish it were somebody’s obligation. so sick of this thing. maybe I need more rest, but we all need something.
RaflW
I know it absolutely will not happen, because the RWNJs are running the show (or running amok). But, for sake of argument, wouldn’t it be curious if the Mitt-bot that ran and won MA in 2002 were somehow to re-energize that sub-routine?
If he ran to the left of the mass of snarling jackalls like Huck and the rest, he’d actually have a shot, I’d wager. But I simply cannot see it. Mitt-bot 2012 had to erase a lot of earlier programming to be a “viable” GOPer. He’s overwritten whatever blend of compassion and hubris led him to create Romneycare.
Now that he’s forsaken it, he’d be skewered by his base for taking it back in and forgiving it. So it’s just a silly exercise on my part.
But he could out-triangulate Clinton, from R to L, if he really, really wanted to. The deafening, endless cries of Betrayal! would be amazing.
Little Boots
@efgoldman:
life is mean
Little Boots
I might just have to, with the monkees, for omnes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU615FaODCg
Little Boots
jeez, where are the nightowls?
mclaren
This just keeps getting better and better. Now all we need is for Cheney to throw his hat in the ring…
David Koch
This is gonna be so much fun watching Mitten’s super pac dump 100 millions of attack ads carpet bombing smart bush.
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: It’s the onions on your belt, they kinda smell.
Redshift
@RaflW:
I don’t disagree with your analysis, but my reaction to that line is that he’s showing his clueless plutocrat robot side again. The primary contrast between W and Clinton being that it was “a better economic period”?
Little Boots
billinglendale, at night, yay
Little Boots
everyone’s sleepy
wasabi gasp
Popcorning for a twerk bug in the firmware update when interfacing with black folks.
Tree With Water
I knew Romney was planning to run six months ago, when one of his sons posted a photo of regular guy Mitt deigning to stand in line at the post office to mail a package. I’m pretty sure both he and his horse loving wife think a Romney presidency has been ordained. They seem to possess a Moroni-paid-them-a-visit type confidence that it’s written in the stars.. a conceit that made election night 2012 all the more enjoyable.
patrick II
Jeb is forcing Romney’s hand. If he doesn’t declare soon, Jeb will have locked up much of the republican big money.
Mike J
I was just about to change one of my gaming id’s, Rafalca. Now it may be current again.
SiubhanDuinne
Speaking of people we didn’t think would resurface quite this early in 2015:
I’ll hedge this comment with the usual warnings about possible hoaxes — so far I can’t find any confirmation (although it’s been only a few hours) — but if the linked image is legitimate it would appear that our old friend from Florida, George Zimmerman, was arrested late last night on aggravated assault charges. No bail.
http://webbond.seminolesheriff.org/InmateInfo.aspx?bkgnbr=201500000325
mdblanche
@patrick II: And now Mitt and Jeb can split the Republican big money and give one of the grifter grade candidates a shot to steal the nomination while the GOP establishment neutralizes itself by reenacting the War of the Roses.
xenos
@SiubhanDuinne: with a weapon, too. A stick? Numchucks? A not very squishy pillow?
SiubhanDuinne
@xenos:
Those all sound way too imaginative for our George. I guess if it’s true there will be more details in the morning news reports.
Keith G
One way that a Romney v Clinton contest would be beneficial for Hils is that age would be taken off the table.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: If you google Seminole County Sheriff you get this page.. WeBond is a legit link and he does show up there. How did you know?
SiubhanDuinne
Mitt v. Jeb debates:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/01/mitt-romney-jeb-bush-presidential-debate-2016
Shalimar
@efgoldman: We won’t get to see the bare-knuckles brawl. It is going to happen over phone calls to numerous money people in the next few months and only the winner is actually going to get into the race.
Their arguments are clear: Bush says picking Romney is picking a certain loser since he has already lost twice and Romney says picking Bush is picking a certain loser since voters aren’t stupid enough to put another Bush in power after the last one was such a disaster.
Romney is screwed. Republican primary voters clearly are that stupid. You have to assume all the grifters among the Republican money classes know this better than anyone.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Someone had it up on my FB page, but that person has been known to fall for hoaxes before so I wanted to be cautious absent further confirmation.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Mitch McConnell dresses very well, also too. I saw him walking through DCA years ago. He’s a rather short fella.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who doesn’t think “the clothes make the man”.)
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
It almost as if Rmoney think’s he’s entitled to be President or something…
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who won’t forget the way he spits the word “Entitled” in that clip…)
Fred
Mitt, Jeb, Rand? Oh yeah and Newt!
Who f”kin’ thinks up these names? And why do people with stoopid names all become Republicans?
Maybe there is a “Stoopid Republican Baby Names” book, sold only at racist country club pro shops.
Fred
As to Mitt, I’m sure Candidate Etch-A-Sketch will be sure to keep his pie hole shut if he is ever again tempted to tell anyone what he Really thinks. There is no such thing as a “Quiet Room”. Ya never know when some peon has his I-phone all charged up and ready. Ya just can’t get good help any more.
debbie
We’re gonna need a bigger clown car.
catclub
@Villago Delenda Est: yes on this. Right to Rise is part ‘South will rise again’
with fascist overtones. Strange choice.
catclub
@mclaren: Hood. Cape? Whip? Taser?
Josie
@catclub: Strange indeed. When I first read that, my immediate reaction was, “Excuse me? What exactly does that mean?” But I guess I am not the target audience.
shelley
Donors? The man’s got more money than God! Forget that, more dough than all the denizens of Mt. Olympus
mellowjohn
@Hal:
also too, thomas dewey, 1944 and 1948.
Egypt Steve
If the Romneybot is rebooted, that will be proof enough for me that God exists and that He loves us.
Just Some Fuckhead
I think Romney has a good chance of capturing the Republican nomination again. Most of the Republican base loathes him but they know he represents everything liberals despise so that makes him gold.
VOR
@Fred: JEB is actually his initials, his full name is John Ellis Bush. I suspect Jeb makes him sound more like a common man of the people.
brantl
As you would know if you checked, any dummy can were an impeccable suit. Mitt pretty much is just an impeccable suit. Take off the clothes and all the metal joints of the Mittbot 3000 are plain to see.
Bill Arnold
@Hal:
Besides the major party candidates listed above, there have been minor party serial candidates. The one that comes to mind is 4 time candidate Gus Hall (CPUSA), (72,76,80,84).
Proud Liberal Dem
So, what is Romney’s platform for 2016? Heck, what was his platform in 2012? I STILL have no idea.
Proud Liberal Dem
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Queen Ann seems to think so. *ugh*
Proud Liberal Dem
@KG: Given that nothing he has warned us about has actually happened (Russia’s Putin made a lot of noise and flexed his muscles for awhile leading to a right-wing Putin admiration society but Putin is now floundering because of Obama’s sanctions, Unemployment is down BELOW where Romney promised, gas prices are down, and Obamacare still has yet to kill or a job or a person), it would be an unbelievably stupid strategy. Which is, of course, why he will definitely choose to use it!