'Uneven performance' hurt Mitt, Rove says
Rove, who grew up in Utah and masterminded President George W. Bush's election and re-election campaigns, told those gathered at the Television Critics Association press tour that the former Massachusetts governor didn't understand what he was getting into.
"Running for president is unlike any other political task that anybody has ever taken on," he said. "So running for governor of Massachusetts, while it prepares you to some degree for running for president, there's nothing like running for president.
"Mitt Romney's problem was uneven performance."
Rove stepped down as a top White House adviser in August 2007 and signed on as a Fox News Channel commentator. And he had high praise for Romney's campaign organization its fundraising, organization, state committees, volunteers and more.
In those areas, "He did probably the best job of any of the Republican candidates. But when it came to his own performance, the kinds of thing he was used to doing when he ran in a relatively small geographic area over a relatively short period of time didn't serve him well in running across the large number of states over a very long, extended period of time. And, as a result, it was an uneven performance.
"You'd hear from people, 'You know, I was in a private meeting with Mitt Romney and, boy, he was great!' And the next day you'd hear from people saying, 'You know, I was in a private pitch by Mitt Romney and, oh, he was terrible."'
Rove said he believed Romney's exit from the GOP campaign was a high point for the former Massachusetts governor, offering high praise for his speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference.
"If he had made his previous speeches as eloquent and committed and passionate and cohesive and coherent and informed, then he wouldn't have had to make that speech withdrawing from the race," Rove said.
In other comments:
• Rove criticized the decision by presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to stop wearing a flag lapel pin. (Obama said, in part, that it "became a substitute for true patriotism.")
"I think it went one step too far to say that wearing a flag lapel pin was not true patriotism," Rove said. "For a lot of people, it is true patriotism. And that kind of judgmental comment, I thought was inappropriate. I don't suggest it's un-American, but it was questioning, inherently, the patriotism of people who said, 'You know what? I'm going to put a flag on my lapel or on my sleeve or on my uniform."'
Recent comments
I'm a descendant of the pioneers who crossed the country to get to...
Re: Anonymous 12:50 II | July 18, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
I think you're trying to compare a church with a 'business'
that...
Re: Anonymous 12:50 | July 18, 2008 at 4:48 p.m.
I give you a little more latitude here. However, I would call it a...
If I were a political movement | July 18, 2008 at 1:17 p.m.
- Germans win men's beach volleyball 12:13 p.m.
- Inmate stabbed in head during brawl 11:56 a.m.
- Cards' Pujols leads All-Star voting 11:52 a.m.
- Federer beats Roddick 11:51 a.m.
- Military ordered to turn back jet 11:44 a.m.
- US not stand in Israel's way on Iran 11:39 a.m.
- G-8 greeted skeptically by some 11:38 a.m.
- Deal on arms control expected 11:36 a.m.
- Yankees' Wang goes on DL 11:36 a.m.
- Swimmer Lezak skips Worlds 11:35 a.m.
- Stadium of Fire lights up the 4th
- Millsap not franchise player
- Utahn reunites with officer
- Can Jazz escape luxury-tax mess?
- The BCS sure won't fix itself
- Interest in Millsap dwindling?
- Jazz talked Kirilenko for McGrady
- Obama deprives Iran of scapegoat
- NKorea fires 7 missiles defying U.S.
- 'Tea party' protesters unhappy
- Boozer not opting out of contract
180 - Palin resigning as governor
101 - Lack of Obama photos concerning
99 - Don't listen to marriage cynics
93 - Utah leaner in too-fat country
91 - Palin's and Romney's roles in 2012?
89 - Editorial: A sad day for Utah
86 - Jazz plan to re-sign Millsap
81 - Jazz talked Kirilenko for McGrady
74 - Y. gets verbal from cornerback
69
The night was balmy though buggy at SPOC, the Stansbury Park Observatory...
Let's BASH all who don't believe the way we believe so we can be GREAT...
Good Day. The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to...
Kramer a former Coach at Central Michigan and Vanderbuilt went on to be the...
Millsap is not Boozer period!!!!! Jazz fans wake up and get over the hate for...
Re-Anony: You obviously have no grasp on either humor or sarcasm. However,...
@ “SOCIALISM HAS NEVER WORKED” Remarkable that someone able to...
We have free press, it's just the major news agencies are biased. They are...
You could not be more incorrect. IF the BCS is determined to fraudulent,...
"Those who forget Teddy Roosevelt's words about walking softly and carrying a...
co2 is not a pollution. If universal health care is so great, why is...



