Romney's Utah supporters upset with how he's being treated by GOP

People, we have to move on from this! The election is over, let's get to work not time for crying, hating, and being just simply stupid! President Obama won the election, pray for him and move on! Jeez!!!!!!

If we make it so latinos can vote, the large majority of them will vote democrat. The main part we dont like about obamacare is it is going to bankrupt the country. We cant even pay for medicare and medicaid. this will cost 100 times more plus your health care quality will go down. Mitt Romney and Mccain were both moderates. Where did that get them. Its the democrats who are plundering other peoples money, mostly middle class, to give to the poor.
it keeps them in power. Wake up. What Mitt said was true. And no one including mitt brought up obamas statement about people clinging to their guns, god, and bible. No one brought up obamas speech about making health care single payer which is how the bill was wrote. The media helped obama all the way. If they would have done their job he would have lost by 30 points both times. I cant believe all you people blinded by this socialist president

Patriot why don't you just leave America? Romney lost because people didn't think he was "clean, truthful, and principled". You just give him the benefit of the doubt because he's Mormon. Admit it.

Hahaha. Wheee! America is toast! You tell 'em "patriot"! Hehehe. Keep it up! The Republicans take up your thinking, they will never win an election again. Keep it up. Beautiful.

Sounds like communist china is where Worf wants to be.

maybe Mitt should have promised more union "free-bees" along with amnesty for illegals and perhaps supported "Planned Parenthood" and finally threw in about 2 trillion of new stimulus money to be sent to the residents of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and any other swing state he needed.

America is toast!!

Mitt ran a campaign which was clean ,truthful and principled. Obama ran on lies and dirt and Obama won. This speaks to the fallen state of the American people more than anything. More than 50% of America has fallen into a shameful entitlement state and abandon the principles which made America exceptional. The majority of America is not even a shadow of what it once was and that is why Mitt lost. Reagan wouldn't have won today. JFK wouldn't have won today. America no longer believes in "ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country" but instead follows the Obama banner of "ask not what you can do for your country but what your government can give you for free". The GOP needs to "see" the real America for what it is now and not what it once was. Pandering to lazy socialist want - to - be types isn't a plan for the future. It is disaster. America in its current state is lost - completely lost. China will soon pass us by both economically and militarily and then what??? Dark days ahead I'm afraid folks.

@RFLASH

"I wonder if people would have loved him so much if he were non Mormon? it was amazing how many things the people seemed to overlook."

Overlooking what you don't like to support Mormonism no matter what is not amazing. It's just the reality of what a lot of people do in the faith. Think of how much they've overcome? You think they could have without overlooking things? Much is overlooked.

I wonder if people would have loved him so much if he were non Mormon? it was amazing how many things the people seemed to overlook. His degrading comments about the poor, none of which he proved. They over looked such facts as Romney sending jobs to China's sweatshops. Do people here even know how bad those sweat shops are. I'm sorry, a good guy would not do that just because he can. I know people who worked around him during the Olympics. he wasn't so nice. If he felt like you made him look bad, He had no problem swearing at people, and then deny it! He lied so many times that he would forget and say the opposite. I seem to recall Romney , in one of the debates, stating that Obama didn't care what happened to those who died in Lybia. It really bothered me how many Utah people talked bad about the poor just to support Romney. They put blame on people who may be perfectly innocent. In my opinion, Obama has ten times the integrity that Romney has. Romney cared very little about Americans, only the rich.

The GOP is dying a slow death. They really have no substantive plans to cut the deficit and much like the Democratic Party are also married to and place the interests of Israel in front of those of the United States. They also breed like rabbits.

The only concrete difference between the two parties is the Democrats want to protect those who don't want to work and the Republicans want to protect tax loopholes which benefit seven figure incomes.

I don't think we should whine at all about Romneys popularity suddenly turning south in the GOP. He was out of touch with enough voters that he didn't get elected. Its not a matter of repackaging him....I think the GOP realizes that the only chance it has is to have a new person who resonates better with the majority of voters.
I don't think Mitt would change his position on anything so that he would win the presidency...
It was a good match. a hard fought battle. mitt lost. it's over. lets move on.

I love Joseph Smith's attitude on criticism. Examine it honestly. If there is any merit at all then change for the better. If there is no merit then consider the source and move on. How many Utah Republicans were counting on gifts from a Romney administration?

I was always and will always be a Romney supporter. His comments about ONE of the reasons he lost is true and needed to be said. Republicans, like lawyers have always eaten their young (and not so young), and this is no surprise. Democrats win because they refuse to tell the truth, compromise, or act like adults. Not one thing the Democrat candidate said about Mitt Romney was true - not one. The MAIN reason that Mitt Romney lost this election was that 14 million voters stayed home and didn't vote. They didn't really like Obama enough to give him their vote, but they would not and could not bring themselves to vote for a "Mormon." More than a million "voters" pledged to write in "Jesus" on their ballot. Stupid idea and a waste of a vote that should have gone to Romney, but didn't offset a single Obama vote. A vote for Romney was always more of a vote for Jesus than a vote for Obama. "Uncommitted" in this election was just code for either "too stupid to deserve the right to vote," or "I will not ever vote for a Mormon."

So if Romney would have won, could Obama said "he offered gifts to the rich and corporations and we could not compete with that"? Using the same line of thinking so many right wing people posted here would that not be true? As my Dad always said, winners have reasons and losers have excuses.

Another key to the Romney loss was tax policy.
Was the "no tax increase" approach a wise one? No. Was the obvious outcome of a loss going to be a tax increase? Clearly. Did solving the budget deficit demand a tax increase? Definitely. Those would have been reason enough for a different stand by Romney on taxes.
In one debate, when the GOP candidates were asked if they would accept a tax increase to get a budget deal including serious cuts to spending and entitlement reform, all the candidates said "no". Like sheep. Not a leader in the bunch. Mitt should have been that leader - because the budget numbers were clear.
Mitt should have differentiated himself by standing on the truth. His staff should have advised him that a nomination without such truth telling would have meant an administration without options.
If Romney had taken that stance the cries of "rich man" would have fallen flat. Obama would have been deprived of his only real economic strategies: let's tax the rich.
Mitt Romney should have known better. So should his staff. And the GOP should have known better.
We should all be able to see that reality now.

Let's just take the Hispanic vote/immigration issue as one of a hundred things that might have been done differently.
Was the GOP grass roots (including many in Utah) to blame for the GOP loss of the Hispanic vote? Absolutely. Are they going to have to change if the GOP is ever going to win the White House again? Without question.
Karl Rove and many others within the party, including myself, have been warning Republicans about this for over a decade - back when it was completely clear that without his 44% of the (then-smaller) Hispanic vote, George W. Bush could not have won the Presidency.
Was Romney's staff at fault when they went along with his self-deportation tack - moving him to the extreme side of his GOP opponents? Rove would not have let him do that He would have squarely pointed out that a nomination obtained in that manner would not have been worth having.
Should Mitt, himself - as the candidate and a representative of the LDS Church - have known better? Just on a personal level? A Latter Day Saint level? A Book of Mormon level?
When he took that debate position, the election was already over.

Romney lost for at least a hundred reasons - any one of which could be used to explain the difference in the popular vote - where a switch of about 1 1/2 per cent would have made the difference.
But he lost decisively in most of the swing states by a much larger margin. Most of those margins are best ascribed to not one but a combination of factors - depending on the state.
The real lesson of the Romney loss is that he would have had to do many things differently to have won in 2012.
Many of the factors can be blamed on the Republican Party as a whole. Some reveal deep inadequacies in his campaign staff. And some appear to be simply the fault of the candidate himself.
Success in business proves one thing - that you know how to succeed in business. But it does not necessarily mean that you know how to pick a campaign staff. Could Axelrod, Plouffe, and Messina have elected Romney? In a heart beat. Was their candidate perfect?
Far from it.
But if Obama had lost, no one would have blamed his staff.
For lost campaigns the buck stops with the candidate.

I am just so, so glad it is over and that Mitt-the-Flip Romney did not win.

Whew!

There were many solid positions and programs that I agreed with on the Romney side. I ended up supporting him over the irresponsible Dem positions, but it was with trepidation due to Mitt's stiffness and inability to appeal to/relate with the lower income and minorities...

The lesser of two evils kinda thing. He is an honorable man, but not chosing Rubio (R-FL) was the final big indicator of his doom for me. The groups he needed to reach don't watch debates, and simply walking on a campus or in the bario would have told Repub pollsters that. Sometimes the glitter of the lights blind us to the common man's true needs and concerns. Dems simply did their demographic homework better. Period. That Electoral College will bite you every time!

Any student of Mormonism knows the definition of truth can change with each new regime. Time for the GOP to reinvent itself, fast...

Canada and South Korea seem to be doing fine. Why don't we take a good look at their health care system? I mean an objective real good look.

Ultimately I believe the republicans were very slow to get behind Mitt. They wanted anyone but him up til the day when they realized all their other candidates had SEVERE flaws of character. And unfortunately Mitt had to comit to the The Tea Party/Punditry crowd that has always taken an extreme stance on immigration, which lost the hispanic vote.

It's no surprise now, however, that the party who never really wanted him in the first place, should be acting this way now. The alternative to blaming Mitt is taking a long look in the mirror and actually rethinking some of their positions. Heaven forbid that happen.

Republicans romped with so many candidates and faithful suitor Mitt stood in the parlor, hat in hand as one bad boy (and one bad girl) after another floated in and out of the picture. Eventually Mitt got the most marriageable award by default and a desperate Miss Republican walked down the aisle with him, one hand on her nose. She was always "just not that into him," and, as everyone knew, this was essentially a shotgun marriage for her, so when he couldn't bring home the bacon, the relationship crashed quickly. Apparently that was not utterly predictable for some people, a fact I find quite mysterious.

Mitt's strategy was to be a chameleon, to please whichever voters he was facing at the moment. If you try to stand for everything, you end up standing for nothing.

That's why he's so easy to attack now, his only constituency was voters who wanted Anybody But Obama. Now that Obama won, there's no reason to stand behind Mitt. So the mass defections are quite easy to understand.

Over 100 posts. Notice what you DIDN'T see? The authors of dozens, if not hundreds of posts dating back to last year who predicted with complete hubris the BIG GOP victory that was surely coming. NONE of those took the time, and probably never will, to now say "I was wrong. Completely wrong, except about Hatch, and anyone who takes my word as a predictor of anything political is better off not placing any bets."

Where are they today? Mr. P? M? S? C? and probably every other letter? Unless they've packed their bags for Costa Rico or Somalia, they are stuck with four more years of the Obama administration. The rest of us should treat any forecasts they make as toxic, and that goes double for the Fox/AM radio vampires.

I think some of my fellow LDS need to read this and adjust their hatred filled postings I have seen on Social Media about President Obama and realize the Republican Party is full of hatred. Now you get to see it turned on Mitt Romney. Open your eyes with who you keep the company of. If they hate others, they will hate you too.

3 NEPHI 13:24 No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.
3 Nephi 11:29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

For all my fellow LDS that bashed on Jon Huntsman Jr and President Obama. His personal religious beliefs and church attendance are his own business before God. Who are you to judge him? If you don't like his politics, don't vote for him. If you don't like his policies, disagree like an adult.

This whole self righteous "I am more Christian" and "I am more Mormon" argument is silly. I don't care what church someone attends or how much they attend. I want someone smart enough to run the country and care about the poor, the sick, not someone who says his health insurance reform that was good enough but forget everyone else is not acceptable.

Mr. Romney, what part of Obamacare don't you like? The part where it was thought up by Republicans and the Sutherland institute and pushed by Gingrich? The part that ensure sick children will not have their coverage dropped by CORPORATE DEATH PANELS? The part where we cover the poor? The part that saves money because we buy health care in bulk instead of waiting for people to get so sick they go to the ER and we pay more?

Nobody has a greater sense of entitlement than Mitt Romney. But that's just the way spoiled rich kids think.

Nancy Smith,

Even if the Heather McDonald piece you're referring to is accurate (I don't believe it for a second), the GOP CANNOT have that kind of attitude -- that Latinos only want free stuff. Those kinds caricatures are exactly why the GOP is perceived as hostile to Latinos.

I agree with you that Romney was a very good candidate and would have made a fine president. But the GOP has to lighten up on immigration. The GOP can't continue to see is as heresy to even discuss the Dream Act or other paths to legal status for decent folks who have roots here. The my way or the highway attitude has got to go.

Having said that, the only thing harder to stomach than Republicans throwing Romney under the bus is smug gratuitous advice from gloating democrats.

It appears to me that the National Republican Party has been hijacked by the extreme right wing. The Party of Ford, Reagan, and George Herbert Bush is no more. The National Republican has driven the moderate reasonable members of the party out. Just looking at how candidates like John Huntsman were treated in the Primary Election is a prime example. The Republican Party needs to move back to the center. This is the only way they will be able to win back the Presidency. Mr. Romney went to the far right to win the Primary, and then tried to move back to the middle. The American moderates and independents were not buying his changes. So goes the election.

Look Romney lost. He will not run again. He is now irrelevant. The Republican party lost the presidential election, lost ground in both houses and the future is bleak given current and future demographics. Republicans can either stop whining and begin the process of developing an ideology and party coalition that can win, or they can look forward to future losses.

Fretting about party dynamics in an environment that demands flexibility, creativity and a recongnition of reality is utterly counter-productive.

A lady did a study on hispanics. they vote for the free stuff, not amnesty. Mitt Romney may be the most qualified person to ever run for president to get us out of this obama mess and we were too dumb to put him in. It is such a mess he may not have been able to do it. If we are just going to try to out liberal the liberals what is the point. I agree we are done. the takers have figured out they can vote for goodies with other peoples money.

Well said Jack! To Timothy -- No where does Jesus state to help those who are capable, but unwilling, to help themselves. Even the Church Welfare program has those who receive help do something to earn that help. You are not doing anybody a favor when you simply give them a handout. Mitt Romney's statements were true, just taken a bit out of context I believe, and perhaps stated a bit more bluntly than those on the receiving end could tolerate. Truth hurts at times. When Obama rewarded voters with pizza, cell phones, free health care, how can you call it anything other than what it was -- buying votes?! I for one have a clear conscience that when taxes go up, choices go down, freedoms evaporate, etc., I did not vote for the person who implemented those changes. I hope that I will be wrong in my fears. I am following the counsel of the First Presidency and the Apostles in praying for the President, and for this country. Perhaps with all of our combined prayers we can save the futures of our children, grandchildren, and this amazing country.

@one old man - Am I to assume that you are actually blaming the Hostess mess on Republicans? Seriously? How in the world did you arrive at that conclusion?

". . . the poor, who think it is OK to plunder the rewards of labor from the rich as long as they can get the government to do it."

Yeah, that's right, because the poor have so much pull in government. I mean good heavens, all those lobbyists they hire, and the millions they give to candidates campaigns. Yep, the poor sure are a force to be reckoned with.

And good heavens yes, they have absolutely plundered the "rewards of labor from the rich". I mean, I absolutely feel sorry for the rich. How sad they were not able to accumulate far more of the wealth of this country in even fewer hands. I'd love to contribute to a fund to help the poor, desolate rich people in this country, can you point me to a good charity that help the rich, Clinton?

Those sad rich people, absolutely plundered. I'm going to take a meal to them, if I can get past the gates and guards in their exclusive communities. I really do feel sorry for them. How sad.

Pathetic.

@one old man

How was Romney greedy or dishonest? He wanted to make America prosperous and better for everybody. It's the media's portrayal of Romney that is dishonest.

@UteRB47 4:45 p.m. Nov. 25, 2012

The pertinent parts of Mitt's 47% comment:
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what... These are people who pay no income tax... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

He said by inference that the people who pay no income tax (for whatever reason), AND those who would vote for the President, are (without any noted exceptions) entitled takers. I'm glad you make an exception for people like "one old man". Mitt made no exeptions at all. Mitt's comment was inexcusable, and an insult to a LOT of people in the United States.

The Democrats were very similar with Hillary Clinton when Obama was in the 2008 Primary. They dumped her overnight with a promise of a high political appointment if he won.

With all the variety of Republican candidates with several independent tied into the group, did not offer much and Mitt had $$$$ and some experience in 2008. The Tea Party and Evangelicals never really bought into him. The Republicans need to think about the impact of how Ross Perot and now the other groups of sidelined the Party as there is no cohesivness for them.

Jindal, Gingrich, and even the Donald Trump escapade didn't help people relate with Romney. In some ways, it is hard to believe that these people would have split the party with their actions during the very hard battle of a primary season. Each of those candidates basically opened each other's wounds and put salt in each other. It was not productive and gave Obama too much ammo to use in the real campaign.

Jindal will be the next fall guy, if he ever makes it that far. The Democrats don't have much to offer in 1460 days of battle with contested issues.

I don't know how the Church can claim to be politically neutral. The Church owns the Deseret News. It's CEOs were hired and are employed by the Church. They have reported on Mitt Romney and their other favorite Republican candidates ad naseum. For instance, I highly doubt if President Obama had lost that the Deseret News would write a "poor Obama" story like this one. How is that neutral? It will be very interesting to see how the Deseret News and KSL cover the next "Mormon moment" when he/she runs for President of the United States as a Democrat.

@slpal YOu're thinking too superficially on that statement by Clinton and Chairman Wright. Not "giving up" on a candidate doesn't necessarily mean we expect them to run again. YOu can drop the condescention. Not giving up on Romney simply means we don't turn our backs on him or disparage him after he lost. We still believe he would have been the better president and we still espouse the principles he stood for. We continue to compliment him for a race well run rather than kicking him when he's down by pointing out every flaw in his campaign like so many high profile GOPs and news media personalities have done. His campaign wasn't perfect but we still know in our heart of hearts he would have done a better job than Obama.

They come not to praise Ceasar, but to bury him. Says much about the Republican Party today, doesn't it?

Wow! I thought Romney was the biggest whiner until I saw some of these comments.

One Old Man you said you worked all your life, paid taxes, and never asked for a handout. Good for you! If that is that case, then neither Romney's nor my statement had anything to do with you, and there is no need to be insulted. If you now receive SS benefits, you paid for that and you've earned it. SS benefits are not a "handout" and you have no reason to be insulted.

The only hatred and divisivness was and has always been spewed out by liberals that can only win by pitting us against each other. If you are insulted, then you choose to be insulted. It's probably an indocrinated response to envy those that have what you don't have. I learned from teachers like you that if I worked hard and applied myself, I could accomplish great things. Don't envy those that learned so well from your teaching, and don't buy in so easily to liberal propoganda.

@Clinton:

You wrote:

"I don't think anybody is holding out hope for a Romney ticket in 2016."

The article quoted Chairman Wright:

"Unlike the Republicans now eager to forget Romney, Wright said, the Utahns who traveled by bus to battleground states in the weeks before the election or who dug deep to give him millions of dollars haven't given up on their candidate."

Apparently Wright, and the Utahans to whom he referred, didn't get the message. The election is over. Romney lost. He isn't running again. He isn't running for anything in Utah. They need to let go and move on.

Boo hoo.

GoldieZ
Central, UT

Romney said what others wished they could say, but they were afraid they would lose the voters. Yes, he offered jobs to those who don't want to work!

I voted for Romney because I was sure his religion would not let him have this kind of attitude, but now I don't know. The fact that Utah Republicans are pushing for increases in the tax on food says it all. All of you struggling Republican families of 8 who may be having difficulty buying food, have fun eating Republican cake.

Clinton, you're completely wrong. Go back and do some reading of my post. You and others like you do a great job of accusing others of things they don't like.

There are many others like me who have worked hard, don't feel at all entitled to any freebies, but who were simply disgusted at the dishonesty and greed exhibited by Mitt and his party.

We are not takers. In fact, we have been GIVERS.

You and Mitt owe all of us a very large apology.

But too many people have been so completely indoctrinated with hateful thinking that they have become numb to reality.

I truly pity you.

To all of you who think Obama bought the election with free gifts think again. Which political party expanded Medicare to include prescription drug coverage. Which demographic benefits form it. Could it be that seniors vote Republican for a reason. Can anyone remember getting a check from the federal government for up to $1,200 per family just before the election. Who was president then. Not Obama. If Obama had done that conservatives would have had an icky fit. Think about it.

Personally, I thought Romney was a great candidate, would have been a great president and it hurt when he lost. Hindsight is always 20/20 and claiming any virtue for who was right or wrong or who did what right or wrong, won't change the outcome nor my mind. I thought Mitt and his family were very gracious about loosing the election and I have been trying to do so as well, though it's not easy.

I don't remember anyone saying these things when John McCain lost four years ago. Losing candidates are always yesterdays news except when they rise again for another run (i.e.Nixon). I felt that his selection of Paul Ryan helped him with "the base" but lost him votes with other voters. If you want to see a natural politician, watch Paul Ryan. When the two were on the same stage Mitt's awkwardness came clearly into focus. He might have many good qualities, but being a regular guy (or even trying to impersonate one) is not one of his strengths.

So the GOP is dissing Romney?
Hey..remember Palin? Yeah, it happens. They made sure she would never be a viable candidate again!
And they threw Romney under the bus? Yeah, remember Ron Paul? I do.
First off the GOP is made up of people who will tolerate vote manipulation withn the party and then have the audacity to cry foul when it happens in the general election. Oh, that is choice. Can't say I would want to be in that group.
Secondly, they don't even stick to their 'own' platform and push to nominate someone who is middle of the road and of course ELECTABLE!
Romney lost because he didn't get the votes.
Romney lost because his message was vague and what wasn't vague was lame.
The GOP is imploding because it is no longer viable. People are tired of the double speak. It practices party over principles. RIP.
I never agreed with Romney more than when he called it like it is, people are not going to bite the hand the feeds them or gifts them.
Truth can be painful! Grab a tissue.

So what's new? The GOP didn't support him from the gitgo. They drug their feet even while the American people endorsed Mitt. They danced around the issue by saying there was a large field of possible candidates. Even when the vote was taken, there was no enthusiastic endorsing of the GOP candidate. Even Glenn Beck hedged the issue. I'd say Mitt did a great job considering he was in it pretty much alone. And now we get to be like lemmings and dive over the fiscal, political, spiritual, moral, educational,technilogical, and emotional cliff that awaits us all as a nation. It's too late to discuss the situation. Just fix what you can within your own home and batten down the hatches.

Which Romney?

@one old man

Cabeza Man is right! If you are insulted then you have convinced yourself that the federal government owes you something, and that those who are more successful than you have become so unfairly. Both are fallacies. Nobody forced you to be a teacher. Nobody prevented you from paying the $25 to create a business, produce something, and write things off on your taxes. It wasn't like you were promised wealth and fame and then somebody pulled the rug out from under you. You made a career choice and cannot condemn anybody else in the world for the results of your choice. Romney didn't write the tax code, the federal government did. If you're not happy with it, complain to them. Condemning Romney is intellectually dishonest.

There are greedy people out there, but Romney isn't one of them. He's a kind and generous individual who just happens to be successful. Greed is evil when carried out by "the rich," but it is equally evil when embraced by the poor, who think it is OK to plunder the rewards of labor from the rich as long as they can get the government to do it.

" 4601
Salt Lake City, UT

George Romney said he was brain washed on Viet Nam - impolitic but rue. Mitt's
statement was also impolitic but also true."
============================ =================================

AMEN !

While there were (are) things in the Republican Party that others do not
agree with, and indeed show that with their vote, we should not blame
others for telling the truth. In doing so we only encourage others (
politicans) to tell untruths or partial truths when it seems convient.

Too bad each of us are not equiped with a little "truth meter" on our
foreheads. Some would smile at you genuinely, but others would pull
their hat down over their head and look down as the meter went from t
he green area (good) through yellow (?) and on to red (untrue).

For some people it might look like it was stuck on yellow.

Romney said what others wished they could say, but they were afraid they would lose the voters. Yes, he offered jobs to those who don't want to work!

Being a gracious loser is the true mark of a winner. Understanding and admitting the errors you made, makes you grow. Playing the blame game is exactly the victim mentality that the GOP proports to be against. Even before he won the primary, Romney chose to run a negative campaign against the President instead of a positive campaign of selling his vision. The very, very negative campaign caused deep divides in the nation. If Romney was a wise man he would have stayed off the national stage until those wounds were healed. Obviously he didn't.

@slpa1 I don't think anybody is holding out hope for a Romney ticket in 2016. I think the only hope that people have is that our current president's war upon our wallets, and the Constitution, will be unsuccessful.

My support towards Romney isn't political, but rather personal. You don't have to look any further than Huffington Post to see the ignorant, petty, sniveling, and entitled qualities of America's propaganda machine and its followers. I stand firmly against liberal argumentum ad hominem and disinformation, with regards to both Romney and the truth in general.

From the article: "Jowers said it's not clear how Utahns will react to seeing how the GOP elite treated Romney. 'It's a good question,' he said when asked if some might even leave the Republican Party in protest."

Yeah, as a Romney supporter, I admit I AM bitter. . . It will be cold day in "you know where" before I vote for the likes of Gingrich or Jindal and others who have turned on their party's candidate.

Some on this forums have claimed that Romney had one gaffe after another during his bid for presidency. That is nonsense. What Romney had is a national media (propaganda machine) who was willing to hide the ugly truths of their candidate (Unemployment, Benghazi, sequestration, etc.) to present him as a capable and worthy president, which he isn't. At the same time they twisted sound bites to vilify Romney. The media stirred up the useful idiots in our country against a capable man with the business and political know-how to create jobs and prosperity in our country.

Another reason Romney lost is because a large segment of our population has been brainwashed to view the federal government as the sole solution to all the problems in the world. Republicans want to help the poor, but they know that the federal government is ineffective at doing so.

Another reason is the media portrayed Romney as a liar. Liberals present this as such an important factor in their decision making, yet they conveniently ignore the numerous lies of their candidate. Isn't selective reasoning great?

Finally, Romney lost because most Americans approach their civic duties with a reality-show mentality.

I hardly think anyone should be the least bit surprised at the treatment that Romney is getting. We are talking about Republicans you know, the most selfish, regressive and self centered political party in America. If you didn't win for them then you are toast and they don't even want to mention your name. The same happened to the great incompetent, Bush. Of course in that case there was plenty of good reasons for his ostracism like 8 years of good reasons.

Cabeza Man made a comment that explains EXACTLY why Romney lost: "If you were insulted by Romney's commments then you're probably holding your hand out. You have become weak and wanting, looking for others to provide your needs and wants."

To countless other Americans, not just me, that kind of thing is a blatant insult. It's an insult because I have worked hard all my life, paid my taxes (even a higher percentage as a retired teacher than Mitt paid), never asked for nor accepted a handout, and most of all, have tried in everything I do to be kind and considerate of others.

There is a very small percentage of people out there who do have their hands out. But there are also many large corporations and wealthy persons who not only have their hands out, but have the power to make sure their hands will be filled by others.

If you were insulted by Romney's commments then you're probably holding your hand out. You have become weak and wanting, looking for others to provide your needs and wants. Romney had a vision that never changed, in spite of MSNBC slander. That vision was to help you put your hands down, roll up your sleeves and take control of your lives. We're sliding down the slippery European slope, and Romney was our hope to turn that around.

However, I do believe the Republicans did screw up on the issue of immigration and the Hispanic vote. I've been saying this for years. We are not going to deport 12 million people. Even Libertarians have a more reasonable solution, and immigration needs to be hugely expanded in line with economic policy. Ronald Reagon understood, and so did Romney. I wish he could have articulated a more aggressive plan to win over the hearts and minds of our conservative Hispanic brothers and sisters. It's good economics, and good politics.

Although Romney wasn't the perfect "candidate," he was the quintisential man for the job.

Why did Romney lose the election? 1. 47% comment was a real view in how he feels about the American Public, and he has comments since, still support a disdain for people who work for a living. 2. Self Deportation, well his comments self deported the chance of a white house bid. 3. it goes back to the dog, the treatment of the dog on the roof of the car was a clear signal of an uncaring, cold-hearted man, who was supported by a wife who claims that the dog "liked" it. 4. His treatment of the young man in his school, shearing his hair. I don't care that it was a "youthful" indiscretion, he knew better. And believe me, he would treat us the same way!

Romney was never beloved by the Republican Party. He only won the primaries because of the ridiculous cast of characters running.
Additionally, he was not well-liked by many Americans. I think Romney's character was revealed early, when he could not remember holding down a classmate and cutting his hair in high school. While we are all guilty of foolish youthful acts, that Romney couldn't remember or own up to committing such an act of agression revealed much. His repeated statements about 47% of Americans who don't owe federal income tax just underscored his character, as did his continual shifting on issues.

Aside from the right-winged fringe who tried mightily to paint Obama as a scarey foreigner, people liked Obama as a person. Hurricane Sandy lifted Obama's profile right before election day.

Well Big-Bird still has a job, while Romney is the one who is now unemployed... Gotta love it.

Mitt lost because he has no empathy for working people. According to Romney Government largess needs to go to the job creators with lower tax rates and more ways to reduce cost of labor (read working poor). The taxpayers that pay the most by percentage really are the dual income families where both make over $100,000 per year so they pay full SS taxes and a fairly high rate of income tax. We need a moderate candidate that does not see the working poor as takers. And one that is willing to cut spending including military spending. I personally want the tax rate raised on households in my income bracket provided we also look at moving up the retirement age for healthy Americans and reduce spending accross the board. As a small business owner and "job creator" I prefer to compete with other companies that pay for employees healthcare, that pay living wages, and believe me when it makes sense to add another employee I will not care whether my marginal tax rate is 35 or 39.

The election is in the past; Mitt Romney did not win the Presidency. This has happened to many better men than he in the past and will happen to many in the future, should there be a future. Jack above asserts that helping people is giving them jobs, affordable health care (not mandated by government--I'm assuming like Romney suggested, they just go to the ER.)
Which is all very well if somebody can do it. I recall that Romney said he would "create" a vast number of jobs when he was President--I am wondering why, if he has that power, that he would have to wait until he was elected POTUS to do so. Might have got him some votes.

George Bush ' s Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH!
Remember the day...
January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!
Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.
And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA!
And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?
OBAMA and the Democrat Congress
So when someone tries to blame Bush..
REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

FilmNoirFan,

You forgot to mention that all of the policy changes that brought us the financial collapse took place in the 1990s under Bill Clinton: Financial deregulation, The bail out of Long-Term Capital Management (This was unprecedented and along with deregulation created a moral hazard problem among financial institutions), reducing the underwriting standards of Fannie Mae (Fannie Mae was the epicenter of the collapse. The vast majority of sub-prime loans passed through Fannie Mae. It was Fannie Mae that recruited business partner Country Wide to join the scam. See the book Reckless Endangerment for details), and beefing up the Community Reinvestment Act.

Shame on you Deseret News for denying my comment that was not off topic and not in the slightest impolite. You allow multiple comments on here trashing Romney, then to deny mine? Did you not even understand my point? I was encouraging Republicans to be supportive of Romney because in fact, he would not have lost without voter fraud so it is wrong to blame to loss on him.

Get the point this time:

Many people are viciously turning against Romney because he let us down and was a loser. When in fact the election was stolen so we should be kind and supportive to a man who ran a brilliant campaign and worked harder than any candidate who ever ran.

The day the democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.
The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.
For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush ' s Fault", think about this:
January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress.
At the time:e GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
George Bush ' s Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH!

one old man,

Mitt worked with Dems in MA so there is no telling whether he would have shut out the other side.

btw, whoever said no candidate had ever run in 2 races is completely ignorant. Reagan did, Bush Sr., Al Gore, as did many others. Probably more the rule than the exception. Candidates just run twice to get their name visible...

The treatment Mitt received came to him because, by his words and actions, he asked for it. Throughout the campaign he proved that he was incapable of telling the truth, or even saying the same thing twice in a row if he was talking to two groups who had separate opinions and postions on issues (he apprently thought he could etch-a-sketch his way out of anything). Granted, he showed his true self on a few instances, generally when he didn't realize he was being recorded -- his 47% comment was his biggest disclosure of his true self, and one of the mmost damaging. Mitt was a deficient, damaged and dishonest candidate and both he and the Republican Party paid the price for his duplicity. And then Mitt whined continually because he couldn't complete an item on his bucket list to which he thought he was entitled when he was not elected President (his "gift" comment was both untrue and obnoxious). Mitt proved that he was not what the country needed, and the voters conirmed that fact.

I find it humorous that many are talking about a prejudice against Mormons by Americans. That prejudice does exist, but where does it exist? In the republican party. Only the republicans referred to Mr. Romney's religion. No democrat ever called Mormons a cult (remember Mike Huckabee). The party of the majority of Mormons is the party that is prejudice against Mormons.

Mr. Romney may have been the best candidate, but he was stuck with the baggage of the republican party. He had to constantly try and appease the tea party crowd. He had to attack anyone who disagreed with him, because to be a true republican today you have to understand that you are right and everyone else is wrong. He had to be uncompromising because that is what is required to be a good republican today. Late in the campaign when he started to make a move it was because he started acting presidential, he moved to the middle but by then it was to late. Rush Glen and Sean do not represent the views of most Americans.

How did the republican view of Americans work for them in this last election?

It sounds like people are disagreeing with what Romney said. I don't think that constitutes throwing him under the bus or something. How are you supposed to respond to the remarks mentioned in the article - especially considering the fact they were directed against Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities? I'm sure Romney was very sincere in what he said, but he was sincerely wrong.

I believe our country and everyone in it will pay dearly for the sad decision that was made. I do believe that it was the people on welfare that won Obama the Presidency. Romney wanted to create jobs. Too many people don't really want to work. They voted for the candidate who promised hand outs. Our current President is not a true patriot and that is what this country was founded on. We will see our constitution slowly (or maybe quickly) fall apart. Who wouldn't feel sick over that? Yes Obama won and his supporters make a big deal, but he only won by one percent. That was one close race. I think if we could have that vote, again, in six months, Romney would win hands down. We reap what we sow. I was shocked AARP supported him. Under his Obamacare, the older people have few right, other than a limited number of pills. Death will come much earlier with little rights and respect. Read the bill, people!

I forgot about Nixon, who lost against Kennedy in 1960, and then ran again in 1968.

With unemployment over 8%, this election was Romney's to lose and he lost it. His only assets were his warchest and the fact he'd been running for 5 years already. As Jim Messina said last week, Huntsman was the only GOP candidate who could have won. He would not have made the numerous gaffes Mitt made or flip flopped on issue after issue. He would not have hesitated to withdraw his support for Mourdock after his rape comment. He had significant foreign policy experience compared with Romney's none. Huntsman was not a gaffe waiting to happen. The best moment of the primary was his Lincoln-Douglas style debate against Gingrich.

With the fiscal cliff looming, I'd feel a lot better with Huntsman as President. And it would've happened if the GOP had shown some common sense in this cycle and backed him rather than Romney.

It doesn't matter anymore who sits in the White House. America as a Constitutional Republic is dead. Utahns are feeling distraught because Romney was not elected but they haven't yet figured out why they also feel a sense of hopelessness. The truth is America has reached the point where big business and the president THEY have chosen and the 99% of the population they have enticed with government freebies are more powerful than the 1% intelligent Constitutional vote and American voters (most Utah voters included)are nor smart enough to know that they have been sucked into a handout to slave deathtrap.

Here's the real statistic that nobody wants to talk about. 99.99% of Americans (Utahns included) want something from the federal government that is not within the framework of the Constitution; even if it's just an income tax break or housing assistance (FHA loan). We are all guilty of letting America slide into oblivion because we just don't know the law well enough to vote smart and Constitutionally correct and we don't care enough to learn it or protect it. Our forefathers saw that this would happen. Their blood was spilled for us in vain.

Mitt was no where near "the best the GOP had to offer". He was just the best who ran that they could stand (until he lost). As a progressive I must admit that I was happy about that because I (like Ann Coulter) was certain that he would lose once people outside of the Mormon womb knew what he really stood for. And, as much as the Democrats defined him, he defined himself. And the people did not like what they saw.

I watched Meet the Press this morning and was struck by a never before heard tone of conciliation expressed by several powerful Republican Senators, Representatives, and party players.

It was something that we have not heard for over four years. Perhaps there is hope out there that good sense will finally begin to prevail in Washington.

I can only imagine the turmoil and ugliness that would be taking place now had Mitt been the winner.

The entire nation needs to settle down and heave a great sigh of relief.

Mitt made some mistakes but so did Obama. Mitt is right Obamaclaus was a factor. Dirty tactics were another. Obama is absolutely the worst Pres. in history. He has succeded in dividing the country with the likes of class warfare and envy.I wish him the worst along with all of his supporters.

The national Republican Party has turned its back on Governor Romney because at this point in time they have no choice. He lost. Now what they need to do is bring people of color into their "tent". Fewer whites who could have voted did not. Let's face it. People will never do their homework on candidates as to what each brings to the table. People vote based off of very simplistic assumptions and they always will. The economy was not bad enough to get a change in The White House. The Governor did not make a strong enough case to people of color, black and brown alike,,to get them to vote for him. Unless the Republicans do that nationally, forget about it in 2016.

In all my years, including political campaigns, I've never seen anything like Romney, and I don't mean that in a good way. He was completely ill-suited to be President. And his post-election whining reinforced the idea he has absolutely no clue.

I agree with Mitt Romney, those gifts of my tax dollars Pres. Obama used to win election are a real concern to me. Anyone who ignores this is denying reality. Who better to know the reasons for election outcome than the one who has been leading as the candidate? No one else knows what he is privy to know, so all others can only guess.

As a Catholic Nvay vet in the Midwest, I voted for Romney as well as McCain. However, there are some ominous numbers. Romney received three million less votes than McCain. There were five million more young (under 30) who voted for the incumbent. As a Catholic, I note with alarm the 50-48 advantage against Romney for Catholics choosng "social justice" over doctrine and overlooking the moral stand of the bishops. The issue for Catholics has turned into one of the "evil of capitalism" versus the perceived good of socialism. It has become a vision of a utopian "redistribution of wealth". The question becomes one of just who will produce the resources to be taxed to fund this "grand vision" for America?

The circular firing squad has become conservatives' standard response to bad news. Kind of funny, kind of sad.

Today's GOP is struggling to contain the temper tantrum mentality of the Tea Party. The GOP has got to expel them the same way they did the Birchers a generation ago. They don't appear to be succeeding in that.

Blaming Romney's loss on "takers vs. makers" is childish, untrue and terribly damaging to the reputation of the GOP.

As a Democrat, I don't mind at all watching the GOP self-destruct. But as an American, I don't think it's in the long-term best interests of our nation to lose a cohesive, rational and relevant conservative political movement.

@woolybruce

How about John McCain? He failed to get the party's nod in 2000, then ran again in 2008. Then there is George Bush Sr. He lost the nod against Reagan in 1980, who himself challenged Gerald Ford in 1976, but failed to receive the party's nomination.

Romney was thrown under the GOP bus long before the election. The U.S. still has deep religious prejudices (yes, Utah does too), and it wasn't until late in the game when Republicans took Romney seriously, and mostly because it was a no-brainer.

Romney's 47% comment was bad news, mainly because I think 47% was too high a number (criticizing nearly half of the population doesn't help win elections), though everyone knows there are PLENTY of people who consider themselves victims. Romney's post-election comments about gifts, is dead-on correct, but needs to be expanded beyond Hispanic voters. Why is he taking so much heat for that? Politicians promise giveaways and get elected for it all the time. It's what they do! That goes for conservatives as well.

Romney lost because too many people in America throughout the political spectrum (GOP included) aren't really interested in a leader who speaks his mind, makes tough decisions and acts responsibly. They want someone with a hip image who will fatten their own wallet at someone else's expense.

Mitt had some good ideas, but never talked like he was thinking about ALL the people. Go see the Lincoln movie to understand what a real leader sounds like.

Wright is correct. Romney's "less than eloquent" remarks don't make him "a bad guy." But they do show...again...that Romney is out of touch with the average voter. He would have made a fine president and probably helped cure the country's economic ills, but potential leadsership is meaningless if a person can't get elected.

Given the nation's political climate future GOP presidential candidates are wise to distance themselves form Romney.

Mr. Food Stamps did indeed win by gifts to key groups. He has created a welfare mentality, a entitlement mentality that says that YES WE CAN live off of other people's labor. Simply stated, there are now more takers than makers. It may not have been politically wise, but Romney was stating what everybody knows to be true.

Romney lost for a number of reasons. Heading the list, he simply doesn't care about people.
It's obvious in his remarks, his plans for the "future" economics of the poor and middle class, his prior life of buying and selling companies for the money and leaving thousands over time without jobs and ruining their lives. Mitt doesn't have a future in politics. Sorry Mitt.

A liberal and a conservative walk into a bar. The bartender says, "What can I get for you Mitt?"

That joke was told by a Republican during primary season.
Why the shock he's still not loved by the very crowd who pulled out all the stops to block his candidacy?

And then there's the irony of the numbers. After complaining in an honest moment when he didn't know he was being recorded that 47% of Americans would never vote for him, Mitt was only able to muster 47% of the popular vote.

For voters who sought to know the real Romney, those occasions such as the 47% comments had extra meaning because they were made at a time when he wasn't pandering for votes and "etch a sketching" his policies to align with the latest polls, something he's done throughout his political life.

The change of heart about Romney is not surprising. He never got more than 20% of support until the other candidates crashed and burned. For most Republicans, Romney was not the guy they wanted, just the guy they got stuck with. When they had to, they rallied around him, but not with any real enthusiasm. He was always seen as a flip-flopper with no personal convictions, a guy who only wanted to be president because of personal ambition. Now that they don't have to fake it anymore, Republicans' true feelings return to the foreground.

BTW, Romney got the worst treatment for his LDS religion in the REPUBLICAN Primaries, from people of his own party. Open up your eyes people, the far right power brokers of the GOP will avoid any LDS candidate for national office from now on citing Romney as a failure. Why would you want to be part of such a backstabbing party filled with people who have no new ideas other than blaming anyone who is not white/evangelical Christian?

As an indépendant and former Romney supporter, he lost me when he said he wanted to spend 2TRILLION on top of Department of Defense budget requests for defense but wanted to cut help for the poor and sick? I my opinion, that isn;t what Jesus would do. I would rather stand in front of the Lord telling him I erred voting for a guy who spent money on the sick and poor over the one who wanted to add 2 trillion for bombs and planes to drop them from. We spend plenty on defense already.

It is always inappropriate to "bad mouth" individuals and "throw them under the bus". It is equally inappropriate to forget that America is made up of more than "older white men". Today is a better day for everyone not just someone.

The GOP is in turmoil as it is being analyzed six ways from Sunday.
Like the GOP primary, most of the analysts are liberals.
The key question is whether Mitt was too far left or too far right to get elected. Or just maybe he was lukewarm and spewed out by the voters?
Regardless, the liberals ought not be the ones to decide for us.

As a proud member of the LDS Church and former Republican, I just want to point out that the Republican party is showing it's true colors. This is the party that is filled with hate talk radio shock mongers, xenophobes, racists and backstabbers. This is the party that gave the current President trillion in unfunded mandates, bank bailouts, unpaid wars.

I am glad I left the GOP and maybe some Mormons will now see how two faced this party is. Mormons are now back on the same row for these hate monger GOP types that voted for Romney as a "Anyone but Obama Vote". They never liked Romney, he just had more money to outlast the others until they shot themselves in the foot.

The new Republican Party doesn't like moderates and it doesn't tolerate losers. Losing the election to Barack Obama and the Democrats when Republicans expected to win was the ultimate humiliation.

Not only did they lose the presidential election, but they lost the Senate and lost seats in the House of Representatives.

Now Mitt Romney is persona non grata in the Republican Party. Next time they'll nominate a "true social conservative", someone with real Tea Party credentials and the not some "wimpy, namby-pamby, New England liberal" unacceptable to the Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck wing of the Party.

It may be another 2-3 generations before the Republican Party risks it all with another Mormon candidate. And that's what really irritates Utah supporters with the GOP.

The world isn't going to end, (unless the Mayan calendar is correct). We all need to go to the middle. We listen to FOX and MSNBC and as Ed and Hannity make tons of money from their extreme ideas, we all jump on board and polarize to the extreme right and left, drawing lines in the sand. Too proud to reverse our direction towards the middle, we blame everything bad on one side or the other. President Clinton (didn't vote for him) said it best while in SLC with President Bush. This is not a direct quote, but close. He stated that both parties need to come to the center. Thanks for reading my ideas.

In other words, Utah supporters of Mitt Romney are naive.

Maybe next time you'll pick a candidate based on something other than his religion.

He was a bad candidate for a bad party, and he's lucky to have done as well as he did. Next time, Utah Republicans should be part of the solution, and not part of the problem.

Huntsman 2016.

Huntsman was not the choice of the Republicans. In fact, he wasn't even close to being considered. That is where moderates are at in the Republican Party. As for Romney, he arguably did better on election night than the party did in general which lost seats in the House and went way backward in the senate. In fact, being tied to closely to the Republican Party did Romney in. I do believe Huntsman would have had a chance if nominated but the first process was so far from happening it really isn't worth talking about. Perhaps a new third party should emerge that would appeal to the moderates instead of the extremes of each party.

This state should have backed the only good candidates the Republicans put forward this year, "John Huntsman." Mr. Huntsman would have been a bigger danger to Mr. Obama. Mr. Huntsman is a moderate who would do what is right for the nation and our State. Utah Republicans backed the wrong horse in this race!!

Why would anyone be surprised that the republican establishment is turning on Mr. Romney? They didn't ever want him as a candidate anyway. The republicans have a very singular non-inclusive view of America. Republicans are never wrong, so it couldn't be that Americans reject their vision for America, so it must be their candidate. The republicans are the party of blame, they are the party of dividers. Until allow candidates who may have different ideas than theirs, who maybe ever so slightly moderate, they will not win another Presidential election. In order to gain the nomination, Mr. Romney was forced to go hard to the right and that is not where America is at.

Ronald Reagan could not have won the republican primary in 2012. You would think that losing another election would cause the party to look inward, but no they blame the candidate and government entitlements. Really, come on republicans, learn something from a loss, your message was rejected. Making rich people richer and hoping that somehow some of that will trickle down was rejected. If you want people to vote for you, you have to give them a reason, and you didn't do that.

I can't wait until December 21.

So Utahns are beginning to realize their place in the national Republican party and how mean spirited many in the party are. Hmmm....

"One bad statement"? It was more than just one bad statement. Romney stated a lot of things "less than eloquently." But what did you expect of your own kind Mr. Wright? Many losers (I use that term to descibe those who refuse to accept responsibility) will turn on each other at the drop of a hat. It's the norm nowadays, especially in politics.

Romney didn't lose. AMERICA lost. Decency lost. Self reliance lost. Liberty lost. Class lost. Don't believe me? Just wait. You will see over the next four years.

Deregulation of the financial institutions is what lead to the financial collapse of this country. All those predatory lenders we've heard about, subprime mortgages and derivatives all resulted from deregulation. Predatory lending is fraudulent yet Romney wants us to go back to deregulation and the other fraudulent practices that lead to the economic debacle. Only a dishonest person would want us to go to it.

Romney is okay with home foreclosures because people like him, investors, win when a family loses their home to foreclosure.

I do not agree with President Obama on every issue but at least he has concern for everyone, not the just the uppercrust.

By the way, the taxes he wants to impose on the rich, will also affect him. He will be paying high taxes.

Deregulation of the financial institutions is what lead to the financial collapse of this country. All those predatory lenders we've heard about, subprime mortgages and derivatives all resulted from deregulation. Predatory lending is fraudulent yet Romney wants us to go back to deregulation and the other fraudulent practices that lead to the economic debacle. Only a dishonest person would want us to go to it.

Romney is okay with home foreclosures because people like him, investors, win when a family loses their home to foreclosure.

I do not agree with President Obama on every issue but at least he has concern for everyone, not the just the uppercrust.

By the way, the taxes he wants to impose on the rich, will also affect him. He will be paying high taxes.

It's more than a little ironic that Romney got 47.84% of the popular vote after making his 47% comment; MA was 47th in job creation when the governor and he was born in 1947.

Anyone who believes Romney would have made a great president:

1. Are brainwashed by Fox News; and
2. Are dishonest

Dick Morris predicted a Romney landslide but later admitted that he lied. He admitted to saying it only for sensationalism which is typical of Fox.

Fox execs routinely tells their talking heads in front of the cameras (they're not real news anchors or journalists) what to say rather than just reporting the facts. He would say something like "say that Obama is a Socialist" even though he had basis for it. The talking heads would say it and the automatons who watch Fox believe it to be fact without any confirmation other than other Obama haters.

There was a survey taken that shows Fox News watchers are more likely to be misinformed than the rest of the country. Fox purposely provides fake information that their watch gobble up like starving chickens.

@Timothy,
I don't believe you are qualified to judge Mitt Romney on anything, or to say how he will be judged. You assert that the Republican Party's philosophy is not to help the sick or afflicted, or the poor or the jobless. Helping them is not giving them handouts or making them dependent on the dole, but rather to get the jobless employed, the sick and afflicted care that is affordable and not government controlled, caring about people isn't addicting them to the dole, but helping them up and out.

Yes, the election is over, but the misinformation lives on. If you want to know Republican philosophy ask a Republican, not someone who proffers campaign slogans.

George Romney said he was brain washed on Viet Nam - impolitic but rue. Mitt's statement was also impolitic but also true.

Get over the whole thing, folks! Remember, you could all be the victims of reintarnation one day. You could come back to life as hillbillies, then being repubs or dems wouldn't matter at all.

"Quin Monson, head of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, suggested it's irrelevant whether Utahns continue to support Romney even as the national party leaves him behind.

'I don't know that it matters. I'm not sure it matters either way. He's not running again. He's not running for anything in Utah," Monson said. "He's not on the stage anymore. The election's over.'"

Is there any way to forward this message to Chairman Wright? And, perhaps, to the rest of the Utahans who are still holding out hope for Romney?

Why is this a big surprise? Republicans treated Romney like dirt during the primaries. They stood by him when he won the nomination & pretended all the things they said about him didn't matter. Romney flipped on just about every issue. Now his people are upset when his GOP buddies flip on him? Waaaaaaa!

I simply could not vote for a man who changed his story multiple times.

But when I heard the clip of his closed door meeting with his wealthy supporters in which he demeaned me along with thousands of other HARD WORKING Americans, there was simply no way I could offer any support.

Now, in the Hostess debacle, we have a glimpse of the Republican Party's vision for America. A vision that was shared and supported by Mr. Romney.

I voted for the best man for the job even though I have been quite disappointed with his past performance.

Utah Republicans don't get it. That's because they all mainly white. They can't understand it . They're blind. Romney showed his real feelings and prejudices many times. The gifts comments alone insulted many people almost half the country. It also confirmed his comments about the 47% is what he truly believes. His view of the world is not real, it reflects his generation, background and social class prejudices and arrogance. We are all givers and takers. The rich like Romney get lots of gifts from the government starting with corporate welfare, tax breaks, etc.

Romney could not keep a consistent campaign line. He thought that the voters would not notice that he said one thing in one part of the country and said another thing in another part of the country. He made it obvious that he not like the voters much, whether of the 47 percent or the other percent. Therefore --- What exactly do the Utah Romney supporters expect?? He lost the election, so he is a loser; and in the Republican Party if you are a loser, you are loser. He cannot get away from the lack of a win.

It's easy for Saturday morning quarterbacks to speculate on why Romney didn't win. He was by far the most qualified to get our country back on track. But, too many people like the nanny state, high unemployment, Obamacare abortions, huge deficits and lies about Benghazi. I think that before long we will hear more and more people say they are glad they don't have voting for Obama on their conscience. As far as influential Republicans badmouthing him,they show no class. If a badmouther got the nomination next time, I wouldn't vote for him. Romney and his wife have class. I'm proud of him. It's the first time since Reagan that there was someone well-qualified on either ticket.

The truth hurts, doesn't it. We are in trouble as a nation when, "those who vote for a living outnumber those who work for a living." (I can't remember who stated that.)

Mr. Romney was willing to say it out loud, for everyone to hear. It's true. We have too many on entitlements and those folks know if they don't vote Democratic, they might have to be productive and take care of themselves.

Romney was a great candidate who would have lead this country in the right direction as president.

We are in deep trouble, my fellow Americans...

It is going to be pretty bad when Mitt gets judged and Jesus reminds him that his(the Lord,s) whole life and philosophy revolved around helping the weak and poor,healing the sick and afflicted,and forgiving sinners;entirely different from right-wing philosophy...No one should feel bad for Mitt,he is back in La Jolla with the people he adores and admires,the decadent rich that will never know what it is like to struggle for a living...I have to give him this,he does pump his own gas;at least in California...

Utah was an ATM for the Romney campaign and so having lost the Utah GOP is disappointed that their investment failed- Romney is being treated no different than anyone else that looses but this was Utah's moment on the stage and it hurts- easy to understand and will fade quickly

When the repubs ask me for money, I tell them that while I will probably vote for their candidate, I will not give them a nickel until they learn how to get behind their candidates and take advantage of the dems weaknesses. Why should an undecided voter support a candidate that their own party won't openly and fully support?

@ Well Read:

You stated that things went a bit better for him after the first debate. I think that sir you are saddly mistaken and as far as the last two debates he looked like lost child. He had no talking points he would not talk to media for fear of sticking his foot in his mouth. So how do you think he got better?

I am not certain how the GOP has thrown Romney under the bus. Not since Adlai Steveson has anyone been nominated to run as President after loosing a campaign for President. Through this campaign Romney made multiple horrible statements and mis-ques, including his rationale on why he lost. Frankly I voted for Obama and not for free medical insurance, I voted for Obama for one of the many issues that Republicans brought to the national consciousness and then jettisoned.

It seems that the Republican Party is the no tax party and that is it, it stands for nothing. As Clint Eastwood stated in the National Republican Convention there are 20,000,000 unemployed in the US. The problem is don't look to the Republicans to do anything about that, as they are are Party that is against the Government doing. I just wonder if the Republican Party can find an issue to stand for between now and 2016.

Mitt was a flawed candidate from day one. However, he was the best person the GOP had to offer. As the campaign progress, his continual missteps and gaffes became more evident. Once you removed religion from his persona, he would not have gotten that many votes in the state.
Utah needs to realize there are two major parties in America and that both offer good ideas for our nation.

@NeilT

Did you listen to the whole comment by Romeny or just a sound bite? Agreed, he lost the hispanic vote, but why did he lose the hispanic vote? That is where the comment about free health care and and other entitlements came into play.

"I'm not going to judge someone over one bad statement over a six-year run for president." If it was only one bad statement - I could agree with you,but he made many bad statements. For a while before the first debate - almost everything he said same out bad. He just couldn't seem to get anything right until the first debate. Then things went a bit better for him. I agree with NeilT, but would also add the Asian and Black voter as well as the female voter

Is it "Utah" supporters or is that just code for mormon supporters... Why would Utah standout otherwise? What a sad little clinging culture.

Romney lost because he lost the hispanic vote. End of discussion. Blaming Romney's loss on voter fraud or free gifts is dissapointing to me. I expected better from someone the caliber of Mitt Romney. As long as the Republican party continues to assign character flaws and demonize democrats and minorities they will continue to lose political influence.