1. “I am endorsing him…Now Mitt is not a perfect candidate. He has a number of problems. It’s hard for him, for blue collar families like mine to identify with him. It’s hard for economic conservatives to identify with him. He needs to do more to reach out to Latinos…”
~Former Republican NY Governor George Pataki, “endorsing” Romney and then telling the world how weak he is as a candidate.
2. “Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch-A-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again. But I will say, if you look at the exit polling data in Illinois, you’ll see that Mitt Romney is broadly acceptable to most of the factions in the party. You have to do that in order to become the nominee…”
~Romney Communications Director Eric Fehrnstrom, describing his boss as a man who can’t make up his mind.
3. “I am confident, with the leadership and the backing of the American people, p******** Obama will turn this country around.”
~Republican Senator John McCain, making a freudian slip. It’s not a good sign when one of your biggest supporters praises your opponent instead of you.
4. “There are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish had run for p********, but they didn’t. I think Mitt Romney would be a fine p********, and he’d be way better than the guy who’s there right now.”
~Republican Senator Marco Rubio, wishing there were another candidate to pick from. This is one of my favorite “endorsements” because it comes from someone whom many have speculated would be a candidate for Romney’s running mate. Rubio says he supports Romney, he just wishes he could endorse someone else.
5. “Women don’t care about contraception, they care about jobs and the economy and raising their families and all those other things…”
~South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, making a claim that hurts Romney among women. Okay, so this isn’t an endorsement but when one of your “supporters” says something like this at a time when you really need to convince women you care about them, this kind of statement isn’t a good sign.
6. “He’s not a bold decision maker like Newt Gingrich is. Every time I talk to him, he says ‘well let me think about it.’ … He’s like Obama.”
~Romney supporter Sheldon Adelson, describing his new favorite p********ial candidate as a weak man who can’t make decisions and then compares him to the man Republicans want to defeat. It doesn’t get much more disastrous than that.
7. “I do know that all of the Michigan delegation worked very hard as related to the revival of the auto industry. There was really a choice between bankruptcy and liquidation. There was no one that was willing to come up not only with the cash to keep them afloat but also to serve the warranties of everyone, you and I that drive all these cars. There was no one that could have picked up those pieces other than the federal government. [The auto bailout was] bipartisan from the get-go. [Without it,] Michigan would have hit 40 percent unemployment rates.”
~Republican Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, endorsing Romney and then disagreeing with him about the auto bailout which has been a major Romney attack point. Romney believes Detroit should have been allowed to fail. Some of his “supporters” apparently disagree.
8. “While I also admire his opponents, it is now clear that Mitt Romney is the candidate most able to defeat Barack Obama in November. This election is too important to lose and that’s why I urge my fellow Republicans to join me in supporting Mitt Romney.”
~Former Hewlett Packard CEO and failed GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorino, not exactly making a confident endorsement.
9. “I think it’s an overblown discussion. Why spend your time living in the past? Why shouldn’t we be asking these candidates to tell us how are we going to create jobs going forward? I would have had some differences on how they did it, but I’m not going to second-guess it. The more important thing is the results. And the auto industry is doing very well today.”
~Republican Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, endorsing Romney, but like Fred Upton, he disagrees with Romney about the auto industry bailout.
10. “The Republican Party is fortunate to have many candidates who are well-qualified…Last May–three months before Gov. Perry announced his candidacy–I contributed to Gov. Romney’s campaign and committed to supporting him. Both candidates have impressive records of creating jobs and controlling spending in their home states. My support of Gov. Romney does not lessen my regard for Gov. Perry.”
~Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, endorsing Romney, but still longing for Rick Perry. Again, not a ringing endorsement for Romney.
11. “Mitt Romney and I don’t agree on every issue and certainly housing is one of them. When you look at what is going on here in Southern Nevada, you can’t say you got to let the housing market hit bottom. We have been bouncing along the bottom for years. And the fact is we have to do everything possible to: 1) keep people in their homes and 2) get people who are out of their homes back into their homes.”
~Republican Nevada Rep. Joe Heck, endorsing Romney, then distancing himself from Romney’s call to let home foreclosures hit the bottom.
12. “This is a pretty critical year. There are big decisions for the country to make and … I think we would be well-advised as Republicans to start getting behind our eventual nominee.”
~Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, endorsing Romney, but can’t bring himself to even mention the name of his fellow Mormon.
13. “Well, you know, I guess we better unzip him and let the real Mitt Romney out because he is not!”
~Ann Romney, responding to a question about why her husband is seen as “stiff,” during an interview with Baltimore radio station WBAL. Again, not an actual endorsement, but apparently, even Ann Romney knows that Mitt is everywhere on his beliefs. Mitt’s wife kind of harmed him with this comment.
14. “The more we drag it out, the harder it is to win in November. … I think we’re entering a phase where it could become counterproductive if this drags on much longer. And so that’s why I think we need to coalesce as conservatives around Mitt Romney.”
~Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, just thinking that Republicans need to endorse Romney, and that’s just because he’s tired of the primary. Again, not exactly a ringing endorsement.
15. “Santorum connects with some people. Unfortunately, my guy has a hard time doing that.”
~Former AZ Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen, endorsing Romney and then tearing him down.
16. “Gone are the days when the Republican Party used to put forward big bold visionary stuff…We’re gonna have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some alternate voice out there that can put forward new ideas.”
~Former Republican p********ial candidate Jon Huntsman, saying that we need a third party not long after endorsing Romney. Also implying that Romney is not bold, nor a visionary leader.
17. “He may not be Mr. Personality, uh, you know, this is a guy who gives a fireside chat and the fire goes out.”
~Former GOP Virginia Rep. Tom Davis, endorsing Romney and then announcing how bland and boring Mitt is.
18. “I think the worst campaign I’ve ever seen in my life.”
~Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Romney campaign, just before endorsing him.
BONUS: Even though he hasn’t endorsed anyone yet, if Rick Santorum ever endorses Romney, this quote will be very hard to spin.
19. “Pick any other Republican in the country. He is the worst Republican in
the country to put up against Barack Obama.”
~Rick Santorum, calling Mitt Romney the worse Republican anyone can possibly pick to be the nominee. Priceless.
Since you begged so feverishly..... PWND
