# If Romney loses, it will be a shame it happened this way **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409 "2012-09-21T16:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/21 "2012-09-21T20:51:36Z")
Is it really going to be that big of a deal? Incumbents are expected to win their second term, so the battle has been slanted in Obama’s direction from the beginning. When Romney loses the election, they can just blame it on that. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/22 "2012-09-21T21:31:47Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > It seems Romney can’t go one news cycle without putting his foot in his mouth. If he loses, it really won’t be any surprise. However, it won’t be clear if it’s because the failure of being super-right or because of all the screwups. I wish Romney had run a good campaign. That way the election would more clearly represent what platform the population wants. But as it is, if Romney loses they can say it was because of all the mistakes he made and not because the platform was too far to the right. > > The Republicans can continue to be obstructionist, ultra-religious, ultra-capitalists, and move even more to the right. The party leaders may know that things need to change, but if the population doesn’t understand that, they will continue to elect candidates that are super-right. If Romney had run a perfect campaign and still lost, I think all the registered Republicans would see they need to soften their stance or else they will continue to be marginalized. I disagree, I don’t think the 47% speech or the shoot first aim later foreign policy are isolated to the Romney corner of the Republican party. I think what we generally perceive as gaffes are moments of honesty. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/23 "2012-09-21T22:08:57Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I agree that is the real reason why Romney will lose. The Republican platform has gotten out of line. But Romney has made some huge personal blunders that will allow those same Republicans to shift all the responsibility of the loss to the blunders. They can say he lost because he mishandled his taxes, his foreign tour blunders, Libya response, and 47% video. They don’t have to take any responsibility for the loss being due to their platform. There will be no need for introspection. To them, he lost because he blundered, not because he supported those policies. The true believers don’t think those were blunders. They think he should double down on each one of those, all the while chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/24 "2012-09-21T22:25:22Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I agree that is the real reason why Romney will lose. The Republican platform has gotten out of line. But Romney has made some huge personal blunders that will allow those same Republicans to shift all the responsibility of the loss to the blunders. They can say he lost because he mishandled his taxes, his foreign tour blunders, Libya response, and 47% video. They don’t have to take any responsibility for the loss being due to their platform. There will be no need for introspection. To them, he lost because he blundered, not because he supported those policies. That’s why I wish he didn’t have those blunders. I want his supporters to have an incentive to review their platform’s policies. But as it is, they can pin the loss 100% on the blunders and proceed as before. There’s the real reason (the country hates what he stands for), and the GOP’s self-delusional version (he wasn’t conservative enough). I agree that it would be better if Romney ran well and lost, but ultimately, I just want him to lose. Even if the GOP nominates a nutjob like Santorum in 2016, as long as he loses too I’ll be ok with whatever way he runs his campaign ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/25 "2012-09-21T22:32:51Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The problem with your desire is that as far as the true blue Republicans go, Romney was a wishy-washy moderate. Even if he lost due to his being too far right, they would still say that he wasn’t far enough right. > > In order for things to change you would need a nominee like Santorum, Bachman or Perry to be totally crushed, to get them to start moving in the moderate direction. The party would still go right. If Santorum or Bachman got crushed. It would be the effect of a liberal media reporting unfavorably on their candidate. I don’t think they change. They keep going further right till the party breaks apart or disappears all together. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/26 "2012-09-22T07:44:01Z")
The next Republican primary race won’t be so much about the candidates as the grass roots primary voters. As this one was, really. Bachmann, Santorum, et al, flamed out because Romney, perceived as the most moderate, got the most votes. There were a couple maybe more moderate – Pawlenty and Huntsman – who had to drop out relatively early due to money issues. So the real question is whether the far right will continue their so-far-successful-but-incomplete takeover of the party, or will the moderates start pushing back? How successful (or not) the internal revolution is will determine how radical to the right the candidate is. I tend to think the lurch to the right will continue, as I think by nature that extremists (of any side) are more motivated and pushier than moderates. I think that the Dems have also been pushed to the right by this process (I think Obama is the most conservative democratic president … ever?), which is in one sense a victory for the right, but it does offer the Democrats a better shot picking up moderate former Republican voters than they’ve had in a while. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/27 "2012-09-22T15:02:42Z")
Well, if it comes out that Romney is gay, and that’s why he loses, I’d feel kinda bad about that. Or at least I’d know that I should, anyway. Or if massive numbers of illegal aliens vote, and the Pubbies get totally crushed up and down the line, President, House, and Senate, and then it goes to the Supremes and they make up some 5 to 4 bullshit that makes it all legal, I would at least have to apologize to **Bricker**. Might take a couple of days to get to it, hard to type when you are having giggling fits and spastic farts of hilarity. But _then_ I’d feel bad. Sorta. Kinda. ---
**Author:** ![moonshot925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@moonshot925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonshot925)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/28 "2012-09-22T15:27:57Z")
I really hope Romney wins. Can’t imagine 4 more year of Obama. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/29 "2012-09-22T16:09:10Z")
> [@moonshot925](#): > > I really hope Romney wins. > > Can’t imagine 4 more year of Obama. Can you imagine your nose in front of your face? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/30 "2012-09-22T16:34:13Z")
> [@moonshot925](#): > > I really hope Romney wins. > > Can’t imagine 4 more year of Obama. I really hope Obama wins. Can’t imagine 4 year of Romney. Oh look-- it works when I do it too! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/31 "2012-09-22T16:43:03Z")
> [@moonshot925](#): > > I really hope Romney wins. > > Can’t imagine 4 more year of Obama. I’m under the impression you won’t have to imagine it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/32 "2012-09-22T16:51:17Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think no matter how Romney loses, the GOP is going to turn hard right in 2016. They ran a reasonable McCain in 2008, and a formerly reasonable Romney in 2012. The mantra is that when they lose, they weren’t conservative enough so looks like Bachmann or Santorum in '16. I tend to think two kinds of people rise to the top of the GOP in today’s political climate. The true believers and the crass manipulators. The true believers actually believe a lot of irrational, bigoted, contradictory things and have no self awareness or introspection. Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, Palin, Perry. They may win support among the base but due to the irrational, ignorant, misinformed and bigoted things they say, their lack of self awareness and their lack of tact they tend to alienate everyone but the base and collapse their own campaign. Then you have the crass manipulators. Romney, Gingrich, Giuliani, maybe Trump or Paul Ryan. They are smart enough to know a lot of what the GOP base believes is crap (creationism is real but climate change is a myth, the US has the world’s best health care, Obama is a Kenyan, tax cuts will balance the budget, etc) but they pretend to believe it to get support and by and large only legitimately support aristocratic and authoritarian policies and just pretend to believe a lot of the irrational, contradictory things. Their problem is eventually their tendency to lie, hypocrisy and phoniness makes them appear untrustworthy, and they lose due to that. So there is no solution. You either get phony manipulators who pretend to be stupid and bigoted until their phoniness turns people off, or people too legitimately stupid and bigoted to run a national campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/33 "2012-09-22T17:09:25Z")
It will be especially rancid if Romney only loses by a narrow margin. Republicans will “know” they had the right ideas and only lost because of a crappy foot-in-mouth candidate. Then in 2016 the polarization between whoever they pick and Hillary will be so disgusting, that I’ll be tempted to go into hibernation in July. Mitt should really have the decency to get trounced in the Electoral College with Dukakis-like numbers. Then there might be a bit of soul-searching in his party. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/34 "2012-09-22T17:28:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Romney’s important mistakes are letting what he really believes slip out. Agreed, Obama’s great strength is never letting on what he really believes. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/35 "2012-09-22T18:29:21Z")
Does anyone really think Hillary at age 68 is going to run for President? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/36 "2012-09-22T18:54:14Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Does anyone really think Hillary at age 68 is going to run for President? Definitely. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/37 "2012-09-22T19:27:15Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Does anyone really think Hillary at age 68 is going to run for President? Why not? Reagan was a few days shy of 70 when inaugurated. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/38 "2012-09-22T21:15:36Z")
While I wouldn’t consider it a lock I’ve be Veeery surprised if she and Bill weren’t thinking about it really hard. The giveaway will come over the next two years. She’s set to step down as SecState. How visible will she keep herself and how much will Bill be pushing her as a viable candidate? That’ll tell the tale. And she’ll have an exploratory committee sometime in 2014 or early 2015 at the latest. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/39 "2012-09-22T22:14:16Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > While I wouldn’t consider it a lock I’ve be Veeery surprised if she and Bill weren’t thinking about it really hard. > > The giveaway will come over the next two years. She’s set to step down as SecState. How visible will she keep herself and how much will Bill be pushing her as a viable candidate? That’ll tell the tale. And she’ll have an exploratory committee sometime in 2014 or early 2015 at the latest. I’m betting she will, and will get the nomination fairly easily. She learned a lot from 2008, and her excellent work the last four years eliminated most of her negatives. For Dems, anyhow. I don’t know if she would still be viewed as Ms. Demon Woman by Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409/40 "2012-09-22T22:22:58Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I don’t know if she would still be viewed as Ms. Demon > Woman by Republicans. She would. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-it-will-be-a-shame-it-happened-this-way/635409.md?page=3)