# So, Mitt Romney "...had no desire to ... run" according to his son, Tagg **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 23, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954 "2012-12-23T20:44:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mann\_Slaughter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/1 "2012-12-23T20:44:33Z")
Tagg told the Boston Globe today that the REAL reason his father lost the election was: “He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life," Tagg Romney told the paper. “He had no desire to … run. If he could have found someone else to take his place … he would have been ecstatic to step aside.” Short Yahoo article [here](http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mitt-romney-no-desire-president-tagg-says-191236665--election.html). Pg1 of the full Boston Globe article [here](http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/2012/12/23/the-story-behind-mitt-romney-loss-the-presidential-campaign-president-obama/2QWkUB9pJgVIi1mAcIhQjL/story.html). Really…? I for one am under the impression that people who don’t want to be president simply DON’T RUN FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/2 "2012-12-23T20:50:03Z")
Sour grapes. Romney had been running for president for the last 10 years. I believe what I see, not what someone says who has an agenda he’s pushing. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/3 "2012-12-23T21:20:56Z")
I’m betting Mitt already had a victory speech penned and I’m willing to bet it didn’t have a single comment in it regarding him not wanting to be POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/4 "2012-12-23T21:23:44Z")
Then it’s a good thing he didn’t win. In the past I’ve had jobs I didn’t want and it is no fun. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/5 "2012-12-23T21:32:47Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I’m betting Mitt already had a victory speech penned and I’m willing to bet it didn’t have a single comment in it regarding him not wanting to be POTUS. I wish they’d release that speech. He probably had the inauguration speech written, his second convention acceptance speech, and his second inaugural written too. And maybe even his farewell address. He didn’t want to be president! Ha! ---
**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:** [December 23, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/6 "2012-12-23T21:35:58Z")
Considering that his entire presidential platform was basically “Mitt Romney should be president”, I’m not buying it. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/7 "2012-12-23T21:40:02Z")
I’m not saying I believe this, but there are times when people step up to jobs that they’re not particularly interested in because they don’t think anyone else can really do it, or at least not nearly as well. Given that he obviously thought Obama was doing a poor job and the pool of other candidates, I don’t think it’s impossible that perhaps he thought that. Still, given his actions, I’d put that as an extremely slim possibility and most likely just sour grapes. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/8 "2012-12-23T21:42:57Z")
“I didn’t wanna win anyway, so nyah!” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/9 "2012-12-23T21:43:02Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I Given that he obviously thought Obama was doing a poor job and the pool of other candidates, I don’t think it’s impossible that perhaps he thought that. Then why did he run in 2008, before Obama? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/10 "2012-12-23T21:44:28Z")
Because he didn’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/11 "2012-12-23T22:05:16Z")
It is his doom! Sorry, it’s raining like shit here, and I’m watching _Lord of the Rings_ on TNT. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/12 "2012-12-23T22:07:50Z")
First thing a Romney’s ever said that I think is probably true. No sane person could have run that campaign if he actually wanted the job; it \*had \*to be self-sabotage. It was the political equivalent of the dude who shows up late to the job interview reeking of Mad Dog while wearing a dirty tshirt and visible tatts and swearing at the interviewer. His family may have wanted him to get the job, but he sure didn’t want it. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/13 "2012-12-23T22:27:57Z")
I think Romney has been running for President practically his entire life. This line, although it came from his son, is in line with all the bull he spouted. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/14 "2012-12-23T22:32:03Z")
That explains a lot about his campaign, aside from the whole “running” part. I guess so long as he could do it using somebody else’s money, it’d be a good excuse to get out of the house for a while. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/15 "2012-12-23T22:34:46Z")
He _tricked_ us into not voting for him. That _bastard_! We’ve all been suckered by the long con! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/16 "2012-12-23T22:34:54Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > First thing a Romney’s ever said that I think is probably true. No sane person could have run that campaign if he actually wanted the job; it \*had \*to be self-sabotage. It was the political equivalent of the dude who shows up late to the job interview reeking of Mad Dog while wearing a dirty tshirt and visible tatts and swearing at the interviewer. His family may have wanted him to get the job, but he sure didn’t want it. So, when in the last 10 years did he change from wanting to run to not wanting to run? It’s absurd to claim that would go through all the pain and grief of that primary and then the general unless he actually wanted to run. He ran a bad campaign. Just like McCain ran a bad campaign, and Kerry ran a bad campaign. Hell, Hillary ran a bad primary campaign and no one is going to say she didn’t want to run. I know it’s fashionable here to always assume the worst about Romney, but this simply makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/17 "2012-12-23T22:46:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, when in the last 10 years did he change from wanting to run to not wanting to run? As soon as Fox News called Ohio. I’ve heard it said occasionally, and not entirely in jest, that wanting to be president should disqualify someone from being president. But this claim about Romney is worse, in a way. If it’s true, then Romney is someone with so little faith in his policies to make people’s lives better (or so little concern for the people affected) as to want to see them enacted, and of so little character as to be pushed into something he didn’t want by the people around him. If either of those is the case, thank goodness he didn’t win. And that Tagg Romney would make this claim now shows he’s as tone deaf to the messages his words send as his dad is. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/18 "2012-12-23T22:48:26Z")
The funniest thing is that this statement is basically a big F.U. to Romney supporters (“Guess what? You’ve been Bained, suckers!”) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/19 "2012-12-23T22:50:58Z")
Bullshit. > **[Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney_presidential_campaign,_2012)** > > The 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney officially began on June 2, 2011, when former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States, at an event in Stratham, New Hampshire. Having previously run in the 2008 Republican primaries, this was Romney's second campaign for the presidency. > He filed his organization with the Federal Election Commission as an exploratory committee and announced the organ... > [@](#): > > After the 2008 election, Romney built a strategy for the 2012 presidential campaign and saved PAC money to underwrite salaries and consulting fees for his existing political staff and to build up a political infrastructure for what might become a $1 billion campaign three years hence. He also had a nationwide network of former staff and supporters eager for him to run again. He continued to give speeches and raise campaign funds on behalf of fellow Republicans. Romney declined a lucrative job as head of a hedge fund, and instead began a yearlong self-education on foreign and domestic issues. > > Romney finished first in the CPAC straw poll in 2009 and second in 2010 and 2011, won the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll in 2010, and won the New Hampshire Straw Poll in 2011. > […] > Despite his preparations, Romney remained unconvinced on whether to run again. In December 2010 he asked his immediate family to vote on a 2012 campaign. Unlike the unanimous support before the 2008 campaign, this time 10 family members voted against another try; only Romney’s wife Ann and one son voted in favor, and Romney told family members that he would not run again. In the spring of 2011 his wife and political allies persuaded him to change his mind, telling Romney that they believed he could fix the economy. I can believe he had some mixed feelings about running. But he did everything he could to stay on the radar as a possible candidate and then did everything he felt he needed to do to win. Making this excuse after the fact is just lame, and it suggests Tagg is cut from the same kind of cloth as Mitt. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/20 "2012-12-23T22:55:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So, when in the last 10 years did he change from wanting to run to not wanting to run? > > It’s absurd to claim that would go through all the pain and grief of that primary and then the general unless he actually wanted to run. He ran a bad campaign. Just like McCain ran a bad campaign, and Kerry ran a bad campaign. Hell, Hillary ran a bad primary campaign and no one is going to say she didn’t want to run. > > I know it’s fashionable here to always assume the worst about Romney, but this simply makes no sense. No idea. I also don’t think it’s necessarily “assuming the worst” to point it out. I don’t know if he ever \*wanted \*to run. Maybe he’s just one of those folks who feel so responsible to others that they don’t stand for themselves. Lots and lots of people around him wanted him to run, for sure. Or if he wanted to be a very different kind of president with different policies that he thought couldn’t get him elected. I also have no idea why people come in for job interviews they clearly don’t want, get hired and don’t show up for work, etc. People are weird. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954.md?page=2)