# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/21 "2012-12-23T22:58:52Z")
This came from Tagg. We shouldn’t hold this against Mitt. We already know Mitt thinks he lost because Obama bought votes from the 47%. We don’t even know if we’ve seen the last of Mitt. ---
**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, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/22 "2012-12-23T22:59:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > We don’t even know if we’ve seen the last of Mitt. We have. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/23 "2012-12-23T23:14:31Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Bullshit. > > … > > Making this excuse after the fact is just lame, and it suggests Tagg is cut from the same kind of cloth as Mitt. he has a future in politics. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/24 "2012-12-23T23:56:41Z")
Apparently Tagg has no desire not to be a punk-ass douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/25 "2012-12-24T00:06:54Z")
Then Tagg and I agree on at least one thing, his father was unsuited for office. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/26 "2012-12-24T00:10:38Z")
> [@Docta\_G](#): > > Apparently Tagg has no desire not to be a punk-ass douchebag. [He’s watching you.](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://melaniekillingervowell.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/tagg-romney-at-2nd-presidential-debate.png%3Fw%3D297%26h%3D278&imgrefurl=http://sayitaintsoalready.com/2012/10/20/did-you-know-tagg-romney-has-connections-to-voting-machines-in-ohio/&h=278&w=297&sz=71&tbnid=4lfoc4m3jKkOOM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=96&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtagg%2Bromney%2Bvoting%2Bmachines%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=tagg+romney+voting+machines&usg=__e5mfbkPd9woayzSBXcYJAZ7hodY=&docid=ws22S5gAckmfzM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tpzXUKysLYj0qQHr2oGwBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEIQ9QEwBA&dur=397) ---
**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 24, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/27 "2012-12-24T00:11:43Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > No idea. I also don’t think it’s necessarily “assuming the worst” to point it out. OK, change that to "paints him in the less favorable light. > [@](#): > > 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. Since he spent so much time doing it, it just seems odd to assume he didn’t want to do it. I’d need a lot more evidence then a potentially sour grapes offspring of a poor campaign. Both are a dime a dozen. I need some serious ass evidence since it such a huge undertaking. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/28 "2012-12-24T00:16:17Z")
He’s never met _anyone_ who wants to be President less then Mitt Romney? Sort of a weird world to live in where everyone you run into is harboring greater Presidential ambitions then the actual nominee. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/29 "2012-12-24T00:23:54Z")
It seems like all of the recent Republican candidates would not have run were it not for God telling them to (after discussing it with their family, of course). “Didn’t really want to run” is just part of the “humble and pious” narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/30 "2012-12-24T00:24:27Z")
Take that Koch bro’s, et al! He wasn’t ‘bad’ he just wasn’t interested. ---
**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 24, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/31 "2012-12-24T00:42:33Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > He’s never met _anyone_ who wants to be President less then Mitt Romney? Sort of a weird world to live in where everyone you run into is harboring greater Presidential ambitions then the actual nominee. Let’s not discount the skill of a good interviewer to get someone to say something really, really stupid. Not sure Tagg is the sharpest knife in the rack, either. Isn’t he the one who wanted to punch people for something or other? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/32 "2012-12-24T01:09:21Z")
I _think_ Tagg was trying to say that his dad wasn’t consumed by ambition and was just running for the good of the country. But that’s not the Mitt we’ve seen relentlessly campaigning for the better part of a decade. > [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > The funniest thing is that this statement is basically a big F.U. to Romney supporters (“Guess what? You’ve been Bained, suckers!”) Yeah, really. Imagine you were a hardcore Romney supporter (yes, there are still some out there) who worked really hard, and donated to the campaign over and over, and put up his yard signs, and talked to their friends and neighbors, and stuck with him even when it looked like he might lose the nomination to a nobody like Cain or Gingrich or Perry. Now you learn… ol’ Mitt never really wanted the job after all. To which they would likely reply with one voice, “Thanks, Tagg. Thanks a whole fuckin’ lot.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/33 "2012-12-24T01:36:08Z")
Wasn’t Tagg the one who said he had felt like taking a swing at Obama during the debate (and then had to go up to the Prez to apologize)? Sounds to me like the younger Romney needs to go contemplate the many benefits of keeping his thoughts to himself until someone else gets to proofread them. Being generous, I’d say like **Elendil’s Heir** , he probably meant to convey that Dad wasn’t doing it out of ambition but out of sense of patriotic duty(\*), but the boy can’t string together a proper public statement. (\* And stepping in out of a sense of patriotic duty is fine for jury duty, enlisting in the Army, or volunteering to help the needy. But CEO and CinC of the republic? Ya gotta have your whole heart in it. And ya gotta want it for yourself, not to make up for how the Old Man did not get there.) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/34 "2012-12-24T01:50:20Z")
I don’t believe old Tagg. What kind of name is that anyway? He must have been teased a lot growing up. Kids running up to him and yelling “You’re it.” ---
**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 24, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/35 "2012-12-24T02:46:03Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yeah, really. Imagine you were a hardcore Romney supporter (yes, there are still some out there) who worked really hard, and donated to the campaign over and over, and put up his yard signs, and talked to their friends and neighbors, and stuck with him even when it looked like he might lose the nomination to a nobody like Cain or Gingrich or Perry. Now you learn… ol’ Mitt never really wanted the job after all. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch. They all idolized Romney’s skillz at ripping off the little guy, but they couldn’t fathom he could be ripping THEM off too. Priceless. I wouldn’t be surprised if Clint Eastwood was subconsciously rebelling against the whole project too. I mean, he actually told Mitt to go F himself during his big speech (using invisible Obama’s voice) > [@not what you'd expect](#): > > I don’t believe old Tagg. What kind of name is that anyway? He must have been teased a lot growing up. Kids running up to him and yelling “You’re it.” Mitt was surely comparing baby name ideas with Sarah Palin. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/36 "2012-12-24T03:32:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I know it’s fashionable here to always assume the worst about Romney, but this simply makes no sense. Thing is, there really isn’t any “not worst” option here. Either Romney spent many years and lots of money running for a job he didn’t want, or he did want it & ran such a terrible campaign that people have been making jokes since before the election that he didn’t want the job. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/37 "2012-12-24T03:32:42Z")
I think there is one kinda legitimate meaning to this. I think Romney certainly wanted to _be_ president, but grew to hate the campaigning for it. Possibly he even grew tired of the continual lying he had to do just to get through the primaries. He probably didn’t mind attacking Obama – like so many other conservatives he may have been in the Fox bubble and actually believed Obama was as bad as he said. But he surely understood he was denying most of his own political history, when in reality he was probably rather proud of it. Plus, he must have understood he was working his hardest to appeal to cretins. I can imagine that would get _very_ tiring. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/38 "2012-12-24T03:39:13Z")
Yeah, i can totally believe that Romney didn’t want to RUN for president, he just wanted it handed over to him. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/39 "2012-12-24T03:39:37Z")
So you get a uncharismatic dude who doesn’t want the job in a weak economy, who sabotages his own campaign, and screws every pooch he can find along the campaign trail–and he still wins 47 % of the popular vote. What would someone have to do to win under 40%? Literally screw a couple of pooches on national TV? ---
**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:** [December 24, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954/40 "2012-12-24T03:42:19Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > So you get a uncharismatic dude who doesn’t want the job in a weak economy, who sabotages his own campaign, and screws every pooch he can find along the campaign trail–and he still wins 47 % of the popular vote. What would someone have to do to win under 40%? Literally screw a couple of pooches on national TV? Everyone knows that one. Caught in a hotel bed with a live boy hooker or a dead girl hooker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-mitt-romney-had-no-desire-to-run-according-to-his-son-tagg/644954.md?page=3)