Politics

10 things we learned about the Romneys via Fox News

Former presidential nominee talks tears, defeat and failure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0oyYoxfg-c&feature=youtu.be

In their first TV appearance since election night, Mitt and Ann Romney took questions from Fox News in an interview broadcast earlier today. Here are the highlights:

1. Until eight or nine on the evening of the U.S. election, Mitt Romney was certain he was on his way to the White House. “We were convinced we would win. My heart said we were going to win.”

2. The former Republican presidential nominee said he lost because he could not connect with the minority vote. “We did very well with the majority population but not with the minority populations and that was a real failing, that was a mistake. We didn’t do as good a job as connecting with that audience as we should have.”

3. Ann Romney cried after her husband’s defeat. “The dream was to make a difference,” she explained.  “The dream was to serve.”

4. Romney also confirmed that she declined an invitation to appear on Dancing With the Stars. “I’m not really as flexible as I should be.”

5. One more thing from the wife of the former nominee: “I totally believe at this moment, if Mitt were there in the office, that we would not be facing sequestration right now.”

6. Mitt Romney talked about the “47 per cent” of voters he thought were out of reach. “It was a very unfortunate statement, It’s not what I meant. I didn’t express myself as I wished I would have. You know, when you speak in private, uh, you don’t spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted. And it could come out wrong. … There’s no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign.”

7. Romney insists he has no hard feelings toward New Jersey Governor Chris Christie — a Republican who praised Obama. “Chris was doing what he thought was best for the people of his state. I lost my election because of my campaign, not because of what anybody else did.”

8. Chris Wallace, the Fox News host who scored the interview, says he thinks Mitt is in a better head space than Ann about the election results. “Not to say she’s bitter — and she enjoys her life. Look, they live on the beach, north of San Diego and a bunch of their grandkids are around. You know, they’ve got a pretty great life. But I think she feels the pain and the what-ifs and the hurt more than he does.”

9. That said, Mitt Romney confessed that it kills him not to be in office, “not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done.”

10. With his first post-election interview out of the way, Romney returns to the public stage on March 15 in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

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