E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSAs Mitt Romney's long, hard-fought race for the presidency came to an end, the campaign faced a stinging loss – and at one point even cut out the audio on broadcast screens in the campaign's election night ballroom as the results poured in. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
As Republicans sort through what went wrong for former Republican nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday, they might look back ruefully at four words that became forever associated with the GOP nominee: "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
There are varied reasons for President Barack Obama's re-election to a second term, from changing demographics to superior campaign organization and beyond. And Obama's broad margin in the Electoral College meant that no single state was responsible for his victory over Romney.
David Goldman / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrives to his election-night rally, Wednesday, Nov. 7, in Boston.
But as Republicans begin to pick through the aftermath of Romney's loss, Romney's struggles to address his opposition the 2009 rescue of General Motors and Chrysler stymied an effort to gain a foothold in Obama's Midwestern "firewall," and turn his attention to other key battleground states.
Related: Romney's chances in Ohio tied to softening auto bailout stance
It was an issue with which Romney struggled for the duration of the campaign, as Obama traipsed across Midwestern states, hammering away against his Republican opponent on the issue, while touting the resurgence of GM and Chrysler following the billions in aid provided to the companies.
A strong majority - 60 percent - of voters on Tuesday in Ohio said that they had approved of the auto bailout, and Obama beat Romney among those voters by a healthy 73 to 25 percent difference.
In Wisconsin, another state that composed Obama's firewall (along with Iowa), a majority of voters - 53 percent - said they had approved of the bailout. Obama bested Romney among those voters, 79 to 20 percent.
Republican political strategist Mike Murphy joins Chuck Todd to talk about Mitt Romney's struggle to court the popular vote.
Those numbers suggest that Romney's effort over the past year to recast his opposition to the bailout, put bluntly, failed.
Romney's New York Times op-ed opposing then-President George W. Bush's efforts to extend aid to the troubled automakers came just weeks after the 2008 election -- four years ago next Saturday, to be exact.
And while it's unlikely that the former Massachusetts governor himself wrote the provocative headline that would stick with him through his 2012 campaign, he wrestled and struggled with the issue throughout his battle with Obama.
Even in the primaries, Romney's conservative challengers argued it was callous for him to have supported the Wall Street bailout while opposing the auto rescue, especially as a native son of Michigan whose father ran a car company when Romney was young.
Romney reasoned that the managed bankruptcy endured by GM and Chrysler was actually his idea in the first place. And then he pivoted to argue that bondholders and dealers were shortchanged in that process, to the benefit of autoworkers' unions, which had backed Obama in 2008.
But neither of those arguments seemed to resonate in the long term, prompting Romney in the closing weeks of the campaign to address his deficiency with a deeply misleading pair of radio and TV ads stoking fears that Jeep was planning to move production from the U.S. to China.
Those ads were ostensibly an effort to make gains with swing voters in the outlying areas surrounding Toledo, the home to a major Jeep production facility.
But Obama carried Lucas County, which includes Toledo, last night by the same margins as 2008. The president also carried nearby Ottowa and Wood Counties (albeit by a slimmer margin than '08), despite Bush having won both in 2000 and 2004.
Leave a Comment:
Romney only opposed the auto bailout after Obama was elected.
He wrote the article just a few days after Obama's election.
Romney wanted the auto-industry to fail, and the economy to fail, so he could be President.
Is there anyone in the GOP who still does not understand that this is all this man wanted - to be President himself?
America could go to hades as far as Romney was concerned.
Shame on Romney and shame on gullible Americans who voted for a narcissistic sociopath who wanted America to fail, so he could accomplish his personal career ambition.
Props to Americans who saw thru Willard and delivered him the defeat he so "richly" deserved.
The ironic thing about this argument is that the Obama administration did exactly what Romney advocated. He said let Detroit go bankrupt. He never said liquidate the auto industry. Yet that is how the Obama campaign portrayed his statement. They knew that their base constituencies(blacks, hispanics, union members) didn’t know diddlysquat about bankruptcy and all it involves. So it was easy for them to roll the idea that Romney wanted to eliminate the auto workers’ jobs into their class warfare strategy and win over the masses. Steve Rattner, the man who was appointed to oversee the auto bailout said quite plainly on the Morning Joe show on MSNBC that what they did was to put GM and Chrysler through a classic bankruptcy. Debts were canceled. Union contracts were renegotiated downward. Thousands of jobs were eliminated. Dealerships were closed. The only difference, he said, was that they used taxpayers’ money for the process instead of bank financing because the country’s banking system was so fouled up at the time that traditional funds weren't available. And he was probably right about that. But thanks to the efforts of the ABC/CBS./CNN/NBC/PBS Obama re-election committee, history will only record that Mitt Romney said Let Detroit go bankrupt!
He said let Detroit go bankrupt. He never said liquidate the auto industry
^ Continue to play dumb.
Liquidation is exactly what happens if there is no money to continue to fund the company which there wasn't, from the Private sector.
The Government providing money to prevent liquidation is exactly what Romney opposed.
Romney wanted liquidation. He wanted the industry to die, so he could be President.
His venal scheme simply blew up in his face, and he was left to lie about (Jeep production moving to China).
Please tell me when and where Romney said he opposed using government funds to reorganize the auto industry. Or was it something you heard on the MSNBC op-ed evening programming? And your statement that Romney wanted the auto industry to die so he could be president is just plan blather unless you can prove to people that's what he really wanted.
Please tell me when and where Romney said he opposed using government funds to reorganize the auto industry.
^ From: "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" . Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check."
But Romney is a stubborn kind of liar (Romnesia), so go ahead and pretend you can't understand the meaning of the above quote.
Required reading for those suffering from Romnesia:
Romney's Insanely Dishonest Auto Bailout Defense
Alan Mulally has been Detroit's best chief executive. So what does he think about the auto bailout,
The government’s intervention was absolutely key to helping create a chance for GM and Chrysler going forward. That’s why I testified on behalf of GM and Chrysler, as you know. The reason we did was that we believed—like two presidents [Bush and Obama]—that if GM and Chrysler would have gone into freefall bankruptcy, they would have taken the supply base down and taken the industry down plus maybe turned the U.S. recession into a depression. So I think we did the right thing by testifying on their behalf and I think that the government did the right thing for that critical industry at that time to step in and help.
Listening to some of the winning on these posts from GOP members this must have been what it sounded like when it became law that you could no longer count black people as 3/5th of a vote.
Winning from GOP members? You must have been unconscious the past two days. The GOP lost.
The bottom line with Mr. Romney is he was a flawed candidate for the Presidency. He was secretive about his tax returns, his accounts in known tax havens (Switzerland and the Cayman Islands), he was a train wreck in London prior to the Olympics, and during his visit to Israel for fundraising he marginalized the Palestinians. His inappropriate comment during a $50K a head fundraising dinner about the 47% was arrogant and completely unnecessary. The ever changing positions on a myriad of issues became confusing and voters lost confidence in him. His experience and knowledge of foreign affairs was shallow and sketchy. I also do not think aligning himself with the Paul Ryan budget proposal vis a vis voucherizing Medicare and privatizing Social Security resonated with voters. The amazing surprise was the number of votes he actually received!
Well said.
Secretive about tax returns? Did Obama release his tax returns too? It's not even a requirement to release tax returns and yet people are holding him to it. It's been recent tradition to disclose the last couple years' tax returns BUT IT IS NOT REQUIRED. Do you have proof that any of his money is in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands? Do you have any proof that it is there illegally? If not, then your point is irrelevant. Try again.
Marginalizing the Palestinians? What about Obama marginalizing the Israelis?
His statement about the 47% is valid, the percentage may just be a bit inaccurate. You can't deny that what he said about the 47% still applies to some percentage of those people who receive government assistance.
Knowledge of foreign affairs is sketchy? Obama doesn't even want to admit to any wrongdoing with Libya and isn't as hard as he needs to be with Iran and doesn't care at all about Israel based on his actions. So don't act like Romney is not knowledgeable with foreign affairs when the president doesn't even conduct his foreign affairs very well at all.
Totally true.
Obama did release his tax returns. He released 12 years of them "according to long standing tradition". What are you talking about? Mitt's money was in Switzerland and the Caymans, per what he released.
Brandon, don't learn from history. Blame liberals. Be a loser again in 4 years.
@Brandon-1985771
You are one of those Romney's supporters who made his campaign failed miserably. Your comment truly doomed Romney's political career. Step back and think about what you just wrote. Does it make any sense to you?
"It's not even a requirement to release tax returns and yet people are holding him to it. It's been recent tradition to disclose the last couple years' tax returns BUT IT IS NOT REQUIRED."
True! But it shows the candidate's honesty and integrity.
It shows the candidate's commitment to the job.
It shows the candidate is willing to any extent to get the job done.
Romney didn't do it, that doomed to failure. And the yesterday result said it all.
Think out of the box. Sometimes we play by the rules, sometimes we don't. That's how it works.
By the way, congrats President Obama for a job well done.
QuotoUS - "failed miserably". Are you for real. Romney got over 57,000,000 votes. How do you equate that to failing miserably? Obama has no mandate. He will be a four year lame duck president. He can't even get a bill passed through his own Senate. Get real.
Wow, another 2 years of nothing then lame duck for another 2.
Buckle up America. You asked for it, you will certainly get it.
I am a registered Democrat of hispanic decent that didn't vote for Obama. I guess it may have something to do with my job traveling to over 35 countries which allowed me to learn how to detect when someone is trying to sell me a bill of goods that I don't need or is not in my best interest to have.
I once had a business partner that would present a speech so well he could convince a croud to drink the coolaid. He had me for a short time until I asked myself to take notice of what he does, not what he says.
Nuf said. Going to take the next several years to focus on my personal physical and spiritual needs.
you think Romney was selling something real??? Romney took every position on every issue in order to appeal to voters.
Sometimes people run for president.
Mitt Romney never said "Let detroit go bankrupt". The New York Times used that in a headline about Romney's idea of creating a program to assist the the automakers. So MSNBC should get their facts correct instead of continuing, even after the election, to spread falsities about what Romney did or did not say.
He approved the headline beforehand. As a practical matter, he was letting them go under. He knew damned well there was no private funding. None. I knew it, and I am relatively a small time business guy.
Romney's idea was to let Detroit go bankrupt. He didn't use those exact words, but that is definitely what he meant Bankruptcy, by the way, is a complex financial restructuring process overseen by a trustee of the court. Given the economics of the times, under bankruptcy, GM and Chrysler would have probably ended up being owned by China or simply broken up.
"Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
That phrase alone has brought Romney down to his knees. There were so many fatal mistakes that doomed Romney's campaign from beginning. I would fire whoever were Romney's strategists from the start.
Nobody is perfect. In fact, everybody makes mistakes. The biggest mistake Romney did, was to never clarify his tax returns. Spending time finding ways to explain why it happened and publicly releasing all of them as requested, are the right things to do, instead of suspiciously continuing hiding all of the documents. That just makes the condition worse. Before starting the campaign, clear up all the past by letting people know what's going on. GOP didn't do a good job on that. Also, time has changed, so have people. GOP keeps clinging to the old platform that's totally different from the new concepts of the 21st century. Younger generations have totally different beliefs from the GOP's. Women's rights and gay rights are examples. If GOP continues what they are doing, there will be no one to join GOP in the future.
Sara Palin, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Todd Akin and Michele Bachmann are all GOP's rotten apples that make GOP look bad, very bad.
Mitt Romney would have been the 44th President of the United States, and his wife Ann Romney would have been the first lady. Romney's five sons would have been American 'princes'. Well, Romney didn't know how to make it happen. See you in 2016, Mitt.
By the way, congrats President Obama, the 44th American President for 4 more years and for another job well done.
You deserved it, Obama, Mr. President.
Mitt Romney: “The worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama”
- Rick Santorum (March 25, 2012)
Santorum would have gotten fewer votes than Romney. Americans will not vote for a conservative idealogue for president. Fuggeddabouttit. If the GOP moves right, it loses.
Agree. He had to move too far right to capture the nomination, leaving too short a period to move back to the center credibily, to win the general election.
The far right confuses American "conservatism" with a political ideology, when it is, in fact, a "cautious approach" toward change, and aversion to confrontation, that allows us all to live together in relative peace.
Mitt who,,lmao
Ironic. Most conservatives I know drive American-made cars as a show of patriotic support for American industry. Most liberals I know drive Prius's and BMW's.
Most ultra-wealthy conservatives that I know keep their money in foreign banks.
Most smart people voted for Obama,the rest can drive their gas guzzelers,and live in the simple mind set of the 1950's
Looooosers
The first real indication of Romny's unsuitability was his refusal to release his tax returns. I suspect he couldn't release them because they would show that he made millions while avoiding or cheating on his taxes and hiding money overseas. Then it was his hiding from his record at Bain. Then his incessant and dramatic flip flopping. I could have voted for someone other than Obama, but not someone as flawed as Romney. If Jeb Bush had run, who knows?
Hey GOP turds. You,lost. Hamhamhemhe ho ho
Mitt is a loser
Willard's concession speech was pretty good. He should be good at them by now anyway. One thing he said did strike me as odd though: "Ann would have made a wonderful First Lady." Yes, Queen Ann did have her eye on the prize: another house, a big white house with even more servants than usual. But it wasn't Mitt's turn after all, was it?
I thank Gawd that I don't have to deal with that used car salesman as his beotchy wife as POTUS and FL. I hope they don't pull a Sarah Palin and start working for Faux News.
Well then Astuteobservor, as that mean is you don't know many liberals. I drive a Ford, have only owned Fords and never own anything but a Ford. I own a bunch of guns, believe in a woman right to choose and and as much as you right wing nuts have destroys the once proud republican party, I vote for a Democrat for only the second time in my life. Until the republican party learn to be inclusive again it is dooms. The old white farts that think that can make decisions for everyone else have lost touch with reality. Most of my friends are former republicans and we all feel that until the republican party moves back to the center and stop trying to force their religion and out of touch morality on others we will continue to vote for democrats.
There once was the Reagan Democrats now there is the Obama republicans. And the republican party will continue to lose more and more members. Get rid of the wack jobs and maybe just maybe you will start to gain members again.
YES WE DID
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
CLINTON/ ? 2016
BIDEN/ ? 2016
Ready for Hilary Clinton for 2016! Sure.
Mitt Romney
You,are nothing more,than a polished turd,who,evaded taxes and are out of touch with all people.
Later you'moron crook
To Feisty and any others who are in a brain-dead Obama coma, watch this video and see just how obvious it is that this "leadership" team of Obama/Biden can better be described as "arrogant douchebags":
youtube.com/watch?v=QWM6EuKxz5A
Michael,
You are totally missing the point and it is because you have never had to suffer thru starting a business or develop a support for meeting a deadline payroll, etc.. You decided to get a JOB.. MR was against bailing out Detroit because DETROIT put them selves in that position. Not the consumer; not global market fluctations... Why does the average auto have to cost hign $30K - low $40K. Bloated union wages - for DECADES. Mitt - from a purely business perspective - saw the sheer folly of the stupid model for success that the brightest minds in that industry signed off on years ago. And because they goofed - the taxpayer should help?? WTF!! Who decided that the US must have 4 auto manufacturers; and that 3 of them should be bailed out?
Last night - Half of this country agreed with Mitt on this. Unfortunately - 51% was needed for him to enact change - something BO will never do - CHANGE. But the "superior razor witt" of the actors union /general garbage celebrity members, the constant love fest from you and the rest of the media fawning over BO - instead of offering solid reporting (see LIBYA, see SOLYNDRA), assisted the young and foolish to reelect a man who actually thinks this country is the PROBLEM - THE ENEMY..! I can't wait for that breaking story about why this country is so divided.... spare me you ass......
Funny you aren't talking about bailing out AIG, Lehman Brothers, and Bank of America. They all got bailed out.
And republicon fair trade laws have as much to do with Detroit's problems as anything. Do you know it is cheaper to import a Hyundai from Korea to California than it is to import a Ford from Detroit to California? That does not sound like a level playing field to me.
Solyndra had a superior product. Their solar panels cost more to buy but were easier and cheaper to install and more efficient than the Chinese models. They were a good bet! So the Chinese dumped their solar panels on the market and put Solyndra out of business.
It takes a Democrat to stand up to the Chinese.
The Commerce Department issued its final ruling Wednesday in a long-simmering trade dispute with China, imposing tariffs ranging from about 24 to nearly 36 percent on most solar panels imported from the country.
U.S. Will Place Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels - NYTimes.com
Championing bondholders over jobholders is usually not a winning strategy. I could never figure out why Romney kept bringing up the bailout in the debates -- he returned to it over and over, peddling a false account that people had tuned out.
That wasn't the only thing that Romney couldn't overcome. He had so much dirty laundry that even a Chinese laundromant/cleaner couldn't fix. and for those reasons he had to be "Chopped". Now here he has a chance to tell us the American people just exactly what his plans were for the nations economy. After all he said that he would tell us after the elections, didn't he??? Oh that's right, who cares about a flip-flopping loser that lies more than a rug... We in his case at least he can afford a rug with all of his offshore money stashed in the Caymen Islands. So good bye and good riddance to M. Romney and his little romney P. Ryan.
P.S. To all of you repubs, how does that crow taste with all of that egg on your faces... Enjoy ;-)...
You all should really go after Fox and any other Republican polling obviously Clinton was right your math just does not add up.
LOL Obama was losing everywhere according to them they need to go back to school.
yes, the victory is sweet.the unlearning and unintellignetly unrealistic GOPers fell on their collective asses simply thinking and believing that a white man would easily defeat the black man. their entire focus was on failing the POTUS, placing that feather in their bigoted cap and marching on to a landslide victory which would enable the wealthy to gain more wealth. Not one of them stood for government for the people, a form of FDR stewardship, wherein the entire country needs attention, everyone, not just the select few who feel entitled to rule, to govern and to corrupt. Mitt was just that, a man one cannot trust. he simply refused to offer transparency and chose the obtuse method of dealing with his campaign. actually, the brains behind this failed coup is karl rove, and he is the one who authored the jeep ads premise - change or alter perceptions before....
so glad to see that this ugly, fat, sociopathic travesty is not in the governmental picture and remains hidden in his own seclusion somewhere in the depths of Texas, like "W" trying harde to become a true Texan. both of them failed miserably and failed to pass the truth test. funny how the GOPers can eliminate the commandment, thous shalt not lie as if its their right to alter morality and ethics.
good riddance for four years and now let us see if the slow learning GOPers in the Congress can finally understand that it is their job to legislate with brilliance and eliminate their failed ideology.
Congrats to Obama/Biden
a lot of happy people. I am still waiting to see what Obama does over the next 24 months. He won an election but our problems remain. Let's see what happens next.