How did Romney beat everyone in the GOP?

[ilikeitthatway]

He's a RINO at best, at least according to his wacko Party.

How did he basically win all this?

The Party is made up of the dregs of society.

Romney shouldn't have stood a chance.

Isn't Romney too Moderate for the GOPee?

I don't get it.

Is the Party not as crazy as the Freepers would like to believe? Are they not the majority? How is the Tea Party and Romney winning enough votes to run the show? Romney is not a Tea Party member. The Tea Party is running the GOP today. Again, how could someone like Romney have stood a chance of winning the nomination then?!! Did he basically split the vote in the states with people like Newt and Santorum running along side him?

The Party is disgusting, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that because they're basically handing Romney the nomination, that means that they're not totally brain dead. But Romney should be the last person they would want running the show. The Party's alignment should have demanded someone like Romney to no longer put an 'R' next to his name. He's too weak for them, someone who doesn't have a history of pushing Christian fundamentalism, making social values his #1 priority. He's just a loser, who's fucked up everything he's touched. They wouldn't be getting anything out of the deal.

Isn't he the one who courted gays for votes in his state?

How did he get a pass with the GOPee voters?!

[hedgehog]

1. Newt, Perry, Santorum, Ron Paul....... you have to ask?

[Joe Bacon]

19. He was the only "A" hole in the field!

Everyone else running for the Republic Party nomination was a "B" hole. Neither Tooty Fruity Newty, Tricky Ricky, or Old Fart Paul had what it takes to be an "A" hole!

[Enrique]

2. the establishment GOP backed him

the base hates him, but the establishment GOP convinced enough of them that he had the best shot at beating Obama.

[RDANGELO]

3. Citizens United

He drowned them all out with negative ads from the supposed non connected pacs.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Money, negative ads, weak opponents who couldn't string two competent days of campaigning together

[get the red out]

5. If you're the only guy not in a straight jacket

It helps.

[ilikeitthatway]

9. The Right wants the guy in the straight jacket

They don't care about losing. They want to stick to their stupidity. They also think the country is made of "them."

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. He didn't "win" the primary

He SURVIVED it- because of his money, establishment backing (remember, every time he won a primary, the "establishment" tried to declare the primaries over), and the eventual "flame out" of the other candidates except for possibly Santorum, who didn't "flame out" so much as being unable to overcome Romney's money advantages and the split of the "more conservative" or "Anybody But Romney" faction. From what I've heard, he's quite likely to be seriously considered in 2016 if Romney loses.

[WI_DEM]

7. He was up against a very weak field.

[rox63]

8. Lots of $$$

I think he threw more money at the primary race than all his competitors combined.

[Avalux]

10. Maybe he's the antichrist?

And no matter what he's done or how he's done it, he always comes out the winner?

That's a disturbing thought; even if I don't believe it.

[davidpdx]

25. I'll buy that one

It may be the end of the world if that nutjob wins.

[PollyPeptide555]

11. I understand why he got it.

But I still believe that Jon Huntsman would have really given President Obama a run for his money. However, the Republicans are controlled by deeply monied and cynical interests that stir up hate against anyone who actually believe in cooperation rather than the scorched earth version of "governing". The current crop of Republican leaders are Fascists in disguise.

[Iceberg Louie]

22. I'm not too sure about the "disguise" part

It seems like they are pretty blatant Fascists, if one understands the correct definition of Fascism, which is effectively the union of government and the military-industrial complex.

I do love the irony in the supposedly vehement opponents of socialism positioning themselves as "defenders" of Medicare with their anti-Obamacare platforms.

[babylonsister]

36. I don't know about a run for his money, but

Huntsman in a real world (pre-teabaggers) would have been infinitely better. His 'sin' was having worked for the Obama admin, for starters. He probably wouldn't have been such a 'yes' man for the rethugs and corps.

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Doesn't say much for that traveling carnival, does it?

[longship]

13. Corrupt beats bat-shit crazy every time.

Except for Caligula and a long list of others in history. (No Godwin trigger here.)

[Jim__]

14. He carpet-bombed any opponent who came close to him.

I don't think he has enough money to make this work against Obama; but, he will try it in late October right up to the election. It's unfortunate that this kind of tactic is very effective with the American electorate.

[taught_me_patience]

15. FOX News really helped his campaign

plus the ad carpet bombs.

[DFW]

16. I have one theory--see what you think

After the landslide victory, the MSM was proclaiming the death of the Republican Party. Karl Rove and the Kochs knew better, because Rove had talked extensively with Roberts and Alito before nominating them, but he wisely kept that to himself.

However, because Rove kept the whole Citizens United Scheme under wraps, back in 2009, no solid, common-sense Republican thought he or she had a ghost of a chance against Obama in 2012.

Since a run for the presidency needs more and more bucks, and more and more advance time, by the time 2010 rolled around, only whack jobs were talking about a run against Obama in 2012. Citizens United changed that, but it favored the whack jobs already announced.

Only Huntsman dared present himself as a sane Republican, and everyone saw how well THAT went over. By 2011, sane Republicans were not welcome except as possible VP candidates, unless they proved they were devoid of principles and completely manipulable (i.e. for sale). Voilà Willard, whose qualifications were suddenly valid for the Republican nomination.

The brief "front-runner" status of such lame jokes/candidates as Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum proved that the Republicans didn't take their party's offerings very seriously. The frantic speculation over Willard's VP pick, and what assets (if any) he or she will bring to the ticket, pretty much proves that they still don't.

[Jennicut]

17. Who else was there? Newt? The GOP had no one this year.

That left Mittens.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Same reason McCain won in '08...

It was all be default.

In 2008, McCain was seen as one of the contenders, but constantly struggled gaining traction early in the race. He was often toppled in the polls by Giuliani, Thompson and Romney until Romney self-destructed in Iowa, Thompson decided he would rather sleep through the campaign than actually, you know, campaign and Giuliani was off running maybe the worst primary campaign in modern American history.

When Romney lost Iowa, McCain surged past him in New Hampshire and was able to win that state and claim himself the comeback kid. Romney could never recover and McCain was aided by essentially awful campaign strategies from his opponents. It's not like McCain ran a good campaign, either, as all Romney had to do was win Iowa in '08 and he would've probably defeated McCain and won the nomination. That didn't happen.

In '12, Romney's opponents toppled him in the polls one by one but they all somehow self-destructed. Romney did just enough to not self-destruct, though he came close around the SC primary, and just waited things out.

[HooptieWagon]

20. The crazies divided their votes among several candidates.

It was Bachman, Cain, then Perry, Newt... they simply couldn' t make up their minds to settle on one candidate to oppose Rmoney because they were all weak. Mitts huge funding advantage not only gave him the luxury of many attack ads against his nearest opponents, but also allowed him to survive an exceptionally long primary season.

[jberryhill]

29. +1000

[OmahaBlueDog]

39. I think that's a big part of it

I think the other part is that he created the perception he would be the most likely candidate to beat President Obama. That's really what it's come down to for the Republicans; there's very little enthusiasm for electing Willard, but they desperately want to defeat President Obama.

[lonestarnot]

21. They are willing to give up an election every now and again as elections are not their long-term

goal.

[MrSlayer]

23. Bachmann, Cain, Perry, Frothy and Newt.

That's how. He ran against no one that could be taken seriously and just bombed the fuck out of them with ads.

[spin]

24. He faced a weak field of competitors and had the money to run an overwhelming number ...

of negative commercials.

He also is a skilled liar and is was able to convince voters in the primaries that he was a true conservative although he has been on every side of every issue at one time or another.

Obama's strongest ability is his truly unusual oratory skills and Romney is so outstanding at flip-flopping that he is actually a shape shifter.

[Bluerthanblue]

32. I agree- the competition was underwhelming.

and Romney made sure that their flaws were advertised.

[Arkana]

26. Let's take a look at his competitors, shall we?

--A certifiably insane, dead-shark-eyed nutjob who spies on Gay Pride events in the bushes

--A man who is so socially regressive that he would have been at home in the Middle Ages

--The drug-addled, moronic governor of Texas who had nothing going for him except a great head of hair

--A pissy, irritable, pint-sized pile of pure evil with a bizarre love of the space program and animals

--The cranky old Grandpa who screams indiscriminately about "DARKIES" and "ENDING THE FED" and "PURESTRAIN GOLD" (also he has a blimp)

--His clone (and perhaps the only semi-reasonable guy in the race, which was probably why he was dismissed out of hand)

--The black Ash Ketchum

Romney's not a great candidate but he'd have to be brain-dead not to beat this pack of jokers.

[INdemo]

27. The corporate mafia doesnt care about Romney the candidate

They could care less about his strengths and weakness'..all they want is a puppet as in G W Bush type.Someone so dumb and someone who thinks he is President but in reality he is just a puppet for Wall St and the banks big oil and the likes of people like the Koch Bros to pull the strings and get whatever they want.. They want a puppet so bad they will spend billions to buy this election or steal it and that scares the hell out of me..

[Cary]

28. He was the establishment

It was his turn.

[Yavin4]

30. It Was Newt.

If Newt had dropped out sooner, Santorum would have gotten the nomination. That Vegas billionaire paid Newt to stay in the race so that he could split the anti-Romney vote which was larger than Romney's support.

[Tippy]

31. Money, Fear and Racisim and the teabaggers were the Root causes in my opinion..

[Jamaal510]

33. ...

Billionaire donors+The splitting of the hard-right vote between Noot, Satantorum, Paul, Bachmann, the Pizza man, and Oops Perry=
Rob-me 2012 GOP nomination.

[Hippo_Tron]

34. His viable on-paper opponents imploded

On paper you have four theoretically viable general election candidates...

T-paw
Rmoney
Perry
Huntsman

T-Paw dropped out (perhaps he regrets that in retrospect). Perry imploded due to gaffe after gaffe. Huntsman killed his chances when he decided to become Ambassador to China in the Obama Administration.

Then you had...

9-9-9
Joe McCarthy in drag
Three wives
Latin for asshole

None of whom were viable general election contenders. You couldn't really establish a substantial base of support around any of these folks, because enough people understood that they aren't viable. Therefore Rmoney won by default, albeit with quite a bit of trouble defeating these featherweights.

Mitch Daniels, Jim DeMint, George Pataki, Bill Owens, Bill First, Bobby Jindal, and maybe a few others could've given it a go. I suspect they didn't like the prospect of trying to compete with Mitt Romney's fundraising. Jebbie's probably pissed that his brother fucked things up so badly has pretty much ruined his chances. Although really that all goes back to Lawton Chiles beating him in 1994.

Mike Huckabee was by far the most viable contender to beat Romney. He also stayed out of the race.

But if you browse through the Republican Senate delegation and Governors, most are either way too old or were just elected in 2010.

[DefenseLawyer]

35. Jeb couldn't run

Thanks to W. fucking it up so bad. So you take a pass and gear up for the next one. Plan B.

[progressivebydesign]

37. Are the repubs incapable of having any decent candidates anymore??

McCain was a terrible candidate. Romney and that clown college of a primary, shows how bad it's become.

There may be decent republicans (in terms of not bat-shit crazy or crooked or hypocritical,) but they never seem to get the money behind them.

Could it be that the reason the bottom of the barrel candidates who seem to have little appeal or scruples DO become the front runners in that party because they are willing to do anything.. anything.. to get the job, and the money people want the guys that will basically do their bidding? Because it seems that it's truly the money guys that control all of this in that Party now. The Kochs, the Roves, etc., are calling all the shots.

[Kablooie]

38. The GOP management aren't Teapeople either.

They tried to use the Teapers to draw in more blind followers but found to their dismay that they couldn't control them.

They want a candidate who's not drinking KoolTea so they will have someone they can puppet around, ergo Roomy.

[cali]

40. simple. lousy field of candidates, most money. that's it.