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Sore Losers
Author: BobR    Date: 11/09/2012 14:04:36

Prior to Tuesday's election the outcome was anything but certain. Poll-meister Nate Silver gave Obama's chances of winning somewhere in the 70-80% range, but there were a lot of unknowns and uncertainty. Would supporters show up? Would the voters still be registered when they got there? Would their IDs be accepted? Would the votes be counted? What if the polls were wrong?

There was enough uncertainty that the candidates and their supporters should have been prepared for it to go either way. Mitt Romney and his supporters, however, seemed to think it was a done deal except for the (vote) counting. They weren't really prepared to lose. They were genuinely shocked (not just disappointed) that he lost, and acted out in ways that are really unseemly.

Mitt Romney apparently never prepared for the possibility that he might lose. For those of us that stayed up into the wee hours of the night waiting for Romney to concede the obvious, we kept wondering what was taking him so long. He was so certain of winning that he never bothered to write a concession speech. The delay was because he had to write it on the spot. To his credit, he did pretty well, but he should have known there were two options for the outcome. Perhaps he and his inner team spent too much time listening to FOX "News". Karl Rove certainly did - hence his infamous melt down when the network conceded Ohio.

Whether it was Romney being a sore loser, or Romney "the businessman" in action after he walked off the stage, one thing is certain - he treated his campaign staff as disposal employees. Just like a company who outsources jobs to China, campaign workers found themselves cut off - literally. The credit cards they used for expenses were frozen before they left the hall. This left them all having to cover the bill for their hotels and cabs out of pocket. It was a breathtakingly classless move on his (or the campaign's) part. One would hope these poor staffers will be able to get reimbursed. It certainly shows what kind of president he would have been, and we should all be grateful it didn't happen.

There was also a fireworks show scheduled as part of the "winning" celebration. Instead of using them as a sort of "thanks for all the support and hard work" party, Romney scrapped it. From a guy who is a multi-millionaire, yet sneaks homemade popcorn into movie theatres, it shouldn't be surprising that he is so loathe to spend money on others, but it really comes off badly for someone who wanted to be president.

Besides not wanting to concede Ohio when all the numbers experts said it was over, the Romney campaign waited until late yesterday to concede Florida. It was moot, really. The president didn't need Florida to win. But there was also no real reason to hold out, other than to deny it to President Obama as long as possible (on a lower level - Allen West (R-FL) still hasn't conceded, despite all the votes being counted, and the results showing him to be the loser).

Romney's supporters, however, are even worse. Twitter was ablaze early Wed morning with angry sour grapes coming from Donald Trump, Neal Boortz, and Victoria Jackson. A business owner in Nevada laid off 22 of his 114 employees because he said he can't afford them. One has to wonder: who is going to do the work they did? Is he going to turn away business because he's understaffed?

Then there's the idiot "libertarian" that says others like him should cut off family members (including spouses) who were Obama supporters. It's sick, really.

All the wailing and gnashing of teeth inspired a FOX traffic reporter in Oklahoma to provide tips to viewers on beating the traffic to Canada. It was all in jest, of course, but was in response to the calls they were getting. It's sadly ironic, since Canada is MUCH more liberal than America is, in almost every regard.

It sucks to lose, especially after putting so much sweat, energy, soul, and faith into your cause. I know - I felt the same way in 2004 when it seemed inconceivable that the bumbling idiot could win another 4 years. He did. I got over it and moved on. Most Romney supporters out there will do the same. It's unfortunate, however, that the most visible and the most powerful of his supporters (not to mention the candidate himself) couldn't finesse this loss with a little more grace.
 

80 comments (Latest Comment: 11/10/2012 04:48:19 by Will in Chicago)
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