|
 |
 |
|
Romney: GOP primary was 'nuts,' party should restrict number of debates
Mitt Romney told donors in a conference call Wednesday that the volume of Republican primary debates was "nuts" and that the party should shorten its presidential nominating process because it helped President Obama.
“We had 20 Republican debates, that was absolutely nuts: it opened us up to gaffes and to material that could be used against us in the general, and we were fighting these debates for a year, and the incumbent president just sat back and laughed," Romney said.
Romney made the comments, first reported by ABC News, on the same conference call where he credited "gifts" from the administration to Hispanic, African-American and female voters — including healthcare reform legislation and a decision to suspend deportations of certain illegal immigrants — as motivating turnout for the president.
The former Republican nominee urged supporters to “agree that we’re gonna do, you know, I don't know, eight debates, and we’re gonna, we’re gonna do one a month, and we’re gonna pick stations that are reasonable, it’s not all gonna be done by CNN and NBC, alright — I mean, we’re gonna try and guide this process so that it’s designed to showcase the best of our people as opposed to showcasing liberals beating the heck out of us.”
Additional debates had been scheduled after the final Feb. 22 contest in Mesa, Ariz., but Romney — then the frontrunner — announced that he would no longer participate. Romney's wife, Ann, told a crowd in Michigan that she had decided they would no longer participate.
"Maybe I should just do all the talking and let him just stand here and watch me," she said. "I've also decided no more debates. If we're going to do another debate, he's going to sit in the audience and watch me. And that'll be it."
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
