Romney Drops Out: Tearful Conservatives In Shock

There was a palpable sense of shock both in the audience and among the advisers after Mitt Romney abruptly announced on Thursday that he was exiting the presidential race.

Screams of "no" and tears came from the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. One attendee lamented the "bombshell."

As the speech was made, Romney's wife sat quietly in the front row. Cameras zoomed in on her mostly expressionless face, occasionally broken by a slight smile. But not all of the campaign's associates were as composed. Behind the curtains, Bay Buchanan wiped the moist from her eyes. "This is rough," she told the Huffington Post, "very rough."

But the writing may have been on the wall. After the speech, a Romney staffer told the Huffington Post that the former Massachusetts Governor had initiated pay cuts a few weeks back, even though he had invested millions of his own wealth. In addition, he had asked married staffers who were unable to move freely around the country to take diminished roles in the campaign. (Romney spokesman Kevin Madden denied the staffer's account.) A reporter who was on the Romney beat said the campaign had contemplated actually cutting staff but decided against the move.

As Romney finished his address at the CPAC conference, aides filtered into the ballroom to take one last look. Some offered condolences and hugs. Others stood in shock.

Already the attention in the crowd was shifting to the prospect of John McCain as the prohibitive nominee. The Arizona Senator's upcoming speech had loomed over much of Romney's event. Romney's introductory speaker, Laura Ingraham, had set the stage by taking digs at McCain, declaring, among other things:

"It is not enough to say you were a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. The question is what have you done for conservatism lately."

And: "An obsession with endless bipartisan compromise does not keep us free."

The Romney faithful were equally apoplectic. McCain's name was booed loudly when it was mentioned, even though CPAC officials had pleaded for cordiality.

"It is like now I have to choose between the left and the radical left," said Jeffrey Goldberg, a Michigan Republican and Romney supporter. "John McCain's appearance here will be like David Duke going before the NAACP."

Comments

[insearchof]

07:43 PM on 02/07/2008

The Democrats need to unite and bring McCain's terrible past to the forefront. We cannot afford another war and that is what we will get. Iraq does not have a military solution and McCain loves his military.

Conservatives need to realize that McCain is not the answer and voting to keep Clinton out of office will only ruin the Republicans even more. Change is not McCain.

If you want to keep the U.S. speed up towards the brink wall vote for McCain in November, otherwise the Democrats need to be put in office either way. Neither candidate is perfect but will change the current situation (HOPEFULLY!)

[phansen]

07:07 PM on 02/07/2008

Wait, when did the pro-choice, pro-gay marriage guy from Massachusetts become the conservative, and the pro-life, anti-gay marriage guy become the liberal?!

The far right has always been either hypocritical or illogical, but this really takes it to a new level.

[jessica23667]

06:52 PM on 02/07/2008

McCain will spend the next few months pandering to the conservatives and will win most of them over. Maybe he'll take Romney on as VP.

It is kind funny what a mess the Republicans are in. Definately speaks to how disasterous the Bush administration has been that they don't have an heir-apparent that the voters will embrace. The Democrats may be fighting each other but at least there are two good, viable candidates to choose from.

[bluestatelib]

06:12 PM on 02/07/2008

What I haven't figured out is whether the Republicans actually want Clinton or Obama to be the Democratic nominee. Clearly they passionately hate the Clintons and want to see Obama destroy her and capture the nomination or destroy her themselves in the general election to get a thrill out of finally taking the Clintons down in a face-off.

On the other hand, they are quite ambivalent about Obama believing that he has tremendous drawbacks being black and a relative neophyte whose background gives them all manner of opportunity to distort and manipulate to scare up votes for McCain. However, they are also terrified that Obama's message of change, hope, and unity, his youth and looks in comparison to the dinosaur McCain, will catch on with the public (including Independents and some Republicans) and lead to a landslide Democratic win in November.

The Republican machine won't hesitate to try to use race to divide the public and scare up conservative votes, but they are terrified that such tactics will turn-off white Independents and cause them to turn to Obama to prove that they aren't racists, and motivate the Democratic base, including African-Americans, to come out showing massive support for their change agent.

I think right now they're more afraid of Obama because of his breakout potential, whereas with Hillary they think they can contain her appeal, in part by dredging up all manner of slime and innuendo to keep her negatives really high, motivate their base to come together in opposition to their nemesis, and use blatant gender attacks to suggest that an "emotional" woman can't be trusted with the presidency at a time of war. They will be much less afraid to use blatant gender attacks against Hillary than they would be to use racial attacks against Obama, because it is currently much more acceptable to be overtly sexist than racist.

My conclusion: the Repubs want Hillary as the nominee. But then again, who can really figure out the thinking of a group of people, 71% of whom still hold a positive view of President Bush?

[nypoet22]

05:58 PM on 02/07/2008

i think what all this hubbub is really about is the fact that the mega-rich corporate "elite" conservatives have finally lost control. the most volatile and passionate groups in the republican coalition have long been pawns in the gambit to get people to vote against their own economic interests.
. . .
alone, the pseudo-libertarians and the bible-thumpers have long been herded like sheep into voting for a string of elites. the elite leaders paid lip service to wedge issues while jamming through policy that would make jesus weep, goldwater blush and lefevre blow steam out his ears. Now the grassroots groups have their own legitimate candidates, and the cynical, super-rich, corporate elites and their proxies (coulter, limbaugh, murdoch, etc.) are in full flight, toward (guess who) Hillary Clinton. this is not to say she'd entirely bend to their will; as a matter of fact, i'm pretty sure she wouldn't. but, with romney's political demise, at the moment they don't seem to have any better options.

[desertdweller]

05:54 PM on 02/07/2008

What's all the hubbub among the Republicans about John McCain? He is a quintessential Republican. He got where he is as a result of:

1) family connections
2) wife's money

McCain is a :

1) serial adulterer
2) implicated, but not convicted in Keating Five scandal

Oh, and he sucks up to the very Republicans that defamed him in 2000.

Just like he will eventually kiss Rush Limbaughs fat ass between now and election day.

What's not to like?

[bluestatelib]

05:52 PM on 02/07/2008

I heard this Romney supporter on NPR this afternoon say that he would consider voting for a Democrat just so he could help send the Republicans into the wilderness for 4 years so that they could re-discover their conservative roots. He would rather see Clinton in office for 4 years than see McCain as president since he thought that a third consecutive 4-year term of a "non-conservative" Republican president would be the death knell for the conservative movement as he sees it shifting the party irretrievably to the "left."

It will really be interesting to see how things develop with the Republicans. I believe that they'll soon "discover" the true horror of a Clinton or Obama presidency and coalesce around an ever so slightly more conservative-friendly McCain to take on the forthcoming Democratic nominee. By March, they'll probably be aligned by McCain and already be in attack mode against Clinton and Obama.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

05:42 PM on 02/07/2008

I hope Romney gets none of his own money back. His magic underwear didn't help his campaign obviously. What a sorry field of losers, panderers and flip-floppers the Republicans had this year.

[editrix66]

05:22 PM on 02/07/2008

I was listening to Rush Limbough after Romney dropped out (I wanted to hear his response), and one listener said he would vote for McCain if Clinton won the nomination but would vote for a third-party candidate if Obama won. I didn't quite get the logic there, but he seemed to imply that he would not vote for McCain to try to prevent Obama from becoming president but would to prevent Clinton. And then Limbough suggested his listeners begin to contribute to Clinton's campaign. Interesting.

[DaRight]

05:09 PM on 02/07/2008

....

Just wait...

Watch DEM turnout drop after the Clinton machine takes out your OBAMA....

Can't see lots of excitement to run to the polls from NEUTERED OBAMA fans...

They will be lining up to vote for BILLARY...yeah right...

.

[Jimmyboyo]

05:15 PM on 02/07/2008

Daright

probelm!

The same exact thing that happened to Romney is currently happening to Hillary.

- paying out of own pocket
-staffers going unpaid (Last week Romney cut his staffers pay where as Hillary as asked for NO pay what so ever for her formerly paid staff)

Uhmmmmmm read the writing on the wall. She is done, will be done after the next few weeks as Obama rakes up Washington, Louisiana, DC, MD, VA, Hawaii etc

[DaRight]

05:02 PM on 02/07/2008

....

Please nominate Hillary....

Can't wait to see what the PRESS and GOP have on ole Bill...

Where's he been dip'in that ole crooked pecker of his over the last 8 years....

Can't wait to see the nasty ole skanks he's been with.....


.

[arvada]

05:06 PM on 02/07/2008

bills pecker would make a better president than any republican

[DaRight]

05:11 PM on 02/07/2008

....

Be careful...

Don't let none of Bill's DNA get on your BLUE DRESS....

.

[kitebro]

05:11 PM on 02/07/2008

You are funny! Pure comic gold. Please keep making these comments. LMAO! What a clever...thing you are. Yuk yuk!
YEEEESH!

[proudcalib]

05:00 PM on 02/07/2008

That the far right kool-aid drinkers glommed onto Romney as their savior is a potent indication of their intellectual bankruptcy. Mitt suddenly discovered in his 50's that he was anti abortion rights and anti gay rights. What a transparently phony Ken doll.

[desertdweller]

05:46 PM on 02/07/2008

Only after they glommed onto Fred Thompson as their savior....They are DES-PER-ATE!

[dora rice]

04:58 PM on 02/07/2008

one thing wrong , Bay Buchanan should have exited also....don't let the door hit you....

[arvada]

04:57 PM on 02/07/2008

the turnout is going to crush republicans like little bugs the party's over and the results are tragic

[Chavez08]

04:54 PM on 02/07/2008

HaHA!!! You Fascist cheerleaders will have to settle for McCain! (though Romney would probably have been more efficient at killing the weak and less fortunate for multinational profits - aka - GOP Status-Quo)

Prepare for fresh scowls and Iran threats every time his diaper chafes.