Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife Ann Romney have finally broken their silence on the 2012 election. The Romneys say they have moved on from presidential election and they are “mostly over” the outcome.
In a pre-taped interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace that aired on “Fox News Sunday,” the couple said they have no regrets about running for President and losing (twice), yet Ann said she still “mourns the fact” that Mitt isn’t currently the Commander in Chief because she thinks the country would be better off.
“I wish everyone just could have been in our caucus, gone with us and seen what we had seen, and what you see when you see that, are the heart of the American people. I leave, you know, discouraged by the outcome of the election, but also optimistic about America and because of the people that live here. It is an amazing place,” she told Wallace.
It their first interview since since Mitt’s electoral defeat the couple reflected on the last five years of their lives – a good deal of which they spent running for office – and gave their own autopsy of Romney’s 2012 campaign.
Romney admitted that his much maligned “47 percent” comment was “very harmful” to his presidential prospects and expressed regret for having said it in the first place because it is “not what I believe.”
“Yeah, it was a very unfortunate statement that I made. It is not what I meant. I didn’t express myself as I wished I would have,” he said. “You know, when you speak in private, you don’t spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted and could come out wrong and be used.
“Obviously, my whole campaign, my whole life has been devoted to helping people, all the people. I care about all the people in the country, ” Romney continued, “but that hurt, there is no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign.”
Romney said that while he continues to feel remorse over the comment, he refuses to dwell on it or the backlash he’s gotten from political pundits who claim the mistake single-handidly cost him the election.
“I’m not gonna second guess what other people have to say. Look, I don’t look back, I look forward,” he said.
The infamous 47 percent remark is not the only reason Mitt lost the election, Ann Romney noted. In hindsight, she admitted that their team was “blindsided” by the passion the Left had for Barack Obama and that the Obama campaign really did have a significantly better ground game. She also confirmed for the first time that the rumors that she wanted the Romney campaign to ‘Let Mitt be Mitt’ were true. However, she added that it wasn’t just the campaign who refused to let her husband out of his cage – the media also helped progogate the myth that Mitt was a snob.
“You know, he is an exceptional, wonderful person,” she said, joking that unlike the media, she’s not biased at all. “And, you know, and he really is a selfless person that really, truly cared about the American people.”
Ann also confirmed rumors that she interviewed to be on this season of “Dancing with the Stars” but ultimately backed out.
“I would have loved to have done it,” she said, adding that, “I am turning 64, and I started thinking about it. I’m like, I’m not really as flexible as I should be.”
“And now, I understand, Dorothy Hamill has been picked, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, am I glad I didn’t do that!’ I didn’t want to compete against Dorothy.”
As for Mitt, he said running for President was a “thrilling experience of a lifetime that we’ll obviously cherish throughout our lifetimes,” but he was looking forward to spending more time with his five sons, five daughters in law, and 20 grandchildren, including the two newest additions to the Romney clan (his son Craig and his daughter-in-law Mary gave birth to twins on Valentine’s Day).
“It was an exciting, thrilling experience, and it didn’t end the way we want it to. But the experience itself was magnificent,” he said. “Were there tough days? Absolutely. Were there exhilarating days? Yeah, even more of them. And, so I count it one of the great life experiences. Anybody would say, can you imagine anything more fantastic than being able to run for president of the United States?”
