Romney’s Graceful Exit

Word on the street is that Mitt Romney will be departing the GOP race today in a speech at CPAC. It would make sense for him to do so—he’s earned a lot of respect with conservatives, he’s young and he still has plenty of opportunity to have a bright political future. What he doesn’t have is an opportunity to get the nomination this year.

I think that if Romney remains the consistent conservative that he claims to be, he’ll get another shot at the nomination sometime down the line. A gracious exit and a promise to work with conservatives on making the GOP a party of conservative principles would do him well.

We’ll see what happens at CPAC later today.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey is liveblogging Romney’s speech at CPAC, so if anything breaks, he’ll be the first to have it.

UPDATE: “Out of love for America, I must stand aside.”

Romney is pure class, and from what I hear he’s giving a wonderful speech on why conservative values are important for the future of this country. This has to be a difficult moment for him, but he’s handling it with the sort of grace and principle that will ensure he will have a future in politics should he want it.

Secretary of the Treasury Romney? Vice President Romney? McCain needs the conservative support, and when it comes to fiscal matters Romney would be a strong choice.

UPDATE: The full text of Romney’s CPAC speech is available here.

3 thoughts on “Romney’s Graceful Exit

  1. One of the things that doomed Romney was the perception of his being smug and arrogant. I heard this repeated by fellow republicans who dont like the choices and have found both he and McCain personality wise to be irritating at best.

  2. Kasich at Convention! Kasich at Convention! Kasich at Convention!

    Watts for VP!! Watts for VP!! Watts for VP!! Watts for VP!!

  3. “I think that if Romney remains the consistent conservative that he claims to be, he’ll get another shot at the nomination sometime down the line.”

    You’re joking right? Willard would never find a more perfect scenario to become the Republican nominee as he had in 2008, yet he still managed to repel the majority of Republican voters in almost every region of the country. He spent a huge chunk of his family fortune ($10 per vote no less), had the conservative establishment supporting him, yet still somehow managed to come in third place on Super Tuesday. Would it even be logistically possible for Willard to finance another $100 million campaign, half or more from his own campaign, when he failed to win a single prominent battle in this year’s primaries, save for the one in Michigan that McCain basically forfeited.

    “he’s young and he still has plenty of opportunity to have a bright political future.”

    Willard Romney’s career in public office is almost assuredly over. I have a little bit of egg on my face as well for taking this guy seriously for nearly a year. As recently as November, I gave him an 80% chance of winning the nomination due to his phantom strength in the early states.

    “Out of love for America, I must stand aside.”

    One of the more hilarious concession speeches I’ve ever heard.

    “Secretary of the Treasury Romney? Vice President Romney? McCain needs the conservative support, and when it comes to fiscal matters Romney would be a strong choice.”

    I expect McCain is too petty to let his personal grievances with Willard trump any political advantage it may offer to put Willard in his administration. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but McCain’s sandbox-worthy petulance towards Willard in the last debate gives me doubts.

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