Mitt Romney had many offensive advisors and spokesman working for his campaign, but I doubt any were as dedicatedly offensive and disgusting as fomer N.H. governor and disgraced Bush I chief of staff John H. Sununu (not of course, to be confused with his son and namesake, who served in the House and Senate until dispatched in 2008 by Jeanne Shaheen). I don't know who dragged Sununu out of whatever bar he's been marinating in for the last couple decades and made him a prominent spokesman and advisor for Mitt, but he proved to be a never-ending source of offensive and, frankly, racist commentary, including telling Obama to "learn how to be an American," calling the President a "wuss," calling Soledad O'Brien an Obama surrogate and CNN the "groupie channel" when she grilled him over Romney's Benghazi disaster in the second debate (O'Brien's classic line after the interview: "I always need a cocktail after I speak to him. I really need like a vodka and tonic after I talk to him.") and, of course, saying Colin Powell only endorsed Obama again because they're both black. All through the election, Sununu only served as a constant embarassment, becoming the Romney campaign's version of the drunk, racist, possibly abusive uncle that everyone avoids at Thanksgiving.
But now that the election is over and Mitt is consigned to the dustbin of history, we never have to hear from Sununu again, right? Wrong, because like many Republicans, Sununu has his own theories about why his candidate lost to the lazy, wimpy black foreigner. And in typical Romneyland fashion, it's the 47%/"gifts" mentality all over again. Per the Concord Monitor:
President Obama and the Democrats won last month's election because they were able to turn out voters who are dependent on the government, former New Hampshire governor and Mitt Romney adviser John H. Sununu said last night.
"They aggressively got out the base of their base, the base of their base that's dependent, to a great extent economically, on government policy and government programs," Sununu said during a forum with two other Republican former governors, Steve Merrill and Craig Benson, at Concord's Grappone Conference Center.
Well, he didn't say "lazy welfare queens," but the implication is pretty clear.
And I guess Sununu's condition must have been catching, because his fellow former NH governors said similar things. Here's Merrill (who served as governor from 1993-1997, preceding Shaheen):
"I agree with everything that John said," Merrill said, adding he believes the 2012 election was about "the cult of the personality" as much as anything else.
And Benson (who served a single term as governor from 2002-2004 before being shown the door by John Lynch):
Benson said the GOP could have better connected with voters by making clear the stark differences between Democrats, who "believe in a nanny state," and Republicans, who blieve in the power of the individual to achieve prosperity.
"Nanny state?" You can't think up something more creative than that old canard, Benson?
Now, Sununu's comments aren't nearly as offensive as Stuart Stevens' insulting and delusional Washington Post self-defense was, but it's of the same mindset. Instead of admitting to his and Mitt's own failures and missteps as the reason they lost (maybe you should have just shut up once in a while, John), he's putting the blame on Obama's voters and referring to them as the moochers and takers who need the government teat, unlike rugged individualists like himself. (Which is rich coming from the guy who resigned as WH COS after he was caught using government flights for his own personal use. Moocher!)
Hopefully, however, this is the last we have to see of John Sununu. He's got his whining over Mitt's loss out of his system and now he can slink back to his barstool and return to being the boozy old guy at the end of the bar on Thursday night who chews the ear off anyone with the misfortune to be within earshot of him
But don't worry, John. You left us some great memories.
9:17 AM PT: Some more fun with Sununu; apparently the late Warren Rudman suckered Sununu into thinking David Souter (Rudman's friend) was a reliable conservative, thereby getting him to convince Bush to appoint Souter to the Supreme Court. Sununu's idiocy truly is the gift that keeps on giving.