Romney’s lukewarm return to Washington

>>> that's governor romney carrying his own bags through the airport after arriving in washington today. he couldn't show up for president obama 's inauguration four days ago, but he has no problem making it in for a lunch in his honor. he and anne were the big guest of honor at a party just blocks from the white house thrown by hotel chairman and good friend bill marriott . and everyone in attendance left with a party favor . some pearls of wisdom from the party itself. he began by telling everyone in the crowd, "we lost." huh? we lost? what is this we? i'm pretty sure he lost. but, anyway, romney went onto say i'm not going away. i will continue to help. wow. he's going to continue to help. it's christmas come early for the democrats. i wonder how the republicans reacted? huh? oh, i'm hearing we have a video of the reaction from the actual lunch.

>> it's important.

>> to be honest, i was the one doing the weeping.

>> i've spent my whole life chasing the american dream .

>> i'm sorry, governor, that was the big take-away from the luncheon. then, if that's what it was, people left with heartburn, not doggie bags.

>>> is this the last thing the republican wants?

>> oh, sure, it's pretty much the last thing. it's a ritual they have to go through. losing is a short, sharp good-bye, usually. he may say he's not going away. the truth is he's not going anywhere. unlike john kerry and john mccain , he doesn't have an important place in public life . he doesn't have a great cause that can come in, the center of the world stage or the national stage. i think he will remain a biword for how to run a bad campaign. and his most important legacy, ultimately, may be to convince the republicans and they want to convince themselves with this, that this problem was not out of touch policies, but out of tune communication so they can again, indulge their own self delusions.

>> now, cynthia, we are seeing here where the governor told politico or source told politico that romney has been out of the news and it was purposeful. he didn't want to say something on the fiscal cliff and have the president use it as a wedge between the speaker and the minority leader. he's been purposely taking a low profile .

>> well, as bob says, he doesn't have a political platform from which to speak, anyway. and the last thing republicans want is him speaking out on the fiscal cliff or anything else. they want to act as if that losing campaign ever happened. let's remember, mitt romney was never beloved by the republican masses, anyway. as one republican put it, there's not a mitt romney wing of the republican party . he was just the last guy standing . he had a whole bunch of money and he beat out the rest of these not-so-stellar contenders to win the gop nomination. but he never had a natural constituency within the party any wae. so they were -- so they are -- they are more than willing to see him leave the stage. and i can imagine how it must have terrified them when he said i'm not going away.

>> well, maria , when you talk about -- when cynthia tucker is talking about they were more than happy to see him leave the stage, since he's lost the election, they've been throwing him under the bus. look at how the gop is talking about governor romney .

>> both parties tend to divide americans into our voters and their voters. let's be really clear. republicans must steer clear from that trap.

>> you can't expect to be leader of all of the feel and be devicive. but he's a good man. and he will find his level.

>> inevitably, there are these mandarins in politics who give the voice. don't show any contrast. so by the third debate, i'm pretty certain mitt romney actually french kissed baraco obama.

>> wow, with friends like those, maria .

>> it was interesting what paul ryder started doing.

>> i won't be surprised if they start taking on policy. i don't know if they want mitt romney out in front of him. what they do want is his access to the war chest . while they may not be courting him in public and basically touting him as the idea of brilliant ideas, they will be calling on him to make sure that he's calling those billionaires that basically did the citizens united so effectively that tarnished the name of the president. it's behind closed doors and the american people can't see what he may be up to.

>> you know, bash, you've been in politics for a while and you've led some of the campaigns in our time. i think you need big people to big things . it was reported that not only was he going to skip the inauguration -- and he was the first losing candidate to do that since '89. that's one thing. but an aide went onto say and he had no plans, but it was doubtful that he'd even watch it.

>> that seems a little small to me.

>> it is. when you lose one of these campaigns, it's tough. and you don't want to kick the guy when he's down. but the end of his campaign was an exercise in shipping jobs to china. he thought he was going to win because he had all of these skewed polls. so he went off to la hoya and sulked in his mansion. right now, his place in history is as one of the worst presidential candidates in a long time,number one. it's absolutely true, he was the guy with a bag of money who survived the weakest field of candidates in history. and number two, he'll be remembered as the guy who created the model for obama care. cynthia, will we be talking about mitt romney a year from now?

>> only as an example of how not to run a campaign.

>> not only was he terrible on the campaign trail and terrible behind closed doors . when the public wanted to hear what he really had to say about half of america, he also was the candidate who -- many republicans hope was the last one who presided over a party that only appealed to older, rural whites. many republicans realize that that is a loser for the future of the democratic party . and that is what mitt romney represents. so they do not want toty about mitt romney and his strategy.

>> but maria , i agree with that assessment of the republicans in general. but how do you dumpb romney . and how are you so clear on romney 's falls. even has the chair of clint eastwood in his office to put up as a plaque.

>> i actually think that the democratic party should continue reminding everything of romney . all they have to say is 47% and attach it to every single candidate that's coming down the pipeline. you're mentioning the fact that, yes, they did re-elect the rnc chairman and it rez nices that they're not interested in expanding the basin anyway. so the democrats, that's going to be that person is not on your side. they're not in your camp and they're basically the sunsetting party.

>>> the president is planning big policies. but the right wing hate machine is still working hard against them. that's next.