WASHINGTON – Conservative leaders are steaming that Republicans failed to make President Obama a one-term president and are criticizing Mitt Romney for not pursuing a conservative enough agenda in the presidential race.
At a news conference at the National Press Club the day after the election, Richard A. Viguerie, the chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, even called for the removal of Republican leaders like RNC chairman Reince Priebus, National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner.
“Republican leaders behind the epic election failure of 2012 should be replaced with leaders more in tune to the conservative base of the Republican party,” he said.
(RELATED: ‘Ron Paul Republicans’ win closely contested House races)
Viguerie also argued that Romney aides including Ed Gillespie, Stuart Stevens, Neil Newhouse and even unaffiliated Republican strategist Karl Rove “should never be hired to run or consult on a national campaign again.”
As for Romney not campaigning conservatively enough, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, says the Republican nominee should not have shied away from a debate on social issues.
“Voters overwhelmingly disagree with the extreme positions on abortion taken by President Obama and the Democrats,” she said. “Mitt Romney, the Republican Party, and their Super PAC allies never highlighted this vulnerability, despite the fact that our polling of likely swing voters revealed it to be a persuasive line of argument.”
When it came to the Republican presidential nominee, Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots said, “We wanted someone who would fight for us.”
“What we got was a weak moderate candidate, hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country-club establishment wing of the Republican Party,” she said. “The Presidential loss is unequivocally on them.”
