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Home Page > News > Mitt Romney compares himself to JFK as Nancy Reagan endorses him for presidency - VIDEO

Mitt Romney compares himself to JFK as Nancy Reagan endorses him for presidency - VIDEO

GOP presidential hopeful compares his wealth to JFK and FDR

ANTOINETTE KELLY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, June 2, 2012, 7:22 AM

Updated Saturday, June 2, 2012, 7:22 AM

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Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney meets with former first lady Nancy Reagan

Photo by NY Mag

The republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, continues to face a slew of questions regarding his vast wealth.

With a net worth of over $200 million, the former Massachusetts governor has been ridiculed throughout his campaign for his inability to relate to many Americans who are currently struggling.

In an interview broadcast on Thursday, Fox’s Bill Hemmer asked the GOPer and his wife, Ann, about their immense wealth.

“Back to the connection [with the voters’] aspect of this. There will be people...who will look at you and just say, ‘successful rich guy,’” Hemmer put to him.

In response, Romney likened himself to two of the most iconic presidents in history.

“Like FDR and John F. Kennedy,” Romney responded, “There have been plenty of people.”

JFK’s father was one of the wealthiest men in America and was the first chairman of the SEC. Almost all of his income came from a trust he shared with other family members.

“This is not a nation that divides people based on whether they’ve been successful or not. We don’t say, ‘Oh, boy, this person won the lottery and therefore they can’t understand me.’ We instead look at people and celebrate their success and their achievements, and we look for people who have the skills we think will make our lives better,” Romney added.

“What I find is that the statistics understate the kind of pain and insecurity that exists in America’s homes. I see many people who may be employed but are very concerned that they could lose their job at any time.”

Ann Romney added that her husband’s work ethic had helped him achieve success.
“He’s the hardest working person I’ve ever met, besides his father, George Romney, who was a crazy man,” she said.

Meanwhile on Thursday, former first lady Nancy Reagan endorsed Mitt Romney for November’s presidential race.

The widow of President Ronald Reagan said that her “Ronnie” would have liked Romney’s business background and his "strong principles."

Reagan (90) served lemonade and cookies to Mitt Romney and his wife when they visited her LA home.

Later, Nancy Reagan issued a statement which read.

“Mitt and Ann Romney joined me at my home this afternoon for some lemonade and cookies and I offered my firm endorsement of his campaign for President. Although I know he will not be the official nominee of the Republican Party until August in Tampa, Florida, I am thrilled that after Tuesday’s primary he is the clear choice, having won the magic number of 1,144 convention delegates.”

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48 Comments

15 - 48 | See all comments

Seanmor | Jul 08, 2012, 08:10 PM EDT

One major difference between Romney and Jack Kennedy is their military records. Kennedy served heroicaly as a navy officer in W.E.11, but Ronmney has NO military record because he managed to get draft deferments in the 60s until he became old enough to avoid serving. His lack of military service, hower, does NOT make Romney less patriotic that his opponent, who not onlly failed to join the military service,but his favorite clergyman publicly stated: "I ask God to damn Amerca".

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mreinhar2001 | Jun 03, 2012, 03:57 PM EDT

Searlit: I wanted to add to your fine comment about Democrat versus democratic. The otherday at theunveiling of Feorge Bush's presidential painting, Obama referred to the "Democratic and Republican" parties. Seems that even the party leaders who should have a clue about language, do not.

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BrianO | Jun 03, 2012, 11:05 AM EDT

I posted this earlier to give some facts about Mr. Romney. First he donated his inherirance to charity. Second he was highly recruited out of college because of his achievements far above his other classmates at BYU and harvard. ------At BYU, he graduated with highest honors and gave a speech at graduation. He got accepted to a recently created dual-degree program in law and business at Harvard. Of hundreds of Romney's law and business school classmates at Harvard, just 15 earned the dual degree — which packed courses required for the two degrees into less time than earning them separately. Romney didn't just earn the degree. He graduated with honors from the law school and in the top 5 percent of his class in the business school, according to The Real Romney. His mere presence among the elite MBA/JD earners got him heavily recruited by Boston Consulting Group. So while he passed the Michigan bar in case he needed to go back to his dad's state to work near the car industry, it wouldn't be necessary. --just a little back ground, where are Obama's school records?

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TayandCake | Jun 03, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

Does this mean hes going to get the back of his ear blown off

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StevieVirginia | Jun 03, 2012, 01:29 AM EDT

Nice, Nancy Reagan is still alive! The Man's 1st name is Willard. He was named after a Rat! And I hated the movie.

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Delta19USA | Jun 03, 2012, 12:38 AM EDT

Romney will never be able to compare himself to either FDR or JFK. He just doesn't have the stamina or balls. And as for Nancy Reagan endorsing him for President, she is getting too old and losing her mind. All she wants is to be with Ronnie anyway.

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MegK311 | Jun 02, 2012, 09:46 PM EDT

I doubt that Mitt Romney would want to be like JFK. JFK was a womanizer and I would be surprised if Romney stepped out on his wife. My husband was in the military in the early 1960 stationed in Germany with the NATO Forces and I was there as well so I got a close up of a lot of what went on. We were in Germany when JFK died.

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Bythebay | Jun 02, 2012, 09:34 PM EDT

Kennedy started the Viet Nam War by increassing the US so called advisors and the murder of the Viet Namese President in the same month he was assasinated and 58,000 US military died as a result of it not to mention at least 400.000 innocent civilians, as well as hundreds of thousands maimed and deformed by the US air raids, agent orange and other horrendous and vile tormentations and assaults rained on the Viet Namese people. Kennedy could do nothing about the recession, his recommendations for decrease in taxes, decrease not increase, were foiled by Congress and nothing resulted. Kennedy encouraged war in Laos -- he wanted to send in US troops there as well as Viet Nam but was forced to commit to US neutrality by Khrushev who saw through his shallow facade. Kennedy was well cold in his grave when Johnson introduced the Civil Rights Act. Kennedy was too spineless to do it. The US Space Program began well before JFK even knew what it was. In 1958 Jupiter C Rocket was launched into space thanks to Werner Von Braun, a German scientist who the US wooed to the US after WWII.The Russians chose not to use nuclear weapons, they could have chewed up Kennedy and spitted him out if they chose to do so. Khrushev made a fool of Kennedy when they met in Vienna in 1961. Woodman, you're the joke.

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Murph46 | Jun 02, 2012, 08:56 PM EDT

seanmelbourne -I said there were exceptions,I parrot no one.Let me ask you a question ,Are you jealous of the success of others as many are in these posts.I think not,because you sound like you take pride in being self made as do I.I grew up in an America where it was possible to become self made,now with so much govt.interference ,regulations etc.it is no wonder corps,are going off shore.If you are true to who I think you are,you understand what I am saying.

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eccles64 | Jun 02, 2012, 08:25 PM EDT

Compare "Funny Undies" with Ronnie Raygun. Ronnie, like many former Presidents was a member of the Bohemian Grove. I'll bet Mitt is.

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judiron | Jun 02, 2012, 07:46 PM EDT

i think it is great. Better than Obama saying he has Irish blood in him. You people should protest.

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ProudCanadian | Jun 02, 2012, 07:37 PM EDT

So Mitt is comparing himself to JFK, now I have heard everything. He is about as much like JFK as a railroad spike, in fact I give it to the spike. Searlit I'm suprise that George Warmunger Bush could speak at all being that he is so stupid.

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Searlit | Jun 02, 2012, 07:08 PM EDT

Can I just clear up one thing? Democrat is a noun. Democratic is an adjective. When referring to the candidate, or office holder, one should say Democratic President, not democrat President, etc.. Thank-you. I know it's not your fault. George W kept saying it wrong all through his administrations.

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IrishAndProud | Jun 02, 2012, 06:55 PM EDT

And to those taking the usual, partisan cheap shots at Romney's name: Your backing of a weirdo named Barack Obama (whose name sounds like a banana split in the jungle with crushed rock candy, on it) rather undermines your already irrelevant efforts to stop Romney, doesn't it? Obama's barely treading water (or flat-out losing ground) in every poll, and all you can do is take cheap shots at his NAME (while backing a guy named Barack Obama)? That's almost too good -- but it's clearly all you have. That's pretty pathetic.

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IrishAndProud | Jun 02, 2012, 06:48 PM EDT

Oh, another one of THESE types of articles...where you have to actually read beyond the headline to get the accurate picture. If Romney is comparing his wealth to JFK and FDR (both of whom were BORN into wealth rather than CREATING it for themselves), that's a wee bit different than trying to BE JFK or FDR, which the bulk of Democrat candidates do quite shamelessly but are never called on it. And who would WANT to be either of them, anyway? Not only did they have their own noticeable shortcomings (in policy AND their personal lives -- though JFK would be a true-blue conservative by today's standards), but everyone should be their own person, anyway -- and stop constantly trying to be someone else. Either way, Romney has a lot more in common with JFK than Obama could ever DREAM of -- and that's in every way imaginable. And btw, lest anyone leap I'm not even a Romney person; he would have been one of my last choices to oppose Obama, but now that he's the nominee, like a growing majority of the country (and like most of my fellow independents), I'm backing him over Obama.

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