'Shy' and 'humble' Romney has chance for re-introduction, Boehner says
Tampa, Florida (CNN) - Mitt Romney's Thursday night speech at the Republican National Convention will allow the Republican candidate to break through a "shy" exterior and speak directly to voters, House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday.
"He is a very shy guy. He is a humble guy. He doesn't like to talk about himself. That's who he is," Boehner told CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash. "But I've known Mitt Romney for a long time. Decent, honest, hard working guy. And I think Thursday he'll have a chance to reintroduce himself to the American people."
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The convention in Tampa, Florida comes one week after Rep. Todd Akin sparked an uproar over comments he made about rape and pregnancy. Many top Republicans sharply rebuked Akin for the remarks, as Democrats used the comment to once again pound the GOP for waging a so-called war on women.
"I made it clear that I disagreed with those remarks," Boehner said. "I thought they were wrong and frankly I thought they were harmful. Their views don't reflect the broad views of the Republican Party."
Any talk of a problem with women in the Republican Party, Boehner said, was weighed by Democrats' struggles attracting male voters.
"The Democratic Party has a problem with men," Boehner said. "If you look at this, we've had this gender gap, Democrats have had with men, Republicans with women, over the last 20 years and it's something I think both parties have to pay attention to and clearly we do as well."
Romney arrived in Tampa on Tuesday morning, and is expected to formally accept the GOP presidential nomination in a prime-time speech Thursday evening. Many Americans have yet to begin tuning into the presidential election, making his convention speech an essential element in his bid to attract voters.
Boehner said Tuesday that the speech would be Romney's first chance to speak for himself, rather than be defined by either his Republican primary rivals or by President Barack Obama.
"He's been locked in this Republican primary and then locked into this battle with the president," Boehner said. "And as a result people have all different kind of views of him. So I think Thursday night is clearly an important speech for him and I think he'll have a chance to reintroduce himself to the American people, most of whom are just paying attention now."
The Ohio Republican, who will preside over Tuesday's session of the GOP convention, said his speech would center on the issue at the top of voters' minds: the economy.
"Clearly it's all about the economy," Boehner said. "The president's policies have failed and made things worse and as a result he's ended up turning to the politics of envy and division."
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Yeah.. A shy humble guy who has his buddies hold someone down to cut their hair. Who lies about ALL his primary opponents... Who has shyly been running for this office more than six years. The only thing he's really "shy" about are the truth and his tax returns!
Mitt doesnt need to be on any other network but FOX. They are his backers and "the most (misinformed) watched news network"
"They are talking about how much air time ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC dedicate to Obama through out the year and anyone else like Romney or whomever has a very difficult time getting equal air time."
What drivel you write. Fact is, three quarters of America could care less about what Mitt Romney has to say. He had nonstop coverage during the primaries. We saw then all we needed to see. It's hard to redefine yourself day after day, and Mitt's whole campaign has been nothing but redefining one statement of his after another. Indeed, his own surrogate brought up the etch a sketch analogy. This speech is just one more etch a sketch moment in a whole slew of Mitt Romney etch a sketch moments going on for 8 years now.
He may not like to talk about himself, taxes, policy or anything that really matters, but he sure LOVES talking about Barack Obama. I am not buying what Boehner is trying to sell. Mitt Romney is a ruthless politician who has been running for POTUS for 10 years!
Super great post "Ghostriter" .
"I made it clear that I disagreed with those remarks," Boehner said. "I thought they were wrong and frankly I thought they were harmful. Their views don't reflect the broad views of the Republican Party."
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There is broad denunciation of the "remarks" and "choice of words" on the right, but not enough denunciation of the belief system that Akin was espousing. If Akin's views do not reflect those of the Republican Party, then why are they included on the party platform?
"Shy" and "humble" are about as accurate depictions of Willard Romney, as "fair" and "balanced" is of Fox News.
I want to hear what Mr "Shy and Humble" has to say about PA candidate Tom Smith equating rape with out of wedlock pregnancies......I swear it seems these guys are purposely making Flip's job harder than it already is
Chris- When the Media is 90% far left and already in the tank for OBAMA, libs think that the other candidate shouldn't be given fair treatment and exposure on the only REAL news channel out there.
"Shy and humble" does not describe Mr. Romney. To pretend otherwise is both false and insulting to the American public. If the GOP can't sell their candidate for who he is, then they have a significant trustworthiness issue.
Oh Dear Spirits. The GOP makes me gag. Romney may be shy, but he is not humble. This is a man who managed Bain Capital into the ground. He and his GOP minions are running a pretty good game on this country, but I can see around all that flag-waving and I see the poor getting poorer, the middle class shrinking and the wealthy just continuing to rake it in. Boehner, shouldn't you and other other mooching GOP congressmen be back in D.C. working for the people. We are tired of paying you to do nothing.