RNC Chair Reince Priebus defended comments from House Speaker John Boehner who said recently that rather than love Mitt Romney, voters would be voting against President Obama. In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Priebus responded to Boehner’s comments by casting the election as a referendum on the president.
“What this country is going to be faced with are two questions,” Priebus said. “No 1, has this president lived and fulfilled the mission that he promised this country? Has he performed his job up to the standards that we’ve all expected and that he promised he would perform. That is a referendum on Barack Obama and of course, that’s the first box that people have to ask themselves. And then after they decide, ‘look, we don’t want another four years of this misery,’ the next question is, have the Republicans put up an intelligent, articulate alternative to this president who can fix the problem. That’s the next question. But you don’t get to No. 2 without getting to No. 1.”
Boehner said at a fundraiser in West Virginia, according to Roll Call that “The American people probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney.” Instead, Boehner said,”I’ll tell you this: 95 percent of the people that show up to vote in November are going to show up in that voting booth, and they are going to vote for or against Barack Obama.”
