Mitt Romney

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) criticized Obama after Friday morning's jobs report fell far below expectations, saying the numbers will make the president a desperate person.' When you re a desperate person much the same as a cat being cornered you re going to come out and really fight even stronger, West told Newsmax Friday afternoon. I think that the president s policies are failing the American people. We have now hit 40 consecutive months of unemployment in the United States of America at or above 8 percent. The May jobs report proved disappointing, with only 69,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate rising to 8.2 percent. Investors responded to the bleak report by running for safety, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its biggest loss since November.West wasn't the only one who had criticism for the president over the jobs report. Obama's 2012 rival Mitt Romney called the report 'devastating news' for both American workers and families.'This week has seen a cascade of one bad piece of economic news after another,' Romney said in a statement. 'It is now clear to everyone that President Obama's policies have failed to achieve their goals and that the Obama economy is crushing America's middle class.'Not everyone blamed the disappointing jobs numbers on Obama. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (D) pointed a finger at the 'Republican obstructionists' in what he called 'a constipation Congress' while speaking before a convention of New Hampshire Democrats on Saturday. If they thought it could help the recovery speed up, these people couldn t even pass gas,' O'Malley said on Republicans' efforts to block Obama's jobs efforts.Watch West's Newsmax interview below: Related on HuffPost:

Mitt Romney is campaigning on his dedication to his wife Ann during her struggle with multiple sclerosis, but critics, like The New Republic s Jonathan Cohn, argue that unlike many Americans facing an MS diagnosis, Romney had a way to cover the medical costs involved in fighting against the disease. Cohn joins Melissa Harris-Perry along with NYU professor Kenji Yoshino, The Hill columnist Karen Finney, and historian Doug Brinkley to discuss his article on the topic and how the Affordable Care Act could benefit the many Americans who don t have a way to cover medical expenses.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R), a potential vice president pick for Mitt Romney, reluctantly admitted on CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday morning that President Obama's policies helped to dig Virginia out of the recession. Did [the stimulus] help us in the short-run with health care and education and spending to balance the budget? Sure, he told host Candy Crowley. Does it help us in the long-term to really cut the unemployment rate? I d say no. Asked whether the president 'deserves a tiny bit of credit' for Virginia's better-than-average economy, McDonnell responded, 'Well, sure. I think there are national policies that have had some impact. But McDonnell was quick to take most of the credit for Virginia's success, despite the hurdles of what he calls Obama's 'overburdensome regulations.' There s something going on with Republican-governed states,' he said. 'Seven out of the 10 states nationwide, Candy, that have the lowest unemployment rates: Republican governor states. Other Romney surrogates and advisors stuck closer to his campaign's message during the Sunday political shows, jumping on Friday's dismal jobs report as evidence of Obama's policy failures. Romney s senior campaign advisor, Ed Gillespie, called Obama's economic policies 'hostile to job creators' on 'Fox News Sunday.' This is a hostile environment for job creation in our economy,' said Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. 'And that's why, frankly, it adds a sense of urgency in terms of this year's election to be able to turn things around because the only thing that's going to change it are changing the policies and that means changing the person in the White House.'Steven Rattner, the Obama administration's former 'car czar,' defended Obama over the sputtering economy on 'Fox News Sunday,' noting t

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus openly mocked David Axelrod, President Obama's campaign strategist, and the rest of Obama's campaign on Sunday over their reaction to a disastrous press conference in Massachusetts this week. 'For these tough guys from Chicago to cry about it, I just find it laughable,' he said on CBS's 'Face the Nation' Sunday morning. 'It's politics, and I think that rallies and protests and people getting out there and voicing their First Amendment rights is something that's pretty normal.' A feisty crowd of Mitt Romney supporters and campaign staff drowned out Axelrod's message in Boston on Thursday as he tried to highlight Romney's economic failures as governor of Massachusetts. When the Obama supporters shouted 'Forward!', the Romney supporters chanted, 'Off a cliff!' A frustrated Axelrod told the crowd they 'can't handle the truth,' and Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith later lambasted the Romney campaign for employing 'juvenile,' 'circus-like tactics' to ruin the event. Priebus said the Axelrod press conference was 'the height of a political stunt,' and that Obama's team wants 'us to believe that we re not living on earth, and the president is not the president, and all these things that are going wrong have nothing to do with President Obama.' Axelrod said that it was the Romney campaign that had turned his event into a stunt. 'Look, we went up there to make a point about Governor Romney's economic record,' he told 'Face the Nation' host Bob Shieffer. 'He had the wrong economic philosophy and he failed. I was disappointed that they chose to send a bunch of campaign staff to try and drown out the speakers, but you can't drown out the record, Bob. The record is very clear.'Related on HuffPost:

Good morning to everybody and thanks for once again coming on by for this swiftly spat but never pat recap which you may use to supplement your Sunday Morning political chat-show experience or use in lieu of that experience, which actually falls at the bottom of a long list of experiences you probably wouldn't care to have like having your fingernails peeled back or eating lamprey pie -- though on the latter score, that is something the Queen of England may, at some point today, do.My name is Jason, and I almost can't even with England sometimes, but traditions are traditions and who am I to speak, given that one of my traditions is waking up on Sundays, brewing many pots of coffee, and then staring at this nonsense for many hours. It is, I suppose, a kind of love. Still, England...that pie.Okay, well, everyone get comfy as I peel my eyes back and stretch my TiVo finger. As per usual, you all are welcome to mix it up in the comments and catch up with one another. I'm available by email, and if you absolutely need to, you can always follow me on Twitter.FOX NEWS SUNDAYApparently we're going to talk mainly about whether the rising unemployment rate means the recovery is stalling (YES) and if the Wisconsin recall race is a preview of the presidential election (NO). I mean, that's how easy it is to answer those questions, and yet we're going to point a camera at flapping gums for like, an hour.But first, we'll have Romney surrogate Ed Gillespie. He'll be followed by Obama surrogate Steve Rattner -- who sort of looks like Mark McKinney of the Kids In The Hall. It's too bad Lindsey Graham isn't on today. They could do sketches together! Anyway, I am guessing the Gillespie will say that the unemployment rate shows we need to have Mitt Romney and more tax cuts, and Rattner will say that we've come considerably far under Obama and Romney will return us to the bottom of the gutter again, economically speaking. Like I said

Bob Schieffer tries to reason why the president and Mitt Romney continuing calling each other basically nice guys.

June 2: Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama s record on the economy, forcing Obama to play defense. NBC s Mike Viqueira reports.

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has, in recent days, hailed his experience in the private sector as central to his approach to managing the nation's problems. As governor of Massachusetts, too, Romney spoke ambitiously about using his Bain background to streamline government programs.Implementing these reforms rarely went as smoothly as promised, however, and the results often underwhelmed or never transpired, according to people who worked with Romney or were directly affected by his time in the state house. Serving in government proved much trickier than being a corporate CEO, as Romney struggled to deal with an opposition legislature that refused to sign off on many of his proposals.Perhaps the clearest example of how difficult it was for Romney to use private-sector tactics to mold public policy was his approach to higher education.When Romney took office in Massachusetts in 2003, the state was facing a $3 billion deficit, and the governor approached the problem like any other failing business. Higher education was a tantalizing target for reform and Romney made clear from the get-go that he believed it needed corporate-style style reforms. The governor focused on finding a way to address redundancies and inefficiencies in the Massachusetts higher education system,' a Romney campaign aide told The Huffington Post, and did so by focusing 'on outcomes and improvement' and 'using his private sector background to find a more effective way to educate Massachusetts students. Almost immediately upon arrival, Romney employed Bain & Co. consultants to analyze the state s public higher education system. Romney joined Bain & Co. as a consultant in 1977 and was named its vice president in 1978. He left the company in 1984 to co-found Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm, where he worked for six years before returning to Bain & Co. as CEO in 1991.The Bain consultants came back with what the Boston Globe c

Insight on whether rising gas prices are Mitt Romney's best cards to defeat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, with Sen. Kelly Ayotte, (R-NH), and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-CT).

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama s record on the economy, forcing Obama to play defense. NBC s Mike Viqueira reports.

* Recall vote for governor an early test of voter sentiment * An early benchmark for the presidential race? * If recall of Walker fails, Romney could get a boost By John Whitesides LA CROSSE, Wisconsin, June 2 (Reuters) - The battle over whether to recall Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, has sharply divided the state and become a nationally watched test of his party's push to limit government, slash spending and challenge public-sector labor unions. Tuesday's recall vote also has the attention of two very interested outsiders: Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, who are gearing up for their Nov. 6 showdown for the White House. Whatever happens when Wisconsin voters decide whether Walker should be replaced by Democrat Tom Barrett, the repercussions promise to echo deep into the presidential campaign. At a time when national polls show Obama and Romney in a virtual tie, both sides see the wrangling in Wisconsin as a chance to organize and gain early momentum in a politically divided state that could be crucial in determining who wins the presidency. The recall battle has raged for months, sparked by Walker's elimination last year of most collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions. That led to huge street protests in Madison, the state capital, and to the recall effort that will culminate in Tuesday's vote. Walker's national supporters see the recall as a referendum on his take-no-prisoners brand of fiscal conservatism, and both sides in the presidential race plan to scour Tuesday's results to gauge the mood of the electorate heading into November's bigger battles. 'The vote here will definitely be seen as a harbinger of things to come,' said Wisconsin-based Republican consultant Mark Graul. 'Th

Ron Paul's campaign accused security officials at Saturday's state GOP convention in Louisiana of assaulting some of their supporters, resulting in one suffering a dislocated prosthetic hip and another having some of his fingers broken. The full statement from the Paul campaign is below, but for some context of what precipitated the chaos, Jonathan Tilove's scene-setter in the New Orleans Times-Picayune is essential reading. Paul, a Texas a representative who is retiring from the House after this year, decided in mid-May to pare back his presidential campaign and to no longer compete in primaries or caucuses that had not yet taken place. But he encouraged his supporters to continue to compete for delegate spots to the Republican national convention in August, and the events in Louisiana are the latest evidence that they are doing so with a passion. Here is the full statement from the Paul campaign: The Ron Paul campaign condemns the unfortunate activities that took place at the Louisiana Republican State Convention in Shreveport. However, we also wish to highlight and applaud the fact that the convention ended on a high note reflective of the cooperation all Republicans wish to see toward the mutual aim of defeating President Obama in the November general election. The unnecessary conflict, and positive conclusion as we understand it, transpired as follows. LAGOP officials ignored the vast majority of duly elected delegates and attempted to use illegally adopted rules to deny Ron Paul supporters an opportunity to attend the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Louisiana has 46 delegates. Five were pledged to Mitt Romney based on the March 23rd primary result and Rick Santorum received 10, meaning most delegates were contestable at the state convention. Delegates to the state convention were chosen at caucus meetings on April 28th. Ron Paul slates won four of six congressional district contests. Of the approximately 180 delegates attending th