Ann Romney ‘Partial’ to Paul Ryan for 2016
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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Ann Romney gave her first solo interview since the November election on Thursday, weighing in on the recent scandals hitting the White House, as well as 2016 presidential politics, saying that she and husband Mitt Romney are “very partial” to his former running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
“There are some great candidates out there and I think Mitt and I always are very, very partial to Paul Ryan, but we don’t even know if he’s going to run. But there are some good candidates,” Romney said on CBS News’ This Morning.
Romney called the scandals facing the Obama administration “deeply troubling,” including the IRS’ targeting of conservative tax-exempt organizations.
“I think it’s hard what the country is going through right now,” Romney said. “There is this breach of trust that all Americans feel right now with our government. … We have to have trust in our government, we have to believe that they are doing right for us. When we feel like they are breaking our trust, it’s deeply troubling.”
She said both she and her husband have “no regrets” looking back at the campaign, but the “most frustrating” thing for her is that she thinks many Americans didn’t see who her husband really is because of how “negative” the campaign became in the primary and the general elections, again comparing it to the slate of scandals.
“It’s really hard and it’s hard for the American people to sort through it,” Romney said. “How do they know who is telling the truth and that’s what I’m talking about, this breach of trust that’s going on. Who do we trust? Who do we believe? Where do we turn to know what’s really true?”
Despite some other Republicans’ anger with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s praise of the president in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, days before the November election, she said they have “no regrets, none for anybody, people have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but things are made into bigger things than people think.”
“Chris is a great guy. We love him and it’s all good and we have no bitterness towards anyone,” Romney said.
And when asked about Christie’s recent weight-loss surgery, she said with a smile, “Good luck to him. I hope it works.”
Wearing a bright-blue dress, Romney said she is “very happy” and “my life is wonderful, I am full of joy,” despite the election loss.
“I really believe that Mitt and I did everything we could and that’s why I feel fine about it. We just did whatever we could. We left it on the table,” Romney, 64, said, adding that Romney has been the “most extraordinary husband this winter,” accompanying her as she gets back to horseback riding.
She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998 and breast cancer 10 years later.
“I’ve been doing what I’ve been dying to do for a very long time which is ride a lot and I’ve been competing a lot and showing a lot and Mitt’s been there supporting me and coming with me and watching me and helping me,” Romney said, adding that he has also been writing and “doing a lot of travel with me.”
The interview did cover the campaign and Romney said that even as things started to look bad for them, there were people, including GOP political consultant Karl Rove, who told them to keep hanging on.
“He’s [Rove] like, ‘Don’t give up, don’t give up. We are going to win Ohio and it’s going to turn around,'” she said. “And things just didn’t follow the way we thought it was going to happen.”
When asked about criticism of the campaign, Romney told Charlie Rose it would have been nice to have “a crystal ball” and possibly “done things a little differently,” but that “every campaign makes mistakes, both sides make mistakes.”
As for whether she could see any of her five sons following in the footsteps of her husband, she paused and said, “I’d really have to think about it, I would.”
“It’s a very different environment right now, it’s a very tough environment to be involved right now,” she added, “and I think that’s a sad commentary.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio