Mitt Romney says GOP is ‘nuts’ on one specific issue

Mitt Romney does his best to maintain a public presence, even taking occasional rhetorical shots at the president who defeated him, though he rarely has unkind words about his own party.

The former governor, however, did talk to the Washington Post recently about the one issue on which he believes Republicans are “nuts.”

Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, has been encouraging party leaders to develop better policies to address wage stagnation. For instance, he supports raising the federal minimum wage, a departure from Republican orthodoxy.

“As a party we speak a lot about deregulation and tax policy, and you know what? People have been hearing that for 25 years, and they’re getting tired of that message,” Romney said in a recent interview. He added, “I think we’re nuts not to raise the minimum wage. I think, as a party, to say we’re trying to help the middle class of America and the poor and not raise the minimum wage sends exactly the wrong signal.”

In case anyone’s forgotten, as conservative as Romney’s 2012 platform was on a whole host of issues, he also endorsed a minimum-wage hike – and even supported indexing it to inflation.

Looking ahead, the failed candidate appears to be offering his party some valuable advice. The Post’s article detailed the GOP’s growing certainty about the importance of working-class white voters in the 2016 cycle, coupled with the challenge Republicans face in offering these voters an agenda they’ll support.

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