Mitt Romney Gets Booed And Heckled In Utah At GOP State Convention
Sen. Mitt Romney walked up to the podium to speak before the 2,100 Republican delegates packed into the Maverik Center for Utah’s state convention. It did not go well as he was immediately drowned out by the crowd heckling and booing.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?” said Romney trying to make light of the heckling that greeted him as he took the stage. “I’m a man who says what he means, and you know I was not a fan of our last president’s character issues,” said Romney.
“You can boo all you like,” said Romney. “I’ve been a Republican all of my life. My dad was the governor of Michigan and I was the Republican nominee for president in 2012.” (See videos below)
The crowd kept booing until outgoing party chair Derek Brown stepped in and quited the delegates telling them to “show respect” for Romney.
Gov. Spencer Cox also heard it from the crowd causing him to say,
“I know some of you hate me for some of the decisions I had to make. But I want to point out that some of you haven’t been paying attention.”
Sen. Mike Lee however got a standing ovation as he took the stage. He ripped the Democrats saying:
“Their whole agenda is wrapped up around one idea, unquestionable trust in government.”
“There are some truths we can never betray,” Lee told the crowd. “We are the stewards of our own destiny.” He said Biden did not share that view.
“He wants us dependent on government,” Lee said.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, too, underscored a perceived threat from Washington to Utah values, and she accused Biden of jeopardizing the state’s energy sector with recent limits on development on public lands.
Henderson said the Democratic-controlled Congress wanted to raise taxes irresponsibly and that it had thrown trillions in pandemic relief funds at the states during the health crisis.
“We all know there’s nothing more expensive than free money,” she said.
And like other speakers, she urged party members to put aside divisions. “We are at a crossroads,” she said. “There is much at stake.”
Congressman Chris Stewart called the Biden administration’s approach “radical socialism,” criticizing its leaders — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he said “kind of sucks” — and he singled out the New Green Deal, proposed in some Democratic circles to address the climate change emergency.
“You’d think they’d run out of dumb ideas, but they don’t,” Stewart said, to cheers from the audience.
He then accused that the media of intentional bias, echoing a common theme struck by former President Donald Trump.
.@SenatorRomney is getting boo’d loudly at the @UtahGOP convention. @fox13 #utpol #utgop pic.twitter.com/4vMwVnh6YI
— Ben Winslow (@BenWinslow) May 1, 2021
America isn’t having it with these crooks anymore. pic.twitter.com/TnQ69yhnOG
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) May 1, 2021