The outcome of the 2012 presidential election continues to leave a bitter taste in some Republicans' mouths.
John Sununu, a former New Hampshire governor and prominent campaign surrogate for Mitt Romney, is echoing the failed candidate's attacks on both the "47 percent" and President Obama's victory.

“They aggressively got out the base of their base, the base of their base that’s dependent, to a great extent economically, on government policy and government programs,” Sununu said Tuesday at a political forum in Concord, New Hampshire, the Concord Monitor reports.

Sound familiar? The comment recalls Romney's now infamous remarks disparaging 47 percent of the American public. It also was very similar to comments a dispirited Romney made in a conference call with donors during which he said the president won re-election because of "gifts" made to his Democratic base.

"It was not because of message. It was not because of message,” Sununu said. “It was because of political organization, political unity, joining together across a broad spectrum of different views within the Democratic Party, and presenting a perception of what they were going to do in a way that was absolutely attractive to their base.”

But younger Republicans, like Romney's own running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, who represent the party's future, have been working overtime to give the impression they now realize it's the GOP that's been sending the wrong message.

“Both parties tend to divide Americans into ‘our voters’ and ‘their voters,’ ” Ryan said at a dinner honoring conservative icon Jack Kemp. “Let’s be really clear: Republicans must steer far clear of that trap. We must speak to the aspirations and anxieties of every American.”

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(Photo: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)