Ben Affleck talks politics

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Ben Affleck (photo) is comparing US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to past campaign losers Al Gore, Michael Dukakis and Bob Dole.

But the actor and director, who has been outspoken in support of Democratic causes in the past, also doesn’t offer full-throated support for US President Barack Obama.

“I voted for Obama last time although he got to be all things to all people then,” Affleck said in an interview to promote his new film Argo. “And now he’s got a record which makes it really different... I obviously have more complicated feelings.”

Affleck said Romney’s inability to connect with everyday Americans is reminiscent of past failed candidates.

“I think Republicans really had a chance to win,” Affleck said. “And they kind of ended up with like a sort of Mike Dukakis, Al Gore, Bob Dole type — who just couldn’t get people to see him as a real person somehow. Romney just had such trouble coming off as just like the kind of person you see at the grocery store. And I truly believe that has cost him the election.”

“It seems quite unlikely at least if you look at the statistics that he’s going to pull it out. I think something happens in presidential politics where there’s negative momentum. You start making mistakes and then all your advisers tell you, ‘You’ve got to raise your arms more!’ ‘You’ve got to talk deeper.’ So people just get into becoming robotic.”

Affleck’s Argo, in theaters Oct. 12, chronicles a joint effort by the CIA and the Canadian government to rescue six Americans from Tehran after the US embassy was taken over by Islamist militants in 1978.

Affleck, who has done lobbying in Washington, doesn’t sound much of an optimistic note whatever the outcome in November.

“The world is a very tricky place in terms of foreign affairs. And really, really we’re in very bad shape economically,” he said. “My worry is less about the presidential election than whether or not we’re on a permanent downtrend.”