Mitt Romney

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We have lost faith in government, not in just one party, not in just one house, but in government. It is time for innovation and transformation in Washington.

Willard Mitt Romney (born 1947-03-12) is an American businessman and the 70th Governor of Massachusetts. Romney was CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. Romney successfully organized and steered the 2002 Winter Olympics as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.[1] Romney was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Contents


[edit] 1965

[edit] 1994 United States Senate campaign

  • I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time that my Mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.
    • United States Senatorial debate, October 1994.[2]
  • As a result of [my campaign's] discussions and other interactions with gay and lesbian voters across the state, I am more convinced than ever that as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than [Ted Kennedy].
    • Letter to Log Cabin Republicans Club, 1994 [3]

[edit] 2002 gubernatorial campaign

[edit] 2003-2007 Governor of Massachusetts

  • It would be impossible to reach unanimity on every aspect of our budget, but it's clear there is widespread support for the concept of change. We face a choice between either cutting waste out of government, or facing a new job killing tax increase every year from here on out.
  • The definition of marriage is so fundamental to society that it should not be decided by one court in [Massachusetts] or by one mayor in San Francisco. In [America], the people should decide. In America, the people are fair and tolerant. Let the people decide.
  • Senator Kerry now tells us he has a clear position on the [war on terror]. He voted no on [Desert Storm] in 1991 and yes on [Desert Shield] today. Then he voted no on [troop funding], just after he'd voted yes. He's campaigned against the [war] all year, but says he'd vote yes today. This nation can't afford [presidential leadership] that comes in 57 varieties.
    • Republican Convention Speech, 2004.
  • I am in favor of stem cell research. I am not in favor of creating new human embryos through cloning.
    • Press conference, May 2005[6]
  • For all the conflicting views on this issue, it speaks well of our country that we recognize [abortion] as a problem. The [law] may call it a right, but no one ever called it a good, and, in the quiet of conscience people of both political parties know that more than a million abortions a year cannot be squared with the good heart of America.
    • "Why I vetoed the contraception bill". Boston Globe. 2005-07-26. 
  • We cannot continue to have an excellence gap with the rest of the world and intend to remain the [economic superpower] and [military superpower] of the planet. That's just not going to happen. We're in a position where unless we take action, we'll end up being the [France] of the 21st century: a lot of talk, but not a lot of strength behind it in terms of economic capability.
    • Boston Globe. 2005-11-16. 
  • I'm not happy exporting jobs but we must move ahead in technology and patents. I don't like losing any jobs but we'll see new opportunities created selling products there. We'll have a net net increase in economic activity, just as we did with free trade. It's tempting to want to protect our markets and stay closed. But at some point it all comes crashing down and you're hopelessly left behind. Then you are Russia.
    • "Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's Message: Globalize or Die", CRN.com, 2005-12-16[7]
  • The [president] is right to point to an international [jihadist] movement aimed at the collapse of the United States. He has gone after that threat in the right way and with great energy and vigor, and I applaud the fact that he has taken it on very seriously and has not considered it just a criminal action but instead a war action, which requires a military ... response.
    • Interview with James Taranto, December 2005.
  • I think we ought to have more oil. We ought to develop more sources of oil so that we can increase our supply. But the last thing I want to do is suck it all dry as quickly as we can. I want to use less of it.
    • Interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews, December 2005.
  • I wouldn't presume to present a plan different from that of the President. But I believe he was right to take on the war on terror on an aggressive front rather than a defensive front. We toppled the government ... walking away would mean a humanitarian disaster. We're there and we have a responsibility to finish the job.

[edit] 2007 campaign for Republican nomination for United States President

  • I frankly can't wait, because the idea of Bill Clinton back in the White House with nothing to do is something I just can't imagine, I can't imagine the American people can imagine....
    • In response to the question, "How would you run against Hillary and Bill Clinton in November?", MSNBC, Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, FL, 2007-01-25
  • We have lost faith in government, not in just one party, not in just one house, but in government. It is time for innovation and transformation in Washington. It is what our country needs. It is what our people deserve...I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by a lifelong politician. There have been too many deals, too many favors, too many entanglements -- and too little real world experience managing, guiding, leading.
  • America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home.
    • Press Conference: Announcing Candidacy for Presidency, 2007-02-13[8]
  • I believe the family is the foundation of America -- and that we must fight to protect and strengthen it. I believe in the sanctity of human life. I believe that people and their elected representatives should make our laws, not unelected judges.
    • Press Conference: Announcing Candidacy for Presidency, 2007-02-13[9]
  • I'm not a big-game hunter. I've made that very clear. I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times.
  • Liquefied coal, gosh. Hitler during the Second World War — I guess because he was concerned about losing his oil — liquefied coal. That technology is still there.
  • In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past.
  • I don't want them on our soil. I want them on Guantanamo, where they don’t get the access to lawyers they get when they're on our soil. I don't want them in our prisons, I want them there. Some people have said we ought to close Guantanamo. My view is we ought to double Guantanamo.
  • And I hear from time to time people say, hey, wait a second, we have civil liberties we have to worry about. But don't forget the most important civil liberty I expect from my government is my right to be kept alive, and that's what we're going to have to do.
    • Fox News, Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, Durham, NH, 2007-09-05
  • Actually, just look at what Osam- Barack Obama said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq.

[edit] Faith in America speech

Delivered at the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library, Texas (2007-12-06) - Full text at Wikisource
  • Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.
  • The fundamental principle of faith of Judeo Christian (belief) is there is a God, who is our heavenly Father and all the people on this earth and every speck of humanity on this earth is a creation of God ... And every creation of humanity is a child of God.
  • Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.
  • My faith is the faith of my fathers - I will be true to them and to my beliefs. Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect believers of convenience. Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world.
  • These American values, this great moral heritage, is shared and lived in my religion as it is in yours. I was taught in my home to honor God and love my neighbor. I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.
    • Romney later admitted he didn't actually "see" them march together, but believes that they did march together.[10]
  • We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong.
  • We are a nation under God, and in God we do indeed trust. We should acknowledge the Creator, as did the founders, in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in the Pledge, in the teaching of our history…

[edit] 2008

  • This election, this presidential election, I think has underscored underneath it several times. We want change. And it's not change in the White House so much, as change in Washington.
  • I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st Century - still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world.

[edit] 2009

  • First, we established incentives for those who were uninsured to buy insurance. Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages "free riders" to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others. This doesn't cost the government a single dollar.
  • Like other presidents before him, Barack Obama inherited a recession. But unlike them, he has made it worse, not better.

[edit] 2010

[edit] No Apology: The Case for American Greatness

No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. New York: St. Martin's Press. LCC JK275.R66 2010. ISBN 9780312609801. OCLC 428026768. 
  • [A way] one could repair Social Security . . . [would be to] gradually increase the retirement age. This does have a certain logic to it: the average American's life expectancy has risen by more than ten years since Social Security was created. Increasing the retirement age by even one or two years would help get the system closer to sustainability.
    • Chapter 6, pgs. 158 - 159
  • Returning Medicare to solid footing represents our greatest entitlement challenge. . . . Like Social Security, Medicare is currently being rocked by the swelling numbers of baby-boomer retirees. . . . [However] the rising cost of health care adds just as much to the weight of the Medicare burden as does the age wave. . . . So it is healthcare itself that must be brought under control if we are to keep our Medicare bills from overwhelming the next generation.
    • Chapter 6, pgs. 162 - 163
  • Choosing education is a very good decision, not only good for the student, but also for our country. The United States was the first nation in history to recognize that public education for every citizen, regardless of class or station, was vital to its future . . .
    • Chapter 8, pg. 196
  • Welfare without work erodes the spirit and the sense of self-worth of the recipient. And it conditions the children of nonworking parents to an indolent and unproductive life. Hardworking parents raise hardworking kids; we should recognize that the opposite is also true. The influence of the work habits of our parents and other adults around us as we grow up has lasting impact.

[edit] 2011

  • Barack Obama is facing a financial emergency on a grander scale. Yet his approach has been to engage in one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history.
  • Barack Obama has failed America. When he took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse. And he made it last longer. Three years later, over 16 million Americans are out of work or have just quit looking. Millions more are underemployed. Three years later, unemployment is still above 8%, a figure he said his stimulus would keep from happening. Three years later, foreclosures are still at record levels. Three years later the prices of homes continue to fall. Three years later, our national debt has grown nearly as large as our entire economy. Families are buried under higher prices for food and higher prices for gasoline. It breaks my heart to see what's happening in this country. These failing hopes make up President Obama's own misery index. It's never been higher.
  • Mitt Romney: Well, but will the people in Nevada not have to pay Nevada sales tax and in addition pay the 9% tax?
    Herman Cain: Governor Romney, you're doing the same thing that they're doing. You're mixing apples and oranges. You're going to pay —
    Mitt Romney: I'm —
    Herman Cain: No, no, no, no. You're going to pay the state sales tax, no matter what.
    Mitt Romney: Right.
    Herman Cain: Whether you throw out the existing code and you put in our plan, you're still going to pay that. That's apples and oranges.
    Mitt Romney: Fine. And I'm going to be getting a bushel basket that has apples and oranges in it because I've got to pay both taxes, and the people in Nevada don't want to pay both taxes.

[edit] 2012

  • I wanted to increase the work requirement. I said, for instance, that even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work. And people said, "Well, that's heartless." And I said, "No, no, I'm willing to spend more giving day care to allow those parents to go back to work. It'll cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work."
  • I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. You know, if someone doesn't give me a good service that I need, I want to say I'm going to go get someone else to provide that service to me.
  • Jorge Ramos: You just released your tax returns. In 2010 you only paid 13% of taxes while most Americans paid much more than that. Is that fair?
    Mitt Romney Well, actually, I released two years of taxes and I think the average is almost 15%. And then also, on top of that, I gave another more 15% to charity. When you add it together with all of the taxes and the charity, particularly in the last year, I think it reaches almost 40% that I gave back to the community. One of the reasons why we have a lower tax rate on capital gains is because capital gains are also being taxed at the corporate level. So as businesses earn profits, that’s taxed at 35%, then as they distribute those profits as dividends, that's taxed at 15% more. So, all total, the tax rate is really closer to 45 or 50%.
    Jorge Ramos: But is it fair what you pay, 13%, while most pay much more than that?
    Mitt Romney Well, again, I go back to the point that the, that the funds are being taxed twice at two different levels.
  • I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love.
  • America needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy, and I do and I will.
  • In Barack Obama's government-centered society, government spending always increases because, well, why not? There's always someone who's entitled to something more and who's willing to vote for anyone who will give them something more.
  • I think there is in this country a war on religion. I think there is a desire to establish a religion in America known as secularism. And I know that, based on reports, that the Obama administration gave this a lot of thought – a lot of discussion. This was not some little side issue that no one thought about. They gave it a lot of thought, and they decided to say that in this country that a church — in this case, the Catholic Church — would be required to violate its principles and its conscience and be required to provide contraceptives, sterilization, and morning after pills to the employees of the church. And that came as a shock. As I think it was Mike Huckabee said, "We are now all Catholics." Those of us who are people of faith recognize this is — an attack on one religion is an attack on all religion.
  • You know, I think you see a model here in Arizona. They passed a law here that says — that says that people who come here and try and find work, that the employer is required to look them up on E-Verify. This E-Verify system allows employers in Arizona to know who's here legally and who's not here legally. And as a result of E-Verify being put in place, the number of people in Arizona that are here illegally has dropped by some 14 percent, where the national average has only gone down 7 percent. So going back to the question that was asked, the right course for America is to drop these lawsuits against Arizona and other states that are trying to do the job Barack Obama isn't doing.
  • We know that this election is about the kind of America we will live in and the kind of America we will leave to future generations. When it comes to the character of America, President Obama and I have very different visions. Government is at the center of his vision. It dispenses the benefits, borrows what it cannot take, and consumes a greater and greater share of the economy. With Obamacare fully installed, government will come to control half the economy, and we will have effectively ceased to be a free enterprise society. This President is putting us on a path where our lives will be ruled by bureaucrats and boards, commissions and czars. He’s asking us to accept that Washington knows best – and can provide all.
  • But from the beginning, this nation trusted in God, not man. Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.
  • The fact is that I spent twenty-five years in the private sector. And that obviously teaches you something that you don’t learn if you haven’t spent any time in the private sector. If you were to say to me, tell me what you learned from your schooling that would help you be a President, it’s like, well, how do I begin going through a list like that? You learn through life’s experience. The President’s experience has been exclusively in politics and as a community organizer. Both of those are fine areas of endeavor. But right now we have an economy in trouble, and someone who spent their career in the economy is more suited to help fix the economy than someone who spent his life in politics and as a community organizer.

[edit] About Mitt Romney

  • Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch-A-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.
  • He set up a command center and searched through the night. The man who helped save my daughter was Mitt Romney. Mitt's done a lot of things that people say are nearly impossible. But for me, the most important thing he's ever done is to help save my daughter.
  • When I look at where we are as a nation and the challenges we face, I am convinced that Mitt Romney will provide a clear contrast to President Obama. Whether it was creating jobs in business, rescuing the Olympics, or turning around Massachusetts' $3 billion budget deficit, he has proved, time and again, that he excels at turning around difficult situations. He has also proposed a bold economic plan that will help families that have been crushed by President Obama's failed policies. With his plan to create more jobs, reduce our debt, and scale back the size of government, America will be back on the road to prosperity. I’m proud to support Mitt Romney and encourage all those who worry about our country's future to do the same.
  • I first met Mitt Romney in the fall of 1985 when he took a chance on me and my idea to sell discount office supplies. Together we then worked to found Staples. From the very beginning, I saw that he was super-frugal. He didn’t want to pay more than he had to for things like paper clips. That was the idea behind Staples. And for Mitt, cutting costs and running things well has been a consistent animating idea, whether he’s been in business or government or running the Olympics.
  • In my lifetime, Mitt Romney is the most qualified leader I've ever seen run for the Presidency of the United States…Let's take him for a minute… Harvard Law School, Harvard MBA. Starts up Bain Capital, builds it… Bain gets in trouble sometime in 1990s, Mitt comes back to fix it… Bain Capital then has its best years ever. In '99, leaves, goes to the Olympics, I was involved in that… we were in deep trouble. They were losing money, they had a scandal… and then 9/11 comes and everyone wants to cancel it, we've got a big commitment. He goes out there, fixes it totally. Again, fixes that up, comes back, runs for governor, wins the governorship. The government [is in debt]. He gets it out and gets a surplus. Who!? We haven't had anybody do all these things! Do you think Richard Nixon did that? Do you think Bill Clinton had those credentials!? Certainly Barack Obama didn't have those credentials!.. I mean, come on! We've got a guy here who's a leader, that's demonstrated beyond anyone we've ever had! Great family. This is the…! We're the luckiest people in the world to have this guy there at this point in time.
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