Full Text of Paul Ryan’s Pro-Life Values Voter Summit Speech
The following is the full text of the speech vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan delivered today to the Values Voter Summit. During the speech, Ryan takes on the Obama HHS mandate and criticizes President Barack Obama on abortion.
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Paul Ryan today delivered remarks to the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. The following remarks were prepared for delivery:
Thank you all very much. I appreciate your kind hospitality, and I count it a special honor to be introduced by my mentor and friend Bill Bennett.
It’s good to be part of the Values Voter Summit once again, and this time around I bring greetings from the next president of the United States, Governor Mitt Romney.
In this election, many millions of Americans count themselves as values voters, and I am one of them. In 53 days, we have a choice between two very different ideas about our country – how we were meant to live, and what we were meant to be.
It’s the kind of choice that can never be taken for granted. Peace, freedom, and civilized values have enemies in this world, as we have been reminded by events in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.
We have all seen images of our flag being burned and our embassies under attack by vicious mobs. The worst of it is the loss of four good men, including our ambassador to Libya. They were there for the most peaceful purposes in service to our country. And today our country honors their lives and grieves with their families.
All of us are watching events closely, but we know who America is dealing with in these attacks. They are extremists who operate by violence and intimidation. And the least equivocation or mixed signal only makes them bolder.
Look across that region today, and what do we see?
- The slaughter of brave dissidents in Syria.
- Mobs storming American embassies and consulates.
- Iran four years closer to gaining a nuclear weapon.
- Israel, our best ally in the region, treated with indifference bordering on contempt by the Obama administration.
Amid all these threats and dangers, what we do not see is steady, consistent American leadership.
In the days ahead, and in the years ahead, American foreign policy needs moral clarity and firmness of purpose. Only by the confident exercise of American influence are evil and violence overcome.
That is how we keep problems abroad from becoming crises. That is what keeps the peace. And that is what we will have in a Romney-Ryan administration.
In the all-important election of 2012, values voters are also economic voters. This election will hold the incumbent accountable for his economic failures, and affirm the pro-growth agenda of Mitt Romney.
It is true that President Obama had a lot of problems not of his own making. But he also came in with one-party rule, and the chance to do everything of his own choosing. The Obama economic agenda failed, not because it was stopped, but because it was passed.
And here is what we got: Prolonged joblessness across the country. Twenty-three million Americans struggling to find work. Family income in decline. Fifteen percent of Americans living in poverty.
The record is so uniformly bad that maybe you’ve noticed something: President Obama himself almost never even uses the word “record,” – that is, except when he’s trying to trade on the record of Bill Clinton. In his convention speech, the President never once said that simple word, “record.”
He didn’t say the word “stimulus,” either, because he wasted $831 billion of borrowed money. At a time of mass unemployment, he didn’t even say “unemployment,” because we’re in the slowest recovery since the Great Depression. And by the way, he didn’t use the word “recovery,” either – never mind that recovery was what all America expected from Barack Obama.
He wants us to forget all of these things, and lately he’s been trying out a new tactic. It’s a classic Barack Obama straw man: If anyone dares to point out the facts of his record, why then, they’re just being negative and pessimistic about the country. The new straw man is people hoping for the decline of America.
It’s pretty sad, but this is the closest President Obama can come these days to sounding positive himself. But we have to face up to all that has gone wrong these past four years, so that the next four can be better. Ladies and gentlemen, this nation cannot afford to make economic failure a two-term proposition.
Lately, the President has also been trying out sports comparisons. He compares this fourth year of his term to the fourth quarter of a basketball game.
You can expect more of this, because if there’s anything the man can do, it’s talk a good game. The only problem is, the clock is running out and he still hasn’t put any points on the board.
His whole case these days is basically asking us to forget what he promised four years ago, and focus instead on his new promises. That’s a fast move to get around accountability. He made those ringing promises to get elected.
Without them, he wouldn’t be president. And now he acts as if it is unfair to measure his performance against his own words. But here’s the question: If Barack Obama’s promises weren’t good then, what good are they now?
If we renew the contract, we will get the same deal – with only one difference: In a second term, he will never answer to you again.
In so many ways, starting with Obamacare, re-electing this president would set in motion things that can never be called back. It would be a choice to give up so many other choices.
When all the new mandates of government-run healthcare come down, the last thing the regulators will want to hear is your opinion. When the Obama tax increases start coming, nobody in Washington is going to ask whether you can afford them or not.