Text of Romney's Speech at CPAC

Primetime Politics ^ | February 7, 2008 | Mitt Romney

[IMissPresidentReagan]

McCain is unacceptable to me. I'm tired of being marginilized by the GOP and refuse to allow it to happen again.

By voting for whomever they decide to cram down my throat, I am only allowing the GOP to tell me conservatives don't matter to them, and I refuse to support that message.

As Ann Coulter says, at least with Hillary or Obama, Republicans will stand up against the president, instead of blindly following like they have with GW. Plus, I think more not less conservatives get into office should Hillary or Obama win. To me, this election cycle is reminiscient of 1976 is so many ways. I can only pray that 2012 will be like reliving the excitement, enthusiasm, and optimism of the 1980s, and hopefully Governor Romney will be around to be a leader.

Governor Romney is a class act who deserved better than what he got from the establishment GOP. If the establishment GOP think moderates will push them over the edge this election against Hillary or Obama, then let the moderates do just that.

By the way, my original post came off sort of snide, and that was unintended. My fingers were moving faster than my brain, and I'm a little upset. My apologies.

[lone star annie]

I am also above all things an economic conservative. That is why Mitt was the most attractive candidate to me. Reagan used to say, “It is time to wake that sleeping giant of prosperity and industrial might that is America.” That is Mitt and we really lost today.

[TigersEye]

Mitt just proved himself to be a stalking horse for McCain is what he did.

[ravinson]

Mitt's speech was superb.

Romney's speech was pathetic and symptomatic of the demise of the Republican Party. For example:

Our prosperity and security also depend on finally acting to become energy secure. Oil producing states like Russia and Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran are siphoning over $400 billion per year from our economy—

They are siphoning nothing. They are trading oil for our increasingly worthless dollars. If anything, they're the ones squandering their scarce resources. People who call for "energy independence" are insecure nationalists who know nothing about economics.

Don’t focus on the pork alone—even though it is indeed irritating and shameful. Look at the entitlements. `They make up 60% of federal spending today. By the end of the next President’s second term, they will total 70%. Any conservative plan for the future has to include entitlement reform that solves the problem, not just acknowledges it.

Romney never said anything in the debates about ending the wasteful social security and medicare systems or making them more efficient.

These Jihadists will battle any form of democracy—to them, democracy is blasphemous for it says that citizens, not God shape the law.

I thought conservatives also believed in God-given natural law. Democracy without respect for individual liberty is just glorified mob-rule.

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden...

Anyone who is willing to spend "whatever it takes" on Iraq is a fool. I agree with Rumsfeld that we should have been satisfied with eliminating Sadam and his henchmen (while sending a clear message to anyone seeking to take his place).

Also, I tend to think that George Bush has decided that it is better to pin down an ailing Bin Laden in a Pakistan backwater rather than kill him and make him a martyr. He's been neutered, muzzled, and caged, so spending a zillion dollars finishing him off probably isn't worth it.

[La Enchiladita]

Thank you for posting. I’ve been looking for video and finally found this: http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/

[Caravaggio]

McCain’s old, he LOOKS sickly. He’ll be, what, 72(?) when he takes office. If he offers Romney the VP, he should accept. Romney may get the chance sooner to lead than he thinks. I’m not wishing any harm to McCain; in fact if he is to be Prez, I hope he stays alert and well! just saying it is what it is.

[Girlene]

Summary: I’m not flushing anymore of my personal fortune.

No. Summary: this is an honorable man who would bring much to America as POTUS. A clip from Mitt Romney's speech:

....."As I said to you last year, conservative principles are needed now more than ever. We face a new generation of challenges, challenges which threaten our prosperity, our security and our future. 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, no longer the superpower. And to me, that is unthinkable. Simon Peres, in a visit to Boston, was asked what he thought about the war in Iraq. “First,” he said, “I must put something in context. America is unique in the history of the world. In the history of the world, whenever there has been conflict, the nation that wins takes land from the nation that loses. One nation in history, and this during the last century, laid down hundreds of thousands of lives and took no land. No land from Germany, no land from Japan, no land from Korea. America is unique in the sacrifice it has made for liberty, for itself and for freedom loving people around the world.” The best ally peace has ever known, and will ever know, is a strong America!...."

[DaScrooge]

I can’t help but see the parallels to the 1976 campaign that saw Ronald Reagan be the gentleman politican and put the party and the country above himself and graciously support Ford. Of course, Ford lost as McCain likely will, but the saving grace is that Reagan was able to win in 1980 to bring the country back from the brink that Carter had so ineptly led us toward. My only hope is that the GOP, conservatives and other Americans will realize the true qualities of Romney, as they did of Reagan, and bring him to power in 2012.

[FreeReign]

Anyone who is willing to spend "whatever it takes" on Iraq is a fool. I agree with Rumsfeld that we should have been satisfied with eliminating Sadam and his henchmen (while sending a clear message to anyone seeking to take his place).

Al Qaeda is in Iraq. We should do whatever it takes to defeat them.

The rest of your points are similarly pathetic.

[Nony]

I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Mitt Romney.

[sweetiepiezer]

I will be out there fighting for him when he runs again.

[apocalypto]

I second that.

John McCain gives me the creeps. There is still a tiny chance of stopping Crazy McCain. Is there no mental health requirement to be president? I mean, if somebody giggles and talks to himself, goes nuts, has that glazed look in his eyes, wants terrorists admitted to the US, and cannot give coherent answers, he is qualified for president? His physical health is none to terrific either.

Somebody commented in jest that he might have transmitters planted in his face to provide answers, orders, and give him a jolt when he starts to fade.

[ravinson]

Al Qaeda is in Iraq. We should do whatever it takes to defeat them.

How much are you willing to pay out of your own pocket to chase down every Al Qaeda on the planet? Also, I don't think Romney was limiting his "all it takes" comment to fighting Al Qaeda. He apparently is willing to pay whatever it takes to referee Sunni vs. Shiite power struggles for decades to come.

Of course, he's pretty loose with his money.