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 Saturday, September 22, 2007
Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 "It's good to be back home in Mackinac. One of the things I like best is that there are no cars on the island. Unfortunately, that's Al Gore's vision for all of America . "I spent a few great summers here – up in that big white home on the hill. We need to get a Republican family back in there again. And we need to keep a Republican family in the White House in Washington as well! "I don't have to tell you that my Dad made a mark on Michigan. And he made a mark on me. And I guess that is at the heart of things; he's a big part of why I'm running for President today. In 1957, when he was the President of America n Motors, he gave a speech in which he reported the following conversation: "'My nine year old son' – that would be me – 'came home from school and said "Mom, we really build the best cars, don't we?"' "She said, 'Why Mitt, of course we do. Why do you ask?' "'Well, if we build the best cars, why is it that less than three percent of the people agree with us?' "After my Dad heard of this conversation, he took me aside and said, 'Look, Mitt, size doesn't always indicate strength and popularity doesn't always indicate truth, and sales volume doesn't always indicate value.' "And then he added: 'Right always prevails.' "Quite a Dad, teaching lessons like that to his nine year old son. Lessons I have taken to heart. "Now, a few years older, as I have looked at the history of this nation, I have become convinced that right does indeed prevail. America has faced and overcome great challenges. These have become defining moments, inflection points, where the course of our history has changed. "I believe that we are at an inflection point today. Forces of globalization, the emergence of new economic powerhouses like China and India, and the spread of radical violent Jihad have created a perfect storm that will change the course of our nation. And, we face unprecedented challenges in securing our borders , protecting the family , creating new jobs and achieving energy security . "The people of this great nation have always taken a hand in shaping our own destiny. I believe the American people will rise to the occasion once again, as we have always done before. But at this critical time in our nation's history, Washington is failing us. "I think we'd have to admit that the blame doesn't all belong to the Democrats. We Republicans have to put our own house in order. We can't be like Democrats – a party of big spenders. We can't pretend our borders are secure from illegal immigration. We can't have ethical standards that are a punch line for Jay Leno. When Republicans act like Democrats, America loses. "We've got to start acting like Republicans, not earmarking Republicans, not big government Republicans, but like Reagan Republicans and Teddy Roosevelt Republicans. They led us along the right course. "It's time for us to show the confidence my Dad had that right will always prevail. "It's time for change in Washington and change begins with us. " Republicans for Change believe in small government. Governments should be restrained so that the freedoms and vitality of individuals and enterprises can be unleashed. Compared to free markets and free enterprises, government is slow to act, wasteful, duplicative, bureaucratic, inefficient, ineffective, and unresponsive. Have I left anything out? Other than that, government isn't all bad. " Hillary Clinton fundamentally doesn't trust the private sector. Of course not, she's never worked in the private sector, except to sue people. So when she sees a problem in the marketplace, she naturally thinks more government and higher taxes are the solution. She sees the problems in healthcare , for example, and proposes more government. With her plan, patients would have to get used to hearing these words: 'The bureaucrat will see you now.' The right answer is less government, less regulation, more individual responsibility, and more of the market dynamics that propel the rest of our economy . This is why I predict that HillaryCare version 2.0 will meet the same fate as version one: ignominious defeat. " Republicans for Change like small government. " Republicans for Change are also fiscally responsible. We refuse to charge our children and grand children for our excessive spending. Even in Massachusetts facing a nearly $3 billion budget gap, the legislature and I balanced the budget every year and replenished the rainy day fund, without raising taxes and without raising our borrowing cap. Now it's Washington's turn to do the same. If I am elected President, I will cap non-military discretionary spending at inflation less one percent. If I get appropriations above that amount, I will veto them. And I like vetoes. I've vetoed hundreds of items already. Let's put some fresh ink in the Presidential veto pen! "Here in Michigan, Governor Granholm has taken this state to the brink. By not restructuring state programs and by not shrinking government, she has precipitated a Hobbesian choice – raise taxes or shut down government. If you like what Governor Granholm has done to Michigan, you'll love what a President Hillary Clinton would do to America. Let's make sure America doesn't make the same mistake Michigan made last November! " Republicans for Change believe in strength. We know that the best foe against tyrants and the best ally peace has ever known is a strong America. We will strengthen the military with more troops, better armament, and better care for our veterans. We will also strengthen our economy with lower taxes and energy security. And we will strengthen the American family. There is no work more important to the future of America than the work that goes on within the four walls of the American home. The American family is the foundation upon which this country's greatness has been built, but it is a foundation in need of shoring up. " Republicans for Change know how to run a tight ship. The Katrina clean-up didn't look like Republicans were in charge. We need to bring more accountability back to Washington. You have heard of the sub-prime credit crisis. Well, there's a government agency that's supposed to prevent problems like that from occurring, warning consumers, warning lenders. But they didn't do their job. And do you know what will happen? Congress will give them more money. Do you know what should happen? Heads should roll. " Republicans for Change have high ethical standards. I'm tired of hearing Washington officials remind us that everyone makes mistakes. Yes, but not everyone is a Congressman or a Senator or a President. They asked for this job and asked for our trust. They represent the America n people. They are held up before our children . We expect higher standards of ethical conduct from Washington. We expect our elected officials to be good role models, not bad examples – thank you President Bush for restoring personal integrity and dignity to the White House. And I can guarantee you, Ann and I will do nothing that would embarrass the people of America ! "Presidents lead by example. And so, if I'm elected President, one of my first acts will be to issue an Executive Order prohibiting the immediate family of my Cabinet and Senior Staff from lobbying the Executive Branch. The standard for high ethical conduct has to be set at the top. " Republicans for Change are respectful and civil. We will work with good Democrats, Democrats who also love America, to change Washington and confront the new generation of challenges we face. The political atmosphere in Washington has become so toxic, we are in danger of weakening ourselves from within. America needs unifying leadership. I've found that we can find common ground with Democrats from time to time. I love what Ronald Reagan said 'It's not that liberals are ignorant, it's just that what they know is wrong!' "Well, we can teach them now and then, and when we do, America wins. " Republicans for Change aren't afraid to tackle big problems. None is greater than the spread of radical, violent Jihadism. John Edwards says there is no War on Terror – it's just a bumper sticker. Tell that to the people of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bali. Tell that to the people of Tanzania, Kenya and Spain. Tell that to the people of London, Washington and New York City. There is a war being waged against us by the terrorists for the future of our civilization, and if I am president, the war against the terrorists will be won! "Let's not forget that our President has kept us safe these last six years. And it has not been easy. He fought for the Patriot Act. He listened when al-Qaeda was plotting. He interrogated terrorists. When Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the so-called mastermind of 9/11 was captured, he told his captors, 'I'll see you in New York with my lawyers.' That didn't happen. Instead, he saw GI's and CIA interrogators at Guantanamo , and that's just the way it ought to be! " Republicans for Change fight to protect the family. The family is under attack. Our children need to be taught that before they have babies, they need to get married. Out-of-wedlock childbirth should once again be out of fashion. "There are different kinds of families, many doing a heroic job under difficult circumstances. The ideal setting for raising a child is and will always be where there is a mother and a father. Some liberal judges don't see it that way. That is why it is time for a federal amendment that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman! "After the Columbine school shooting, Peggy Noonan wrote that our kids are swimming in an ocean of filth – pornography, sex, violence, perversion. The boys who did the shooting, she said, had drunk too deep of the polluted water. It's time to clean up the water our kids are swimming in. I will make sure every home computer has an easy to engage filter to keep filth out of our homes. I want to enforce our obscenity laws. And for those who use the internet to find children for their perverted abuse, I say, ' One Strike and You're Ours!' You'll be facing a long prison sentence, and when you get out, a GPS tracking device for the rest of your life. " Republicans for Change aren't afraid to talk about faith. We recognize the hand of the Creator in the founding of our nation. We will fight to keep the words 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. Have you seen the new dollar coin? 'In God We Trust' has been moved. It's not on the face of the coin anymore, it's on the edge – virtually invisible, just like the ACLU wants Him to be. I will go to work to get God back on the front of our coin! "I will fight to make sure our future is not defined by the letters 'ACLU,' but by the letters 'USA.' " Republicans for Change are patriotic. We love the flag. We say the pledge. We tell soldiers in the airport, 'Thank you for your service, for your sacrifice.' And when a Republican says 'We support our troops,' it comes from the heart. "Have you noticed what happens at the Olympics when someone wins the gold medal? Athletes from other countries ascend the medal stand, and they high-five and celebrate while their country's anthem is played. But America ns place their hand on their heart and they sing the words to the Star Spangled Banner. "I don't know where our tradition of placing our hand over our heart during the national anthem came from. I imagine that it is a sign of love – for our flag, for America, for freedom. And it is something more – our hand covers our heart to show our appreciation for the patriots who have shed their blood for our freedom. 'O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life.' "America n patriotism is why I am convinced this nation will always prevail as the greatest hope of the earth. "America faces unprecedented challenges, a virtual perfect storm buffeting the pillars of our strength. The course of our history will change. And for America to remain the great nation it has always been, it will look to Republicans for leadership. "At the beginning of my remarks, I told you about that speech my Dad gave a half-century ago. In it, he quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the great American philosophers, who said, 'There is no weakness except from within, and the only unsurmountable barrier is our own inherent weakness of purpose.' "That was true then, and it's true now. It's why change must begin with us. "Now is the time, this is the place, for Republicans to stand together – to stand for Republican principles. "Now is the time, this is the place, for the campaign of change to move boldly forward. "Now is the time, this is the place for Republicans to lead America in strength, in faith, in family, in what is right. For right will always prevail. "Thank you, and God bless you."
Other Governor Mitt Romney Speech Transcripts:I would like to maintain the most comprehensive list of Romney speech transcripts on the internet. If I missed any, and you know the password, please add them to this page: http://myclob.pbwiki.com/Speeches If I missed any, and you have the info, please e-mail it to me. 2007
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State of the State Speeches
http://www.vote-smart.org/speech.php?can_id=CNIP7799
Labels: speech Friday, June 15, 2007
 Below are Governor Romney's excellent remarks at the National Right To Life Convention. (In other new, who is the one candidate to not make an appearance at this event?)This speech is a powerful defense of the life movement. "Thank you Carol. We appreciate your many years of dedicated service to the cause of life. "I was honored to accept your invitation to address the National Right to Life convention. "I am humbled to be standing among the many who have toiled for the pro-life movement for so long, when I arrived at this place of principle only a few years ago. "I appreciate the decades of dedication and the effective advocacy of people like Jim Bopp, the Special Adviser to my campaign on life issues. "I know that it is not time but conviction that unites us. "I proudly follow a long line of converts – George Herbert Walker Bush, Henry Hyde, and Ronald Reagan to name a few. "I am evidence that your work, that your relentless campaign to promote the sanctity of human life, bears fruit. "Consider the double standard at work here, by the way. When a pro-life figure changes to pro-abortion, they get praised for their courage. But when someone becomes pro-life, the pundits go into high dudgeon. "And so, I am humbled but also grateful to be welcomed so warmly by so many with whom I share a common dedication. "Anyone here from the pro-life community in Massachusetts knows they were always welcome in my office when I was Governor. Together we worked arm in arm. "I can promise you this – you will be welcomed, and we will work together, if I'm fortunate enough to be elected President. "People often ask me how a conservative Republican such as myself could have been elected in Massachusetts. I tell them that there were three things that helped account for my improbable victory. "First, the state was in a fiscal crisis. A meltdown, of sorts. State government couldn't get budgets done on time. Another big tax hike looked like it was on the way. I promised to balance the budget without raising taxes. And together with the legislature, that's what we did. We eliminated a $3 billion shortfall. And by the time I left, my surpluses had replenished the rainy-day fund to over $2 billion. "Second, we were in an economic crisis. Massachusetts was losing jobs every month and our citizens were afraid of losing more. I went to work to bring employers back to our state. By the end of the recession, we added 60,000 new jobs. We got our economic development act together – which explains much of the economic growth that the Commonwealth continues to experience even today. "And third, we were in the beginnings of a cultural crisis. Social values also played a role in my campaign success. My opponent said she would sign a bill that would sanction same sex marriage. I said that I would oppose gay marriage and civil unions. My opponent favored bilingual education. I did not. I said that to be successful in America, children need to speak the language of America. And my opponent wanted to lower the age of consent for an abortion from 18 to 16 – and I did not. "And so, social conservatives, many of them Democrats and Independents, joined fiscal conservatives to elect a Republican. "That being said, I had no inkling that I would find myself in the center of the battlefield on virtually every major social question of our time. "The first battle came when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, by a one vote majority, found a right to same sex marriage in our constitution. John Adams wrote that constitution. I'm sure he'd be surprised. "The Court said that traditional marriage – the natural union of one man and one woman – 'is rooted in persistent prejudices' and 'works a deep and scarring hardship … for no rational reason.' "No rational reason? How about children? Isn't it clear that marriage provides the best environment for the development and nurturing of children? And isn't a child's development enhanced by having both a mother and a father? "I believe that the Court got it wrong because it focused on the desires and perceived rights of adults. "The Court should have focused on the needs of children. The ideal setting for the raising of a child is a home built on a marriage between a loving mother and father. "Then came the 'slippery slope' – not the argument but the reality. "The implications of the marriage decision quickly went well beyond adult marriage. Efforts were made to change birth certificates by removing 'mother' and 'father' and replacing them with 'parent A' and 'parent B.' I said no to that. And parents of a child in second grade were told that their son is required to listen to the reading of a book called the 'King and the King,' about a prince who marries another prince. The school's rationale was since same sex marriage was legal, the education system should advance the idea. "And then another slide along the slippery slope. The Catholic Church was forced to end its adoption service, which was crucial in helping the state find homes for some of our most difficult to place children. Why? Because the Church favors placements in homes with a mother and a father. Now, even religious freedom was being trumped by the new-found 'right' of gay marriage. I immediately drafted and introduced legislation to grant religious liberty protection, but the legislature wouldn't even take it up. "When I was Governor, we took every conceivable step within the law to stop, block or slow down this unprecedented court decision. "Our goal was to take the decision away from the Court and give it back to the people. But yesterday, the Massachusetts state legislature, at the urging of the new Democratic Governor, refused to allow the voice of the people to be heard. "The fight is not over. "We need to take this battle to Washington again. We need to explain the far-reaching implications of the push to dramatically change our marriage laws. Now is the time to pass a federal marriage amendment to protect marriage in all 50 states. "In the midst of that battle, another arose. It involved cloning and embryo farming for purposes of research. I studied the subject in great depth. I have high hopes for stem cell research. But for me, a bright moral line is crossed when we create new life for the sole purpose of experimentation and destruction. "That's why I fought to keep cloning and embryo farming illegal. "It was during this battle that I began to focus a good deal more of my thinking on abortion. "When I first ran for office, while I was always personally opposed to abortion, I considered whether this should be a private decision or whether it should be a societal and government decision. I concluded that I would support the law as it was in place – effectively, the pro-choice position. "And I was wrong. "What became clear during the cloning debate is how the harsh logic of an absolute right to abortion had cheapened the value of human life to the point that rational people saw a human embryo as nothing more than mere research material to be used, and then destroyed. "The slippery slope was taking us to racks and racks of living human embryos, Brave New World-like, awaiting termination. "What some see as just a clump of cells is actually a human life. Human life has identity. Human life has the capacity to love and be loved. Human life has a profound dignity, undiminished by age or infirmity. "My experience as Governor taught me firsthand that the threat to our culture is real and those in a position to do so must take action to defend it. "Times of decision are moments of great clarity. Before I was Governor, the life issue was just that, an issue. But when responsibility for life or ending life was placed in my hands, I made the right decision. I chose life. "Just like some others in the pro-life movement, a moment of decision became a defining moment. "And so, every time I faced a decision as Governor that related to life, I came down on the side of life. "I fought to ban cloning. "I fought to ban embryo farming. "I fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation. "I fought for abstinence education in our schools. "And I vetoed a so-called emergency contraception bill that gave young girls abortive drugs without prescription or parental consent. "That is my record as Governor of Massachusetts. "Recently, I was attacked by one of my opponents because when I ran for Governor I promised to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion in Massachusetts. Of course, I kept that promise. But in Massachusetts, that meant vetoing pro-choice legislation – as I consistently did as Governor. That's why last month I was honored with an award from Massachusetts Citizens for Life in recognition of the actions I took as Governor to protect life. "The next president, especially if faced with a hostile Congress, will be confronted with many legislative tests, such as challenging the Hyde amendment and advancing cloning. You can be sure that I will be bringing my gubernatorial experience – and my veto pen – with me to Washington. "The larger problem is there are some people who believe that their pro-choice views must be imposed on everyone. More and more, the vehicle for this imposition is the courts. "Some say that it is 'OK' for the courts to impose their personal public policy preferences on society. I am not among them. "Make no mistake: the claimed rights of abortion-on-demand and same-sex marriage are not in the Constitution. "But the problem of an activist bench goes beyond the issue of abortion and gay marriage that. "Slowly but surely, the courts have taken it upon themselves to be the final arbiters of our lives. They have forgotten that the essence of democracy is the right to govern ourselves. "Chief Justice John Roberts put it best at his confirmation hearing, when he described the role of a judge. 'Judges and Justices are servants of the law,' he said, 'not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them … and I will remember that it's my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.' "Now that's the type of Justice that I would appoint to the Court. "On the tenth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Ronald Reagan observed that the Court's decision had not yet settled the abortion debate. It had become 'a continuing prod to the conscience of the nation.' "More than thirty years later, that is still the case. Numerous court decisions have not settled this question, but have further divided the nation. And Roe v. Wade continues to work its destructive logic throughout our society. "This cannot continue. "At the heart of American democracy is the principle that the most fundamental decisions should ultimately be decided by the people themselves. "I certainly believe in treating all people with respect and dignity. You can't be a pro-life Governor in the bluest of blue states without understanding that there are heartfelt and thoughtful arguments on both sides of the question. "It is our great task to persuade our fellow citizens of the truth of our convictions. "Strengthening our country and our families, protecting marriage and human life and preserving for our children the true blessings of liberty; these are noble purposes. I am confident we are worthy of them. "After all, we are a decent people who have a commitment to the worth and dignity of every person. This is ingrained in our hearts and etched in our national purpose. "Thank you." Saturday, May 5, 2007
Below are some excerpts from the commencement speech at Regent University today:
"I want to offer my sincere thanks to Doctor Pat Robertson for extending me the honor of addressing you today. | ||||
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