Mitt Romney: Doing

“We have been blessed with great presidents, with giants among us. Men of character, integrity and selflessness have led our nation from its very beginning. None were perfect: each surely made mistakes. But in every case, they acted out of the desire to do what was right for America and for freedom.”

Mitt Romney

2016, Remarks on Donald Trump and the 2016 race

Men , Freedom , Perfection

“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.”

Mitt Romney

Interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews, December 2005.
2003–2007 Governor of Massachusetts

Thinking

“America needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy, and I do and I will.”

Mitt Romney

[2012-02-05, Nevada Caucus 2012 Full Victory Speech: Mitt Romney Targets President Obama's Economic Policies, ABC News, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lALG8hwQ_iw]
2012

Understanding

“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.”

Mitt Romney

2012-05-23
http://thepage.time.com/2012/05/23/the-complete-romney-interview-transcript/
The Complete Romney Interview Transcript
TIME
2012

Life , School , Communication , Learning

“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….”

Mitt Romney

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
2007 campaign for Republican nomination for United States President

People , Imagination , Idea , Waiting

“When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no — and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous….”

Mitt Romney

Fundraiser, Beverly Hills, , quoted in * 2012-09-24
Romney mocked for comment about jet windows
Xiaonan
Wang
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-jet-windows-20120924,0,3749461.story
2012-09-25
2012

Problem

“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…”

Mitt Romney

Faith in America speech, 2007

God , History

“Successfully bringing jobs home requires serious policy and reforms that make America the place businesses want to plant and grow. You can't punish business into doing the things you want.”

Mitt Romney

2016, Remarks on Donald Trump and the 2016 race

Home , Business

“If there is anyone worried the last four years are the best we can do, if there is anyone who fears that the American dream is fading away, if there is anyone who wonders whether better jobs and better paychecks are things of the past, I have a clear and unequivocal message: with the right leadership, America will come roaring back.”

Mitt Romney

2012-11-02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/02/mitt-romneys-closing-argument-advance-excerpts/
Mitt Romney’s closing argument: Advance excerpts
The Washington Post
2012

Fear , Dreams , Past

“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.”

Mitt Romney

CNN Arizona Republican Presidential Debate http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1202/22/se.03.html,
posed question: "Should there be aggressive, seek them out, find them and arrest them as Sheriff Arpaio advocates?"; referring to lawsuits against Arizona SB1070
2012

People , Law , Question , Thinking

“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.”

Mitt Romney

Source: Faith in America speech, 2007

People , World , Faith , Thinking

“John King: FEMA is about to run out of money, and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people who say, you know, maybe we're learning a lesson here that the states should take on more of this role. How do you deal with something like that?
Mitt Romney: Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut — we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep? We should take all of what we're doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we're doing that we don’t have to do? And those things we've got to stop doing, because we're borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we're taking in. We cannot —
John King: Including disaster relief, though?
Mitt Romney: We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all.”

Mitt Romney

GOP debate, , quoted in
2011

Money , People , Question , Thinking

“My foreign policy has three fundamental branches: first, confidence in our cause, a recognition that the principles America was based upon are not something we shrink from or apologize for, that we stand for those principles; the second is clarity in our purpose, which is that when we have a foreign policy objective, we describe it honestly and clearly to the American people, to Congress and to the people of the world; and number three is resolve in our might, that in those rare circumstances, those rare circumstances where we decide it's essential for us to apply military might, that we do so with overwhelming force, that we do so in the clarity of a mission, understanding the nature of the U. S. interest involved, understanding when the mission would be complete, what will be left when it is -- what will be left behind us when that mission has been -- has been terminated.”

Mitt Romney

televised remarks, , quoted in * 2012-09-12
What They Said, Before and After the Attack in Libya
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/12/us/politics/libya-statements.html
2012-09-18
2012

People , World , Confidence , Understanding

“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.”

Mitt Romney

[2007-02-13, Romney formally kicks off presidential bid, MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17128433/]
2007 campaign for Republican nomination for United States President

People , World , Faith , Time

“I actually think it will be interesting to listen to the President tonight. What I'd like him to do is report on his promises but there are forgotten promises and forgotten people. Over the last four years, the President has said that he was going to create jobs for the American people and that hasn't happened. He said he would cut the deficit in half and that hasn't happened. He said that incomes would rise and instead incomes have gone down. And I think this is a time not for him not to start restating new promises but to report on the promises he made. I think he wants a promises reset. We want a report on the promises he made. And that means let's hear some numbers. Let's hear 16. Sixteen trillion dollars of debt. This is very different than the promise he made. Let's hear the number 47. 47 million people in this country on food stamps. When he took office, 33 million people were on food stamps. Let's understand why it was he's been unsuccessful in helping alleviate poverty in this country. Why so many people have fallen from the middle class into poverty under this president. Let's have him explain to the American people the 50% number. Why 50% of college graduates can't find work or work that is consistent with their college degree. The President needs to report tonight on his promises rather than try and reset a whole series of new promises that he also won't be able to keep.”

Mitt Romney

2012-09-06
http://mittromneycentral.com/2012/09/06/romney-on-obamas-speech-tonight-americans-want-a-report-on-presidents-promises/
Romney on Obama’s Speech Tonight: Americans Want A Report On President’s Promises
Mitt Romney Central
2012

People , Food , Understanding , Thinking

“As to what to do for the housing industry specifically and are there things that you can do to encourage housing: One is, don't try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.”

Mitt Romney

[2011-10-18, Romney says foreclosures should "hit the bottom", Kasie, Hunt, AP/Boston.com, http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2011/10/18/romney_says_foreclosures_should_hit_the_bottom/]
2011

Housing

“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.”

Mitt Romney

Fox News, Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, Durham, NH, 2007-09-05
2007 campaign for Republican nomination for United States President

People , Time , Waiting , Forgetting

“I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. […] And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, "There's just no way." And so what you do is you say, "You move things along the best way you can." You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem. We live with that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.”

Mitt Romney

on the
2012

Peace , Hope , Way , Problem

“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.”

Mitt Romney

CNN Republican presidential debate, Los Angeles, , quoted in * 2011-10-18
Apples and Oranges: Mitt Rings Cain's Bell
Fox Nation
http://nation.foxnews.com/herman-cain/2011/10/18/apples-and-oranges-mitt-rings-cains-bell
2011-10-23
on Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax plan
2011

People

“Paul Ryan combines a profound sense of responsibility for what we owe the next generation with an unbounded optimism in America's future and an understanding of all the wonderful things the American people can do. Paul also combines firm principles with a practical concern for getting things done. He has never been content to simply curse the darkness; he would rather light candles. And throughout his legislative career he's shown the ability to work with members of both parties to find common ground on some of the hardest issues confronting the American people.”

Mitt Romney

2012-08-11
http://mittromneycentral.com/2012/08/11/video-and-transcript-romney-making-his-vp-announcement/
Video and Transcript: Romney Making His VP Announcement
Mitt Romney Central
2012

People , Optimism , Understanding , Sense