CAMPAIGN 2008

Romney's Address to the Conservative Political Action Committee - February 7, 2008

Special to Newsweek
Updated: 1:08  p.m. ET Feb 7, 2008

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  • Posted By: mspoon25 @ 02/07/2008 3:24:51 PM

    Wow, that section on morality made me physically ill. Thank God that such a evangelical nightmare is out of the running.

    • Posted By: holdingmynose @ 02/08/2008 2:23:04 PM

      let me guess, you think imorality is the pathway to freedom. You know as well as I do that the majority of Government programs are created to be the safety net for people who cannot take responsibility for their own mistakes. Grow up. Get a job. First, learn yourself, then teach your kids to work, earn and give back. Stop taking from Government. Stop thinking that everyone owes you something. Mitt is right.

  • Posted By: eddiewhere @ 02/08/2008 3:44:07 AM

    MITT"S MISSION IS OVER I REST MY CASE>
    THE CASE OF THE CLOWN HAS BEEN SOLVED>
    BRONZE MEDAL
    ALREADY LOST ENOUGH MONEY
    QUITTER.

  • Posted By: eddiewhere @ 02/08/2008 3:43:04 AM

    MITTS MISSION IS OVER. HE was the REINCARNATION OF BUSH but with NO comPasiion. HE WOULD HAVE LEFT MILLIONS WITHOUT HEALTH CARE and his immigration Plan scared half the AMERICAN PoPulation. I HAD A TOUGH TIME FIGURING OUT WHO WAS THE BIGGEST CLOWN ROMNEY OR RUDY. HAND DOWN RUDY. HOWEVER ROMNEY COMES IN A CLOSE SECOND. THIS GUY FLIP FLOPPED ON EVERY MAJOR ISSUE. HE IS A NUT. HE NEVER LIVED IN THE REAL WORLD. HE has no idea what many AMERICANS GO THROUGH. HIS AGENDA WAS TO FEED THE BUSH BACKER's GREED.


    I noticed you criticized Benson for supporting the JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY. BUT you never criticized him. Benson doctrine is what the MAJORITY of Mormons live by. I would like to see you go to your church and criticize Benson. As mentioned I back my statements up with facts.
    There are many reasons Mormons will not come forth even though they know of the corruption in the Mormon church. One is due to their belief in Mormon scripture which they associate with the Mormon church. The leadership has usurped power and authority over this scripture. Thus, the members of the Mormon church think that God expects them to support their misguided leaders. This is much the - rationalization that many Americans make about our government. They all know of the corruption, but rationalize that it is unpatriotic to talk against the government or ungrateful to complain when they enjoy superficial prosperity."

    THE LINK BETWEEN BUSH FAMILY AND ROMNEY IS HENRY TAFT BENSON. CO FOUNDER OF THE RUSSEL TRUST aka. SKULLS N BONES SOCIETY.

  • Posted By: mspoon25 @ 02/07/2008 3:25:44 PM

    Wow. That section on morality was truly disgusting. Thank God such an evangelical nightmare is out of the running.

    • Posted By: downdeepinside @ 02/07/2008 3:37:45 PM

      Morality is disgusting? Now, it is clear to me how much "evangelicals" (so called) have it all wrong. It is, in fact, rather egotistical, as there are so many more people who still value basic virtue, honesty, and principles such as a father and mother in every home. How can anyone justify immorality or children born out of wedlock as acceptable, when it was God himself who said it was wrong? Does He change over time, or do we? Thank God for Mitt Romney! I pray he runs in 2012!

      • Posted By: mspoon25 @ 02/07/2008 3:47:07 PM

        Actually, what bothers me is that we associate allowing the working poor to flounder with morality. We associate allowing the poor to get poorer, the rich to get richer, and Christians the right to browbeat everyone who doesn't think like them with morality. That isn't morality, so much as it is fascism.

        We aren't going to solve the problems we face as a nation with exclusion, classism and fear. So yeah, Thank God Romney is out of the race.

        • Posted By: PMcAllister @ 02/07/2008 11:21:25 PM

          Actually, fascism is more the idea of subversion of the individual to the State. According to Benito Mussolini,

          "Anti-individualistic, the fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with those of the State,"

          If anything, Romney's views about decreasing entitlement spending, decreasing the dependence of citizens on the State, and strengthening the home and family, so that individual children can be raised to think creatively and independently are the polar opposite of fascism.

          You have actually bought into the media spin that tax cuts make the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Your unspoken claim is that you support a socialist philosophy in which wealth is redistributed until everyone is financially equal. Unfortunately you have neglected history, because in socialist countries some citizens eventually become "more equal than others" as George Orwell so eloquently wrote in Animal Farm.

          If you understood economics, you would understand that a free market system when unimpeded raises everyone's standard of living and economic standing. Taking money from those who have worked hard and been innovative to give to those who do not work ultimately benefits no one, because the people who used to work hard lose the desire to do so when the fruit of their labor is taken and those who didn't work never learned how to, nor found a need to. That is a downward spiral where everyone isequal--equally poor!

  • Posted By: dzaplove @ 02/07/2008 4:38:31 PM

    This is sadly what passes for conservative principles these days--demonizing and blaming the poor, invoking God and Country with equal gravity, and yearning for a reality that never was. Would Jesus truly want us to deny children health insurance? Would He want us to spend our treasure on weapons so we can kill people even better? Bad theology is conflating nationalism and religion. If this isn't the epidome of that...

    • Posted By: PMcAllister @ 02/07/2008 10:57:56 PM

      Do you honestly think that Governor Romney wants to "deny health insurance to children" in order to "spend our treasure on weapons so we can kill people even better?" I didn't get that feeling from anything he has said or done in his career, or during his campaign, or even from this speech.

      Governor Romney understands economics, which is, contrary to popular understanding, not just about money. Economics is the study of decision-making, of how and why people allocate limited resources. Governor Romney understands that government intervention into the marketplace affects the market and creates incentives.

      He is right on point when he says that government spending on entitlements is one of our major problems. What incentive do you have to work hard (and consequently gain satisfaction, self-respect and hands-on education) if the government will give you a handout on one hand if you don't work, and penalize you in the form of exhorbitant taxes on the results of your labor on the other?

      If the incentive for individuals is to work less and depend more on the government, then where is the innovation, creativity, hard work and sacrifice that has made our nation great going to come from? Do you think the government can just hand that out too?

  • Posted By: dcols1 @ 02/07/2008 6:21:11 PM

    I am an evangelical (I guess that means "born again christian and member of a church of also born-agains"), and I voted for MItt in the GA primary not because he is or is not Mormon or LDS, but because he would likely support measures and policies that I think are best for America, and that he has the character and integrity to do in office what he is now claiming he would do. Really, should this not be the reasoning process for anyone to use to select a candidate? I've heard people on the radio talking about vacuous concepts like "change" (change to what? no one seems to ask) or "hope" (can a President give me hope? Hope for what?") or the best is "making history" (as if putting a bad leader into the White House is nonetheless desireable because he or she is the first of his/her kind to occupy the office?).
    Many evangelicals should remember the last evangelical we had as a president: namely, Jimmy Carter, who had integrity, but ended up implementing policies that we felt were bad for America. And has followed it up with a public/private life of nonsense (outside of his work for Habitat for Humanity). Anyway, reading Mitt's speech makes me proud that I voted for him; proud because he put the country's interest ahead of his own. Some might say that this is easy to do when you see you're going to lose anyway. But I say, "You rarely see such character among those at the top of the political world, who are almost always grasping, conniving, and self-promoting." What a great man. I doubt that his political career is over. Maybe he is our next Cincinnatus-in-waiting.
    -- Columbus GA

    • Posted By: PMcAllister @ 02/07/2008 10:45:06 PM

      I couldn't agree more with your assessment. I can't imagine a man of such convictions and such a history of action sitting on the sideline for long.

  • Posted By: rmchen @ 02/07/2008 6:23:30 PM

    Calling France a great nation, but not a world leader? Definitely untrue and not a statement any presidential candidate should say!!

    • Posted By: PMcAllister @ 02/07/2008 10:43:03 PM

      I have a feeling that Governor Romney, having lived in France for a couple of years, has a better feel for France than you or I do. I didn't interpret his comment about France the way you did. I believe he is comparing the France of the 18th and 19th century to the France of today. Clearly France does not have the same power or influence in the world that it had in its golden age.

  • Posted By: rmchen @ 02/07/2008 6:26:10 PM

    France is a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world. What an untrue statement and what a statement for a presidential candidate should not say!!

  • Posted By: dcols1 @ 02/07/2008 6:20:43 PM

    I am an evangelical (I guess that means "born again christian and member of a church of also born-agains"), and I voted for MItt in the GA primary not because he is or is not Mormon or LDS, but because he would likely support measures and policies that I think are best for America, and that he has the character and integrity to do in office what he is now claiming he would do. Really, should this not be the reasoning process for anyone to use to select a candidate? I've heard people on the radio talking about vacuous concepts like "change" (change to what? no one seems to ask) or "hope" (can a President give me hope? Hope for what?") or the best is "making history" (as if putting a bad leader int the White House is nonetheless desireable because he or she is the first of his/her kind to occupy the office?).
    Many evangelicals should remember the last evangelical we had as a president: namely, Jimmy Carter, who had integrity, but ended up implementing policies that I felt were bad for America. And has followed it up with a public/private life of nonsense (outside of his work for Habitat for Humaity). Anyway, reading Mitt's speech makes me proud that I voted for him; proud because he put the country's interest ahead of his own. Some might say that this is easy to do when you see you're going to lose anyway. But I say, "You rarely see such character among those at the top of the political world, who are almost always grasping, conniving, and self-promoting." What a great man. I doubt that his political career is over. Maybe he is our next Cincinnatus-in-waiting.
    -- Columbus GA

  • Posted By: buckorily @ 02/07/2008 4:42:24 PM

    It is too bad Mr. Romney never made this speech just as it is presented above in his campaign until the moment he decides to drop out. McCain will do well to memorize it and use the same thoughts in his own words when ever he can.

  • Posted By: ldsneighbor @ 02/07/2008 4:40:14 PM

    What exactly is an 'evangelical'? I know what it is supposed to mean by definition, but I do believe that it means today what it meant in the middle 1800's - prejudice. Prejudice towards anyone who thinks, believes, or acts differently than you do. Accordingly, the prejudicial elite hear what they want to hear and no more. Mitt Romney was a 'mormon' - "they're not christians are they?" There are no such people as 'mormons' and there never were. I ought to know because I am labeled as one. I am, and so is Mitt Romney a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Do any of you prejudicial evangelicals notice the Holy Name of Jesus Christ in the name of the church. Stop already with removing us, through age old prejudices, and narrow mindedness from the world of those who know and believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We are your neighbors, your friends, your fellow countrymen. We proclaim the Word of God; we believe the Holy Bible to be the Word of God. We hold no prejudice towards you so why must you continue to openly display ignorant prejudice towards us - christian members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

  • Posted By: wardsrus2 @ 02/07/2008 4:29:39 PM

    Yhe gop died today 2/7/08. the party has no choice but to appoint McCain and that is unacceptable to the majority of the party. THE GOP is DEAD

  • Posted By: wardsrus2 @ 02/07/2008 4:28:10 PM

    the GOP died today 2/7/08. the party is left with no choice but nominate Mc Cain. and that will not be acceptable to the majority of the party. THE GOP is DEAD

  • Posted By: exoteric99 @ 02/07/2008 2:48:14 PM

    Thank you, Mitt. You are a man of integrity and a true American. Most politicians would forge on because of their own greedy desire for power. You have the money to go on, but in the end it IS about being an American and loving the free county we live in. I live in Atlanta, and you are my choice for President.

    It should not be about religion. Nor should it be about race, or gender. What should be important are the issues dear to Americans and what makes America a place where all immigrants want to live. A place where we accept all cultures to integrate into our society and American culture that was developed many yrs ago.

    I believe you would address all the issues most Americans deem necessary to fight Islamic terrorists.
    I believe you would give our soldiers what they need to continue their success in fighting the Islamic terrorists.
    I believe you would lower taxes for small business, which in turn will fuel our economy.
    I believe you would support efforts to take necessary action for ceasing our dependency on foreign oil.
    I believe you would handle our immigration issue: Build borders, have a national ID card with DNA for all immigrants, heavily fine employers who employ illegals, work with the Democrats to come up with a viable solution to deal with the illegals already in our country-one where we DNA and throw back those who commit any crime, never to return, etc.
    I believe you are the best person to be fiscally responsible for our deficit and cut pork barrel spending, and earmarks.
    I believe you would take action to get rid of the teachers who are not educating our children and the unions that secure their jobs.
    I believe you would encourage employers to hire Americans and not out source jobs to foreign lands, by giving them incentives for doing such.
    Mitt, I like you, love America. My mother was an immigrant. She came into America legally. She was not given any entitlements.

    Mitt, I do believe you suspended your campaign because YOU LOVE AMERICA!!! MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!
    SEE YOU IN 2012!!!! ROMNEY IN 2012!!!

  • Posted By: Bassetdancers @ 02/07/2008 2:27:25 PM

    How many Republicans will now go to the Democrats? A lot of people don't like John McCain. Hate to see Romney go down in flames as he was the best choice when it came to the economy, but there are other priorities I guess.

  • Posted By: D Mac @ 02/07/2008 1:30:16 PM

    A class act. I wish Romney were my President, but I am grateful that he is putting principles over power.

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