On one of the most personal matters of our lives, our health care, President Obama would turn decision making over to government bureaucrats. He forced through Obama-care and I will repeal it.
— Mitt Romney
My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of American prosperity.
Leadership - leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.
And this President wakes up every morning, looks out across America and is proud to announce, 'It could be worse.' It could be worse? Is that what it means to be an American? It could be worse? Of course not. What defines us as Americans is our unwavering conviction that we know it must be better.
Our plans protect freedom and opportunity, and our blueprint is the Constitution of the United States.
Make no mistake, in this campaign, I will offer the American ideals of economic freedom a clear and unapologetic defense.
We still believe in the America that is a land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom. We believe in the America that challenges each of us to be better and bigger than ourselves.
Today's misery is real unemployment, home foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index and its at a record high. Its going to take more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work - its going to take a new president.
The American people I talk to don't spend every moment thinking, 'How can I tax my neighbor more than they're being taxed?' They say, 'How can I get a good job? How can my kids get good jobs? How can seniors have a confidence in their future when they know that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt?'
You balance the budget by restraining the growth of government and encouraging the growth of the private sector.
We believe in individual initiative, personal responsibility, opportunity, freedom, small government, the Constitution. These principles, these American principles are key to getting our economy back to being successful and leading the world.
I could have possibly beaten Senator McCain in the primary. Then I could have been the candidate who lost to Barack Obama.
Sometimes I wonder whether Washington's liberal politicians truly understand the greatness that is America.
On our watch, the conversation with a would-be suicide bomber will not begin with the words, 'You have the right to remain silent.'
Instead of leading the world by how much we borrow, it's time that we make sure we lead the world in how much we build and create and invest.
President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and their team have failed the American people, and that is why their majority will soon be out the door.
The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall', a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire.
President Obama's view of a free economy is to send your money to his friends. My vision for a free enterprise economy is to return entrepreneurship and genius and creativity to the American people!
A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win.
My view is that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. That's the position I've had for some time, and I don't intend to make any adjustments at this point... Or ever, by the way.
The president may be a nice guy, but he's just over his head.
When it comes to the economy, my highest priority as President will be worrying about your job, not saving my own.
I stand ready to lead us down a different path where we're lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success.
I want you to remember when our White House reflected the best of who we are, not the worst of what Europe has become.
President Barack Obama has stood watch over the greatest job loss in modern American history. And that, my friends, is one inconvenient truth that will haunt this President throughout history.
I spent my whole life in the private sector, 25 years in the private sector. I understand that when government takes more money out of the hands of people, it makes it more difficult for them to buy things. If they can't buy things, the economy doesn't grow. If the economy doesn't grow, we don't put Americans to work.
I would cap the amount of federal government can spend at 20 percent of the economy. Bring it back to 20 percent or lower. And say, we are not going to spend above that level. Democrats, they want to raise your taxes and spend more and more and turn us into an economy which is no longer driven by the private sector.
The principles that made this nation a great and powerful leader of the world, have not lost their meaning. They never will. We know we can bring this country back. I'm Mitt Romney. I believe in America. And I'm running for president of the United States.
When it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys.
The answer for healthcare is market incentives, not healthcare by a Godzilla-sized government bureaucracy.
Conservatives believe in providing Constitutional rights to our citizens, not to enemy combatants like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Conservatism has had from its inception vigorously positive, intellectually rigorous agenda and thinking. That agenda should have in my three pillars: strengthen the economy, strengthen our security, and strengthen our families.
America is not better off than it was $1.8 trillion dollars ago.
The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government.
I know what it's like to start a business. I know how extra ordinarily difficult it is to build something from nothing. I know how government kills jobs and, yes, I know how it can help from time- to-time.
Three years ago, this week, a newly elected President Obama faced the American people and he said, look, if I can't turn this economy around in three years, I'll be looking at a one-term proposition, and we're here to collect! You know the results. It's been 35 months of unemployment above 8 percent.
I've been looking at some video clips on YouTube of President Obama - then candidate Obama - going through Iowa making promises. The gap between his promises and his performance is the largest I've seen, well, since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of 'til death do we part.
President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial.
This President takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe; we look to the cities and small towns of America. This President puts his faith in government. We put our faith in the American people.
Internationally, President Obama has adopted an appeasement strategy. He believes America's role as leader in the world is a thing of the past. I believe a strong America must - and will - lead the future.
I went to Massachusetts to make a difference. I didn't go there to begin a political career running time and time again. I made a difference. I put in place the things I wanted to do.
Our nation is too different, too diverse to say that what works in Massachusetts is somehow going to be grabbed by the federal government, usurping the power of states and imposing a one-size-fits-all plan on the nation. That will not work.
Even though I love solar and love wind, like most people do, I like the renewable sources, they alone are not going to get America energy independent.
Government is taking 40 percent of the GDP. And that's at the state, local and federal level. President Obama has taken government spending at the federal level from 20 percent to 25 percent. Look, at some point, you cease being a free economy, and you become a government economy. And we've got to stop that.
We have serious enemies and growing threats around the world. Unfortunately, we have an administration whose idea of a rogue state is Arizona.
We conservatives don't have a corner on saying 'no'. We're just the ones who say it when it's the right thing to say.
The right way to reign in healthcare costs is not by applying more government and more controls and making it more like the post office, it's by making it more like a consumer-driven market.
We will strengthen our security by building missile defense, restoring our military might, and standing by and strengthening our intelligence officers.
Isn't it fitting that so many of those who have contempt for the private sector will soon find themselves back in it?
President Obama instituted the most anti-growth, anti-investment, anti-jobs measures that we have seen in our lifetime. Now he called his agenda ambitious, I call it reckless.
