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Transcript
of Governor Mitt Romney’s Speech Withdrawing
From the 2008 Repbulican Presidential Nominating
Race
Governor Romney’s Address to the
Conservative Political Action Committee –
February 7, 2008
I want to begin by saying thank
you. It’s great to be with you again. And I
look forward to joining with you many more times in
the future.
Last year, CPAC gave me the
sendoff I needed. I was in single digits in the
polls and I was facing household Republican names.
As of today, more than 4 million people have given
me their vote for president, less than Senator
McCain’s 4.7 million, but quite a statement
nonetheless. 11 states have given me their nod,
compared to his 13. Of course, because size does
matter, he’s doing quite a bit better with his
number of delegates.
To all of you, thank you for
caring enough about the future of America to show
up, stand up and speak up for conservative
principles.
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!
And that is why we must rise to
the occasion, as we have always done before, to
confront the challenges ahead. Perhaps the most
fundamental of these is the attack on the American
culture.
Over the years, my business has
taken me to many countries. I have been struck by
the enormous differences in the wealth and
well-being of people of different nations. I have
read a number of scholarly explanations for the
disparities. I found the most convincing was that
written by David Landes, a professor emeritus from
Harvard University. I presume he’s a
liberal–I guess that’s redundant. His
work traces the coming and going of great
civilizations throughout history. After hundreds of
pages of analysis, he concludes with
this:
If we learn anything from the
history of economic development, it is that culture
makes all the difference. Culture makes all the
difference.
What is it about American
culture that has led us to become the most powerful
nation in the history of the world? We believe in
hard work and education. We love opportunity:
almost all of us are immigrants or descendants of
immigrants who came here for
opportunity—opportunity is in our DNA.
Americans love God, and those who don’t have
faith, typically believe in something greater than
themselves—a “Purpose Driven Life.”
And we sacrifice everything we have, even our
lives, for our families, our freedoms and our
country. The values and beliefs of the free
American people are the source of our nation’s
strength and they always will be!
The threat to our culture comes
from within. The 1960’s welfare programs
created a culture of poverty. Some think we won
that battle when we reformed welfare, but the
liberals haven’t given up. At every turn, they
try to substitute government largesse for
individual responsibility. They fight to strip work
requirements from welfare, to put more people on
Medicaid, and to remove more and more people from
having to pay any income tax whatsoever. Dependency
is death to initiative, risk-taking and
opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing
drug—we have got to fight it like the poison
it is!
The attack on faith and religion
is no less relentless. And tolerance for
pornography—even celebration of it—and
sexual promiscuity, combined with the twisted
incentives of government welfare programs have led
to today’s grim realities: 68% of African
American children are born out-of-wedlock, 45% of
Hispanic children, and 25% of White children. How
much harder it is for these children to succeed in
school—and in life. A nation built on the
principles of the founding fathers cannot long
stand when its children are raised without fathers
in the home.
The development of a child is
enhanced by having a mother and father. Such a
family is the ideal for the future of the child and
for the strength of a nation. I wonder how it is
that unelected judges, like some in my state of
Massachusetts, are so unaware of this reality, so
oblivious to the millennia of recorded history. It
is time for the people of America to fortify
marriage through constitutional amendment, so that
liberal judges cannot continue to attack
it!
Europe is facing a demographic
disaster. That is the inevitable product of
weakened faith in the Creator, failed families,
disrespect for the sanctity of human life and
eroded morality. Some reason that culture is merely
an accessory to America’s vitality; we know
that it is the source of our strength. And we are
not dissuaded by the snickers and knowing glances
when we stand up for family values, and morality,
and culture. We will always be honored to stand on
principle and to stand for principle.
The attack on our culture is not
our sole challenge. We face economic competition
unlike anything we have ever known before. China
and Asia are emerging from centuries of poverty.
Their people are plentiful, innovative, and
ambitious. If we do not change course, Asia or
China will pass us by as the economic superpower,
just as we passed England and France during the
last century. The prosperity and security of our
children and grandchildren depend on us.
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—that’s
almost what we spend annually for defense. It is
past time for us to invest in energy technology,
nuclear power, clean coal, liquid coal, renewable
sources and energy efficiency. America must never
be held hostage by the likes of Putin, Chavez, and
Ahmendinejad.
And our economy is also burdened
by the inexorable ramping of government spending.
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.
Most politicians don’t seem
to understand the connection between our ability to
compete and our national wealth, and the wealth of
our families. They act as if money just
happens–that it’s just there. But every
dollar represents a good or service produced in the
private sector. Depress the private sector and you
depress the well-being of Americans.
That’s exactly what happens
with high taxes, over-regulation, tort windfalls,
mandates, and overfed, over-spending government.
Did you see that today, government workers make
more money than people who work in the private
sector. Can you imagine what happens to an economy
where the best opportunities are for
bureaucrats?
It’s high time to lower
taxes, including corporate taxes, to take a
weed-whacker to government regulations, to reform
entitlements, and to stand up to the increasingly
voracious appetite of the unions in our
government!
And finally, let’s consider
the greatest challenge facing America—and
facing the entire civilized world: the threat of
violent, radical Jihad. In one wing of the world of
Islam, there is a conviction that all governments
should be destroyed and replaced by a religious
caliphate. These Jihadists will battle any form of
democracy—to them, democracy is blasphemous
for it says that citizens, not God shape the law.
They find the idea of human equality to be
offensive. They hate everything we believe about
freedom just as we hate everything they believe
about radical Jihad.
To battle this threat, we have
sent the most courageous and brave soldiers in the
world. But their numbers have been depleted by the
Clinton years when troops were reduced by 500,000,
when 80 ships were retired from the Navy, and when
our human intelligence was slashed by 25%. We were
told that we were getting a peace dividend. We got
the dividend, but we didn’t get the peace. In
the face of evil in radical Jihad and given the
inevitable military ambitions of China, we must act
to rebuild our military might. Raise military
spending to 4% of our GDP, purchase the most modern
armament, re-shape our fighting forces for the
asymmetric demands we now face, and give the
veterans the care they deserve!
Soon, the face of liberalism in
America will have a new name. Whether it is Barack
or Hillary, the result would be the same if they
were to win the Presidency. The opponents of
American culture would push the throttle, devising
new justifications for judges to depart from the
constitution. Economic neophytes would layer
heavier and heavier burdens on employers and
families, slowing our economy and opening the way
for foreign competition to further erode our
lead.
Even though we face an uphill
fight, I know that many in this room are fully
behind my campaign.” You are with me all the
way to the convention. Fight on, just like Ronald
Reagan did in 1976. But there is an important
difference from 1976: today… we are a nation
at war.
And Barack and Hillary have made
their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the war
on terror. They would retreat and declare defeat.
And the consequence of that would be devastating.
It would mean attacks on America, launched from
safe havens that make Afghanistan under the Taliban
look like child’s play. About this, I have no
doubt.
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, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror.
If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the
convention, I would forestall the launch of a
national campaign and make it more likely that
Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this
time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a
part of aiding a surrender to terror.
This is not an easy decision for
me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our
supporters… many of you right here in this
room… have given a great deal to get me where
I have a shot at becoming President. If this were
only about me, I would go on. But I entered this
race because I love America, and because I love
America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our
party and for our country.
I will continue to stand for
conservative principles; I will fight alongside you
for all the things we believe in. And one of those
things is that we cannot allow the next President
of the United States to retreat in the face evil
extremism!!
It is the common task of each
generation—and the burden of liberty—to
preserve this country, expand its freedoms and
renew its spirit so that its noble past is prologue
to its glorious future.
To this task… accepting
this burden… we are all dedicated, and I
firmly believe, by the providence of the Almighty,
that we will succeed beyond our fondest hope.
America must remain, as it has always been, the
hope of the earth.
Thank you, and God bless
America.
Sources and Links:
http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-romneys-speech-withdrawing-from-the-race/
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/02/019743.php
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2621715
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© 1998-2008 Roger A. Lee and History Guy
Media; Last Modified: 02.07.08
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