Transcript of Romney’s Speech Withdrawing From the Race
The
Page
February 7, 2008
Mark Halperin
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.
