it out of context...
Mitt Romney's Speech Wednesday night to the 2008 GOP Natl Convention
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY
For decades, the Washington sun has been rising in the east -
Washington has been looking to the eastern elites, to the editorial
pages of the Times and the Post, and to the broadcasters from the
coast.
If America really wants change, it's time to look for the sun in the
west, cause it's about to rise and shine from Arizona and Alaska!
Last week, the Democrats talked about change. But let me ask you --
what do you think Washington is right now, liberal or conservative? Is
a Supreme Court liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo
terrorists with constitution rights? It's liberal! Is a government
liberal or conservative that puts the interests of the teachers union
ahead of the needs of our children? -- It's liberal!
Is a Congress liberal or conservative that stops nuclear power plants
and off-shore drilling, making us more and more dependent on Middle
East tyrants? -- It's liberal!
Is government spending - excluding inflation - liberal or conservative
if it doubles since 1980? -- It's liberal!
We need change all right - change from a liberal Washington to a
conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who
wants change in Washington -- throw out the big government liberals
and elect John McCain!
It's the same prescription for a stronger economy. I spent 25 years in
the private sector. I've done business in many foreign countries. I
know why jobs come and why they go away. And I know that liberals
don't have a clue.
They think we have the biggest and strongest economy in the world
because of our government. They're wrong. America is strong because of
the ingenuity and entrepreneurship and hard work of the American
people.
The American people have always been the source of our nation's
strength and they always will be!
We strengthen our people and our economy when we preserve and promote
opportunity. Opportunity is what lets hope become reality.
Opportunity expands when there is excellence and choice in education,
when taxes are lowered, when every citizen has affordable, portable
health insurance, and when constitutional freedoms are preserved.
Opportunity rises when children are raised in homes and schools that
are free from pornography, promiscuity and drugs; in homes that are
blessed with family values and the presence of a father and a mother.
America cannot long lead the family of nations if we fail the family
here at home!
Liberals would replace opportunity with dependency on government
largesse. They grow government and raise taxes to put more people on
Medicaid, to take work requirements out of welfare, and to grow the
ranks of those who pay no taxes at all. Dependency is death to
initiative, risk-taking and opportunity.
It is time to stop the spread of government dependency to fight it
like the poison it is!
It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!
Our economy is under attack. China is acting like Adam Smith on
steroids, buying oil from the world's worst, and selling nuclear
technology. Russia and the oil states are siphoning more than 500
billion dollars a year from us in what could become the greatest
transfer of economic wealth in history. This is no time for timid,
liberal empty gestures.
Our economy has slowed down this year and a lot of people are hurting.
What happened? Mortgage money was handed out like candy, speculators
bought homes for free - when this mortgage mania finally broke, it
slammed the economy. And stratospheric gas prices made things even
worse.
Democrats want to use the slowdown as an excuse to do what their
special interests are always begging for: higher taxes, bigger
government and less trade with other nations.
It's the same path Europe took a few decades ago. It leads to moribund
growth and double-digit unemployment.
The right course is the one championed by Ronald Reagan 30 years ago,
and by John McCain today. It is to rein in government spending and to
lower taxes, for taking a weed-whacker to excessive regulation and
mandates, for putting a stop to tort windfalls, and to stand up to the
Tyrannosaurus appetite of government unions!
It is to pursue every source of energy security, from new efficiencies
to renewables, from clean coal to non-CO2 producing nuclear, and the
immediate drilling for more oil off of our shores! And I have one more
recommendation for energy conservation -- let's keep Al Gore's private
jet on the ground!
Did you hear any Democrats talk last week about the threat from
radical, violent Jihad? Republicans believe that there is good and
evil in the world. Ronald Reagan called-out the Evil Empire. George
Bush labeled the terror-sponsor states the Axis of Evil.
And at Saddleback, after Barak Obama dodged and ducked every direct
question, John McCain hit the nail on the head: radical violent Islam
is evil, and he will defeat it!
Republicans prefer straight talk to politically correct talk!
Republicans, led by John McCain and Sarah Palin, will fight to
preserve the values that have preserved the nation. We will strengthen
our economy and keep us from being held hostage by Putin, Chavez and
Ahmadinejad.
And we will never allow America to retreat in the face of evil extremism!
Just like you, there has never been a day when I was not proud to be
an American. We inherited the greatest nation in the history of the
earth.
It is our burden and privilege to preserve it, to renew its spirit so
that its noble past is prologue to its glorious future.
To this we are all dedicated and I firmly believe, by the providence
of the Almighty, that we will succeed.
President McCain and Vice President Palin will keep America as it has
always been -- the hope of the world.
