Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney was in town last week trying to drum up support for his presidential campaign. Romney is well-known for his strong performance on the campaign trail. While the meat of his stump speech is on enabling private industry to reform health care, help businesses, and lower taxes, the flair is often pulled from other sources. Romney says that he doesn’t know everything and that, when making policy decisions, he’ll collect input from his terrific staff — let’s hope he’s not talking about Toby Keith.
On turning 60: “As that country song says, I’m not as young as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”
On America’s future: “Someone has described our current condition as being almost a perfect storm, like that movie.”
On Muslim radicals: “They want to cause the collapse of all civilization, as Tony Blair has said.”
On an allegedly modest Edwards personal savings plan: “Someone yelled out from the audience that it wouldn’t even buy him a haircut.”
On family values: “Peggy Noonan, the speech writer for President Reagan, said our kids are swimming in an ocean of filth — pornography, sex, violence, perversions. It’s time to clean that up.”
On lifelong politicians: “I was with a fellow in New York named Ezra Zilkha. He said, ‘Do you know what’s wrong with America today? … Politics has become a profession, not a duty.’ For me politics is a duty.”
On bipartisanship: “As my aunt says, ‘Watching Washington is like watching two guys in a canoe in a fast-moving river, approaching a waterfall. And instead of paddling, they’re arguing.’”
On America in Iraq: “Shemom Perez … said America is unique in the history of the world. In the history of the world, whenever there’s been a war, the nation that wins take land from the nation that loses … One nation in history has been willing to lay down hundreds of thousands of lives and take no land for itself.”
To be fair, he’s careful to give credit where it’s do for what he says, except for his often quoted statement that, “A strong America is the best ally peace has ever known,” which sounds a lot like a March 2005 Wall Street Journal piece that reads, “The U.S. military has long been the best ally human freedom has ever known.” Keep the City Paper free We don't have a paywall. Each week's printed issue is free. We're local, independent and free. Let's keep it this way. Please consider a donation of $100 to keep the City Paper free. Donate: chscp.us