Governor Mitt Romney on the Issues
Download Governor Romney’s 2006 State of the Commonwealth Address here
Abortion (in-depth) – Click here to download the Americans for Mitt pro-life issues fact sheet (PDF)
“I understand that my views on laws governing abortion set me in the minority in our Commonwealth. I am pro-life.”
“For all the conflicting views on this issue, it speaks well of our country that we recognize abortion as a problem. The law may call it a right, but no one ever called it a good, and, in the quiet of conscience people of both political parties know that more than a million abortions a year cannot be squared with the good heart of America.”
“Many women considering abortion face terrible pressures, hurts, and fears; we should come to their aid with all the resourcefulness and empathy we can offer. At the same time, the starting point should be the innocence and vulnerability of the child wanting to be born.”
–Source: “Why I vetoed the contraception bill” Boston Globe Op-Ed, July 26, 2005
“I am firmly pro-life.”
–Source: Fox News Sunday (February 26, 2006)
“I believe people will see that as governor, when I had to examine and grapple with this difficult issue, I came down on the side of life. I know in the four years I have served as governor I have learned and grown from the exposure to the thousands of good-hearted people who are working to change the culture in our country. I’m committed to promoting the culture of life. Like Ronald Reagan, and Henry Hyde, and others who became pro-life, I had this issue wrong in the past.”
-Source: NRO Interview (December 14, 2006)
Abstinence Education
“Experience shows that kids have a far better chance of succeeding if they have a mother and a father at home. Of course, divorce and death means that there will always be many, many single parents; these single parents often make huge sacrifices and their kids can indeed succeed. But let’s do everything we can to encourage our kids to have their kids after they’ve married, not while they’re single and in school. We have sex education in our schools. Let’s also have abstinence education in our schools. Marriage and two parent families are fundamental to the development of children and to our success as a culture. We cannot afford to shrink from the timeless, priceless principles of human experience.”
–Source: 2006 State of the State Address (January 2006)
ANWR (Drilling in Alaska)
“I think we ought to have more oil. We ought to develop more sources of oil so that we can increase our supply. But the last thing I want to do is suck it all dry as quickly as we can. I want use less of it.”
–Source: Interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews (December 2005); *Governor Romney answered “yes” when asked specifically if he supported drilling in ANWR.
Character and Integrity
“I believe people who are in a position of visibility and leadership affect the character of young people and individuals who look to them as leaders. And in some respects just as important as their policies and positions is there character and their substance. What for me makes people like Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and John Adams and George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan such extraordinary leaders is that they had integrity through and through. What they were on the inside and what they said on the outside was harmonious. There a lot of people like that. I think that if people try to live a very different personal life not consistent with the role they’ve assumed as a governor or senator or president, we lose something as a nation.”
–Source: The Atlantic (September 2005)
Charter Schools
“Charter schools embrace innovative educational practices that encourage competition and hold teachers and administrators accountable for the academic achievement of their students. Choice within the Massachusetts public school system should be available to all parents, particularly those with children in our low-performing districts.”
–Source: press release (May 2005)
Economic Future
"We cannot continue to have an excellence gap with the rest of the world and intend to remain the economic superpower and military superpower of the planet. That's just not going to happen. We're in a position where unless we take action, we'll end up being the France of the 21st century: a lot of talk, but not a lot of strength behind it in terms of economic capability."
–Source: Boston Globe, November 16, 2005 (quoted from a speech to educators)
Education (in-depth)
“If we don’t recognize our best students and provide them with the intellectual tools and support they need to advance, we won’t be able to keep up with other nations that are doing everything they can to promote excellence in education.”
“I believe that our best teachers are underpaid and should be rewarded for the extra effort they bring to the classroom and the results they deliver for our students. Teachers should be compensated according to their ability to produce real results, not solely on the number of years they’ve been on the job. If we want to attract ambitious teachers, we need to treat teaching as a profession."
–Source: Press Release on education reform (January 11, 2006)
“Some kids, particularly certain minority populations, are falling behind. Horace Mann said that education was the great equalizer. But in too many of our schools today, that is not being achieved. I believe that the failure of education in urban schools is the civil rights issue of our generation.”
–Source: 2006 State of the State Address (January 2006)
Emergency Contraception
“…the drug that they’re referring to not only is a contraceptive, but it’s also an abortive product. Individuals who have already become impregnated and that have a living embryo within them take this drug and ends the life of that embryo. So it’s not only a contraceptive, it’s abortive.”
–Source: Interview with Hugh Hewitt (July 2005) *Explaining his decision to veto an emergency contraception bill.
Faith-Based Programs
“The organizations and congregations represented here today have the power to lift up those around us who may have fallen on hard times. Millions in need across our nation have been touched by the positive influence of faith-based organizations.”
–Source: Speech at a roundtable discussion with religious leaders (June 2005)
Gay Marriage
“Throughout our history, when our country needed us, Americans have stepped forward, standing up to every challenge. We step forward by expressing tolerance and respect for all God's children, regardless of their differences and choices. At the same time, because every child deserves a mother and a father, we step forward by recognizing that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
–Source: Republican National Convention speech, September 1, 2004
“The real impact of gay marriage is not something you’re going to recognize in a year or two. The impact is over generations. I believe each child in America has the right to have a mother and a father.”
–Source: Interview with Hugh Hewitt (July 2005)
"Like the vast majority of Americans, I’ve opposed same-sex marriage, but I’ve also opposed unjust discrimination against anyone, for racial or religious reasons, or for sexual preference. Americans are a tolerant, generous, and kind people. We all oppose bigotry and disparagement. But the debate over same-sex marriage is not a debate over tolerance. It is a debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage and it is a debate about activist judges who make up the law rather than interpret the law.
I agree with 3,000 years of recorded history. I believe marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman and I have been rock solid in my support of traditional marriage. Marriage is first and foremost about nurturing and developing children. It’s unfortunate that those who choose to defend the institution of marriage are often demonized".
-Source: NRO Interview (December 14, 2006)
Government Inefficiency
“Government inefficiency wastes resources and places a burden on citizens and employers that’s harmful to our future. And anytime I see waste, or patronage, it bothers me.”
–Source: The Atlantic (September 2005)
Health Care (in-depth)
Illegal Immigration
“I would like to see us, as a nation, bringing in fewer illegal immigrants.”
“I do not like the idea, therefore, of Amnesty because I’m afraid that when you have a regular Amnesty program, of one form or another, you will create a greater incentive for people to come into the country illegally.”
“In my state I’ve said that I will veto any legislation which calls for a drivers license for illegal immigrants.”
-Source: Speech at the Heritage Foundation (September 2005)
"Illegal immigration has to end."
-Source: Radio Interview, The Mike Gallagher Show (January 2007)
Judicial Appointments
“Clearly, having an individual who is committed to interpreting the law, interpreting the Constitution and not creating law is essential.”
“People, they’re saying “well let’s have a pro-choice Supreme Court nominee.” Don’t forget that we elected George W. Bush. He’s a pro-life president. He ran as a pro-life president. And he, therefore, has every right to nominate someone who has his beliefs.”
–Source: Interview with Hugh Hewitt (July 2005)
Liberalism
“I felt very strongly that the social programs of the sixties and seventies, the liberal agenda-I’ll call it the Johnson agenda-had hurt working families, had hurt the poor in many instances. And while the liberals had the best of intentions, I felt that the programs themselves had created a permanent underclass and had fostered poverty instead of eliminating it.”
–Source: The Atlantic (September 2005)
National Security
"When it comes to protecting our citizens, there is no place for political correctness. We should be doing more in terms of intelligence and counterterrorism in the state to protect ourselves from terrorists. We spend a lot of our resources thinking about response, but response can't protect us. We have to be able to prevent attacks."
-Source: press conference (September 2005)
Public Service
“There is not one day when I have regretted making a full commitment to public service. The battles, the triumphs, the personal associations are more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. I could have made a good deal more money over the last five years had I stayed at my investment job…Instead, I have come to know many more people and to help many more people I do not know. It’s a currency of a different denomination: it can’t be taxed, stolen, or depleted. The more I have of it, the richer I feel.”
–Source: “Turnaround” by Mitt Romney (page 384)
”Very simply, I was running to help people. Massachusetts had been burdened for too long by waste, abuse, inefficiency, and patronage. Government needed to be more about public service and less about self-service.”
–Source: “Turnaround” by Mitt Romney (page 381)
Roe v. Wade
“Let’s let the states deal with it through a democratic process, rather than have a judiciary make a pronouncement of one size fits all.”
“…each state should be able to make its own decision, and allow those states that are strongly pro-life to make laws that fulfill the will of their own citizens.”
–Source: Interview with Hugh Hewitt (July 2005)
Ronald Reagan
“Ronald Reagan is also my hero and a friend of all of ours…I believe that our party’s ascendancy began with Ronald Reagan’s brand of visionary and courageous leadership.”
–Source: Speech in South Carolina (February 2005)
Stem-Cell Research & Human Cloning
"Human cloning for any purpose — whether for research or reproduction — is ethically wrong. Once cloning occurs, a human life is set in motion."
–Source: Letter to the Massachusetts Legislature (May 2005)
Taxes & The Budget
“The easy way to fix any problem is to go to the people and say you have to pay more money, but that's not what the job of management is. The job of management is to find ways to permanently and structurally change the costs of our structure such that we can have a balanced budget without always raising taxes every time people think there's a need."
–Source: Boston Herald, March 22, 2002
“You don’t create economic prosperity by raising taxes.”
–Source: National Review (June 2005)
“We enacted property tax relief for our senior citizens and instead of levying a retroactive capital gains tax hike, we acted to refund $250 million to Massachusetts taxpayers.”
–Source: 2006 State of the State Address (January 2006)
“I don’t like taxes. I think we need less government, not more government.”
–Source: Interview with Mort Kondracke (March 2006)
Veterans
“Our veterans know the meaning of service better than anyone else and they aren’t about to quit working when they come home. The best reward we can provide our vets for their service isn’t a medal or a check; it’s a livelihood and a means of supporting themselves and their families.”
–Source: press release promoting “Hire a Veteran” month (November 2005)
War on Terror
"The president is right to point to an international jihadist movement aimed at the collapse of the United States. He has gone after that threat in the right way and with great energy and vigor, and I applaud the fact that he has taken it on very seriously and has not considered it just a criminal action but instead a war action, which requires a military . . . response."
-Source: Interview with James Taranto (December 2005)
Welfare
“Fundamentally, this is a debate about the best way to help someone lead a fulfilling life. We know that the best system isn’t about a handout but a hand up.”
–Source: press release on welfare reform (July 2005)
“People want a chance to work so they can build self-sustaining lives instead of relying on a welfare check that will keep them trapped in poverty. By providing support services and incentives where necessary, we want to give welfare recipients the opportunity to achieve independent and fulfilling lives.”
–Source: press release on welfare reform (January 2005)
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