Now Con: "Mitt Romney is pro-life. He believes it speaks well of the country that almost all Americans recognize that abortion is a problem. 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.
Mitt believes that life begins at conception and wishes that the laws of our nation reflected that view. But while the nation remains so divided, he believes that the right next step is for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade – a case of blatant judicial activism that took a decision that should be left to the people and placed it in the hands of unelected judges. With Roe overturned, states will be empowered through the democratic process to determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate.
Mitt supports the Hyde Amendment, which broadly bars the use of federal funds for abortions. As president, he will end federal funding for abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood. He will protect the right of health care workers to follow their conscience in their work. And he will nominate judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the law...
Americans have a moral duty to uphold the sanctity of life and protect the weakest, most vulnerable and most innocent among us. As president, Mitt will ensure that American laws reflect America’s values of preserving life at home and abroad."
[Editor's Note: Mitt Romney declined to sign the "Personhood Republican Presidential Candidate Pledge" released by Personhood USA in Dec. 2011. The pledge, stating that abortion should be made constitutionally illegal, was signed by Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum. Mitt Romney has previously supported a human life amendment to the constitution. In an Aug. 6, 2007 interview on Good Morning America, he stated: "I do support the Republican platform and I support that part of the Republican platform {a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution making it clear that the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children}, and I'm pro-life.]
Pro: [Editor's Note: Prior to Mitt Romney's Sep. 12, 2012 Con position above, he held a Pro position as indicated in his Oct. 26, 1994 statement below during a US Senate debate at Faneuil Hall, Boston.]
"I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a US Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, that we should sustain and support it, and I sustain and support that law and the right of a woman to make that choice."
US Senate debate, Faneuil Hall, Boston, Oct. 26, 1994
[Editor's Note: Prior to Mitt Romney's Sep. 12, 2012 Con position to the right, he held a Pro position as indicated in his Oct. 26, 1994 statement below during a US Senate debate at Faneuil Hall, Boston.]
Pro: "I pledged that I would not change our abortion laws either to restrict abortion or to facilitate it. What's more, this particular bill does not require parental consent even for young teenagers. It disregards not only the seriousness of abortion but the importance of parental involvement and so would weaken a protection I am committed to uphold."
"Why I Vetoed Contraception Bill," Boston Globe, July 26, 2005
Pro: "[Donald Trump and I] see eye to eye on China. Not only as an economic threat, cultural threat, [but] down the road they're building a very strong military with potentially the intent to dissuade us from sending ships to the South China Sea, military ships."
"Romney Calls China an 'Economic Threat,'" www.afp.com, Sep. 28, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 produced federal restrictions on credit card companies that have already led to higher interest rates, higher annual fees, and lower credit limits, especially for middle-class borrowers."
"Believe in America: Mitt Romney's Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth," mittromney.com, Sep. 6, 2011
Con: "I think people who committed violent crimes should not be allowed to vote again…
As governor of Massachusetts, I had an 85 percent Democratic legislature. This is something we discussed. My view was people who committed violent crimes should not be able to vote, even upon coming out of office.
In my state, I had a state that — that said that they did not favor my position. I’m not letting felons who had committed violent crimes vote. I think it’s a — a position that’s reasonable, and that’s the position I’ve got."
Republican presidential debate, Myrtle Beach, SC, Jan. 16, 2012
None Found: ProCon.org emailed the Romney campaign for his position to this question on Oct. 26, 2011, Nov. 11, 2011, and on Jan. 30, 2012. We also left a follow up telephone message on Feb. 8, 2012. We have not yet received a reply with Romney's position as of Feb. 13, 2012.
Pro: "The right course for Cuba is to continue to honor Helms-Burton [a 1996 law which strengthened the US embargo against Cuba]. And if I'm president of the United States, I will use every resource we have, short of invasion and military action, Congressman Paul. I'll use every resource we can to make sure that when Fidel Castro finally leaves this planet, that we are able to help the people of Cuba enjoy freedom."
Pro: "The TARP program, while not transparent and not having been used as wisely it should have been, was nevertheless necessary to keep banks from collapsing in a cascade of failures. You cannot have a free economy and free market if there is not a financial system… The TARP program was designed to keep the financial system going, to keep money circulating in the economy, without which the entire economy stops and you would really have an economic collapse."
James Pethokoukis, "Did Romney Flip-Flop on TARP?" reuters.com, Sep. 21, 2009
[Editor's Note: A Nov. 28, 2011 video released by the Democratic National Committee accused Romney of changing his views on TARP, playing a clip of Romney saying "It was the right thing to do," followed by "TARP ought to be ended." The full Dec. 2009 quote from his interview with CNN's John King shows that Romney wanted to end TARP because it already served its purpose. "And by the way, TARP has served its purpose. TARP ought to be ended. We've got hundreds of billions of dollars there that is being used as a slush fund by Secretary [Timothy] Geithner and the Obama administration. Stop the TARP recklessness at this point and get ourselves back to creating jobs by encouraging businesses to grow, expand their capital expenditures and hire."]
Con: "Three years ago, in the midst of an economic crisis, a newly elected President Barack Obama stepped in with a bailout for the auto industry. The indisputable good news is that Chrysler and General Motors are still in business. The equally indisputable bad news is that all the defects in President Obama's management of the American economy are evident in what he did...
This was crony capitalism on a grand scale. The president tells us that without his intervention things in Detroit would be worse. I believe that without his intervention things there would be better...
Managed bankruptcy may sound like a death knell. But in fact, it is a way for a troubled company to restructure itself rapidly, entering and leaving the courtroom sometimes in weeks or months instead of years, and then returning to profitable operation.
Ultimately, that is what happened. The course I recommended was eventually followed. GM entered managed bankruptcy in June 2009 and exited it a month later in July.
The Chrysler timeline was similarly swift. But something else happened along the way that was truly egregious. Before the companies were allowed to enter and exit bankruptcy, the U.S. government swept in with an $85 billion sweetheart deal disguised as a rescue plan."
"US Autos Bailout 'Was Crony Capitalism on a Grand Scale'," Detroit News, Feb. 14, 2012
Con: "As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table. President Obama's leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama's lack of leadership has placed Republican Members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal.”
Katrina Trinko, "Romney Comes Out in Opposition to Debt-Ceiling-Hike Deal," www.nationalreview.com, Aug. 1, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "Right now taxpayers are on the hook for almost 90 percent of all new mortgages. The two government-sponsored government housing corporations (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) fueled a predictable disaster...
In towns across the nation, foreclosed homes sit empty, depressing the value of entire neighborhoods. The government owns about 200,000 of these homes, or almost half of all of the foreclosed homes in the country. Mitt Romney will responsibly get the government out of the homeownership business and return these vacant homes to productive uses that will increase neighboring home values...
Any serious plan for ending the housing crisis must address its root cause. Two government-sponsored companies known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the center of the housing crisis. Mitt Romney will reform these government-sponsored companies to protect taxpayers from additional risk in the future by ensuring taxpayer dollars in the housing market are replaced with private dollars."
Pro: "I think it's, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation. And they're going to be paying the interest and the principle all their lives. And the amount of debt we're adding, at a trillion a year, is simply not moral.
So how do we deal with it? Well, mathematically there are — there are three ways that you can cut a deficit. One, of course, is to raise taxes. Number two is to cut spending. And number three is to grow the economy because if more people work in a growing economy they're paying taxes and you can get the job done that way...
The problem with raising taxes is that it slows down the rate of growth and you could never quite get the job done. I want to lower spending and encourage economic growth at the same time...
...[T]he revenue I get is by more people working, getting higher pay, paying more taxes. That's how we get growth and how we balance the budget. But the idea of taxing people more, putting more people out of work — you'll never get there. You never balance the budget by raising taxes."
Presidential debate, University of Denver, www.npr.org, Oct. 3, 2012
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "You know, I'm happy to look at a whole range of ideas on how to have greater stability in our currency and in our monetary policies. I know that in the past when we had a gold standard, the idea that somehow it was detached from or free from any interference by Congress was simply wrong because even with the gold standard someone has to decide what is the conversion rate between the gold and the dollar...
And Congress can inflate the dollar simply by changing the exchange rate, as was done in the past. So I don't think there's any, if you will, magic bullet substitute for economic restraint, for not spending more money than you take in, for having the nation that's the most productive in the entire world. That's how you get wealth for the middle class is making America a more productive nation with high savings rates and a government that only spends what it takes in."
Interview on CNBC's The Kudlow Report, www.cnbc.com, Jan. 25, 2012
Con: "Too often, unions drive up costs and introduce rigidities that harm competitiveness and frustrate innovation. The statistics tell an unkind story. Studies conducted by non-partisan scholars have shown that labor unions reduce investment and slow job growth. Compare the economic performance of states that have embraced Right-to- Work laws, under which workers cannot be compelled to pay union dues, with states that have retained more union-friendly policies. Over the past ten years, Right-to-Work states have added more than three million jobs, while the others have lost nearly a million... In the midst of an economic crisis, with 25 million people needing work, policies that strengthen the hand of labor unions at the expense of both businesses and workers are probably the last thing the country has needed."
"Believe in America: Mitt Romney's Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth," www.mittromney.com, Sep. 6, 2011
Pro: "George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton both worked to negotiate and implement the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which went into effect in 1994... All told, these agreements have enabled people across the world to come together and build a better future. Economists estimate that the agreements have led to the creation of 5.4 million new American jobs and support a total of nearly 18 million jobs. Looking beyond just our FTA partners, our total exports support nearly 10 million American jobs. These are not just jobs; they're good jobs, paying significantly above average, and more than one-third are in manufacturing."
"Believe in America: Mitt Romney's Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth," www.mittromney.com, Sep. 6, 2011
Now Not Clearly Pro or Con: "...[Romney will] begin the process of transitioning to a territorial corporate tax system. A territorial system must be designed to encourage multinational companies to bring their profits back into the U.S. and it must avoid the creation of incentives for outsourcing."
"Fact Sheet: Mitt Romney's Plan to Turn Around the Economy," mittromney.com, Sep. 6, 2011
Pro: [Editor's Note: Prior to Mitt Romney's Sep. 6, 2011 Not Clearly Pro or Con position above, he held a Pro position as indicated in his Nov. 16, 2005 speech at a Forrester Research executive strategy summit in Boston, MA, available in Paula Rooney's CRN.com article "Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's Message: Globalize or Die."]
"I'm not happy exporting jobs but we must move ahead in technology and patents. I don't like losing any jobs but we'll see new opportunities created selling products there. We'll have a net increase in economic activity, just as we did with free trade. It's tempting to want to protect our markets and stay closed. But at some point it all comes crashing down and you're hopelessly left behind. Then you are Russia."
Paula Rooney, "Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's Message: Globalize or Die," CRN.com, Nov. 16, 2005
Pro: "I fought for abstinence education. In the toughest of states, I made the toughest decisions and did what was right for America. I have conservative values.”
Republican presidential debate, Columbia, SC, hosted by Fox News, May 15, 2007
Con: "...[A] flood of federal dollars is driving up tuition and burdening too many young Americans with substantial debt and too few opportunities...
America is fast becoming a society where education is unaffordable, a government loan is an entitlement, default is the norm, and loan forgiveness is the expectation. America needs a new normal, where college is affordable and paying off debt is achievable...
In 2010, President Obama decided that the best way to address the growing cost of college was for the federal government to take over the student loan business...
When the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress nationalized the student loan market, they drove away private lenders and moved a trillion-dollar obligation to the federal balance sheet. A Romney Administration will embrace a private-sector role in providing information, financing, and education itself, working with effective businesses to support the goals of students and their families...
Unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney understands that more spending is the last thing our schools need."
"A Chance for Every Child," www.mittromney.com, May 23, 2012
[Editor's Note: In addition to the above Con statement, Mitt Romney also made the following statement about student loans during an Aug. 20, 2012 town hall meeting at St. Anselm College, "Romney Sidesteps Student's Question About Mounting Student Loan Crisis," available at www.thinkprogress.org:
"[I]t is very tempting as a politician to go out and say, you know what, I’ll just give you some money. The government’s just going to give you some money and pay back your loans for you. I’m not going to tell you something that’s not the truth... I’m not going to go out and promise all sorts of free stuff that I know you’re going to end up paying for.]
Pro: "Former president George W. Bush was right to champion the No Child Left Behind legislation, which requires states to test student progress and to evaluate school performance – it was the only way to ensure that critical information reached the public. Only the federal government had the clout to force testing through the barricade mounted by the national teachers’ unions."
Pro: "Giving students trapped in bad schools a genuine alternative requires four things: (1) such alternatives must exist, (2) parents must receive clear information about the performance of their current school and of the alternatives, (3) students must be allowed to move to a new school, and (4) students must bring funding with them so that new schools can afford to serve them...
Make Title I and IDEA funds portable so that eligible students can choose which school to attend and bring funding with them. This plan will allow the student to choose from any district or public charter school, or a private school where permitted by state law, or to use funds toward a tutoring provider or digital course...
Require states to adopt open-enrollment policies for students receiving Title I and IDEA funds, and to eliminate caps on charter and digital schools."
"A Chance for Every Child: Mitt Romney's Plan for Restoring the Promise of American Education," www.mittromney.com, May 23, 2012
Pro: “We looked at what drives good education in our state, what we found is the best thing for education is great teachers, hire the very best and brightest to be teachers, pay them properly, make sure that you have school choice, test your kids to see if they are meeting the standards that need to be met, and make sure that you put the parents in charge.”
Fox News/Google Republican debate, Orlando, FL, FoxNews.com, Sep. 22, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: “Removing the least effective teachers from the classroom is also an important way to improve overall teacher quality… If we truly want better public schools, we will have to insist on contract provisions that allow for removing the few teachers who should not be working with children…
Teachers’ unions do their very best to secure these insulations from performance for their members, and the results are lack of accountability, rising pay as a simple function of years on the job, and near-absolute job security. These have a deadening impact on student achievement.”
"Was the US Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, which allows for unlimited political contributions on the grounds of free speech, good for America?"
Pro: "Let's take the decision that the [Supreme] court had that said that corporations could make political contributions [Citizens United]. I'm not wild about the idea of corporations making political contributions... as a concept, but I think the court was saying, 'wait a second, here is what the law says, here is what the constitution says, if you don't like that you'd better change those things,' but you can't say that some corporations, unions for instance, can make political contributions, but other corporations can't, I think their decision was a correct decision. I support their decision.
I wish we could find a way to get money out of politics. I have not found out a way to do that. I think the best way, by the way, is to let people make whatever contributions they want and have it instantly reported and know what conflicts exist, so we know where the money is coming from. I think the current system on campaign finance reform is a mess."
Interview with the Portsmouth Herald, "Romney Speaks on Supreme Court Justices," YouTube.com, Nov. 3, 2011
Pro: "I find it extraordinary that [US Attorney General] Eric Holder is, one more time, making a very serious error [in challenging a South Carolina law that requires a photo ID to vote]... The idea that people should not be able to be identified as they vote so that we can know that they are not voting multiple times. I mean, that's the purpose here of course. We don't want people voting multiple times and you can get a photo ID free from your state. You can get it at the time you register to vote...
That's one more lawsuit I'd end if I were president of the United States."
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "The federal government has a role to play in facilitating innovation in the energy industry. History shows that the United States has moved forward in astonishing ways thanks to investments in basic research that have produced breakthroughs to benefit entire industries. Unfortunately, President Obama’s poor understanding of the private sector has spilled directly into his energy policy, as he sought to have government play venture capitalist and spend billions of dollars subsidizing his chosen companies and technologies. Meanwhile, as companies like Solyndra [solar power] were going bankrupt and the wind industry was shedding 10,000 jobs, revolutionary innovation in the private sector was paving the way for energy independence and an economic resurgence. Instead of distorting the playing field, the government should be ensuring that it remains level. The same policies that will open access to land for oil, gas, and coal development can also open access for the construction of wind, solar, and hydropower facilities. Strengthening and streamlining regulations and permitting processes will benefit the development of both traditional and alternative energy sources, and encourage the use of a diverse range of fuels including natural gas in transportation.
Instead of defining success as providing enough subsidies for an uncompetitive technology to survive in the market, success should be defined as eliminating any barriers that might prevent the best technologies from succeeding on their own."
"The Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class: Energy Independence," www.mittromney.com, Aug. 23, 2012
Pro: “When someone says we want to bring in a pipeline that's going to create tens of thousands of jobs to bring oil in from Canada, how in the world could you say no?"
The Canadian Press, "Keystone XL Pipeline: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney Sing Praises of Contentious Project," huffingtonpost.ca, Mar. 1, 2012
Pro: "As president, Mitt Romney will make every effort to safeguard the environment, but he will be mindful at every step of also protecting the jobs of American workers...
The first step will be a rational and streamlined approach to regulation, which would facilitate rapid progress in the development of our domestic reserves of oil and natural gas and allow for further investment in nuclear power...
[Mitt Romney would like to] [e]xpand NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] capabilities for approval of additional nuclear reactor designs."
"Energy," www.mittromney.com (accessed May 9, 2012)
Pro: "The best thing we can do to get the price of gas to be more moderate and not have to be dependent upon the oil cartel is to drill in the gulf, drill in the outer continent shelf, drill in ANWR, drill in North Dakota, South Dakota, drill in Oklahoma and Texas."
Interview on Fox News' Fox and Friends, www.electad.com, Mar. 16, 2012
Pro: "I understand the Alaska pipeline is running less than one-third full. As president, I would push to open new opportunities for America’s energy security, onshore and offshore, especially in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I would not have dragged my feet on exploration and development of major prospects onshore and offshore as this Administration has.
In a Romney Administration, you will find permitting reform that will help Alaska unlock its potential, statewide. The federal government should be an ally in the effort to develop more of our nation's resources, not an obstacle. We will respect the rights Alaska gained with Statehood -- including control of Alaska lands, waters, and wildlife."
"An Open Letter to the Voters of Alaska," mittromney.com, Mar. 2, 2012
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "I believe that climate change is occurring - the reduction in the size of global ice caps is hard to ignore. I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor. I am uncertain how much of the warming, however, is attributable to man and how much is attributable to factors out of our control... Internationally, we should work to limit the increase in emissions in global greenhouse gases, but in doing so we shouldn't put ourselves in a disadvantageous position that penalizes American jobs and economic growth."
Pro: "I believe we should keep our air and our water clean. And that we don’t want to have pollutants that are interfering with our health and damaging the ability of our children to enjoy good health...
I think we may have made a mistake, we have made a mistake is what I believe, in saying that the EPA should regulate carbon emissions. I don’t think that was the intent of the original legislation [Clean Air Act], and I don’t think carbon is a pollutant in the sense of harming our bodies. We can agree to disagree...
My view is that the EPA getting into carbon and regulating carbon has gone beyond the original intent of the legislation. I do believe we should reduce the pollutants that harm our health."
Town hall event in Derry, New Hampshire, www.thinkprogress.org, July 14, 2011
[Editor's Note: In addition to the above statement, Mitt Romney's campaign website page "Energy," available at www.mittromney.com (accessed May 15, 2012) states that if Romney is elected president he will seek to "Amend [the] Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview."]
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "Should Congress have acted or let the [Terri Schiavo] family make the decision [to remove life support], the husband?
Romney: I think we should generally make the family make a decision of this nature.
Moderator: The husband should have decided?
Romney: Generally, we should make that decision. In the case here, the courts decided what they thought was the right thing to do. And then I think Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature did the right thing by saying, we've got a concern. They looked over the shoulder of the court. But I think the decision of Congress to get involved was a mistake."
Republican presidential candidate debate in Simi Valley, CA, hosted by MSNBC, www.msnbc.com, May 3, 2007
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "Mitt strongly supports the right of all law-abiding Americans to exercise their constitutionally protected right to own firearms and to use them for lawful purposes, including hunting, recreational shooting, self-defense, and the protection of family and property...
...Mitt will work to expand and enhance access and opportunities for Americans to hunt, shoot, and protect their families, homes and property, and he will fight the battle on all fronts to protect and promote the Second Amendment."
"Gun Rights," www.mittromney.com (accessed July 31, 2012)
Con: "I believe we need to focus on enforcing our current laws rather than creating new laws that burden lawful gun owners. I believe in safe and responsible gun ownership and that anyone who exercises the right to keep and bear arms must do so lawfully and properly. I do not believe in a one-size-fits-all federal approach to gun ownership because people keep and use firearms for different reasons. Law-abiding citizens have a right to protect their homes and their families and as President, I will vigorously defend that right."
Con: "We put together a plan that was right for Massachusetts. The president took the power of the people and the states away from them and put in place a one-size-fits-all plan. It‘s bad law. It‘s bad constitutional law. It‘s bad medicine. And if I‘m president of the United States, on my first day, I‘ll direct the secretary of HHS to grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states."
Republican presidential debate, Des Moines, IA, Hosted by Fox News, Aug. 11, 2011
Con: "GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: ...Governor Romney, let me begin with you because - you were clear. You've said you've always been against a federal mandate; you supported it in the State of Massachusetts...
GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: ...my plan - was designed for our state, and other states should have the right to create plans that work for them. And if they come up with something better than we did, then we can learn from them. But the idea of a federal government or a federal mandate, as you see with Obamacare, flies in the face of the Constitution, violates the tenth amendment. I think the Supreme Court will strike it down. If they don't, I will."
Republican presidential debate, Des Moines, IA, www.abc.go.com, Dec. 10, 2011
[Editor’s Note: As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney supported a state-level health insurance mandate as is evidenced by his Apr. 11, 2006 opinion article, "Health Care for Everyone? We Found a Way," available at online.wsj.com:
"[In Massachusetts] 40% of the uninsured were earning enough to buy insurance but had chosen not to do so. Why? Because it is expensive and because they know that if they become seriously ill, they will get free or subsidized treatment at the hospital. By law, emergency care cannot be withheld. Why pay for something you can get for free?
Of course, while it may be free for them, everyone else ends up paying the bill, either in higher insurance premiums or taxes...
I proposed that everyone must either purchase a product of their choice or demonstrate that they can pay for their own health care. It's a personal responsibility principle...
Some of my libertarian friends balk at what looks like an individual mandate. But remember, someone has to pay for the health care that must, by law, be provided: Either the individual pays or the taxpayers pay. A free ride on government is not libertarian...
...[B]ecause health insurance will now be affordable and subsidized, we insist that everyone purchase health insurance from one of our private insurance companies."]
Pro: "Romney: Well, I don't want any change to Medicare for current seniors or for those that are nearing retirement...
...So what I do in my Medicare plan for younger people coming along is say this, 'We're going to have higher benefits for low income people and lower benefits for high income people. We're going to make it more means tested.' I think if we do that, we'll make sure to preserve Medicare into the indefinite future.
Pelley: The idea under your plan for future seniors would be that the federal government would write that senior a check, essentially, and say, 'Now, you can go buy a private insurance plan or you can buy Medicare from the federal government.' Is that essentially it?
Romney: Yeah. That's essentially it. People would have a choice of either traditional, government-run, fee-for-service Medicare; or a private plan, which has to offer the same benefits."
Interview with Scott Pelly, "Campaign 2012: Obama vs. Romney," www.cbsnews.com, Sep. 23, 2012
Not Clearly Pro or Con: “What we did in our state was this. We said, look, we're finding people that can afford insurance, health insurance, that are going to the hospital and getting the state to pay for them. Taxpayers are picking up hundreds of millions of dollars of costs from people who are free riders. We said, you know what? We're going to insist that those people who can afford to pay for themselves do so. We believe in personal responsibility. And if the people aren't willing to do that, then they're going to help the government pay for them. That was our conclusion.”
Fox News/Republican Party of Iowa presidential candidate debate, Ames, IA, Aug. 11, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "The question began by saying how do we attract Latino voters. And the answer is by telling them what they know in their heart, which is they or their ancestors did not come here for a handout. If they came here for a handout, they'd be voting for Democrats. They came here for opportunity and freedom. And that's what we represent. And that's why we'll win collecting support from Latinos across the country. With regards to illegal immigration, of course we build a fence and of course we do not give instate tuition credits to people who come here illegally. That only attracts people to come here and take advantage of America's great beneficence."
CNN and Tea Party Express Republican debate, Tampa, FL, Sep. 12, 2011
Pro: “Let me tell you, it is hard in this country as an individual homeowner to [know] if people who are contractors working at your home if they hired people that are illegal. If I’m president we’ll put in an e-verify system... and crack down on people who come here illegally.”
CNN and Western Republican Leadership Conference Republican debate, Las Vegas, NV, CNN.com, Oct. 18, 2011
Pro: "I enabled our state police to enforce illegal immigration laws...
The right course for America is to drop these lawsuits against Arizona and other states that are trying to do the job Barack Obama isn't doing. And I will drop those lawsuits on day one... You do that, and just as Arizona is finding out, you can stop illegal immigration."
Republican presidential candidate debate in Mesa, AZ, sponsored by CNN and the Republican Party of Arizona, www.presidency.ucsb.edu, Feb. 22, 2012
Pro: “Romney: Well, first, we ought to have a fence. Secondly...
Diaz-Balart: The whole fence, 2,600 miles?
Romney: Yes. We got to -- we got to have a fence, or the technologically approved system to make sure that we know who's coming into the country, number one. Number two, we ought to have enough agents to secure that fence and to make sure that people are coming over are caught…
If we want to secure the border, we have to make sure we have a fence, technologically, determining where people are, enough agents to oversee it, and turn off that magnet. We can't talk about amnesty, we cannot give amnesty to those who have come here illegally.”
Republican presidential debate, Simi Valley, CA, hosted by NBC News and Politico, NYTimes.com, Sep. 7, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "As I have said many times, it is critical that we redouble our efforts to secure the borders. That means both preventing illegal border crossings and making it harder to illegally overstay a visa. We should field enough border patrol agents, complete a high-tech fence, and implement an improved exit verification system."
"Growing Opportunity for All Americans," www.mittromney.com, June 21, 2012
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "We're not looking to bring people in and -- in jobs that can be done by Americans... We let people come across our border illegally or stay here and overstay their visa. They get to stay in the country. I want the best and brightest to be metered into the country based upon the needs of our employment sector and create jobs by bringing technology and innovation that comes from people around the world.
Look, we -- we are a nation of immigrants. We love legal immigration. But for legal immigration to work, we have to secure the border, and we also have to crack down on employers that hire people who are here illegally.
I like legal immigration. I'd have the number of visas that we give to people here that come here legally, determined in part by the needs of our employment community. But we have to secure our border and crack down on those that bring folks here and hire here illegally."
Republican presidential debate, Des Moines, IA, Hosted by Fox News, Aug. 11, 2011
Pro: “The president should have built credible threat of military action, and made it very clear that the United States of America is willing, in the final analysis, if necessary, to take military action to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Look, one thing you can know-- and that is if we reelect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And if we elect Mitt Romney, if you'd like me as the next president, they will not have a nuclear weapon…
Well, it's worth putting in place crippling sanctions. It's worth working with the insurgents in the country to encourage regime change in the country. And if all else fails, if after all of the work we've done, there's nothing else we can do beside mil-- take military action, then of course you take military action. It is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
CBS News and National Journal Republican presidential debate, Spartanburg, SC, Nov. 12, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: “It was the right decision to go into Iraq. I supported it at the time; I support it now. It was not well managed in after the takedown of Saddam Hussein and his military. That was done brilliantly, an extraordinary success. But in the years that followed, we were undermanaged, underprepared, underplanned, understaffed, and then we come into the phase that we have now. The plan that Bush and General Petraeus put together is working. It’s changing lives there. Perhaps most importantly, it’s making sure that al Qaeda and no other group like them is becoming a superpower, if you will, in the communities, and having a safe haven from which they launch attacks against us.”
Pro: "It was the right decision to go into Iraq. I supported it at the time; I support it now. It was not well managed in the -- after the takedown of Saddam Hussein and his military. That was done brilliantly, an extraordinary success. But in the years that followed, it was not well -- we were undermanaged, underprepared, underplanned, understaffed, and then we come into the phase that we have now. The plan that President Bush and General Petraeus put together is working. It's changing lives there. And perhaps most importantly, it's making sure that al Qaeda and no other group like them is becoming a superpower, if you will, in the communities, and having a safe haven from which they launch attacks against us."
Republican presidential debate, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, hosted by MSNBC, St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 24, 2008
[Editor's Note: In order to provide additional context to Mitt Romney' views on the Iraq war, we have included the quote below from a June 5, 2007 Republican presidential debate hosted by CNN in Manchester, New Hampshire:
Tom Fahey of the New Hampshire Union Leader: "Knowing everything you know right now, was it a mistake for us to invade Iraq?"
Romney: "Well, the question is kind of a non sequitur, if you will. And what I mean by that -- or a null set -- and that is that if you're saying, let's turn back the clock and Saddam Hussein had opened up his country to IAEA inspectors and they'd come in and they'd found that there were no weapons of mass destruction -- had Saddam Hussein therefore not violated United Nations resolutions -- we wouldn't be in the conflict we're in. But he didn't do those things, and we knew what we knew at the point we made the decision to get in."]
Now Pro: "The relationship between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel, for example, our closest ally in the region, has suffered great strains. The president explicitly stated that his goal was to put daylight between the United States and Israel, and he’s succeeded. This is a dangerous situation that has set back the hope of peace in the Middle East and emboldened our mutual adversaries, especially Iran...
I’ll recommit America to the goal of a democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel. On this vital issue, the president has failed, and what should be a negotiation process has devolved into a series of heated disputes at the United Nations. In this old conflict, as in every challenge we face in the Middle East, only a new president will bring the chance to begin anew."
"Transcript: Mitt Romney Remarks at Virginia Military Institute," www.nytimes.com, Oct. 8, 2012
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "...[T]he Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.
Now why do I say that? Some might say, well, let's let the Palestinians have the West Bank, and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians… what the border would be? Maybe seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would be the West Bank... And of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza. Which is that the Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel. So Israel of course would have to say, 'That can't happen. We've got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank.' Well, that means that—who? The Israelis are going to patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation? Well, the Palestinians would say, 'Uh, no way! We're an independent country. You can't, you know, guard our border with other Arab nations.' And now how about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we gonna allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in? And if not, who's going to keep it from coming in? Well, the Israelis. Well, the Palestinians are gonna say, 'We're not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what can land in our airport.' These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right?
And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, 'There's just no way.' And so what you do is you say, 'You move things along the best way you can.' You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem."
Speech during private fundraiser event, "SECRET VIDEO: On Israel, Romney Trashes Two-State Solution," motherjones.com, May 17, 2012
Con: “I believe we should have a federal amendment in the constitution that defines marriage as a relationship between a man and woman, because I believe the ideal place to raise a child is in a home with a mom and a dad.”
Republican presidential debate, Des Moines, IA, hosted by Fox News, FoxNewsInsider.com, Aug. 11, 2011
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "[Katie] Couric: Well, what do you think of people who base their judgment at least partially on a candidate's ability to remain faithful to his or her spouse?
[Mitt] Romney: You know, I let people look at me any way they want to. I'm not gonna give advice to the American people in which aspects of a person's life they look at. After all, the president of the United States is gonna be under a microscope. He will be. The first lady will be. The whole family will be. Every mistake will be open to the world. In some respects, you respect the nation.
In some respects you represent an example to the children of America. So we're gonna get looked at in all sorts of ways. And I'm not gonna try and counsel the American people as to what to look at. I know they look at my faith, for instance. And I'm happy to have them do so. Some are critical. Some are positive. It's just part of the package. And take me as ... the whole character that I am.
Couric: Do you think that people shouldn't vote for candidates if they are -- commit adultery, for example?
Romney: I think people should be able to do what they want to do. And express their own views when they get into the ... voting booth. I'm not gonna tell them how to ... do that. And I know that people will, again, take their own counsel."
"Candidates Offer Views on Infidelity," CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, CBSNews.com, Dec. 19, 2007
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "I don't do any arresting. In my view, marijuana should not be made legal either for medicinal purposes or recreational purposes. It's the opening way to drug use for many, many people in our country and I'm opposed to medical marijuana."
Speech at a town hall event, Exeter, NH, YouTube.com, Oct. 25, 2007
Con: "I believe marijuana should be illegal in our country. It is the pathway to drug usage by our society, which is a great scourge -- which is one of the great causes of crime in our cities. And I believe that we are at a state where, of course, we are very concerned about people who are suffering pain, and there are various means of providing pain management. And those that have had loved ones that have gone through an end of life with cancer know the nature of real pain. I watched my wife's mom and dad, both in our home, both going through cancer treatment, suffering a great deal of pain. But they didn't have marijuana, and they didn't need marijuana because there were other sources of pain management that worked entirely effectively. I'm told there is even a synthetic marijuana as well that is available. But having legalized marijuana, in my view, is an effort by a very committed few to try and get marijuana out into the public and ultimately legalize marijuana. It's a long way to go. We need less drugs in this society, not more drugs, and I would oppose the legalization of marijuana in the country or legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes because pain management is available from other sources."
Pro: "Well I believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world. And it's widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and I support that and entirely, and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology, and believe that we should continue to use it, to continue to go after the people that represent a threat to this nation and to our friends."
Pro: "As Commander-in-Chief, Mitt Romney will keep faith with the men and women who defend us just as he will ensure that our military capabilities are matched to the interests we need to protect. He will put our Navy on the path to increase its shipbuilding rate from nine per year to approximately fifteen per year, which will include three submarines per year. He will also modernize and replace the aging inventories of the Air Force, Army, and Marines, and selectively strengthen our force structure. And he will fully commit to a robust, multi-layered national ballistic-missile defense system to deter and defend against nuclear attacks on our homeland and our allies.
This will not be a cost-free process. We cannot rebuild our military strength without paying for it. Mitt Romney will begin by reversing Obama-era defense cuts and return to the budget baseline established by Secretary Robert Gates in 2010, with the goal of setting core defense spending—meaning funds devoted to the fundamental military components of personnel, operations and maintenance, procurement, and research and development—at a floor of 4 percent of GDP."
"National Defense: An American Century," www.mittromney.com (accesssed Oct. 22, 2012)
"Is the 2012 NDAA, which authorized arresting and indefinitely detaining suspected terrorists (including US citizens) without charge, good for America?"
Pro: "EVANS: Governor Romney, when President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, he enacted a provision allowing him to indefinitely detain American citizens in U.S. military custody... Governor Romney, as president, would you have signed the National Defense Act as written?
ROMNEY: Yes, I would have. And I do believe that it is appropriate to have in our nation the capacity to detain people who are threats to this country, who are members of al Qaeda.
Look, you have every right in this country to protest and to express your views on a wide range of issues but you don’t have a right to join a group that has killed Americans, and has declared war against America. That’s treason. In this country we have a right to take those people and put them in jail.
And I recognize, I recognize that in a setting where they are enemy combatants and on our own soil, that could possibly be abused. There are a lot of things I think this president does wrong, lots of them, but I don’t think he is going to abuse this power and I that if I were president I would not abuse this power. And I can also tell you that in my view you have to choose people who you believe have sufficient character not to abuse the power of the presidency and to make sure that we do not violate our constitutional principles.
But let me tell you, people who join al Qaeda are not entitled to rights of due process under our normal legal code. They are entitled instead to be treated as enemy combatants."
Republican presidential debate, Myrtle Beach, SC, www.foxnewsinsider.com, Jan. 16, 2012
Con: “I like the idea of providing opportunities for young people to serve… I love the opportunity to see voluntary service. But I’m not ready to lay out what that will look like. I will continue to support the programs that have been effective and see if we can’t find greater opportunities for young people to serve. Wouldn’t it be great if larger and larger numbers of the kids in this country, when I say kids, young adults in this country, were able to spend a year or two in service. I didn’t have that experience in serving my country, but I had the chance to serve my church. I was in France for two and a half years. What’s interesting is it was a great maturing time for me, where I gained perspective on some of the benefits of being an American, on some of the values that are most important to me.”
"Mitt Romney on National Service by ServeNext.org, " YouTube.com, Sep. 9, 2007
[Editor's Note: Mitt Romney said the following in a Sep. 14, 2005 speech at the Heritage Foundation titled "Homeland Security: Status of Federal, State and Local Efforts:" "I do not believe in the draft. That's totally unnecessary." His oppostion to a draft and his support of voluntary (vs. mandatory) civil service led us to categorize his position as con to our question.]
Con: "What things would I cut from spending? Well, first of all, I will eliminate all programs by this test — if they don't pass it: Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And if not, I'll get rid of it...
I'm sorry, Jim. I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I'm going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you too. But I'm not going to — I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it. That's number one."
Con: "I believe that God designed the universe and created the universe, and I believe evolution is most likely the process he used to create the human body…
I’m not exactly sure what is meant by intelligent design. But I believe God is intelligent and I believe he designed the creation. And I believe he used the process of evolution to create the human body.
In my opinion, the science class is where to teach evolution, or if there are other scientific thoughts that need to be discussed. If we’re going to talk about more philosophical matters, like why it was created, and was there an intelligent designer behind it, that’s for the religion class or philosophy class or social studies class."
Michael Luo, "Romney Elaborates on Evolution," nytimes.com, May 11, 2007
Con: "Our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing Social Security, but who is committed to saving Social Security. We have always had, at the heart of our party, a recognition that we want to care for those in need, and our seniors have the need of Social Security. I will make sure that we keep the program and we make it financially secure. We save Social Security. And under no circumstances would I ever say by any measure it's a failure. It is working for millions of Americans, and I'll keep it working for millions of Americans. And we've got to do that as a party."
Republican presidential debate, Simi Valley, CA, Hosted by Politico and MSNBC, Sep. 7, 2011
Con: "I don't believe that somatic cell nuclear transfer or cloning and embryo farming are appropriate and would not pursue federal funding of those forms of stem cell research."
[Editor's Note: Mitt Romney said the following in a Mar. 19, 2009 interview with CNN's Larry King: “I support stem cell research. I do not support creating new embryos for the purpose of taking away the life of that embryo, and taking stem cells from those embryos. There are a lot of better ways than getting stem cells from --
KING: Even though they're probably never going to be lives?
ROMNEY: If you create them in the laboratory, you're creating new life. And I wouldn't do that for the purpose of research, but there are fortunately much better ways of doing it, which has now been proven by scientists across the country."]
Not Clearly Pro or Con: "The president has also failed to lead in Syria, where more than - more than 30,000 men, women, and children have been massacred by the Assad regime over the past 20 months. Violent extremists are flowing into the fight. Our ally Turkey has been attacked. And the conflict threatens stability in the region...
In Syria I’ll work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and then ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad’s tanks helicopters and fighter jets. Iran is sending arms to Assad because they know his downfall would be a strategic defeat for them. We should be working no less vigorously through our international partners to support the many Syrians who would deliver that defeat to Iran, rather than sitting on the sidelines. It’s essential that we develop influence with those forces in Syria that will one day lead a country that sits at the heart of the Middle East."
"Transcript: Mitt Romney Remarks at Virginia Military Institute," www.nytimes.com, Oct. 8, 2012
[Editor's Note: In additon to the above Not Clearly Pro or Con statement, Mitt Romney made the following statement on military intervention in Syria during an Aug. 24, 2012 interview with Scott Pelley of CBS News: "I think we have to also be ready to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that we do not have any kind of weapon of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists... whether that requires troops, or whether that requires other actions by our friends and allies."]
Con: "Mitt Romney believes in the conservative principle that Americans, to the maximum extent possible, should be able to keep the money they earn...
- Maintain current tax rates on personal income
- Maintain current tax rates on interest, dividends, and capital gains
- Eliminate taxes for taxpayers with AGI below $200,000 on interest, dividends, and capital gains
- Eliminate the death tax."
"Tax: Fairer, Flatter, and Simpler," www.mittromney.com (accessed Jan. 20, 2012)
[Editor's Note: Mitt Romney also made a remark at the Jan. 7, 2012 Republican presidential debate at Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, directly criticizing President Obama's plan to tax the richest Americans more heavily: "We have a nation which is based upon opportunity and merit... We have a president who has an entirely different view. He wants us to turn into a European-style welfare state and have government take from some to give to others. That will kill the ability of America to provide for a prosperous future."]
Pro: “I believe in a lot of what the Tea Party believes in. The Tea Party believes that government's too big, taxing too much, and that we ought to get -- get to the work of getting Americans to work. So I put together a plan with a whole series of points of how we can get America's economy going again. Tea Party people like that. So if the Tea Party is for keeping government small and spending down, and helping us create jobs, then, hey, I'm for the Tea Party.”
Republican presidential debate, Simi Valley, CA, hosted by NBC and Politico, NYTimes.com, Sep. 7, 2011
Pro: "We must cut government spending, cap that spending at a sustainable level - 20 percent of GDP is the target I would shoot for - and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution."
"Here Is How I Will Control Federal Spending," www.mittromney.com, Sep. 29, 2011
Pro: "I support tough interrogation techniques, enhanced interrogation techniques, in circumstances where there is a ticking time bomb, a ticking bomb... I do not support torture, but I do support enhanced interrogation techniques to learn from terrorists what we need to learn to keep the bombs from going off."
"Mitt Romney Supports 'Tough Interrogation Techniques," www.foxnews.com, July 20, 2007
Con: "Governor Romney opposes the construction of the mosque at Ground Zero. The wishes of the families of the deceased and the potential for extremists to use the mosque for global recruiting and propaganda compel rejection of this site."
Ben Smith, "2012ers on the Mosque," www.politico.com, Aug. 10, 2010
Mitt Romney's Biography
Title(s):
Former Governor of Massachusetts
Personal Information:
Full Name: Willard Mitt Romney
Marital Status: Married
Birthdate: Mar. 12, 1947
Children: Five
Birthplace: Detroit, MI
Religion: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Involvement:
Republican Presidential Candidate, 2012
Founder and Honorary Chairman, Free and Strong America PAC (Political Action Committee), Apr. 2008-present
Republican Presidential Candidate, 2008
Chariman, Republican Governors Association, 2006
Governor, State of Massachusetts, Jan. 2, 2003- Jan. 4, 2007
President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics, 1999-2002
Candidate, United States Senate, 1994
Chairman and CEO, Bain & Company, Jan. 1991-1992
CEO and Managing Partner, Bain Capital, Inc., 1984-Feb. 1999
Vice President, Bain & Company, 1977-1984
Management Consultant, Boston Consulting Group, 1975-1977