“Of all the candidates, Mitt Romney possesses the strongest vision for America’s leadership role in the world, and I am proud to endorse him,” Ambassador Bolton said. “President Obama has sapped America’s credibility abroad, weakened our military and failed to lead on issues vital to U.S. national security. President Obama has left America exposed to ever increasing threats. Mitt Romney will restore our military, repair relations with our closest allies, and ensure that no adversary—including Iran—ever questions American resolve.”
"John R. Bolton servied in the Reagan Administration as Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice and General Counsel at USAID."
"John R. Bolton was the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006. From 2001 to 2005, he was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Ambassador Bolton also served in the George H.W. Bush Administration as Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs... He is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Of Counsel at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis."
“If Americans want a real conservative in the White House, they need to look no farther than Mitt Romney,” said Bay Buchanan. “These few years of President Obama’s failed leadership have weakened our country across the board. We need a president who will immediately reverse Obamacare, stop Washington’s out-of-control spending and finally secure our borders. Mitt Romney is the man who will actually get these things done. America simply can’t take another four years of Barack Obama.”
Bay Buchanan served as Treasurer to Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaigns in 1980 and 1984, and was an accountant on his 1976 campaign. President Reagan appointed her Treasurer of the United States in 1981. She is a frequent guest on numerous cable television shows and speaks frequently on college campuses.
“Conservatives need a candidate who not only shares our views, but is committed to putting them into action. Mitt Romney is the strong leader we need to reverse Obamacare, create jobs, and secure our borders.”
“Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Thursday that Mitt Romney would be the Republicans’ strongest nominee against President Obama, arguing that the former Massachusetts governor’s private-sector experience would resonate with voters in swing states.
“ “I think that Romney would be our strongest candidate in the fall,” Mr. Baker said at the International Republican Institute’s annual dinner, where he was given the organization’s Freedom Award.
“Mr. Baker said he is bullish on Mr. Romney “because he’s had private-sector business experience” and because he is most likely to appeal to voters in swing states.
“ "To win a general election, you’ve got to win the voters in the swing states," he said. "Those swing states are Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida - and I think Mitt Romney would probably appeal to those independent voters more so than any of the other people running on our side." ”
James Baker was President Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff and for part of Reagan's time in office, as Secretary of the Treasury. He was retained by President George H.W. Bush as Chief of Staff and was also Secretary of State under President Bush.
“Mitt Romney deeply understands that the rule of law and the integrity of our courts are essential components of our nation’s strength and must be preserved. He will nominate judges who faithfully adhere to the Constitution’s text, structure, and history and he will carry out the duties of President as a zealous defender of the Constitution. We fully support Mitt Romney’s campaign and look forward to working with other members of the committee as we advise him on today’s pressing legal issues.” (Judge Robert Bork in joint statement)
Chief Counsels, partners and other prominent attorneys representing and fighting for conservative groups and causes have also come out in favor of Governor Mitt Romney.
“It seems to me that Mitt Romney’s willingness to make specific pledges and outline a platform helpfully moved him beyond the typical GOP platitudes about smaller government. Grover Norquist noted that the former governor was the first in the field to sign his tax pledge and now Romney has married it with a spending pledge. In an effective, ahem, contrast, he noted that when it comes to government spending “I like vetoes.” ...”
Kate O'Beirne served in the Reagan Administration as deputy assistant secretary for legislation at the Department of Health and Human Services.
After that she became vice president of Government Relations at The Heritage Foundation.
She now is president of the National Review Institute, the nonprofit, public policy organization founded by William F. Buckley, Jr. in 1991 to advance the conservative principles he championed through policy development, public education, and advocacy.
“I guess I’d just open by saying all four of us feel that it was an honor and a privilege to serve with President Reagan, to know him, and to support his transformational presidency. And we see in Mitt Romney many of the same characteristics of a steady hand, reliability, consistency. And I think that Speaker Gingrich, by exaggerating his role in the Reagan Revolution, evinces an effort to be grandiose and for political reasons, try to overstate the role he played in supporting Ronald Reagan. He was a backbencher. He took opportunities to criticize President Reagan’s efforts to the four of us, who all were involved in foreign policy matters and defense matters.”
Secretary John Lehman:
“Well, first, the reason that I have been actively supporting Governor Romney is I’ve spent a lot of time with him. And he is, without question, the Republican who really gets it in defense. He has a strategic mindset. He understands the way of the world works. And he understands the importance of strong deterrence. He has been able to grasp, I think very quickly, what is so severely wrong with the way we’re procuring weapons, which is just out of control and is unilaterally disarming us.”
Dov Zakheim:
“What attracted me to Governor Romney frankly is that he’s grounded. I mean this is a person who really has both feet planted on the ground. Who’s very practical, who understands national security, who understands international relations, who knows the importance of our allies, who knows why a defense posture that is viable and strong is critical, not only to deterring enemies but frankly to reassuring allies. And they’re both very, very important. And that’s why he supports a strong national defense posture.”
Ambassador Gerald P. Carmen:
“Who has the judgment to be president? Certainly Governor Romney has shown over and over again as others have said that he’s knowledgeable, calm, strong, he has it all.”
• Ambassador Rich Williamson – Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs 1988-1989; Special Assistant to the President and Deputy to the White House Chief of Staff 1981; Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs, the White House 1981-83; US Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Offices in Vienna, Austria 1983-85
• John Lehman was Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, from 1981-1987. (John Lehman)
• Dov S. Zakheim spent 6 years in the Reagan administration, including a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense from 1985-1987. He was the Undersecretary of Defense from 2001-2004. (Dov Zakheim)
• Ambassador Gerald P. Carmen – Ronald Reagan 1980 Campaign; Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration from 1981-1984; U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva 1984-1986
“Supporters of Ronald Reagan are supporting Mitt Romney because he is the best chance conservatives have to return to the prosperous Reagan years. His economic plan will unleash job-creation in the private sector, his trade policies will open markets around the world, and he will stand up to countries that have pledged to destroy our allies. Mitt Romney will restore faith in our country in much the same way Ronald Reagan did thirty years ago.” — Ambassador Gerald P. Carmen
Ambassador Carmen served on Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign and then as an Assistant Secretary of State, Ambassador, and other positions under President Reagan.
Nearly 3 dozen Reagan coalition members have joined Ambassador Carmen in this staement of support for Mitt Romney.
These people served in Reagan's campaign and/or served under him as cabinet members, Ambassadors, Attorney Generals, a judge and so forth:
“Ronald Reagan raised taxes as governor of California, imposing a $1 billion tax increase his first year in office. It was the largest tax hike by a governor in the nation's history, raising income, corporate, sales and inheritance taxes. Five years later, Reagan raised taxes again by another $1.5 billion...
“But even Reagan didn't stop the growth of state government: While he was governor of California, the budget increased from $4.6 billion to $10.2 billion...
“Every single budget Romney submitted included income tax cuts -- all of which were rejected by the 85-percent Democratic Legislature. (The last time Massachusetts legislators approved an income tax cut was when it was attached to a bill raising their own salaries by 55 percent.) ...
“He cut state spending by $600 million, including reducing his own staff budget by $1.2 million, and hacked the largest government agency, Health and Human Services, down from 13 divisions to four. He did this largely by persuading the Legislature to give him emergency powers his first year in office to cut government programs without their consent.
“Although Romney was not able to get any income tax cuts past the Democratic Legislature, he won other tax cuts totaling nearly $400 million, including a one-time capital gains tax rebate and a two-day sales tax holiday for all purchases under $2,500.
“He also vetoed more bills than any other governor in Massachusetts history, before or since. He vetoed bills concerning access to birth control, more spending on state zoos, and the creation of an Asian-American commission -- all of which were reversed by the Legislature.”
Governor Romney is pro-life, and like Ronald Reagan, once supported abortion rights.¹
However, unlike Ronald Reagan, who signed an abortion law while governor that caused abortions in his state to sky-rocket ², Mitt Romney has a consistent pro-life record as governor.
As Ronald Reagan's son, well known conservative pundit Michael Reagan, has said, "Romney's record shows he should be totally acceptable to all conservatives".³
Governor Romney's record on abortion related issues, and a history of his views can be found here:
RICK SANTORUM'S PAST STATEMENTS AND VIEWS ON REAGAN, CONSERVATISM:
(Santorum is Romney's main competitor. For a Romney statement on Reagan, see recommended editorial above.)
“Santorum is also relying on the ranks of religious conservatives opposed to legal abortion.
“That marks a definitive philosophical arrival for Santorum, who describes himself in his campaign manual as a "progressive conservative," and who did not have a firm position on abortion...”
“It was the dawn of the 1980s, and the Reagan Revolution was stirring. But Santorum was not yet politically impassioned, and what political orientation he did have was quite moderate. "There was a Youth for Reagan group on campus, but Rick shunned them," remembers a friend who was active with him in the Pennsylvania College Republican organization. "He always described them as right-wing fringe." ” (pg. 103)
“Back then, Santorum was known-- like Corman-- for being nonpartisan. "Rick never wore his politics on his sleeve," says J. Barry Stout, the ranking Democrat on the Senate transportation committee. "He was a Democrat when he had to be and a Republican when he had to be..."
“Republican consultant William Green, who befriended Santorum in Harrisburg, believes Santorum was politically ambivilant...
“Harvey Feldman, Dickinson's associate dean for academic affairs, who describes himself as "the closest thing to a mentor" Santorum had at law school [said] "He never struck me as much of a conservative. As I remember, it was process that interested him most, not ideology." ” (pg 104)
“Occasinoally, Santorum paced the firm's library, randomly asking fellow associates what they thought about abortion... Santorum told them he would indeed seek office...
“ "The Republican Party has no organization in the western part of the state," says H. William DeWeese, minority leader of the state House. "Sanotrum had to mobilize someone." And so he sent thousands of mailers to evangelicals...
“What made the campaign such a sticky wicket for Santorum was that the 18th District, a stronghold of Big Steel, was overwhelmingly moderate. More than half of its voters were registered Democrats, and many of its Republicans were pro-choice.
“So Santorum was careful about what he said to whom. "Believe it or not, he kept his views on abortion very quiet throughout the campaign," says a prominent Republican active in Planned Parenthood. "At least he did with us. No one here had identified him as anti-choice." ...
“During this time, Santorum also found himself a wife. In 1988, he had met Karen Garver, a law student considering an offer for a summer associate's job at Kirkpatrick, and they connected right away...
“At the time, she was living with Tom Allen, a well-known OB-GYN who in 1972 had co-founded Pittsburgh's first abortion clinic...
“Upon leaving Allen for Santorum, she told him one of her considerations was starting a family. "When Karen told me she was moving out," Allen says, "she said, 'You'd really like Rick. He's a lot like you. He's politically active and he's pro-choice.'" ” (pg 105)
“The Republican overclass in Pennsylvania-- the core group of which is moderate--tried to discourage Santorum from running for the Senate... "He didn't exactly have much of a record in the House," says a powerful Republican...
“ "But it was more than that... the problem was that nobody knows what Rick stands for. He kept trying to tell us what a moderate he was, but there was the Christian thing that turned us off. I think Rick stands for Rick." ” (pg 147)
“Even Santorum calls himself a moderate; or so he did when I visited him (though in the same month he described himself in a political newsletter as a "kick-ass conservative").
“ "The only position I have that is not embraced by moderates is my stance on abortion," he said...
“Santorum does concede that he's had a volte-face on abortion. "I was basically pro-choice all my life, until I ran for Congress," he said.” (pg 150)
“HORLSEY: Robert OConnor was another poli-sci professor who taught Santorum in a couple of courses and also supervised him in two independent projects.
“Prof. O'CONNOR: I even played racquetball with him once. He slaughtered me, too, by the way. Hes big. Very competitive. He didnt play be nice to the professor. He just slaughtered me.
“HORLSEY: Santorum says it was the frustrated jock in him that drew him to politics. He liked the competition. Back then, there was little hint of the strong social conservatism he's now known for. According to OConnor, Santorum even asked him once if he'd have a brighter future as a Democrat. Santorum says he was more interested in the sport of winning elections than what kind of governing might come afterwards.”
HUMOR - JOKES
