USA: One day before the Iowa Caucus Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney assails President Barack Obama on Iran and the economy

Record ID: 346447

  • Title: USA: One day before the Iowa Caucus Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney assails President Barack Obama on Iran and the economy
  • Date: 3rd January 2012
  • Summary: DAVENPORT, IOWA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 02, 2012) (REUTERS) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY AND HIS WIFE ANN ROMNEY EXITING HIS CAMPAIGN BUS AND ENTERING A BUILDING AT THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY FAIR GROUNDS MITT ROMNEY AND HIS ENTOURAGE WALKING ON STAGE TO CHEERS FROM THE CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY SAYING: "You can go through the list. One, he was going to change things internationally. Probably the greatest threat we face in the globe is a nuclear Iran. And, he said he was going to engage Iran, remember? Visit with Ahmadinejad in his first year. Didn't quite work out like he hoped. Iran is pursuing their nuclear ambition. They announced yesterday they had now developed a nuclear rod. They tested a medium range surface-to-air missile. Iran continues to be, and is actually, a greater threat than when he became president. Then he said he was going to, he was outraged at the size of the budget deficits that President Bush had put in place. Remember, about 450 billion dollars? His are about three times that size. And, as the senator indicated, he is on track by the end of his first term -- well, his only term-- (laughter and applause). He is on track to put almost as much debt in place as all the prior presidents combined. It's just unthinkable." PEOPLE IN CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY SAYING: "I don't think it is moral to pass on our obligations to the next generation. I think it is wrong and we have to balance our budget (applause). Now, with regards to getting our economy going and getting our people back to work, I want to make America the best place in the world for small business, for job creators. I want to America to become the economic engine it has in the past, creating jobs for people coming out of school, allowing people who are in their fifties, in the prime of their career, to know that if they lose a job they can find another one right away. This is very difficult time. I know what it takes to do that. I spent my life, 25 years in business, and I competed with businesses around the world. I know why jobs leave America and why they go elsewhere. I know why companies decide it is a better investment elsewhere. When the head of Coca Cola, talking about an American company, an icon, when the head of Coca Cola, says 'you know what, the business environment in China is better than the business environment here,' you know this president has done something wrong." PEOPLE IN CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY SAYING: "We are an opportunity nation. I think the president wants to turn us into a European style welfare state, an entitlement nation where the role of government isn't to provide our freedom and opportunity but instead the role of government is to take from some and to give to others in the name of equality. That model has not worked anywhere in the world. The American model of opportunity and merit, where individuals through their education and hard work and their risk taking and their dreams, can lift themselves and earn great rewards and, by the way, their rewards do not make us poorer. They give us jobs. They lift us up as a nation. The income per person in America is about 50 percent higher than that of the average European. Why is that? It is because of the principles upon which this nation was founded, this merit society, this opportunity society. I don't want to become a European welfare state. Europe does not work there; it will never work here." (applause).
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABPXL6KIQ6UW1B0R3TS12D9GG6
  • Story Text: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday (January 2, 2012) entered the final day of campaigning before the Iowa Caucus, adhering to the tactic which has helped him maintain the lead in public opinion polling for much of the campaign -- a full throated attack on U.S. President Barack Obama.
    Speaking at a rally in the Mississippi River town of Davenport, Iowa, where the crowd was generally appreciative but not demonstrably energized, Romney asserted that Obama has failed in both international and domestic affairs.
    "He said he was going to engage Iran, remember? Visit with Ahmadinejad in his first year. Didn't quite work out like he hoped. Iran is pursuing their nuclear ambition. They announced yesterday they had now developed a nuclear rod. They tested a medium range surface-to-air missile. Iran continues to be, and is actually, a greater threat than when he became president," Romney said.
    Romney has fallen behind Representative Ron Paul in the latest survey conducted by the Public Policy Polling organization. Paul had 20 percent of likely Iowa voters, while Romney slipped to second place with 19 percent. Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum was in third place with 18 percent.
    Romney touted his business experience as his great qualification for the presidency, claiming that he has a clearer understanding than the other candidates of how to place America's economy back on track. He said Obama economy policies were a failure and suggested it was immoral to pass on debt to succeeding generations.
    He said Obama was more concerned with social programs and other entitlements than with generating jobs, which he compared to "a European style welfare state."
    "Europe does not work there; it will never work here," he said.
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