Iraq
“The quickest way to get out of Iraq is to win it, and doing whatever it takes to win that conflict and to bring some level of peace. And then we have every reason to get out, but with our heads held high.”
***
“Now that we have gone to Iraq, one thing is certain – we need to make sure that we finish the job and finish it right.”
***
“We have to tell them, look; we're not going to be here indefinitely. What we're going to expect of you is, you're going to have to get control of this sectarian violence, this civil war that is just ripping this whole thing apart. Because the American people are not going to stay indefinitely.”
Other Foreign Policy Issues
“Generally, free trade is a good thing, but it’s not free if it’s not fair. And our problem is that in many cases, we’re practicing a level of free trade that’s anything that but fair because we’re subscribing to principles of the WTO that other nations aren’t. We are living up to not only issues of how we treat workers and how we pay workers and issues of how well a company protects the environment while other countries are not doing anything to create a level playing field. So it’s critical to have a free and open trade, because that actually builds jobs for us. But it doesn’t build it jobs, in fact it takes jobs from us, when we don’t force other countries to play by the same rules we’re playing by.”
***
“We should endeavor to build positive and peaceful relationships with as many nations as are willing to befriend us, not only for the benefit of our economy but for the greater benefit of a stable and safe world. I chafe when I hear the critics proclaim it is all our fault that America is resented across the world. That is nonsense.”
***
“It’s important that as a nation we seek to be an example, not just of strength, but of servanthood and that we demonstrate what it means to be a benevolent big brother more than a brutish big bully.”
Climate Change/Energy
“It`s critical that for our own interest, economically and from a point of national security, that we become energy independent and commit to doing it within a decade.”
***
“It would have been a mistake to sign the Kyoto Treaty since it would have given foreign nations the power to impose standards on us they wouldn’t impose on themselves.”
***
“Americans must be convinced that our growing dependence on external sources for fuel and dramatically rising costs threaten our economy and our very existence.”
***
“It is time we start seeing those barrels of imported oil not as a mere temptation but as our mortal enemy. Those barrels represent the lifeblood of repressive regimes and terrorists as much as they do our indulgence.”
Healthcare
“Eighty percent of the two trillion dollars we spend on health care in this country is spent on chronic disease. If we don't change the health of this nation by focusing on prevention, we're never going to catch up with the costs no matter what plan we have.”
***
“We must move from an employer-based system to a consumer-based health care system.”
Second Amendment Rights
“My strong adherence to a belief about the Second Amendment is not just because I'm a hunter. I understand the Second Amendment is not about hunting, it's about protecting one's property and family and about making sure that our citizenry is never threatened by our own government. I mean, that was really the intent of the founding fathers.”
***
“But I didn't just come to that conclusion recently. And I'm not claiming now to be a recent convert to respect firearms. And I've never supported the Brady bill. I've never supported an assault weapons ban, which is really a misnomer and should never have been called that, because many things that are called assault weapons are nothing like what people think they are. They may be a semi- automatic.”
***
“Even if I were not a hunter or did not enjoy shooting as a sport, I would still be a firm believer in the Second Amendment right of Americans to own firearms for self-protection and as a matter of principle.”
Family
“Defining the family to mean anything ultimately means it represents nothing. Those who wish to redefine the term “marriage” to include any two or more adults entering into some type of contract are not merely stretching an old definition for a new culture but are wreaking havoc on the institution of marriage itself.”
***
“Whether or not our culture should accommodate persons of the same gender who wish to share hospital visitation rights, insurance benefits, and so forth is an entirely different discussion, but to call anything and everything a “marriage” is unacceptable because marriage means something specific – a permanent relationship between a man and a woman for life.”
***
“In America, people have the right to live as the please so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. But they do not have the right to redefine the basic terms of society without the entire society discussing and ultimately deciding. Should society determine they shall keep the historic and traditional definitions intact, then it must not be viewed as a sign of intolerance or hatred, but rather a simple recognition of preserving established standards.”
Taxes/Fiscal Policy
“In 10 and a half years, we passed over 90 different tax cuts. We eliminated the marriage penalty. We doubled the child care tax credit. We indexed the income tax for inflation so that people didn't get into bracket creep and pay rates they shouldn't have been paying. We cut the capital gains tax.”
***
“Every dime spent from the public treasury is money that belongs to the people, not to the public officials who do the spending.”
***
“That's the first thing I'd love to do as president, put a "Going Out of Business" sign on the Internal Revenue Service and stop the $10 billion a year that it costs just for them to operate.”
***
“If we had a fair tax, it would eliminate not just the alternative minimum tax, personal income tax, corporate tax, it would eliminate all the various taxes that are hidden in our system, and Americans don't realize what they're paying.”
***
“I cut taxes 94 times when I was governor. Yes, we raised gasoline taxes in my state to build a road program that we desperately needed, but 80 percent of the people of my state voted for it. Do I apologize for going along with what 80 percent of the people of my state supported? No. Nor do I anyway apologize for building roads.
Do I apologize for complying with a Supreme Court order to improve education in a state that desperately needed it? Of course I don't, because our education system did improve.
But I don't also apologize for being a Republican governor in a very Democrat state and getting 94 different tax decreases, the first ever in my state's history, done. And I think that's a pretty doggone good record.”
Illegal Immigration
“What we need to be doing is, first, securing the borders. It is not unreasonable that we would have a very secure border that people have to go through a fence, electronic or physical. Well, if a person comes to this country, I welcome them to come, provided they come legally. It's important that we realize we are a nation of immigrants. I tell people we need to get on our knees every night, thank God we're living in a country people are trying to break into, not a country people are trying to break out of. And I think we've got a Congress that has done absolutely nothing over the past 25 years to try to resolve this. And I would hope that, as president, one of the urgent tasks is to take seriously our responsibility to people that we want and need in our economy, but also to take seriously the responsibility to the American people that we're protecting our borders.”
***
“What we can’t do is simply turn our heads and allow our laws to be flagrantly broken, acting as if the economic benefits to consumers justify the utter disregard for not only our laws, but potentially our security.”
***
“In 2005, I proposed a controversial bill to the Arkansas legislature that would have allowed any high school graduate successfully meeting the criteria for college scholarships to apply for those scholarships, regardless of the [immigration] status of his or her parents.”
***
“We shouldn't have amnesty where we just say, ‘Fine, everybody's good, we're going to let it go.’ We should have a process where people can pay the penalties, step up and accept responsibility for not being here legally. But here's the point. The objective is not to be punitive. The objective is to make things right. Right for us. Right for them. And what I have objected to in the past is when we are punishing the children for the laws that maybe their parents have broken. I do have a problem with that.”
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