Mitt Romney: GOP should follow governors' actions


Save Story

Show 5 more videos

Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Months after losing his presidential bid to President Barack Obama, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is urging conservatives to follow the example of the nation's 30 Republican governors.

Speaking before the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, Romney began his address by thanking those in attendance for their support during the presidential campaign.

"I've also had the honor of your support from the very beginning," he said. "You gave my campaign an early boost. You worked on the front lines — promoting my campaign, turning out voters. Thank you."

Recognizing his disappointment in losing the election, Romney said the party needs to move forward and learn from his mistakes and the mistakes of the party.

Romney said his optimism in "American determination" is still high and that he still believes a "Conservative vision can attract a majority of Americans and form a governing coalition of renewal and reform." Romney urged the party to listen to the 30 Republican governors around the nation, who are "solving problems."

"Republican governors reached across the aisle, offered innovative solutions and have been willing to take the heat to make tough decisions," he said.

Related:

Romney concluded by praising American efforts around the world and at home, but cautioned that "America's pre-eminent position is far from guaranteed."

Also speaking at the conference were business mogul Donald Trump and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Speaking about the bipartisan effort to provide a path to citizenship for the more than 11 million illegal immigrants, Trump warned attendees that the 11 million people will vote for the Democratic Party.

"Even if given the right to vote, 11 million people will be voting Democratic," he said. "It's just the way it works, and you have to be very, very careful, because you could say that, to a certain extent, the odds aren't looking so great right now for Republicans, that you're on a suicide mission. You're just not going to get those votes."

Trump urged the party to work with Europeans, instead, to establish a better system to keep those in the country with school visas.


We've lost races before, and in the past, those setbacks prepared us for larger victories. It is up to us to make sure that we learn from my mistakes, and from our mistakes, so that we can win the victories … this nation depend upon.

–Mitt Romney


Ryan attacked the Democrats for their "entitlement programs" and their budgets that don't balance the budget.

"This has been a really big week: We got white smoke from the Vatican and a budget from the Senate," Ryan said. "But when you read it, you find out that the Vatican isn't the only place blowing smoke this week."

Ryan, however, touted his budget proposal that was introduced last week, saying it will balance the budget.

"Our budget expands opportunity by growing the economy," he said. "It strengthens the safety net by retooling government, and it restores fairness by ending cronyism. And by setting priorities and choosing wisely, we have a plan to pay off our debt. In fact, we balance the budget in 10 years without raising taxes. We stop spending money we don't have. Go figure!"

Ryan invited Democrats to join the GOP by balancing the budget. "Our budget draws a sharp contrast with the left. It says to the people, in unmistakable terms: 'They are the party of shared hardship. We are the party of equal opportunity.' "

Related links

Related stories

Most recent Politics stories

Related topics

Politics
Josh Furlong

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast