I feel like Mitt Romney is my Grandpa. In fact, every time I see him speak (and believe me, I've seen just about all of his videos online), I seriously wish he were a member of my family!
If you haven't already seen his CPAC speech in which he withdraws from the race, you should definitely watch it here: http://realclearpolitics.com/video_log/
His speech is full of solutions, real ideas about how to handle the issues we face. He is brilliant, undeniably. He was valedictorian at BYU, and he graduated in the top of his class from Harvard, with both a law degree and an MBA. He founded Bain Capital, and after serving as VP of Bain & Company, he was asked to return and revive the company, which he did.
I love this statement, from his last speech: "Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing drug—we have got to fight it like the poison it is!"
And I love his boldness in this statement: "The attack on faith and religion is no less relentless. And tolerance for pornography—even celebration of it—and sexual promiscuity, combined with the twisted incentives of government welfare programs have led to today’s grim realities: 68% of African American children are born out-of-wedlock, 45% of Hispanic children, and 25% of White children. How much harder it is for these children to succeed in school—and in life. A nation built on the principles of the founding fathers cannot long stand when its children are raised without fathers in the home."
How many other candidates would dare to speak out against the pornography industry? He is not afraid to say what he believes, whether about pornography, the state of the family, or his religion.
One of my favorite video clips of Mitt Romney is a rather obscure one that Ryan and his brother came across one night. When a reporter asked him what the strangest thing about his religion was, he--with a dead straight face--said something this effect: "The strangest belief of my religion is that we believe that God commanded a man to build a big boat and put two of every kind of animal on it, and through this all humanity would be saved." When you think about it, Noah's ark is kind of weird(!), but all Christians believe it, so what's so crazy about modern-day prophets??
Anyway, I'm going to miss him...though I am glad to see more of my husband lately. :) The good news (and bad news since I'll lose my hubby again) is that it looks pretty likely that he'll run again in 2012. Until then, Mitt!
