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GLENN BECK PROGRAM
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
GLENN: It's our
last broadcast before the holiday and I'm pleased to be
joined with Governor Mitt Romney. Hello, Mitt, how are you,
sir?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: I'm terrific, Glenn, good to be with you.
GLENN: You know, I told you this in person. I went down to
your speech and saw you in Texas give the speech on faith
but it's one of the best speeches I've ever heard and it was
just, it was amazing and I've heard this from several people
and this is the way I feel. It was a turning point for me in
my support for you. I was amazed. I was amazed. Great
speech.
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Mitt Romney |
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, you're very kind. I thought it was an
important topic to talk about because this is a country
which has been built upon a foundation of faith and I know
there are some who want to remove that foundation and I'm
not one of them.
GLENN: I want to talk to you a little bit about the Huckabee
surge here because I don't understand it. I like Governor
Huckabee. He's a nice man, he's a kind man. However I, you
know, I've got my differences with him. I was with him,
what, a week ago in the airport and we spent about 25
minutes together and we had a very frank conversation about
some of the things that he has said in a whisper campaign
and he said to me that he felt you were picking on him and
he felt that he was under attack by you on some of the ads
that you're running now where you're pointing out the
differences. He thought that was just an attack on him. Do
you have any comment on some of the ads that you're running?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, actually what I described, I don't
think he's disagreed with them at all, is what his positions
are on key issues, and I think, you know, when you have a
surge, you earn the opportunity for people to take a look at
your record and your positions, and I've not attacked him
personally. I actually began the ads by talking about our
places of agreement and, you know, Mike Huckabee's a friend,
but there are places where we disagree. He granted 1,033
pardons and commutations including 12 for convicted
murderers. I granted no pardons or commutations. That's a
difference. Now, he calls that an attack on him. I just call
it the truth of his record. And given the fact he granted
those pardons, he can explain why and if people agree with
him, they can vote for him. If they think, no, I don't want
someone who would grant 1,033 pardons in his term as
governor, then they can vote for me. But it's certainly not
an attack to compare and contrast issues and records. Now,
you will see attacks if people go after individuals on a
personal basis and impugn their character or their integrity
or try and suggest that they are a bad person. That has
happened in campaigns but at this stage in my campaign, all
we're showing is places of difference on key issues and
frankly issues matter and Governor Huckabee has merited the
chance to be inspected closely on where he stands on issues.
GLENN: Let me ask you this question because this is my
problem with Mike Huckabee is I think -- and God love him,
but I think that sometimes people get so close to the gospel
that they misunderstand nowhere in the gospel does Jesus
say, "You know, and the Government should go heal that
person." It's always the individual. And I think Mike
Huckabee got lost on the pardons because of compassion and
trying to be more Christ-like, et cetera, et cetera, but it
doesn't mean that you get forgetful on what people have done
in their past. People can change but there's still
punishment and on our side learn, you know, from the lessons
that this person has showed us in the past. But it's the
same kind of concern, quite honestly, Mitt, that I have
about you. You are a very compassionate guy and you are very
close. You live your faith. However, sometimes when people
do that they think, well, maybe I should have government
kind of help out a little bit more. Can you reassure anybody
that you're not a Rockefeller Republican, that you don't
believe -- that you believe compassion starts at home and
not in Washington, D.C.?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, of course, we're a compassionate
people and we do compassionate things around the world but
at the same time the responsibility of our nation rests with
the individual and with the family. And if you think about
what it is that's made us the nation that we are, it is the
personal responsibility and the individual incentives which
are associated with our free enterprise system and the
freedoms we enjoy. Now, does that mean that government has
no role? Of course not. Government does have a role. But you
can see what happens to a major part of our economy when the
government starts playing too big of a role and that's
happened in healthcare.
With the creep of growing Medicaid expansions and with
Medicare taking this large portion of the healthcare system,
you find that government is beginning to really drive the
whole healthcare system. And I look at healthcare and say
we've got to get government out of healthcare and let
personal responsibility once again reign and let the free
market do the work that it's always done and the rest of our
economy. So you look at my record, you'll see a guy who
believes in keeping government small.
Give you an example. There were fewer state workers in
Massachusetts after I left as governor than when I came in.
And by the way, I increased the number of state police
dramatically, but the other workers, I significantly reduced
and overall I reduced the number of workers. In Governor
Huckabee's case, he added thousands upon thousands of new
state workers. He took spending from $6.7 billion to over
$16 billion. So, you know, very different records, very
different approach and you can see where I stand if you look
at my record.
GLENN: Talk to me a little bit about the bunker mentality
that -- because I don't even know what it means. I'm looking
at Huckabee's statement.
Stu, do you have that statement from him? Do you have that
handy? He made some statement, you know, that the United
States needs the rest of the world to know that we're not
enemies, we're in it together and the arrogant bunker
mentality of this administration. I mean, I don't even know
what that means. What is that policy?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: I think that kind of an attack on the
President -- and that is a personal attack. You see, there's
the difference between somebody who's talking about
differences on issues, and we can argue about whether or not
the President was affected in the way he managed the war,
and I think he made a number of errors, but you go from
talking about issues and policy to making personal attacks
when you call someone arrogant and bunker mentality. And
that's where I think Governor Huckabee made another error
and owes the President an apology. The suggestion that
somehow our challenges in Iraq are due to a President that's
arrogant with a bunker mentality, that's just simply plain
and wrong. This President has worked tirelessly to keep us
safe and he's done so and he's done his best for America.
Has he made mistakes? Absolutely. Will anyone make mistakes?
Yeah, that's true as well. But to accuse the President of an
arrogant bunker mentality is simply wrong. He has been open
to -- well, for instance, General Petraeus' entirely new
perspective of taking the troop surge, he fought for that
against almost everybody. Arguing was the wrong way to go on
the Democratic side. They were claiming that the war had
been lost, and the President's right. The surge is working.
GLENN: Give me your thought on Petraeus not being Time
magazine's man of the year but instead Vladimir Putin.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Oh, you are kidding. Did they put Vladimir
Putin on the cover?
GLENN: Yeah, Time magazine.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: That really, that's disgusting. I'm
absolutely -- I mean, are you -- I mean, I haven't seen
Time. Are you serious?
GLENN: No, I'm serious. It is Vladimir Putin, Time magazine
man of the year. A guy who, you know, with all of the KGB
stuff in the past, Time magazine says has transformed the
country and congratulations. Time magazine man of the year,
Vladimir Putin.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, you know, he imprisoned his political
opponents. There have been a number of highly suspicious
murders. He has squelched public dissent and free press. And
to suggest that someone like that is the man of the year is
really disgusting. I'm just appalled. Clearly General
Petraeus is the person or one of a few people who would
certainly merit that designation and I know Time magazine
makes a distinction. They say, well, people who had an
impact, whether it's good or bad, is the man of the year. I
think that's a --
GLENN: No, no, hang on.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: -- a false --
GLENN: Before you go too far down this road -- wait a
minute. Before you go down this road, this is the quote why
he's the man of the year, "For bringing stability and
renewed... what was it, impact? Status. Renewed status to
his country. That's why.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Isn't that something. So a good dictator --
I guess Raul Castro will get it next. A good dictator that
imprisons or murders political and media opponents and
therefore brings stability, I mean, there's nothing like the
stability that martial law provides or dictatorship
provides. I find it a truly appalling designation.
GLENN: And the stability that he's bringing to the Middle
East with the transfer of this last few days of nuclear
technology to Iran.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Yeah. I mean, he's once again supplying
nuclear material to the Bushehr power plant and it's another
example of Russia trying to destabilize the world,
destabilize the Middle East. It does tell you something
about Time magazine. I'm really -- I must admit I'm really
disappointed. That's a real shock.
GLENN: I was --
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Our mainstream media I think has just
showed its hand.
GLENN: We've talked off the era bit about the economy last
time you did the TV show, I asked you to spend a couple of
minutes and talk about the economy and I think it is now
starting to show. I've been saying this for a while, "Guys,
we cannot live like this; we are in real trouble here with
out-of-control spending and people who just don't care. They
will make money any way they can and dopes in the country
that will just look and take any loan because they can pay
it today; don't worry about tomorrow." We're in real
trouble. It's starting to show its ugly face and yet
yesterday it was passed -- a $3 trillion budget was passed.
$11,000 earmarks. The President signs it. $700 million for
one bike path and yet they defunded the war and defunded the
border fence.
President Romney, you would do what?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, this is an opportunity for veto and,
of course, it's an opportunity for letting congress know
exactly what would be vetoed beforehand and working closely
enough with people across the aisle to make sure that they
understand what's going to be vetoed and then taking that to
the American people beforehand. So they can say whether they
agree or they disagree with the President and they can
communicate with their legislative leadership, what they
think about the issue and then those senators or congressmen
who vote against the President, recognize that they're going
to be taking some slings and arrows back home. You've got to
make sure that the people stand with you on an issue like
this, get their support and that support will cause congress
to feel a lot of heat and if they feel the heat, they will
see the light. We're going to have to make this a public
debate.
GLENN: I don't know a single person, I don't know a soul,
Republican or Democrat, that would say, oh, $700 million
bike path? That sounds like a smart move. I mean, I don't
know a soul that would be for this. The American people are
smarter than this. They know what these earmarks are about.
So what are we missing?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: You know, it's going to take a real
campaign to the public and to smoke people out one by one
and to have the President say this is unacceptable, this is
unacceptable, here's why I'm vetoing it. You know, it's
going to take a real effort to stop what is a long practice
of congress, Republican and Democrat alike to keep on
getting pork projects for their home district and then using
that as an excuse to get reelected. We're going to have to
have people around this country say I will not participate
in that, I'm going to vote somebody out who voted for this
kind of pork barrel spending.
GLENN: I know we're out of time. Do I have two minutes with
you?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Sure.
GLENN: I want to play this ad. Do you have that, Dan? I want
to play this ad. This is one of the more amazing ads I have
seen. Go ahead and play the Romney ad, please, Dan. Does he
have it?
STU: Yes, hold on.
VOICE: My daughter disappeared in New York City for three
days. No one could find her. My business manager took
charge. He closed the company and brought almost all of our
employees to New York. He said, I don't care how long it
takes, we're going to find her. He set up a command center
and searched through the night. The man who helped save my
daughter was Mitt Romney. Mitt's done a lot of things that
people say are nearly impossible but for me the most
important thing he's ever done is to help save my daughter.
VOICE: I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message.
GLENN: You closed your message and moved all your employees
down -- sent all of your employees down to do a search for
this employee's daughter here in New York?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, you would do the same thing, Glenn.
You know, one of my friends and a colleague in my firm came
to me and mentioned that his daughter had been missing for a
few days in New York City and the police had been unable to
find her and, of course, he was very, very concerned and I
closed our firm and asked all of our people to come to New
York and we set up a command center, we organized the city
in a grid. We also got our suppliers in New York, our law
firm, our printing firm and a drugstore chain that we
happened to have an investment in at the time and have them
work together with us to search the city, to print flyers,
to put them in people's shopping bags with pictures of the
young woman and we were fortunate that we got a lot of media
coverage by virtue of all of us coming down there.
GLENN: How long did this last?
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Well, it didn't last terribly long. It was
about, probably about 24 hours when we got a call from
someone saying, is there a reward. And then the person hung
up. And we were tracing calls and we sent police to the home
and we were able to find her there.
GLENN: Holy cow.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: So we're -- you know, we're very fortunate
that we were able to have such an impact and the media was
able to play such an important role in getting that message
across, 800 numbers, reward requests, so forth. And we were
able to find her.
GLENN: Well, I'm just trying to think of the mainstream
media question to ask you after that. Maybe did you make him
take vacation days for those days that he went down and
looked for his daughter? I mean, I guess -- I don't know how
to spin that into a bad question, but somebody will find a
way.
Mitt, thank you very much.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Hey, thanks, Glenn, good to be with you.
GLENN: Merry Christmas, sir.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Merry Christmas to you. Bye-bye.
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