via Newsmax.com

By: Jim Meyers Monday, 08 Mar 2010

Former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tells Newsmax that America needs to change course or face the “unthinkable consequences” of its decline.

He also asserts that President Obama’s policies have extended and deepened the recession, says his healthcare reform plan “makes no sense at all,” and declares that Sarah Palin is definitely qualified to become president.

Romney has a new book out, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” offering a dramatic new blueprint for the nation to confront our most critical issues. He dropped by Newsmax’s office to discuss a wide range of issues, including the economy, the stimulus package, government bailouts, healthcare, John McCain, and the tea party movement.

Editor’s Note: See the full Newsmax.TV interview with Mitt Romney

Special: Get Mitt Romney’s New Book, “No Apology” – Incredible FREE Offer – Click Here Now.

Romney served as governor from 2003 until 2007. A successful businessman, he was also president and CEO of the committee that successfully organized the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and is considered a frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.

Romney tells Newsmax.TV about “No Apology”:

“This is a book about what I have seen as a result of my years in the business world, some 25 years, traveling a good deal overseas, and my recognition that what is happening internationally very much threatens America’s economic lead and ultimately threatens our ability to preserve freedom and promote liberty around the world.

“So I have described the fact that America needs to remain strong, that we need to stop apologizing for who we are and acknowledge that what we have and what we have done has lifted the world out of poverty and has also provided liberty to million, billions of people.

“We need to shore up the bases of our strength. If we don’t, we could find ourselves passed by China or by others. And the consequences of America following the same path of decline that other great nations have in the past are really unthinkable.”

Romney says the economy will surely recover from the recession, as it always does. But he maintains that the $787 billion stimulus package has not been as effective as it could have been, and Obama’s actions during his first year in office “had the effect of extending the recession and deepening the recession.”

Romney cites Obama’s claim that if the stimulus was passed, it would hold unemployment at 8 percent, and if not, unemployment would rise to 10 percent.

“Well, it got to 10 percent and we still have $787 billion we’ve got to pay back to the people we borrowed it from,” he says, adding that America has become “increasingly vulnerable as a result of our overspending.”

While Massachusetts governor, Romney put in place healthcare reform that has provided all state residents with healthcare insurance. He says that plan has some similarities with President Obama’s healthcare plan, “but some very big differences.”

He points out that Massachusetts did not raise taxes to pay for the plan, while Obama’s plan would. Obama would cut Medicare, while Massachusetts did not. Obama has sought the power to put price controls in place, but Massachusetts did not.

“Ours is a state-based plan,” he says.

“We took responsibility for dealing with an issue and we solved it our own way. States should be allowed to approach their care for the poor in the way they think best, rather than have President Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid apply a one-size-fits-all plan for the entire country.

“The way President Obama has gone about it makes no sense at all.”

Turning to foreign policy, Romney tells Newsmax.TV that Obama “was simply wrong to go across the world as the new president of the United States establishing who he was by, if you will, distancing himself from the United States of America.

“He said the United States has been dismissive of other nations, derisive; we don’t listen to the concerns of other nations; we’ve dictated to other nations. He’s wrong. America has freed other nations from dictators.”

Romney criticizes Obama for canceling plans for a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and for speaking out against Israel at the United Nations.

But he says he is pleased that Obama reversed course on Iraq.

“As the candidate who I believe was the most anti-war candidate among the Democratic contenders, and who promised to pull our troops out immediately, he has instead adopted President Bush’s strategy in Iraq. Thank heavens. That’s the right course.

“He voted against the surge in Iraq. He said it wouldn’t work. In Afghanistan he’s now applying the surge. I appreciate that as well.

“So he’s done some things well, some things not so well. But where he’s done well is where he’s adopted the policies and positions of Senator McCain and President Bush.”

Other highlights of the Newsmax interview:

• Romney says he’s not sure Sarah Palin will run for president in the future, but asserts that she is qualified for that role and says she “has brought a great deal of energy and passion to our party.”
• Romney disagrees with Rush Limbaugh’s claim that he erred in backing Sen. John McCain in his re-election campaign in Arizona against a more conservative GOP candidate, citing McCain’s “wisdom and judgment” and adding McCain had the better chance to win the general election.
• Obama’s plan of allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire at the beginning of next year is really “a new tax hike, a substantial tax hike on people who pay a lot of taxes,” Romney says. It will encourage Americans to sell assets this year ahead of the hike, he explains, resulting in “a lot of excess revenues this year.” But the year after “will be pretty tough for the government.”
• Asked about TARP bailouts, Romney says businesses that get in trouble should be allowed to fail, as long as that doesn’t lead to a collapse of the financial system. So Bush’s move to put TARP in place to prevent a collapse was “the right thing to do… At this stage, it has done its job,” he adds. “It should be stopped and the funds that remain in TARP and are paid back to TARP should be used to pay down our debt and to reduce our spending.”
• The tea party movement will have a serious impact on the November elections, according to Romney.“I’m really pleased that the silent majority is silent no longer,” he declares. But he cautions that if a conservative tea party candidate runs in a general election, that would siphon votes away from a Republican candidate, and “divide and fail is the result. “That would hand over the country to Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and that would be very sad indeed.” Romney hopes that tea party candidates will instead run in primaries, and if they lose will back the more conservative candidate in the general election.
• Libertarians like Ron Paul have an influence on the GOP, and “we welcome his participation in our party,” Romney says. “We’re a big-tent party.”
• “Liberals like President Obama believe that if there’s a problem in our country, if some aspect of our economy is having some difficulties, the right course is to have government play a more active role, really to have government take it over and run it,” Romney says. “That’s a course that I think is entirely wrong. If there’s an area in the economy that’s not working well, the right course is typically to say, How do you get government out of it? How do you make it work more like a market?”
• Discussing the race for the U.S. Senate seat from Florida between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, Romney says: “I like both of those individuals. I haven’t decided whether to endorse one or the other or neither, but I hope whoever wins the primary is able carry on very effectively in the general election.

“We need more Republican senators in Washington very badly right now.”

Help Make A Difference By Sharing These Articles On Facebook, Twitter And Elsewhere:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•