Romney announcing Bush-Cheney '04 Steering Committee - Seaport Hotel, South Boston - April 28, 2004

TRANSCRIPT

Romney: Yes Please
Reporter: Since January 2001 Massachusetts has lost as many jobs as Ohio, a much larger state. With a record like that why would economically anxious Massachusetts residents vote for another four years?
Romney: Uh - Pretty simply this. THe people of America recognize that the slowdown in jobs that occurred during the early years of the Bush Administration were the result of a perfect storm. And an effort by one candidate to say oh this recession and the slowdown in jobs was the result of somehow this president magically being elected - people in America just dismiss that as being poppycock and they recognize it as that. They recognize that September 11th 2001l, had a very significant impact on our economy and on jobs in this economy. To pretend that is doesn't is just silliness. They also recognize that there is a ... applause.... that there was a cyclic recession the rebounded from the extravagance of the period that existed prior to that time, where we had irrational exuberance according to Alan Greenspan and we had a downturn. They also recognize that the internet bubble burst. These things came together to creating a perfect storm that meant a huge loss. Now the question then is what did the president do to restoke the economy? And he passed an across the board tax cut that affected families that had children, that affected working families, it affected people across our economy with the idea that this tax cut and his economic policy would rebuild our economy. And even as Europe and Asia still are in the doldrums Japan that is are still in the doldrums. The United States has come back and is regrowing and we're creating jobs. The last half of the last year was a very strong period of economic growth particularly the last quarter. And the first quarter looks like another strong period. Records housing starts, record home ownership, job creation the last month over 300,00 thousand people every indication is that the economic policies adopted and pursued by this president are creating jobs at a very high pace and so the people of America have to ask do you want to stay with a president who is rebuilding the economy, who is creating jobs or do you want to stop midstream and find someone new who said he is going to raise taxes. I believe that raising taxes can do nothing but slow down the economy. I don't know an economist in the world that says 'No the right way to get an economy going is taking money away from the people.' No. The right way to get an economy going is to give incentives to people and to put money in their hands. And this is president...applause...this is a president who is doing that, who is creating jobs, overcoming one of the worst if you will convergences of an internet bubble burst of a terrorist attack and the cyclical down turn that we've seen.

[MA Archive, GO11 10 Tape #78]