I’m a fierce opponent of Romney, but to be fair, you need to look at WHAT HE ACTUALLY SAID, instead of the one word “quote” in this excerpt:
ROSE: We’ll come back to energy, also your economic plan this evening, but I go now to Governor Romney. The paralysis there, and everybody’s concerned about it. What specifically would you be prepared to do to make the country moving again on addressing its problems?
ROMNEY: I’d be prepared to be a leader. You can’t get the country to go in the right direction and get Washington to work if you don’t have a president that’s a leader. And three years ago, we selected a person who had never had any leadership experience, never worked in the private sector, never had the opportunity to actually bring people together, and he hasn’t been able to do so.
He said he’d bring us hope and change. Instead, he’s divided the nation and tried to blame other people.
The real course for America is to have someone who is a leader, who can identify people in both parties who care more about the country than they care about getting reelected.
There are Democrats like that. There are Republicans like that. I was the governor of a state that had a few Democrats. People in this room know how many we had in Massachusetts.
ROSE: So it’s essential to deal with Democrats and be prepared to compromise on the big issues of our time?
ROMNEY: You have to stand by your principles. At the same time, you know that ***good Democrats*** and good Republicans who love the country first will be able to find common ground from time to time and recognize we can’t keep on spending like we’re spending, we can’t demand more from tax revenue from people, because that kills jobs and hurts working families.
We have got to help the middle class in this country. The only way that will come together is if you have people on both sides of the aisle who listen to a leader who has the experience of leading. And that’s what America is looking for and desperately longing for.
I do not wish to work with Democrats.
I wish to defeat them.
Thoroughly.
We gotta get out of the primaries with someone who believes that.
“Better than Obama” is such a low bar to jump - I hope we don’t trip and fall over it with a Romney.
Thanks for posting the actual quote, which is actually fairly innocuous when you read it. I won’t be surprised to hear similar language from any of the candidates. In fact, I’d bet on it.