This is his solution: He said all we need to do is take your tax dollars, send them to Washington, have Washington take out its cut, having Washington then send it back to the states, have the states then go out and hire public employees. Does that make sense to you? Is that how to get the economy moving?

This past year has been very turbulent for the Middle East, and my conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu strengthened my belief that we need to remain vigilant in our support of our critical ally.

We shouldn't be debating whether to deal with the current code by allowing it to be extended or not. We should have a president who shows leadership and comes to Congress and says: 'You know what? We need to reform this whole tax code.'

When you tax capital gains income, you don't help the economy, you hurt the economy, which is why President Kennedy, President Reagan, President Clinton and President Bush all believed we should have a lower rate for capital gains.

You could have another downgrade. You could certainly have a stock market reaction that would be negative. And, I think nobody who looks at it objectively would want to happen.

For all our current troubles, Americans are still the hardest working, most innovative people on the face of the earth. By trusting the American people, instead of government, we'll continue to surprise and inspire the world.

Do you agree with me that we can't afford four more years of Barack Obama?

Folks, do you agree with me that we cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama?

I told my staff that I'm so boring that I didn't even know I was boring.

I'd like to think I'm a serious legislator and trying to get things done.

If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix Social Security, that's not a very good starting point.

If you start very far to the left, it's harder to get to the middle.

It's not about sizzle for me. I think it's fine. I mean, America made a decision in 2008 to go with a president who did have sizzle.

The tax code is now nine times longer than the Bible, and not nearly as interesting.

There is so much uncertainty out there, and the government in Washington doesn't seem to get it. What's needed is a new business environment.

Things are not getting better. They are getting worse. We need to elect Mitt Romney to turn things around.

We have a paralysis in Washington that's not serving our country. We have to address these issues.

What we need is fundamental tax reform.

I saw the government really using the excuse of a weak economy and a financial crisis to create more government and to push onto the American entrepreneurial society more and more restraints and government activity.

I served at a time when we had a strong economy, when we had deficits that we would die for today. I was able to propose a balanced budget, not over ten years, but over five years. I'm proud of that record.