Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told an enthusiastic Republican National Convention that unlike his rival Barack Obama, he would not raise taxes on small businesses or the middle class.
During his acceptance speech Thursday night, Romney presented a more personal side, describing his relationship with his parents, his wife and his children, as well as delivering a tribute to the late astronaut Neil Armstrong before sharpening his attacks on President Obama.
“His policies have not helped create jobs, they have depressed them,” said Romney. “And this I can tell you about where President Obama would take America. His plan to raise taxes on small business won't add jobs, it will eliminate them. His assault on coal and gas and oil will send energy and manufacturing jobs to China. His trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and also put our security at greater risk. His $716 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obamacare will both hurt today's seniors, and depress innovation—and jobs—in medicine. And his trillion-dollar deficits will slow our economy, restrain employment, and cause wages to stall.”
Romney outlined a five-point plan to create 12 million new jobs, including cutting taxes. “We will champion small businesses, America’s engine of job growth,” he said. “That means reducing taxes on business, not raising them. It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small business the most. And it means that we must rein in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare by repealing and replacing Obamacare. Today, women are more likely than men to start a business. They need a President who respects and understands what they do. And let me make this very clear— unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class.”
Romney’s speech was interrupted at one point by a heckler who was removed from the auditorium. It was also overshadowed in part by a rambling introductory speech ad-libbed by actor and director Clint Eastwood, who made a surprise appearance at the convention alongside an empty chair in which he jokingly pretended to argue with an invisible President Obama.
