Mitt Romney addressed the Conservative Leadership Conference today. His main themes revolved around:

• Bashing Hillary (always a good way to open in front of a conservative conference)
• The need for a strong America (economically and militarily)
• Lower taxes (said he is the only one of the top four tier candidates that signed the Tax Pledge)
• Big-spending Republicans (he invoked Reagan)
• American values

I caught all of his 25-minute speech on video except the first sentence and the final wrap-up remarks. To view the 2 MB movie, click here (you’ll have to download it, I don’t have the software to stream it).

To read about a speech Mitt gave earlier today, Ed Morrissey live blogged it (the big boys get invited to all the cool events).

Some memorable excerpts from the speech I watched:

On Hillary’s ideas:

Hillary Clinton said she has a million ideas for America, but the country can’t afford them all. Think of that. There are now a million good reasons not to vote for Hillary Clinton.

On responsibility:

Adam Smith said each individual pursuing their own dreams in their own free way would lift the entire nation. He recognized that Bill Gates being rich didn’t make up poorer. That in fact the nation was probably going to do better. That was his vision. [Hillary] said it was time to change all that. She said instead we need to become a shared responsibility, we’re all in it together society. So from her standpoint, it’s out with Adam Smith and in with Karl Marx.

On Hillary’s tax stance:

[Hillary] wants to raise taxes on individuals, she wants to raise social security taxes, she wants to raise taxes on corporations. Look, France and Germany have just elected conservatives as their leaders. I don’t think she could be elected president of France, let alone president of this country on that platform.

On taxes:

Let me tell you where I stand on taxes. I want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. I want a lower marginal rates for all Americans. I do not want to raise social security taxes. I want [one big?] medical premiums deductible whether you’re getting your health care from your company or you want to do it yourself. I want to stop the inflation creep of the alternative minimum tax. And yes, I want to lower corporate taxes as well.

And one more thing. You know, it’s just not fair that you get taxed when you earn your money, taxed when you save your money, and taxed when you die. So let’s make the death tax gone forever.

And I have my own special tax rate for savings. My view is that if you make $200,000 a year and less — so basically, 95% of Americans — that there ought to be a new tax rate on your interest, dividends and capital gains, and that tax rate ought to be absolutely zero.

On big-spending Republicans:

When Republicans act like Democrats, America loses. And this party has got to stand for reigning in excessive spending.

On fixing health care:

I’d like to fix our health care system. Not with a government take over. Not with Hillary Care. Not with socialized medicine. I don’t want the people who ran the Katrina clean up running our health care system.

When we’ve got a problem in a sector of our economy, like health care, you don’t say ‘How do we put more government into it?’, you say ‘How do we get government out of it? How do we get it to work more like a free market?’

Big patriotic wrap:

But I believe very deeply in the principles of this country. Principles of freedom. Principles of individual initiative. Principles of individual responsibility. I like keeping government small. Taxes low.

And if you want to see a grand, prosperous future just call the American people to stand up and make a difference. I’m confident in our future. . . .

When I’m in South Carolina I’m asked, "Do you have Southern values?" "Oh yeah, I do." When I’m in Iowa I’m asked, "Do you have heartland values?" "Oh yes, I do." When I’m in Michigan I’m asked, "Do you have mid-Western values?" "Oh yes, I do." Because I’ve found that they’re all the same.

These are the values that say that we believe in hard work, we believe in education, we believe in the sanctity of life, we believe in marriage, we believe in God. Even those of us who don’t believe in God believe in something greater than our self. It’s what Rick Warren calls a "purpose driven life".

We believe in America. We believe in the future of this great country. We’re willing to sacrifice for it. We’re people of opportunity. This is the land of opportunity.

Listen to the whole thing. There was a very nice story about economies being like the first day of basic training in the Israeli military. He bragged about his ability to turn a burdensome state deficit into a surplus by cutting spending (something to brag about in a state with 85% Democrats in the legislature). He promised to use the veto power whenever necessary. He mentioned fixing schools and health care.

In the few follow-up questions (which I missed recording), he unequivocally stated that he was against medical marijuana — somewhat courageous in front of a majority-Nevada crowd (Nevada allows medical marijuana). This is the only thing he said in 25 minutes that I disagreed with. His saying it’s a gateway drug is pure bunkum — there are lots of gateway drugs (like ecstasy). Besides, do you really see cancer patients giving their pot to their grandkids?

One final note. Romney started late, which wasn’t unexpected (what politician doesn’t?), but just before he came on there was quite a conference going on at the stage about the placement of flags. A second American flag was brought on stage and arranged such that there was an American flag on each side of the Nevada flag, which stood directly behind Mitt. I know appearances are important, but I was somewhat irritated at the additional delay. But in review the pictures that I took, the reason is obvious. Taking a picture from either side results in a shot of Mitt with the American flag over his shoulder. Taking a picture from the front results in a picture of Mitt framed by American flags. Appearances are important.