A: Well, my kids are all married, so I'd be surprised. But I have grandchildren. And I love my children and I love my grandchildren. And I would, of course, want them to be happy. My view is this, that individuals should be able to pursue a relationship of love and respect, and raise a family as they would choose. I would like to have the term "marriage" continue to be associated with a relationship between one man and one woman. And that certainly doesn't prevent two people of the same gender living in a loving relationship together, having a domestic partnership, if you will. I can see rights, such as hospital visitation rights, and similar types of things, being provided to those individuals. But marriage for me continues to be a relationship between a man and a woman.
It is not by growing a bigger and bigger government, that takes from some to give from others. That's what happens in other parts of world. If it doesn't work there, it'll never work here. The right course for America is to believe in free people & free enterprises. I don't want to redistribute wealth in America, I want to build wealth in America.
It's a critical time for our country. Where you're going to decide what kind of an America we're going to have. I know what it takes to get jobs back in this country. To see rising incomes again. I know how to work on both sides of the aisle. I was elected Governor of a state where 87% of my legislature was in the opposition party. But we worked together.
A: I'd tell him that this is a problem that we share, that this is not Mexico's problem. We have a responsibility in this country to reduce drug usage. The fact that there is a drug world, narco-crime and terrorism, and that these cartels are terrorizing the people of Mexico, and some of that violence spills over our border. That's due to the demand here in this country. And so the US must make a priority of helping reduce demand in this country, and communicating to our young people, and older people, that when they use these illegal drugs, they are contributing to the deaths of people around the world. So I'm going to make that a priority. That's #1. And #2, I'm going to let him know that we want to help, as we did in Colombia with intelligence work and surveillance work.
Under that program, those who graduated from high school and passed our graduation exam, those who passed it in the top quarter of their high school got a four-year tuition free ride to the Massachusetts institutions of higher learning that are public. So I care. I care about your education and helping people of modest means get a good education and we'll continue a Pell Grant program.
A: We're going to continue a Pell Grant program. [Paul Ryan's] Republican budget called for a Pell Grants being capped out at their current high level. My inclination would be to have them go with the rate of inflation. I think it's important in higher education that we get serious about the fact that the inflation of tuition has been much faster than inflation generally. And my view is we have to hold down the rate of tuition increases and fee increases in higher education. We've got to find a way to keep those costs down and we'll be able to keep up with costs by having Pell Grants grow at the rate of inflation.
A: The best thing I can do for young people graduating is make sure that when you get out, you have a job. That's a key thing. Because right now, half the kids in this country that are graduating from college, half couldn't find a job or a job consistent with their college degree. We've always, as a nation, snapped up young people coming out of college. But that's changed in these last few years. And so the best thing I can do is not to [say], "Hey, I'll loan you more money." I don't want to overwhelm you with debts. I want you to make sure you can pay back the debts you've already got and that will happen with good jobs.
A: I would repeal all of ObamaCare and replace it with I think the kinds of reforms we really need. Now and then the President says I'm the grandfather of ObamaCare. I don't think he meant that as a compliment, but I'll take it. I'm proud of the fact that in my state, after our plan was put in place, every child has insurance, 98% of adults have insurance, but we didn't have to cut Medicare by $716 billion to do that. We didn't raise taxes on health companies by $500 billion as the President did. And so we crafted a program that worked for our state, and I believe the right course for healthcare reform is to say for each state we're going to give you the Medicaid dollars you've had in the past, plus grow them with inflation, plus 1%, and you as the states are now going to be given targets to move people towards insurance and you craft programs that are right for your state. Some will copy what we did; others will find better solutions.
A: Let me respond more broadly and then get to the specific of young people who were brought here through no fault of their own, and are now going to school here. The immigration system, I think we all agree, is broken and it's been a political football for years and years. It needs to be fixed. Also, instead of having our diversity visas offered, we provide instead the chance to pull families together. I want that to be the favored system for immigration. I also believe that we should have temporary work visas consistent with the needs of the employment community and by the way, if the student does so well that they get an advanced degree, I'd staple the green card to their diploma. For those young people who, for instance, serve in our military, that they should be able to become a permanent resident.
A: My view is that we should put in a place a permanent solution. What the president did was take no action; he put in place something he called a stop-gap measure. Temporary. These kids deserve something better than temporary. They deserve a permanent solution.
Q: But, with all due respect, you are reluctant to provide details on a permanent solution? Are you going to deport the DREAMers or not?
A: Well, we're not going to round up people and deport them. That includes the kids and the parents. I would be in support of a program that said the people who serve in our military could be permanent residents. Marco Rubio's "Dream and Achieve Act" had a number of features that said kids that get higher education could become permanent residents. I will solve it on a permanent basis consistent with those principles.
Q: So you're going to allow them to stay?
A: I'm not going to be rounding people up and deporting them.
A: I believe people make their own choices as to whether they want to go home & that's what I mean by self-deportation. People decide if they want to go back to the country of their origin and get in line legally to be able to come to this country. Look, legal immigration is critical for America. I love legal immigration. But at the same time, to protect legal immigration we have to secure our borders and what I like about the Arizona law was the employment verification system.
Q: Should the whole country follow Arizona's immigration laws?
A: The reason there's an Arizona law is because the federal government, and specifically, Pres. Obama didn't solve immigration problem when he came into office. The right answer is ultimately to have a federal solution; [then] we don't have to have states trying to find solutions of their own.
A: My plan has five major parts, and I know you don't want me to go into detail on all five. I'd take over the whole show. But let me describe what they are.
A: This is a campaign about the 100%. Politics has driven us apart in some respect. So my campaign is about the 100% of America. And I'm concerned about them. I'm concerned about the fact that over the past four years life has become harder for Americans. More people have fallen into poverty. More people we just learned have had to go onto food stamps. When the President took office 32 million people were on food stamps. Today 47 million people are on food stamps. Now I know that I'm not going to get 100% of the vote. And my campaign will focus on those people we think we can bring in to support me. But this is a campaign about helping people who need help. I have a record. I've demonstrated my capacity to help the 100%.
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The above quotations are from Obama-Romney interviews by Univision Noticias (Spanish News).
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