(Newser)
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Mitt Romney made a rare appearance on Meet the Press this morning, along with wife Ann Romney, and notably admitted that not all of ObamaCare is bad, reports Politico. “I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform,” Romney said. “Of course, there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform that I'm going to put in place.” On the list of things he likes are covering pre-existing conditions and children "up to whatever age they might like.” Highlights of his interview with David Gregory:
- On President Obama's economic record and 'jobless recovery:' “It's basically, ‘you want more jobs? You want higher income? Then vote for Romney and Ryan.' It really doesn't look like a recovery. You’re not seeing the kind of job growth that keeps up with population growth. You're not seeing any wage growth."
- Ann Romney on her 'demonized' husband: “Mitt and I do recognize that we have not had a financial struggle in our lives. But I want people to believe in their hearts that we know what it is like to struggle. And our struggles have not been financial, but they've been with health and with difficulties in different things in life.”
- On omitting mention of the Afghanistan war in his RNC speech: “Wherever I go I am speaking to tens of millions of people. So I went to the American Legion and spoke with our veterans there and described my policy as it relates to Afghanistan and other foreign policy and our military."
- On specifics of his tax plan, which he says would not raise taxes on middle class: "Well, the specifics are these which is those principles I described are the heart of my policy. And I've indicated as well that, contrary to what the Democrats are saying, I'm not going to increase the tax burden on middle income families. It would absolutely be wrong to do that.”
- On balancing the budget: “Doing it in the first term would cause, I believe, a dramatic impact on the economy. Too dramatic. And therefore we've put together a plan that lays out how we get to a balanced budget within eight to 10 years.”
- On Clint Eastwood's RNC speech: “Oh, I was laughing at Clint Eastwood. Look, to have him get up and speak on my behalf was … a great thrill. “You don't expect to have a guy like Clint Eastwood get up and, you know, read some speech of a teleprompter like a politician. You expect him to speak from the heart and that's exactly what he did.”
- On last year's sequester deal: “That's a big mistake. I thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it. I think it was a mistake for Republicans to go along with it.”
