Mitt Romney unloaded a speech this weekend at the Voters Value Summit, that was very good. He was not my candidate in 2008, but I have to admit that he speaks very frankly here.

Some highlights are:

“A year ago, there were quite a few people who were ready to write off this [conservative] movement. They were enthralled by Barack Obama’s promise of near-Biblical transformations. Their legs were tingling.” He spoke majestically, framed by Greek columns. Well, he can still spin a speech, but he can’t spin his record. I’ll bet you never dreamed you’d look back at Jimmy Carter as the good old days.”

“We know that America has always endured a chorus of critics, —people who claim that every ill, every failure in the world is America’s fault. But it has never before had a President who was conducting that chorus. He told an Arab TV station that America has dictated to other nations. No, Mr. President, America has freed other nations from dictators. He told the Europeans that America has been arrogant, dismissive and derisive. No, Mr. President, in defending liberty, America has been diligent, dedicated and decisive.”

[On cap and trade] “Taking more money away from working Americans would make us a weaker nation. Candidate Obama promised not to raise taxes—“by one dime”—on people making less than 250 thousand dollars a year. The President’s cap and trade program demolished that promise. The Obama team had secretly calculated that his plan would cost the average American family $1,761 a year, the equivalent to a 15% income tax hike. It kills jobs. And because it will simply move greenhouse gas emitters from America to other nations like China, it won’t do a thing to affect climate change. Democrats keep talking about climate change.

“I think they’re confusing global warming with all the heat they’ve been taking at town halls.”

[On pulling out missile defense for Eastern Europe] “In the face of Iran’s rush to become a nuclear power, the President’s decision this week to walk away from our commitment to missile defense in Europe is alarming and dangerous,” said Romney. “From Israel, to Honduras, to the Czech Republic and Poland, it’s time the President treated our friends better than he does our foes.”

[On the economy] “What President Obama has done these last eight months, and what he is proposing for the next three years, would not strengthen America, it would weaken America. His so-called stimulus is a case in point. The President sold it as an immediate boost that would hold unemployment below eight percent, restore the economy and create jobs. Rather than bring back the economy, it brought back 30 years of failed liberal programs. And he rushed it through before anyone could even notice. But we did notice, and we’re not impressed!”

“The economy is still shrinking even as the government keeps growing. Unemployment blew past eight percent to nearly 10 percent – that’s millions and millions more Americans out of work.

Not one new job has been created. The numbers of Americans opposing the Obama agenda are growing. The voters will make that clear in the 2010 elections. Now that’s a “public option” I agree with.”

You can watch here:

Part One