Mitt Romney in Fox News Sunday, "Choosing the President" interviews

On Abortion: Following in Reagan’s footsteps in converting to pro-life

Q: Yes, that’s right. But when I became governor I laid out in my view that a civilized society must respect the sanctity of life. And you know what? I’m following in some pretty good footsteps. It’s exactly what Ronald Reagan did. As governor, he was adamantly pro-choice. He became pro-life as he experienced life. And the same thing happened with George H. W. Bush.

On Budget & Economy: Disagrees with reported negative study of MA economy

A: I’ve got very different statistics than you do. First of all, there were no censuses taken during that time period, and so any numbers on population are just estimates by various folks. Second, when I came in to Massachusetts, we were losing jobs every single month. Our budget was out of balance by some $3 billion. We turned that around.

On Homeland Security: Global military & non-military effort to defeat jihad

On Homeland Security: Don’t weaken Musharraf; we need ally against Bin Laden

A: When you’re running for president, you have to think about the question and the answer, but you also have to think about the implications of what you’re saying around the world. And Pakistan is a tinderbox. And of course, America keeps its options open to do what we think is in our best interest. But in a place like Pakistan, you make sure that you don’t say things that could be misinterpreted and misused. And that was what his error was. Of course, if we receive actionable intelligence about bin Laden, we will take appropriate action, but we don’t describe exactly what that might mean. We have an ally there, Musharraf. We don’t want in any way to try & weaken him in a very difficult situation, and that was Obama’s mistake.

On Principles & Values: 1983: Carried dog in kennel on car roof, against MA law

A: No, no, no, not quite like that.

Q: Inside a kennel.

A: Yes, yes.

Q: What were you thinking?

A: This is a completely airtight kennel and mounted on the top of our car. He climbed up there regularly, enjoyed himself. It was where he was comfortable. And we had five kids inside the car. My guess is he liked it a lot better in his kennel than he would have liked it inside.

Q: Well, Massachusetts law prohibits carrying an animal on top of a car, even in a kennel, as cruel and inhuman. Do you really think you did nothing wrong?

A: I didn’t know that there was any problem with that in terms of Massachusetts law. Love my dog. We’ve had a lot of dogs over the years. Love them. Seamus, as his name is, climbed up there all by himself, enjoyed his ride, and whether you’re in the back of a pickup truck or in the rooftop carrier, it was a good ride. He was a good friend of the family.

On Principles & Values: Misspoke that sons’ campaign service comparable to military

A: Oh, I misspoke there. I didn’t mean in any way to compare service in the country with my boys in any way. Service in this country is an extraordinary sacrifice being made by individuals and their families. I’ve been calling for a surge of support, as you know, by the American citizens. There’s no comparison. I’m very pleased and proud of my boys and the help they’re doing for their dad, but it’s not service to the country. It’s service for me. And there’s just no comparison there.

On War & Peace: Slow progress vs. frightening consequences of withdrawal

A: Obviously, a hypothetical with all the potential permutations of what might develop is kind of hard to fashion, but if we’re making progress that suggests there’s a reasonable probability of success in stabilizing Iraq, that’s a course I’m going to follow. I get a chance to speak almost every week to people who’ve been there, who are non-partisan, and the response I’m hearing is that we seem to be making some progress there, albeit slow. That’s encouraging to me, because the consequence of withdrawing with a massive civil war breaking out and a regional conflict ensuing could have consequences for our nation and the world that are really quite frightening and perhaps cause us to come back again. A course of stability would be very, very encouraging, and I think there’s some signs that that’s what’s happening.