Speech at 2011 CPAC conference: on Foreign Policy

Mitt Romney: No European-style solutions to an American problem

The right answer is not to believe in European solutions. The right answer is to believe in America--to believe in free enterprise, capitalism, limited government--and to believe in the constitution, as it was written and intended by the founders

Ron Paul: We invested $70B in Mubarak; stop spending on puppets

Some people want to argue about that and say we have a moral responsibility to spread our goodness around the world and it's our obligation to do this. But let me tell you, fiscal conservatives should look at this carefully, how much did we invest in that dictator over the past 30 years? $70 billion, we invested in Egypt. And guess what? The government is crumbling and the people are upset, not only with their government by they're upset with us for propping up that puppet dictator for all those years. Now to add insult to injury, where do you think the money went? To Swiss bank account, that family, the Mubarak family had $40, 50, 60 billion--nobody knows--stashed away in other countries, other areas of your money and that is true.

Ron Paul: Exceptionalism shouldn't mean using force around the world

The best way to get people to act more like us if we're doing a good job, is for us to have a sound economy, a sound dollar, treat people decently, have a foreign policy that makes common sense, treat people like we want to be treated, and then maybe they would want to emulate us and say "freedom does work and we ought to try it." But we can't force it on other people.

Tim Pawlenty: America's rightful place is not lagging behind China

If we bend, if we compromise, on this bedrock issue we are in danger of losing our edge. But there's a real concern that we're losing our edge already. Did you know that a recent survey asked Americans which country they thought would be the dominant country in the world in just twenty years? Guess what the answer was? China!

You know wha I say to that: No way! No how! Not the America we know. Not the America we love! America's rightful place is not lagging behind China. America's place is leading the world!

My friends, we need to restore American confidence, American optimism, and America's hope for the future. We need to restore the American Dream by restoring American common sense.