We've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong.

The foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam [Hussein] had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars.

People intuitively know that trade is good for our country. We just have to get the right trade agreements.

You cannot build a little guy up by tearing a big guy down. Abraham Lincoln said it...

Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up.

People are beginning to understand my vision and my message because finally people are beginning to allow me to be heard.

I'm not a big guy that believes that you gain energy from demonizing other people. I think you gain energy from giving people hope.