I'm not going to say to Putin that he'll get more flexibility after the election. After the election he'll get more backbone.

You know, that's the very least that the American voters can expect is that when you're running for President that you outline what you would do and what you would do differently from this - from the President of the United States.

We have serious enemies and growing threats around the world. Unfortunately, we have an administration whose idea of a rogue state is Arizona.

Let's take energy, for instance. I understand that in some industries, the input cost of energy is a major factor in whether an industry is going to locate in the United States or go elsewhere. So, when, at Bain Capital, we started a new steel company called Steel Dynamics in Indiana, the cost of energy was a very important factor to the success of that enterprise.

If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won't go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed. Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course - the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

You look at that Democratic debate. I had to laugh at what I saw Barack Obama do. I mean, in one week, he went from saying he is going to sit down for tea with our enemies, but then he's going to bomb our allies. I mean, he's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week.

Dependency is death to initiative, to risk-taking and opportunity. It's time to stop the spread of government dependency and fight it like the poison it is.