"[Obama] will be very good at that point at pretending to be the commander-in-chief. We have to have a Republican who will be able to look him in the eye and beat him in that debate. You can have lots of people writing talking points for you, and you can have lots of people writing posts on your website, but, out there, it's one on one. And if we're not prepared to win that debate-we're gonna be in trouble."

"I've heard over and over that people don't vote on the basis of foreign policy."

"[On the Tea Party movement] I like it because their view of government is essentially the same as mine, and I like it because they're regular people who, but for the shock of Obama's radicalism, probably would not have gotten active in politics."

"What's needed in this next campaign is to say, with clarity, why a pro-individual-liberty, small-government perspective is what most Americans really want."

"I'm against abortion as a form of birth control, and I basically hold to the Reagan position."

"[On entitlements] I think we've got to go after them root and branch...if we're ever gonna do it, this is the time to do it."

"There is no United Nations. There is a international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world (that's the United States) when it suits our interest, and when we can get others to go along.""

"There were a lot of people who were Reaganauts going in, as there are always people who are conservatives going in. But they don't act like conservatives after they get there. There is skill to maneuvering the bureaucracy. And I think one argument I could make would be, I've never run for office, I'm not a conventional politician, that's for sure, but I have been in government, and I know how it works. I have actually gotten things done in the government."

"Individual liberty is the whole purpose of political life, and I thought it was threatened then [in 1964 becoming politically engaged at age 15] and I think it's threatened now."

"Pakistan is the only government consisting simultaneously of arsonists and firefighters."

"The critical oil and natural gas producing region that we fought so many wars to try and protect our economy from the adverse impact of losing that supply or having it available only at very high prices."

"The only thing that will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons is regime change in Tehran."