2012 V.P. Debate: on Foreign Policy


Paul Ryan: Apologize for bad acts, but don't apologize for our values

Q: The Romney campaign talks a lot about no apologies. He has a book called "No Apology." Should the US have apologized for Americans burning Qurans in Afghanistan? Should the US apologize for US Marines urinating on Taliban corpses?

RYAN: Oh, gosh, yes. What we should not be apologizing for are standing up for our values. What we should not be doing is saying to the Egyptian people, while Mubarak is cracking down on them, that he's a good guy and then the next week say he ought to go.

Source: 2012 Vice Presidential debate Oct 11, 2012

Paul Ryan: Equivocating makes our enemies more likely to attack us

RYAN: We should have spoken out right away when the Green Revolution was up and starting, when the mullahs in Iran were attacking their people. We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people. We should always stand up for peace, for democracy, for individual rights, and we should not be imposing these devastating defense cuts, because what that does when we equivocate on our values, when we show that we're cutting our own defense, it makes us more weak. It projects weakness, and when we look weak, our adversaries are much more willing to test us, they're more brazen in their attacks.

BIDEN: With all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey.

Source: 2012 Vice Presidential debate Oct 11, 2012

  • The above quotations are from 2012 Vice Presidential Debate
    Rep. Paul Ryan (R) vs. V.P. Joe Biden (D)
    Oct. 11, 2012.
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