JOHNSTOWN - Reciting stanzas from "American the Beautiful," GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney rallied hundreds of supporters in Johnstown Tuesday morning ahead of the Colorado's GOP caucuses.
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Accusing Obama of waging a war on religion, appeasing enemies, weakening the military and destroying the economy, Romney told his supporters that Obama believes that America's greatness comes from government, not from its people.
The rally, at RV America in Johnstown, started about an hour late due to weather delays. When he arrived in his campaign bus which pulled up to the stage inside the RV dealership, Romney urged supporters not to be late to Tuesday's caucuses.
Then, he broke into a litany of complaints about Obama.
"This is a failed presidency," Romney said, urging the crowd to vote for someone who can reduce the unemployment rate to below 8 percent.
"Do you think 'Obamacare' has made it more likely for businesses to want to hire people?" he said.
"No!" the crowd responded.
Romney said Obama has made the economy worse, even though he inherited the economic turmoil.
"This is a president who has put in place the most anti-jobs, anti-business, anti-growth agenda, well, since Jimmy Carter," Romney said.
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Romney pledged to cut government spending and balance the budget. He said Obama bas allowed Naval ship building to drop to its lowest level since 1917, and is ravaging the military with cuts. Romney said he'd reverse those cuts.
Obama is guilty of an ""assault on religion" by requiring Catholic schools to provide contraceptives and "abortion pills" to employees, Romney said.
Before Romney took the stage former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez railed against liberals and said that Romney's ascendance in his liberal-bastion home state of Massachusetts shows his leadership in the "real world."
"He was in the real world," Beauprez said. "He had a job. He created jobs."
But Beauprez said what sold him on Romney "is who he is, who is beautiful wife is," adding that both Romney and his wife being who they are illustrates the quality of their character.
If Romney were his neighbor, Beauprez said, "I'd want him to be my very best friend. Id' sure want him to be my president of the United States."
The Romney faithful gushed about the candidate.
"He's honest, he looks presidential and he makes the right decisions," said supporter Bill Kieger of Loveland. "I feel like I can trust him to do the right thing for our country."
Lynn Johnston of Fort Collins said she believes Romney is the better candidate to beat President Obama in November because he "has new ideas."
"I think Newt Gingrich is old hat," she said of the candidate, who resigned from the U.S House of Representatives in 1998. "He's been in Congress too long. I don't like his background."
She said Obama is putting the country down a "scary" path, and Romney is best equipped to beat him.
Ken Kozar of Lyons said Romney's statements about Obama's "assault on religion" is a "major concern" for him.
"I don't like the government rewarding bad behavior," Kozar said.
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