“I’m not prepared to make any endorsement today. You know, as I said before, I’m not a halfway kind of guy. If I feel like there’s someone in the field who gives us the best chance to defeat the president, I’ll endorse that person. I’ll work hard for that person. But I’m not in a position today to make that judgment.”
On former first lady Nancy Reagan:
“I had a great time with her last Tuesday at the Reagan Library. It was one of the great honors of my life to be invited by her and to speak there. And we had a great dinner together. Whatever conversation I had with Nancy Reagan’s between me and Nancy Reagan. And that’s why I think all the reporting about this has been a little bit careless. Because I know who was at the table that night.”
On whether he’s ready to be president or vice president:
“Well, listen, my view on that is that’s not even a relevant question anymore because I’ve made the decision not to run. And I made the decision not to run because I believe in my heart that this is where I belong, that I made a commitment here to the people of this state.”
“I’ve answered (questions) about vice president a bunch of times. And, you know, the fact is i don’t think there's anybody, you know, in America who would, you know, necessarily think my personality is best suited to being Number Two.”
On his weight:
“It's not a news flash to me that I'm overweight. You know? And so I saw Letterman’s Top Ten List. I thought probably eight out of the ten were really funny. … If one of the things they want to make fun of is my weight, then, you know, it’s fair game. I’m a public figure, so they can make fun of it. All I care about is they actually are funny, so I can at least laugh about it while they’re mocking me.
“ … The people who pretend to be serious commentators who wrote about this are among the most ignorant people I’ve ever heard in my life. To say that because you’re overweight, you are undisciplined, you know, I don’t think undisciplined people get to achieve great positions in our society. And so, you know, that kind of stuff is just ignorant and the people who wrote it are ignorant people. And, you know, at least comedians don’t pretend to be serious. Comedians, they’re comedians. That’s fine. Some of the people who wrote the stuff, in what pretend to be serious columns, they’re just jokes. What they do is, they further stigmatize people in a way that is really irrelevant to people’s ability to do a particular job. And so, you know, those are the people that we should really, you know, look down upon. Those folks. The comedians, they get paid to do that stuff and like I said, as long as they’re funny, what the hell do I care?”
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