Romney: I’d Hate To Lose Ryan as a W.H. Contender Because He Runs for Speaker

TAPPER: “This week you said that you'd like to see your former running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, to one day be President. Does that ambition that you have for him make you think that Speaker of the House would not be a good job for him to take?”

ROMNEY: “Well, you know, it's really a tough decision for him and I'm sure a personal decision. From my own standpoint I see Paul as one of the people coming along that has the potential to lead our country. And if he became Speaker of the House in the near term, that's also a crucial role. We, we need Paul in two spots at once and I -- you know, there haven't been a lot of people that have gone on from Speaker to the White House, so I'd hate to lose him as a potential contender down the road for the White House, but I -- he is such, a man of such talent and such integrity and such character that he's a real resource for the country. So whether it's now for the speakership or whether instead we see him hold on and ultimately become potentially a candidate for president, I don't know. It's his decision, but I'm just glad to know him and to know we have him in our quiver.”

TAPPER: “It sounds like you're coming out in favor of cloning Paul Ryan of whatever the biomethical ethics of that are, I'm not really quite sure, but is it –“

ROMNEY: “I wish -- I wish we could. I mean, you know, I think the reason he has such respect, is because this is a guy who has laid out what he believes. He's a policy wonk. He is an advocate of the policies of Jack Kemp, and people respect who he is.”

TAPPER: “But there are people in the Freedom caucus who think -- who think he's too liberal. I mean that's where this debate in Congress right now that has felled Boehner and McCarthy has gone, people thinking Paul Ryan is too much of a squish.”

ROMNEY: “Well, you know, the challenge in our party is not so much that people have differing views on issues, as much as people have differing views about how to get those issues implemented. There are some in our party who think the best approach is throwing bombs. The problem with bomb throwing so far is that most of the bombs have landed on our own team. That doesn't help.There are others who think, look, the best approach is to see if we can't find common ground with the people across the aisle. And that's been the approach in our party. We have Paul Ryan for instance that's willing to work with Democrats, I think that's a productive thing. I confess that with Hillary Clinton, who the other night said that Republicans are here enemies, it's like, gosh, that's not the approach for a president in the White House. I mean I thought she might have talked about ISIS being her enemies or people who are chanting death to America, but instead she said Republicans are her enemies. Paul Ryan doesn't think that way, and I frankly think that we need leadership in Washington that's willing to work across the aisle.”