Mitt Romney made a truly great speech today at CPAC. It left us wondering, where was that guy throughout the primary campaign? But he sure ended well, and definitely left open the possibility of another run in four or eight years.

Mr. Romney could have fought on right to the convention, hammering away at John McCain all the way. Instead, he chose to put his party, and more importantly, his country ahead of his own ambition. We salute Mr. Romney for his character, honor, and patriotism.

The section of his speech about defending the culture was stirring and important. This bit was particularly good:

The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960’s welfare programs created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that battle when we reformed welfare, but the liberals haven’t given up. At every turn, they try to substitute government largesse for individual responsibility. They fight to strip work requirements from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and to remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing drug -- we have got to fight it like the poison it is!

The attack on faith and religion is no less relentless. And tolerance for pornography -- even celebration of it -- and sexual promiscuity, combined with the twisted incentives of government welfare programs have led to today’s grim realities: 68% of African American children are born out-of-wedlock, 45% of Hispanic children, and 25% of White children. How much harder it is for these children to succeed in school -- and in life. A nation built on the principles of the founding fathers cannot long stand when its children are raised without fathers in the home.