Quotable: Romney's religion speech; links to national editorials, columns

"If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, it will be due in large measure to his splendid and moving defense of his faith and beliefs delivered today at the George Bush Presidential Library. The address was courageous in a way John F. Kennedy's speech to the Baptist ministers was not."

"If this costs me the presidency, said Romney, so be it. That is the kind of defiance this country can never hear enough of. What Romney was saying was: If you so dislike or resent my faith you will not vote for me if I stay true to it, don't vote for me. But that may say more about you than it does about me."

"This was a tour de force, and it was delivered before perhaps the largest audience Romney will have for any speech before the January caucuses and primaries. It will be the subject of editorials and columns in

"Inspiring the GOP: Romney offers his troubled party a vision" — Eleanor Clift, Newsweek (newsweek.com)

"If Romney gets the nomination, this is the moment that lifted him above the others and made him a plausible and pluralistic leader. ... For the first time in his richly endowed quest, he rose above the day-to-day jabs on the campaign trail to deliver a speech that inspires."

"It's ironic that Romney, arguably the most robotic of the candidates, is the one to give an inspirational speech that places religious thought in a broader social frame of activism."

"Editorial page writers can debate whether religion is essential to liberty and freedom, as Romney asserted, or whether he should have amended the line to include the freedom not to worship. Either way, Rush Limbaugh, the high priest of the right wing, seemed satisfied, playing and replaying sound bites from Romney's speech. In Republican politics that's an A-plus."

"Missed Opportunity: What Mitt Romney didn't say was more interesting than what he did" — Kenneth Woodward, Religion Editor, Newsweek (newsweek.com)