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Gov. Ray, Gov. Branstad, Congressman King, Congressman Latham, Ray,
Leon, you're the stalwarts of this party. As Craig mentioned I was
the president of the Cook County Republican Party or as I like to say,
a little bit like being the opposition leader to Saddam. [laughter].
I know what grassroots politics is like. I know Gov. Romney was just
with Mayor Daley. He's had a little problem lately actually.
He's had about 50 members of his administration either convicted or indicted
in the last couple of years. As a matter of fact in Chicago, Democrats
when they get together don't shake hands any more, they just pat each other
down. [laughter]
I like to talk about why I'm doing this crazy thing
by talking about my children. I have four daughters. I actually
have four daughters, a wife and a female dog, so I'm plugged into the feminine
mystique. Two of my daughters go to Loras College, as a matter of
fact, in Dubuque. Let's hear it for Dubuque. [applause].
Let's also hear it for the fact that in 30 days my little one graduates.
That's a good thing. [applause].
So I like to read to my daughters at night and if
you've heard this story before you know why I like to tell it. One
of my daughters, Stephanie, who's the one about to graduate, she looked
up to me and she said, Daddy, do all fairy tales begin with "once upon
a time." I said no, no sweetheart, no. There's a whole series
of fairy tales, begin with "if elected I promise--" [applause].
That's why I'm standing here before you today.
As Craig mentioned, I'm a grassroots activist. I'm one of the original
members of the Club for Growth. I believe in the Republican Party.
I believe in our principles. Unfortunately a whole bunch of people
that we worked for, sent to Washington, didn't keep to those principles.
They spent a lot of money, they expanded the size of government, and we
lost the majority.
I'm here to tell you that we can get the principles
of the Republican Party back into this party and we will win in 2008 if
we stick to our principles. [applause]. Twenty five years of
so ago somebody came out of the West. Ronald Reagan. He wasn't
the fair-haired boy of the political establishment. They didn't like
the fact that he ran against Gerald Ford in 1976. But he identified
that the Republican Party had lost its way in that time frame; he said
it's the right thing to do to point out where we can improve, and in 1980
he won a landslide victory because of activists and conservatives like
you here today. [applause].
So who am I to do this? I'm not a governor,
I'm not a Senator, I'm not a celebrity. I'm a businessman.
I'm a husband. I'm a father. I'm a Republican activist.
I'm an American. I'm the descendent of legal immigrants. [applause].
And I believe in this America. I believe in
the shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan promised us. We can
achieve this. I am here to tell you that we can do this again; we
only have to remember our principles. So I'm asking you to join my
effort. Join my effort to send a message to the media, send a message
to the political elites in Washington. We want principles back in
our government, we want true fiscal discipline, we want smaller more efficient
government in Washington, DC. [applause].
Let's send a message that we want the most efficient,
the best equipped and the best qualified military that we can have and
that we want victory in Iraq. [applause].
But I've got to tell you, I'm a fiscal conservative.
Iraq is sitting on 150 billion barrels of oil. I want the Iraqis
to start pumping that oil and I want the Iraqis to pay for their own security
and rebuilding. [applause]. What we forgot there is that you
can't have security without an economy. The unemployment rate
in Baghdad is 50 percent. Imagine what our cities would be like if
our unemployment rate were 50 percent. Let's get that oil pumping,
let's get that money in the hands of the Iraqis and let's get them away
from the influence of Al Quaeda. [applause].
At the same time we're talking about the security
of our country, and believe me the war in Iraq is all about the security
of our country, we also have to make sure that we, we respect the national
security that we have here, which means that we need to secure our borders
and enforce the immigration laws of this country. [applause].
I'm a small businessman. It's unfair competition if somebody opens
a business across the street from me and decides to employ undocumented
illegal labor at half the cost that I have to pay. That's not fair
competition. That is not a free market. [applause].
And when we're talking about markets, we're talking
about the growth of this economy. And I agree with Gov. Romney, we
have the most vibrant economy in the world, but we need to stay ahead of
the Chinese and the Indians. We're in a competitive world and we
can't compete with one arm tied behind our back.
I'm a CPA. I've worked with the tax system a
long time. As a matter of fact, I've got to go get some returns done
tonight. [scattered laughs]. We've put up with this tax system
long enough. The top domestic priority, the first thing I'm going
to do on January 20th, 2009, is introduce a bill for the Fair Tax.
Let's get rid of the IRS for once and for all. [applause].
We've lost jobs in America because we have a tax system that penalizes
domestic manufacturers and lets foreign manufacturers go off scott free.
Let me send you a message. We can't all work for casinos and prisons.
[laughter]. We've got to produce things in this country, and the
tax code needs to be changed.
We also have to make sure that we have the free market
in education and health care. Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson sent
their kids to private schools that they chose. What we ought to have
in this country is the opportunity for every single parent to choose a
good school for their child. [applause].
And as Gov. Romney said, we make sure that we uphold
our values. I'm the son of a single mother. My mom was a school
teacher on the South side of Chicago. So I know what kind of a bureaucracy
the education system is. But you know what, if abortion were legal
in 1955, I wouldn't be standing here today. I am proud to be pro-life
without exception. [applause]. Every child is worthy; every
life should be valued from conception to natural death and the Republican
Party needs to stand for that at every turn. I also grew up without
a father. I would have liked to have had a father, it might have
helped me, but I think every child deserves to have a mother and a father
and the institution of marriage should be preserved as one man and one
woman. We should not back down from that principle. [applause].
At the same time we need to respect every single right
that's enumerated in the Constitution. A lot of people before us
died so that that Constitution should live, which means we need to respect
the 2nd Amendment as well as our rights of habeas corpus. [applause].
And free speech is absolutely essential. The first thing I will do
as president, after the Fair Tax will be the work to get rid of McCain-Feingold
and its limits on free speech. [applause].
These are the ideas that will bring the Republican
Party back; these are the ideas that will lead this nation forward.
I'm not running for president to get a job. I'm not running for president
because of my ego. I'm not running for president because I want to
be away from my beautiful wife and my 2-year old baby. Yes I have
a 2-year old baby. I've only been mistaken for the grandfather five
times. [laughter].
I'm doing this because this country needs a good dose of Reagan Revolution all over again. Movement conservatives elected Ronald Reagan twice to landslide victories. I am here to tell you that we, the people in this room, can do it once more and I will not rest until we have a Republican, a conservative Republican, in the White House in 2008. Thank you and God Bless America. [applause].
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Time: 10:23