Friday, August 31, 2012

Transcript of Clint Eastwood speech at RNC | Fox News

Transcript of Clint Eastwood speech at RNC

Published August 30, 2012

FoxNews.com

The following is a transcript of actor Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 30, 2012.

EASTWOOD: Thank you very much.   Thank you. Thank you very much. Save a little for Mitt.
   I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what's a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin. At least that is what people think. That is not really the case. There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest.
They do not go around hot dogging it.
   So -- but they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw John Voigt, a lot of people around.
   John's here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us.
   So I -- so I've got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he's -- I was going to ask him a couple of questions. But -- you know about -- I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I was not a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were
talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles.
   They were saying, I just thought, this was great.
Everybody is trying, Oprah was crying.
I was even crying. And then finally -- and I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there is 23 million
unemployed people in this country.
   Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven't done enough, obviously -- this administration hasn't done enough to cure that. Whenever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

   So, Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them?
   I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just -- you know -- I know -- people were wondering -- you don't -- handle that OK.
Well, I know even people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn't close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo -- why close that, we spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an
excuse -- what do you mean shut up?
   OK, I thought maybe it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City.
   I've got to to hand it to you. I have to give credit where credit is due. You did finally overrule that finally. And that's -- now we are moving onward. I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that's okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK.
You know, I mean -- you thought that was something worth doing. We didn't check with the Russians to see how did it -- they did there for 10 years.
   But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think that, when we get to maybe -- I think you've mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question, you know, he says, ``Why are you giving the date out now?
Why don't you just bring them home tomorrow morning?''
   And I thought -- I thought, yeah -- I am not going to shut up, it is my turn.
   So anyway, we're going to have -- we're going to have to have a little chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises -- I wondered about when the -- what do you want me to tell Romney? I
can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself.
   You're crazy, you're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden.
   Of course we all now Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party.
   Kind of a grin with a body behind it.
   But I just think that there is so much to be done, and I think                                                                   that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can come along.
See, I
never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to the president,
anyway.
   I think attorneys are so busy -- you know they're always
taught
to argue everything, and always weight everything -- weigh both
sides...
   XXX I think attorneys are so busy -- you know they're
always taught to argue everything, always weigh everything,
weigh both sides.
   EASTWOOD: They are always devil's advocating this and
bifurcating this and bifurcating that. You know all that stuff.
But, I think it is maybe time -- what do you think -- for maybe
a businessman. How about that?
   A stellar businessman. Quote, unquote, ``a stellar
businessman.''
   And I think it's that time. And I think if you just step
aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still
use a plane.
   Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you
are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and
stuff like that.
   You are an -- an ecological man. Why would you want to
drive that around?
   OK, well anyway. All right, I'm sorry. I can't do that to
myself either.
   I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen.
Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we
-- we own this country.
   We -- we own it. It is not you owning it, and not
politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.
   And -- so -- they are just going to come around and beg
for votes every few years. It is the same old deal. But I just
think it is important that you realize , that you're the best in
the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether
you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should
not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we
got to let them go.
   Okay, just remember that. And I'm speaking out for
everybody out there. It doesn't hurt, we don't have to be
   I do not say that word anymore. Well, maybe one last time.
   We don't have to be -- what I'm saying, we do not have to
be mental masochists and vote for somebody that we don't
really even want in office just because they seem to be nice
guys or maybe not so nice guys, if you look at some of the
recent ads going out there, I don't know.
   But OK. You want to make my day?
   All right. I started, you finish it. Go ahead.
   AUDIENCE: Make my day!
   EASTWOOD: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Transcript of Marco Rubio's speech at the RNC | Fox News

Transcript of Marco Rubio's speech at the RNC

Published August 30, 2012

FoxNews.com

The following is a transcript of Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio's speech at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 30, 2012.

RUBIO: Thank you.
   Thank you. Thank you.
   I think I just drank Clint Eastwood's water. Thank you.
   Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me here
today and thank you so much for doing this convention here in
Florida. Before I begin --
   Thank you.
   Before I begin this is such an important night for my
country .
Thank you so mucch -- thank you so much for having
me here today, and thank you so much for doing this convention
here in Florida.
   You know, before I begin -- yes, thank you -- before I
being, this is such an important night for my country. I want
to begin -- with your permission -- 80 seconds, to talk about
another country. A country located just a few hundred miles
away from this city, the country of my parents birth.
   There is no freedom or liberty in Cuba, and tonight, I ask
for your prayers that soon freedom and liberty will be there as
well.

It -- this is a big honor for me. Not so long ago I was
just a underdog candidate. The only people who thought I could
win all live in my house.
   Four of them were under the age of 10.
   But this is incredible when I was asked to introduce
Governor Romney, who will hear from in just a moment, he is
backstage, ready to go.
   So, I called a few people, and asked them, ``What should I
say?'' And they had a lot of different opinions, but the one
thing they all said was, ``Don't mess it up.'' So, I thought the
best way to introduce Mitt Romney tonight, the next president of
the United States...
   ... is to talk about what this election is about. And I'm
so honored to do this here in Florida at the Republican national
convention in front of all you patriots.
   I watched my first convention in 1980 with my grandfather.
My grandfather was born to a farming family in rural Cuba.
Childhood polio left him permanently disabled. Because he
couldn't work the farm, his family sent him to school. He was
the only one in his family that knew how to read. He was a huge
influence on the growing up. As a boy, I sat on the porch of my
house and listen to his stories about history and politics and
baseball, as he would talk on one of its three daily (inaudible)
cigars. Now, I don't remember, it has been three decades since
we last sat on that porch. I don't rember all the things he
talked to me about. But the one thing I rember is the one thing
he wanted me never to forget. That the dreams he had when he
was young became impossible to achieve . But there was no limit
to how far I could go, because I was an American.
   Now for those of us -- here's why I say that -- here's why
I say that. Because for those of us who were born and raised in
this country, sometimes it becomes easy to forget how special
America is. But my grandfather understood how different America
was from the rest of the world because he knew life outside
America.
   Tonight, you will hear from another man who understands
what makes America exceptional.
   Mitt Romney knows America's prosperity did not happen
because our government simply spent more money. It happened
because our people use their own money to open a business. And
when they succeed, they hire more people, who invest or spend
their money in the economy, helping others start a business or
create jobs.
   Now tonight, we have heard for a long time now about Mitt
Romney's success in business. It is well known. But we've also
learned he is so much more than that. Mitt Romney is a devoted
husband, a father, a grandfather, a generous member of his
community and church, a role model for younger Americans like
myself. Everywhere he has been, he has volunteered his time and
talent to make things better for those around him. And we are
blessed that a man like this will soon be the president of these
United States.
   Now, let me be clear so that no one misunderstands. Our
problem with President Obama is not he is a bad person. By all
accounts, he too is a good husband, a good father, and thanks to
lots of practice, a good golfer.
   Our problem is not that he is a bad person. Our problem is
that he is a bad president.
   Do you think he's watching tonight? Because his new slogan
is the word, forward. Forward. A government that spends $1
trillion more than it takes in? An $800 billion stimulus that
treated more debt than jobs? A government intervention into
healthcare paid for with higher taxes and cuts to Medicare,
scores of new rules and regulations. These ideas to not move us
forward. These ideas move us backwards.
   These are tired and old big government ideas that have
failed every time and everywhere they have been tried. These
are ideas that people come to America to get away from.
   These -- these are ideas that threaten to make America more
like the rest of the world instead of helping the rest of the
world become more like America.
   As for his old slogan, under Barack Obama, the only change
is that hope is hard to find.
   Now, sadly, millions of Americans are insecure about their
future. Instead of inspiring us by reminding us of what makes a
special, he divides us against each other.
   He tells Americans that they're worse off because others
are better off, that richer people got rich by making other
people poor. Hope and change has become divide and conquer.
   But in the end of this election, it doesn't matter how you
feel about President Obama. This election is about your future,
not about his.
   And -- and this election is not simply a choice between a
Democrat and Republican. It is a choice about what kind of
country you want America to be.
   And as we prepare to make this choice, we should remember
what made a special. -- remember what made us special . You
see, for most of our human history, almost everybody was poor.
Power and wealth only belonged to a few. Your rights are
whatever your rulers allowed you to have, your future was
determined by your past. If your parents were poor, so would
you be. If you were born without opportunities, so were your
children.
   But America was founded on the idea that every person has
God given rights.
   Founded on the belief that power belongs to the people,
that government exists to protect our rights and serve our
interests, and that no one should be trapped in the
circumstances of their birth. We should be free to go as far as
our talents and our work can take us.
   And we're special -- we're special because we are united --
we're united not as a common race or ethnicity, we are bound
together by common values. The family is the most important
institution in society.
   And that almighty God is the source of all we have.
   We are special. We are special because we have never made
the mistake of believing we are so smart that we can rely solely
on our leaders or on our government. Our national motto, ``in
God we trust'', reminding us that faith in our creator is the
most important American value of them all.
   And we are special -- we're special because we've always
understood the scriptural admonition, that for everyone to whom
much is given, from him much will be required.
   Well, my fellow Americans, we are a uniquely blessed
people, and we have honored those blessings with the enduring
example of an exceptional America.
   I know for many of you watching at home tonight, the last
few years have tested your faith in the promise of America.
Maybe you are at an age when you thought you would be entering
retirement, but now because your savings and investments are
wiped out your future is uncertain.
   Maybe after years of hard work this was the time you
expected to be your prime earnings years, but instead, you've
been laid off and your house is worth less than your mortgage.
   Maybe you did everything you were told to do to get ahead.
You studied hard and finished school, but now you owe thousands
of dollars in student loans, you can't find a job in your field,
and you've had to move back in with your parents. You want to
believe we're still that special place where anything is
possible. You just do not seem -- things not seen to be getting
any better, and you wonder if things will ever be the same
again.
   Yes, we live in a troubled time, but the story of those who
came before us reminds us that America has always been about new
beginnings, and Mitt Romney is running for president because he
knows, if we are willing to do for our children what our parents
did for us, life in America can be better than it has ever been.
   My mother was one of seven girls who parents often went to
bed hungry so their children wouldn't. My father lost his
mother when he was nine. He had to leave school and to go to
work, and he would work for the next 70 years of his life. They
immigrated to America with little more than the hope of a better
life. My dad was a bartender. My mom was a cashier, a hotel
maid, a stock clerk at Kmart. They never made it big. They
were never rich, and yet they were successful, because just a
few decades removed from hopelessness, they made possible for us
all the things that have been impossible for them.
   Many nights growing up I would hear my father's keys at the
door as he came home after another 16-hour day. Many mornings,
I woke up just as my mother got home from the overnight shift at
Kmart. When you're young and in a hurry, the meaning of moments
like this escape you. Now, as my children get older, I
understand it better. My dad used to tell us -- (SPEAKING IN
SPANISH) -- in this country, you'll be able to accomplish all
the things we never could.
   A few years ago, I noticed a bartender behind the portable
bar in the back of the ballroom. I remembered my father, who
worked as many years as a banquet bartender. He was grateful
for the work he had, but that's not like he wanted for us. You
see, he stood behind the ball all those years so that one day I
could stand behind a podium, in the front of a room.
   That journey -- that journey, from behind that bar to
behind this podium, goes to the essence of the American miracle.
That we're exceptional, not because we have more rich people
here. We are special because dreams that are impossible
anywhere else, they come true here.
   But that is not just my story. That's your story. That's
our story. That's the story of your mothers, who struggled to
give you what they never had. That's the story of your father
who worked two jobs so that the doors that had been closed to
them will be open for you. That's the story of that teacher or
that coach who taught the lessons that may do for you are today.
And it's the story of a man who was born into an uncertain
story in a foreign country, whose family came to escape
revolution. They struggled through poverty and the Great
Depression, and yet he rose to be an admired businessman and
public servant. And in November, his son Mitt Romney, will be
elected president of these United States.
   In America, we are all just a generation or two removed
from somebody who made our future the purpose of their lives.
   RUBIO: America is the story of everyday people who did
extraordinary things, a story woven deep into the fabric of our
society. Their stories may never be famous, but in the lives
they lived, you will find the essence of America's greatness.
   And to make sure that America is still a place where
tomorrow is always better than yesterday, that is what our
politics should be about. And that is what we are deciding in
this election.
   We decide, do we want our children to inherit our hopes and
dreams? Or do we want to inherit our problems? Because if Mitt
Romney believes, if we succeed in changing the direction of our
country, our children and grandchildren will be the most
prosperous generation ever, and their achievements will astonish
the world.
   The story of our time will be written by Americans who
haven't yet even been born. Let us make sure the right that we
did our part. That, in the early years of this new century, we
lived in an uncertain time, but we did not allow fear to make us
abandon what made us special.
   We chose more government instead of more freedom. We chose
the principles of our founding to solve the challenges of our
time. We chose a special man to lead us In a special time. We
chose Mitt Romney to lead our nation and, because we did, the
American miracle lived on for another generation to inherit.
   My fellow Republicans, my fellow Americans, I am proud to
introduce to you, the next president of the united states of
America, Mitt Romney.

'Drink Less, Work More', Billionaire Tells Non-Rich - Yahoo! Finance

'Drink Less, Work More', Billionaire Tells Non-Rich

By Robert Frank | CNBC – Thu, Aug 30, 2012 11:26 AM EDT

@cnbc on Twitter

Gina Rinehart seems to court controversy - from her family lawsuits to her battles with Australian media.

Gina RinehartNow, the Australian mining heiress, worth $19 billion and earlier this year thought to be the world's richest woman, has sparked another controversy in her latest column in Australian Resources and Investment magazine. (Yes, I am a registered reader online.) Rinehart rails against class warfare and says the non-rich should stop attacking the rich and go to work.

"There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working."
The comments were part of a treatise on what she sees as Australia's decline due to high taxes, high wages and over-regulation. Rinehart said taxes should fall, red tape should be cut, environmental rules relaxed and the minimum wage should be lowered. (It's currently AUS $15.06 an hour or $606 a week, about the same in U.S. dollars). (Read more: Millionaire Parents Say Kids Aren't Fit to Inherit)

Her quotes are sure to escalate the already heated debate in the United States, Britain and Europe over class warfare, taxing the wealthy and "fair shares."
Rinehart's remarks drew immediate fire from senior Australian ministers. Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement that Rinehart had delivered "an insult to the millions of Australian workers who go to work and slog it out to feed the kids and pay the bills."
But Rinehart warned that when governments target the rich, they really hurt the middle and lower classes.
"The terrible millionaires and billionaires can often invest in other countries. And if they do suffer, what does that really mean? Maybe their teenagers don't get the cars they wanted or a better beach house or maybe the holiday to Europe is cut short; But otherwise life goes on for these millionaires and billionaires."
Those who really suffer from anti-business and anti-investor policies are regular workers who "usually vote for the anti-business socialist parties," she writes. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."
She also tells the stories of her two grandfathers and three of her wealthy friends, who all started at the bottom and worked their way to the top. One grandfather, James Nicholas, started cleaning stables and launched a transportation company. Another granddad built a sheep station with 25,000 sheep.
Her pal Michael Kailis came from a poor Greek immigrant family and became Australia's crawfish king. Friend Jack Cowin borrowed from friends to found the Hungry Jack burger chain, and is now the country's "king of fries." (Read more: The Lack of Women Billionaires)
"The lessons are the same," she writes. "You can't get rich without working hard, taking risks, investing and reinvesting your profits."
Of course, as Rinehart knows, you can also become very rich from inheriting and expanding your father's company.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

TRANSCRIPT: Mitt Romney’s Remarks From the RNC | Fox News Insider

TRANSCRIPT: Mitt Romney’s Remarks From the RNC

Romney’s Remarks From the RNC

by Fox News Insider

“Mr. Chairman and delegates. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.
I do so with humility, deeply moved by the trust you have placed in me. It is a great honor. It is an even greater responsibility.
Tonight I am asking you to join me to walk together to a better future. By my side, I have chosen a man with a big heart from a small town. He represents the best of America, a man who will always make us proud – my friend and America’s next Vice President, Paul Ryan.
In the days ahead, you will get to know Paul and Janna better. But last night America got to see what I saw in Paul Ryan – a strong and caring leader who is down to earth and confident in the challenge this moment demands.
I love the way he lights up around his kids and how he’s not embarrassed to show the world how much he loves his mom.
But Paul, I still like the playlist on my iPod better than yours.
Four years ago, I know that many Americans felt a fresh excitement about the possibilities of a new president. That president was not the choice of our party but Americans always come together after elections. We are a good and generous people who are united by so much more than what divides us.
When that hard fought election was over, when the yard signs came down and the television commercials finally came off the air, Americans were eager to go back to work, to live our lives the way Americans always have – optimistic and positive and confident in the future.
That very optimism is uniquely American.
It is what brought us to America. We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life, the driven ones, the ones who woke up at night hearing that voice telling them that life in that place called America could be better.
They came not just in pursuit of the riches of this world but for the richness of this life.
Freedom.
Freedom of religion.
Freedom to speak their mind.
Freedom to build a life.
And yes, freedom to build a business. With their own hands.
This is the essence of the American experience.
We Americans have always felt a special kinship with the future.
When every new wave of immigrants looked up and saw the Statue of Liberty, or knelt down and kissed the shores of freedom just ninety miles from Castro’s tyranny, these new Americans surely had many questions. But none doubted that here in America they could build a better life, that in America their children would be more blessed than they.
But today, four years from the excitement of the last election, for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future.
It is not what we were promised.
Every family in America wanted this to be a time when they could get ahead a little more, put aside a little more for college, do more for their elderly mom who’s living alone now or give a little more to their church or charity.
Every small business wanted these to be their best years ever, when they could hire more, do more for those who had stuck with them through the hard times, open a new store or sponsor that Little League team.
Every new college graduate thought they’d have a good job by now, a place of their own, and that they could start paying back some of their loans and build for the future.
This is when our nation was supposed to start paying down the national debt and rolling back those massive deficits.
This was the hope and change America voted for.
It’s not just what we wanted. It’s not just what we expected.
It’s what Americans deserved.
You deserved it because during these years, you worked harder than ever before. You deserved it because when it cost more to fill up your car, you cut out movie nights and put in longer hours. Or when you lost that job that paid $22.50 an hour with benefits, you took two jobs at 9 bucks an hour and fewer benefits. You did it because your family depended on you. You did it because you’re an American and you don’t quit. You did it because it was what you had to do.
But driving home late from that second job, or standing there watching the gas pump hit 50 dollars and still going, when the realtor told you that to sell your house you’d have to take a big loss, in those moments you knew that this just wasn’t right.
But what could you do? Except work harder, do with less, try to stay optimistic. Hug your kids a little longer; maybe spend a little more time praying that tomorrow would be a better day.
I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division. This isn’t something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we CAN do something. With your help we will do something.
Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, “I’m an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better. My country deserves better!”
So here we stand. Americans have a choice. A decision.
To make that choice, you need to know more about me and about where I will lead our country.
I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country, a classic baby boomer. It was a time when Americans were returning from war and eager to work. To be an American was to assume that all things were possible. When President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon, the question wasn’t whether we’d get there, it was only when we’d get there.
The soles of Neil Armstrong’s boots on the moon made permanent impressions on OUR souls and in our national psyche. Ann and I watched those steps together on her parent’s sofa. Like all Americans we went to bed that night knowing we lived in the greatest country in the history of the world.
God bless Neil Armstrong.
Tonight that American flag is still there on the moon. And I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us: that unique blend of optimism, humility and the utter confidence that when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an American.
That’s how I was brought up.
My dad had been born in Mexico and his family had to leave during the Mexican revolution. I grew up with stories of his family being fed by the US Government as war refugees. My dad never made it through college and apprenticed as a lath and plaster carpenter. And he had big dreams. He convinced my mom, a beautiful young actress, to give up Hollywood to marry him. He moved to Detroit, led a great automobile company and became Governor of the Great State of Michigan.
We were Mormons and growing up in Michigan; that might have seemed unusual or out of place but I really don’t remember it that way. My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to.
My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all – the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would BE, and much less about what we would DO.
Unconditional love is a gift that Ann and I have tried to pass on to our sons and now to our grandchildren. All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family – and God’s love — this world would be a far more gentle and better place.
Mom and Dad were married 64 years. And if you wondered what their secret was, you could have asked the local florist – because every day Dad gave Mom a rose, which he put on her bedside table. That’s how she found out what happened on the day my father died – she went looking for him because that morning, there was no rose.
My mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example. When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice, “Why should women have any less say than men, about the great decisions facing our nation?”
I wish she could have been here at the convention and heard leaders like Governor Mary Fallin, Governor Nikki Haley, Governor Susana Martinez, Senator Kelly Ayotte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
As Governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman Lt. Governor, a woman chief of staff, half of my cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies.I grew up in Detroit in love with cars and wanted to be a car guy, like my dad. But by the time I was out of school, I realized that I had to go out on my own, that if I stayed around Michigan in the same business, I’d never really know if I was getting a break because of my dad. I wanted to go someplace new and prove myself.
Those weren’t the easiest of days – too many long hours and weekends working, five young sons who seemed to have this need to re-enact a different world war every night. But if you ask Ann and I what we’d give, to break up just one more fight between the boys, or wake up in the morning and discover a pile of kids asleep in our room. Well, every mom and dad knows the answer to that.
Those days were toughest on Ann, of course. She was heroic. Five boys, with our families a long way away. I had to travel a lot for my job then and I’d call and try to offer support. But every mom knows that doesn’t help get the homework done or the kids out the door to school.
I knew that her job as a mom was harder than mine. And I knew without question, that her job as a mom was a lot more important than mine. And as America saw Tuesday night, Ann would have succeeded at anything she wanted to.
Like a lot of families in a new place with no family, we found kinship with a wide circle of friends through our church. When we were new to the community it was welcoming and as the years went by, it was a joy to help others who had just moved to town or just joined our church. We had remarkably vibrant and diverse congregants from all walks of life and many who were new to America. We prayed together, our kids played together and we always stood ready to help each other out in different ways.
And that’s how it is in America. We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad. It is both how we live our lives and why we live our lives. The strength and power and goodness of America has always been based on the strength and power and goodness of our communities, our families, our faiths.
That is the bedrock of what makes America, America. In our best days, we can feel the vibrancy of America’s communities, large and small.
It’s when we see that new business opening up downtown. It’s when we go to work in the morning and see everybody else on our block doing the same.
It’s when our son or daughter calls from college to talk about which job offer they should take….and you try not to choke up when you hear that the one they like is not far from home.
It’s that good feeling when you have more time to volunteer to coach your kid’s soccer team, or help out on school trips.
But for too many Americans, these good days are harder to come by. How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America?
Many of you felt that way on Election Day four years ago. Hope and Change had a powerful appeal. But tonight I’d ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama? You know there’s something wrong with the kind of job he’s done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.
The President hasn’t disappointed you because he wanted to. The President has disappointed America because he hasn’t led America in the right direction. He took office without the basic qualification that most Americans have and one that was essential to his task. He had almost no experience working in a business. Jobs to him are about government.
I learned the real lessons about how America works from experience.
When I was 37, I helped start a small company. My partners and I had been working for a company that was in the business of helping other businesses.
So some of us had this idea that if we really believed our advice was helping companies, we should invest in companies. We should bet on ourselves and on our advice.
So we started a new business called Bain Capital. The only problem was, while WE believed in ourselves, nobody else did. We were young and had never done this before and we almost didn’t get off the ground. In those days, sometimes I wondered if I had made a really big mistake. I had thought about asking my church’s pension fund to invest, but I didn’t. I figured it was bad enough that I might lose my investors’ money, but I didn’t want to go to hell too. Shows what I know. Another of my partners got the Episcopal Church pension fund to invest. Today there are a lot of happy retired priests who should thank him.
That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know. An office supply company called Staples – where I’m pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping; The Sports Authority, which became a favorite of my sons. We started an early childhood learning center called Bright Horizons that First Lady Michelle Obama rightly praised. At a time when nobody thought we’d ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a corn field in Indiana. Today Steel Dynamics is one of the largest steel producers in the United States.
These are American success stories. And yet the centerpiece of the President’s entire re-election campaign is attacking success. Is it any wonder that someone who attacks success has led the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression? In America, we celebrate success, we don’t apologize for it.
We weren’t always successful at Bain. But no one ever is in the real world of business.
That’s what this President doesn’t seem to understand. Business and growing jobs is about taking risk, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always striving. It is about dreams. Usually, it doesn’t work out exactly as you might have imagined. Steve Jobs was fired at Apple. He came back and changed the world.
It’s the genius of the American free enterprise system – to harness the extraordinary creativity and talent and industry of the American people with a system that is dedicated to creating tomorrow’s prosperity rather than trying to redistribute today’s.
That is why every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction: “you are better off today than you were four years ago.”
Except Jimmy Carter. And except this president.
This president can ask us to be patient.
This president can tell us it was someone else’s fault.
This president can tell us that the next four years he’ll get it right.
But this president cannot tell us that YOU are better off today than when he took office.
America has been patient. Americans have supported this president in good faith.
But today, the time has come to turn the page.
Today the time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us.
To put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations.
To forget about what might have been and to look ahead to what can be.
Now is the time to restore the Promise of America. Many Americans have given up on this president but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America.
What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell us what America needs.
What America needs is jobs.
Lots of jobs.
In the richest country in the history of the world, this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000, but health insurance premiums are higher, food prices are higher, utility bills are higher, and gasoline prices have doubled. Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before. Nearly one out of six Americans is living in poverty. Look around you. These are not strangers. These are our brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans.
His policies have not helped create jobs, they have depressed them. And this I can tell you about where President Obama would take America:
His plan to raise taxes on small business won’t add jobs, it will eliminate them;
His assault on coal and gas and oil will send energy and manufacturing jobs to China;
His trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and also put our security at greater risk;
His $716 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obamacare will both hurt today’s seniors, and depress innovation – and jobs – in medicine.
And his trillion-dollar deficits will slow our economy, restrain employment, and cause wages to stall.
To the majority of Americans who now believe that the future will not be better than the past, I can guarantee you this: if Barack Obama is re-elected, you will be right.
I am running for president to help create a better future. A future where everyone who wants a job can find one. Where no senior fears for the security of their retirement. An America where every parent knows that their child will get an education that leads them to a good job and a bright horizon.
And unlike the President, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. It has 5 steps.
First, by 2020, North America will be energy independent by taking full advantage of our oil and coal and gas and nuclear and renewables.
Second, we will give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow. When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance.
Third, we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements. And when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences.
Fourth, to assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments in America will not vanish as have those in Greece, we will cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget.
And fifth, we will champion SMALL businesses, America’s engine of job growth. That means reducing taxes on business, not raising them. It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small business the most. And it means that we must rein in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare by repealing and replacing Obamacare.
Today, women are more likely than men to start a business. They need a president who respects and understands what they do.
And let me make this very clear – unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class.
As president, I will protect the sanctity of life. I will honor the institution of marriage. And I will guarantee America’s first liberty: the freedom of religion.
President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise…is to help you and your family.
I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour. America, he said, had dictated to other nations. No Mr. President, America has freed other nations from dictators.
Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order, and Seal Team Six took out Osama bin Laden. But on another front, every American is less secure today because he has failed to slow Iran’s nuclear threat.
In his first TV interview as president, he said we should talk to Iran. We’re still talking, and Iran’s centrifuges are still spinning.
President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus, even as he has relaxed sanctions on Castro’s Cuba. He abandoned our friends in Poland by walking away from our missile defense commitments, but is eager to give Russia’s President Putin the flexibility he desires, after the election. Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone.
We will honor America’s democratic ideals because a free world is a more peaceful world. This is the bipartisan foreign policy legacy of Truman and Reagan. And under my presidency we will return to it once again.
You might have asked yourself if these last years are really the America we want, the America won for us by the greatest generation.
Does the America we want borrow a trillion dollars from China? No.
Does it fail to find the jobs that are needed for 23 million people and for half the kids graduating from college? No.
Are its schools lagging behind the rest of the developed world? No.
And does the America we want succumb to resentment and division? We know the answer.
The America we all know has been a story of the many becoming one, uniting to preserve liberty, uniting to build the greatest economy in the world, uniting to save the world from unspeakable darkness.
Everywhere I go in America, there are monuments that list those who have given their lives for America. There is no mention of their race, their party affiliation, or what they did for a living. They lived and died under a single flag, fighting for a single purpose. They pledged allegiance to the UNITED States of America.
That America, that united America, can unleash an economy that will put Americans back to work, that will once again lead the world with innovation and productivity, and that will restore every father and mother’s confidence that their children’s future is brighter even than the past.
That America, that united America, will preserve a military that is so strong, no nation would ever dare to test it.
That America, that united America, will uphold the constellation of rights that were endowed by our Creator, and codified in our Constitution.
That united America will care for the poor and the sick, will honor and respect the elderly, and will give a helping hand to those in need.
That America is the best within each of us. That America we want for our children.
If I am elected President of these United States, I will work with all my energy and soul to restore that America, to lift our eyes to a better future. That future is our destiny. That future is out there. It is waiting for us. Our children deserve it, our nation depends upon it, the peace and freedom of the world require it. And with your help we will deliver it. Let us begin that future together tonight.”

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Transcript of Chris Christie's speech at the Republican National Convention | Fox News

Transcript of Chris Christie's speech at the Republican National Convention

Published August 28, 2012

FoxNews.com

The following is a keynote address that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave at the Republican National Convention on August 28, 2012.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Thank you!
   (APPLAUSE)
   Thank you! Thank you all very much. Thank you.
   Well, this stage and this moment are very improbable for
me, a New Jersey Republican.
   (LAUGHTER)
   Delivering the keynote address to our national convention.
   (APPLAUSE)
   From a state with 700,000 more Democrats than Republicans.
A New Jersey Republican stands before you tonight proud of my
party, proud of my state, and proud of my country.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Now I am the son of an Irish father and a Sicilian mother.
My dad, who I'm blessed to have here with me tonight, is
gregarious, outgoing, and lovable. My mom, who I lost eight
years ago, was the enforcer.
   (LAUGHTER)
   Now she made sure we all knew who set the rules. I'll tell
it to you this way, in the automobile of life, dad was just a
passenger. Mom was the driver.
   (LAUGHTER)
   Now they both lived hard lives. Dad grew up in poverty.
And after returning from Army service, he worked at the Breyers
Ice Cream plant in the 1950s. Now with that job and the G.I.
bill, he put himself through Rutgers University at night to
become the first in his family to earn a college degree.
   (APPLAUSE)
   And our first family picture, our first family picture was
on his graduation day with my mom beaming next to him, six
months pregnant with me. Now mom also came from nothing. She
was raised by a single mother who took three different buses
every day to get to work.
   And mom spent the time that she was supposed to be a kid
actually raising children, her younger brother and younger
sister. She was tough as nails and did not suffer fools at all.
   And the truth was she could not afford to. She spoke the
truth, bluntly, directly, and without much varnish. I am her
son.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I was her son as I listened to ``Darkness on the Edge of
Town'' with my high school friends on the Jersey Shore. I was
her son when I moved into that studio apartment with Mary Pat to
start a marriage that's now 26 years old.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I was her son as I coached our sons, Andrew and Patrick, on
the fields of Mendham, and as I watched with pride as our
daughter Sarah and Bridget, marched with their soccer teams in
the Labor Day parade.
   And I am still her son today as governor, following the
rules she taught me, to speak from the heart, and to fight for
your principles. You see, mom never thought you would get extra
credit just for speaking the truth.
   And the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me though was
this one. She told me there would be times in your life when
you have to choose between being loved and being respected.
   Now she said to always pick being respected. She told me
that love without respect was always fleeting, but that respect
could grow into real and lasting love. Now, of course, she was
talking about women.
   (LAUGHTER)
   But I have learned over time that it applies just as much
to leadership. In fact, I think that advice applies to America
more than ever today.
   (APPLAUSE)
   You see, I believe we have become paralyzed, paralyzed by
our desire to be loved. Now our founding fathers had the wisdom
to know that social acceptance and popularity were fleeing, and
that this country's principles needed to be rooted in strengths
greater than the passions and the emotions of the times.
   But our leaders of today have decided it's more important
to be popular, to say and do what's easy, and say yes rather
than to say no, when no is what is required.
   (APPLAUSE)
   In recent years -- in recent years we as a country have too
often chosen the same path. It's easy for our leaders to say,
``Not us, not now'', in taking on the really tough issues. And
unfortunately we have stood silently by and let them get away
with it. But tonight, I say enough.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Tonight, I say together, let's make a much different
choice. Tonight, we are speaking up for ourselves and stepping
up. Tonight, we're beginning to do what is right and necessary
to make America great again.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We are demanding that our leaders stop tearing each other
down and work together to take action on the big things facing
America. Tonight, we will do what my mother taught me. Tonight,
we are going to choose respect over love.
   (APPLAUSE)
   See we are not afraid. We are taking our country back
because we are the great-grandchildren of the men and women who
broke their backs in the name of American ingenuity, the
grandchildre of the greatest generation, the sons and daughters
of immigrants, the brothers and sisters of everyday heroes, the
neighbors of entrepreneurs and firefighters, teachers and
farmers, veterans and factory workers and everyone in between
who shows up, not just on the big days, or the good days, but on
the bad days, and the hard days. Each and every day. All 365
of them.
   You see, we are the United States of America.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Now -- now -- now it is up to us. We must lead the way our
citizens live, to lead as my mother insisted I live, not by
avoiding truths, especially the hard ones, but by facing up to
them and being better for it.
   We can't afford to do anything less. I know this because
this was the challenge in New Jersey. When I came into office,
I could continue on the same path that the wealth and jobs and
people leaving our state. Or I could do the job the people
elected me to do, to do the big things.
   Now, there were those who said it could not be done, that
the problems were too big, too politically charged and too
broken to fix. But we were on a path we could no longer afford
to follow. Now, they said that it was impossible -- this is
what they told me -- to cut taxes in a state where taxes were
raised 115 times in the eight years before I became governor.
   That it was impossible to balance the budget at the same
time with an $11 billion in deficit. But three years later, we
have three balanced budgets in a row with lower taxes. We did
it.
   (APPLAUSE)
   They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of
politics, to take on the public-sector unions and to reform a
pension and health benefits system that was headed to
bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers
$132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their
pensions. We did it.
   (APPLAUSE)
   They said that it was impossible to speak the truth to the
teachers' union .
   (LAUGHTER)
   They were just too powerful. Real teacher tenure reform
that demands accountability and and ends the guarantee of a job
for life regardless of performance, they said it would never
happen. But for the first time in 100 years, with bipartisan
support, you know the answer. We did it.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Now the disciples of yesterday's politics, they always
underestimate the will of the people.
   CHRISTIE: They assumed our people were selfish. The
difficult problems, the tough choices and the complicated
solutions, but they would simply turn their backs. That they
would decide it was every man for himself. They were wrong.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The people of New Jersey stepped up. They shared in the
sacrifice. You know what else they did? They rewarded
politicians who lead instead of politicians who pandered .
   (APPLAUSE)
   But you know, we shouldn't be surprised. We shouldn't be
surprised, we've never been a country to shy away from the
truth. Our history shows that we stand up when it counts. And
it's this quality that has defined America's character and our
significance in the world.
   Now, I know this simple truth and I am not afraid to say
it. Our ideas are right for America and their ideas have failed
America.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Let me be clear with the American people tonight. Here is
what we believe as Republicans and what they believe as
Democrats.
   We believe in telling hardworking families the truth about
our country's fiscal realities, telling them what they already
know, the math of federal spending does not add up.
   With $5 trillion in debt added over the last four years, we
have no other option but to make the hard choices, cut federal
spending and fundamentally reduce the size of this government.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Want to know what they believe? They believe that the
American people want to hear the truth about the extent of our
fiscal difficulties. They believe the American people need to
be coddled by big government. They believe the American people
are content to live the lie with them. They are wrong.
   We believe in telling our seniors the truth about our
overburdened entitlements. We know seniors not only want these
programs to survive, but they just as badly want them secured
for their grandchildren.
   Our seniors are not children.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Here's what they believe. They believe seniors will always
put themselves ahead of their grandchildren. And here's what
they do. They prey on their vulnerabilities and scare them with
misinformation for the single cynical purpose of winning the
next election. Here is their plan. Whistling happy tune while
driving us off a fiscal cliff as long as they are behind the
wheel of power when we fall.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Now, we believe that the majority of teachers in America
know our system must be reformed, to put students first so that
America can compete, that teachers don't teach to become rich or
famous. They teach because they love children.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We believe -- we believe we should honor and reward the
good ones, while doing what's best for our nation's future,
demanding accountability, demanding higher standards, and
demanding the best teacher in every classroom in America.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Get ready. Here is what they believe.
   They believe the educational savages will only put
themselves ahead of children, that self- interest will always
trump common sense, they believe in pitting unions against
teachers, educators against parents, lobbyists against children.
   They believe in teachers' unions . We believe in teachers.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We believe -- we believe that, if we tell the people the
truth, that they will act bigger than the pettiness we see in
Washington, D.C. We believe it is possible to forge bipartisan
compromise, and stand up for our conservative principles.
   (APPLAUSE)
   You see, because it has always been the power of our ideas,
not our rhetoric, that attracts people to our party. We win
when we make it about what needs to be done. We lose when we
play along with their game of scaring and dividing.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Make no mistake about it, everybody. The problems are too
big to let the American people lose. The slowest economic
recovery in decades, a spiraling out of control deficit, and an
education system that is failing to compete in the world. It
doesn't matter how we got here. There's enough blame to go
around. What matters is what we do now.
   (APPLAUSE)
   See, I know. I know we can fix our problems. When there
are people in the room who care more about doing the job they
were elected to do than they worry about winning reelection, it
is possible to work together, achieve principal compromise, and
get results for the people who give us these jobs in the first
place.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The people have no patience for any other way anymore. It
is simple. We need politicians to care more about doing
something and less about being something.
   (APPLAUSE)
   And believe me, believe me, if we could do this in a blue
state like New Jersey with a conservative Republican governor,
Washington is out of excuses.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Leadership delivers. Leadership counts. Leadership
matters. And here's the great news I came here tonight to bring
you. We have this leader for America. We have a nominee who
will tell us the truth and will lead with conviction. And now
he has a running mate who will do the same. We have Governor
Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan to we need to make them
the next president and vice-president of the United States!
   (APPLAUSE)
   See, I know Mitt Romney, and Mitt Romney will tell us the
hard truths we need to hear, to put this back on a path to
growth and create good paying private sector jobs again in
America.
   Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to year to
end the torrent of debt that is compromising our future and
burying our economy.
   Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to
end the debacle of putting the world's greatest care system in
the hands of federal bureaucrats and putting those bureaucrats
between an American citizen and her doctor.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Now we ended an era of absentee leadership without purpose
or principal in New Jersey. I am here to tell you tonight, it
is time to end this era of absentee leadership in the oval
office and send real leaders to the White House. America needs
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and we need them right now.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We have to tell each other the truth, right? Listen, there
is doubt and fear for our future in every corner of our country.
I have traveled all over the country, and I have seen this
myself. These feelings are real. This moment is real,and it is
a moment like this where some skeptics wonder if America's
greatness is over. They wonder how those who have come before
the before us had in the spirit and tenacity to lead America to
a new era of greatness in the face of challenge, not to look
around and say ``Not me'', but to look around and say ``Yes, me.''
Now, I have an answer tonight for the skeptics and the
naysayers, the dividers and the defenders of the status quo. I
have faith in us. I know.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I know we can be the men and women our country calls on us
to be tonight. I believe in America and her history, and
there's only one thing missing now. Leadership. It takes
leadership that you don't get from reading a poll. You see, Mr.
President, real leaders do not follow polls. Real leaders
change polls.
   (APPLAUSE)

Transcript of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's speech at RNC | Fox News

Transcript of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's speech at RNC

Published August 29, 2012

FoxNews.com

The following is a transcript of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's speech at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 29, 2012.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I was so very
honored to be asked to address one of this weeks themes, ``We Can
Do Better.'' Then I was backstage and I heard some folks say
that after hearing me speak, the delegates are going to say, ``We
sure can do better than Huckabee.'' And that's when they will
unanimously nominate Mitt Romney to be the next president of the
United States of America.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I want to say that Tampa has been a wonderful and
hospitable city. And I'm grateful for all that they've done for
us. But the only hitch in an otherwise perfect week, was the
awful noise coming from the hotel room next door to mine. Turns
out it was just Debbie Wasserman Schultz, practicing her speech
for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next week.
Bless her heart.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Four years ago, Mitt Romney and I were opponents. We still
are, but we're not opposing each other. No, we are mutual
opponents of the miserably failed experiments that have put this
country in a downward spiral. The United States of America was
originally an experiment. But it was an experiment in
recognizing God-given individual liberty and creating a
government in which we no one is deemed better than another.
And in which all of us are equal.
   Not equal in abilities, but equal in intrinsic worth and
value. It is the essence, not just of who we are, but what we
are. Now let me just say to those who question how once rivals
can be now united, it's quite simple, we have Barack Obama to
thank.
   (APPLAUSE)
   It was Barack Obama who said, ``You didn't build it.''
Translation, ``It doesn't belong to you.'' Well no small
differences among us in our party approximate the vast
differences between the liberty limiting, radical left wing,
anti-business, reckless spending, tax hiking party of Barack
Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, versus an energized America
who knows we can do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   For four years, we've given a chance to a man with very
limited experience in governing, no experience in business
whatsoever and since taking office, mostly interested in
campaigning, blaming and aiming excuses at his predecessor, the
Republicans and people in business. Or as Republicans like to
call them, ``employers.'' We've stagnated into an economy that
has taken all that hope right down the slope and has left
millions without jobs.
   Forced out of their homes by foreclosure. Herded into
dependency upon a government that promises us candy, but gives
us cavities. Barack Obama seems intent on enrolling more people
on food-stamps. Mitt Romney's focus is going to be on generating
more jobs that will make food-stamps unnecessary for them. We
know full well, we can do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Mitt Romney turned around companies that were on the skids.
He turned around a scandal-ridden Olympics that was deep in the
red into a high point of profit and patriotic pride. And he
turned around a very liberal state when he erased the deficit
and replaced it with a surplus. Do you remember when Barack
Obama said that if he couldn't turn things around in three
years, it would be a one term proposition?
   (APPLAUSE)
   Well it's been almost four years. I say let's make him a
proposition he can't refuse. Let's vote him out.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I understand that the job of the president is admittedly
tougher than running a company, an Olympic contest or a
commonwealth. But when one sees what even Bill Clinton noted as
a sterling record of problem-solving that has marked the life of
Mitt Romney, we are confident that we will do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I am thrilled to say Mitt Romney has been loyal to his
lovely wife who knocked it out of the park last night in this
arena.
   (APPLAUSE)
   He -- he's been loyal to his sons, to his country, to his
employees and to his church. Well I'm sure now that the press
is going to tell you he isn't perfect. Now my friends for the
past four years, we've tried the one that the press thought was
perfect and that hasn't worked out all that well for us.
   (APPLAUSE)
   That's why tonight I tell you, we can do better. Our
founding fathers left taxation and tyranny seeking religious
liberty and a society of meritocracy rather than aristocracy.
What they created was a bold experiment in government believing
that God gave us unalienable rights. And that the role of the
government is simply to make sure that those rights are
protected. So fearful were they that the government would grow
beyond their intention, that even after crafting our magnificent
Constitution, they said, we can do even better.
   They added amendments. We call them The Bill of Rights.
Those Bill of Rights limit what the government can do and they
guarantee what we, the people have the unimpeded right to do.
Whether to speak, assemble, worship, pray, publish, or even
refuse intrusions into our homes. Many of those founders died
to pass on that heritage. They had lived under the boot of big
government And what they said was, we can do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   As a kid growing up in a household, my dad never finished
high school. I grew up in a family in which no male upstream
from me had ever finished high school, much less gone to
college. But I was taught that even though there was nothing I
could do about what was behind me, I could change everything
about what was in front of me. My working poor parents told me
that I could do better. They taught me that I was as good as
anybody else. And it never occurred to them to tell me that I
could just rest comfortably and wait for good old Uncle Sugar to
feed me, lead me and then bleed me.
   (APPLAUSE)
   They told me to get off my backside, work hard, take risks
and treat people honestly and honorably. And look at me today.
I have become as the press like to label me, a failed candidate.
   (LAUGHTER)
   Oh, it's true. I have fallen from the high perch of
politics and now I wallow in the mud of the media.
   (LAUGHTER)
   But I still know that as a country, we can do better. And
with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, we will do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I want to clear the air about something that has been said.
People wonder whether guys like me, an evangelical, would only
support a fellow evangelical? Well my friends I want to tell
you something, of the four people on the two tickets, the only
self-professed evangelical is Barack Obama. And he supports
changing the definition of marriage. Believes that human life
is disposable and expendable at any time in the wound, even
beyond the womb. And he tells people of faith that they have to
bow their knees to the God of government and violate their faith
and conscience in order to comply with what he calls, health
care. Friends I know we can do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Let me say it as clearly as possible, that the attack on my
Catholic brothers and sisters is an attack on me.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The Democrats have brought back that old dance, the limbo.
To see how low they can go in attempting to limit our ability to
practice our faith. But this isn't a battle about
contraceptives and Catholics, but about conscience and the
Creator. Let me say to you tonight, I care far less as to where
Mitt Romney takes his family to church, than I do about where he
takes this country.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Joe Biden -- Joe Biden said, ``Show me your budget and I'll
tell you what you value.'' Well in the Senate Joe's party hasn't
produced a budget in three years. What does that say about
their values? And by the way, speaking of budgets, Joe Biden's
budget shows that while he wants to be very generous with your
money through higher taxes and government spending, for years he
gave less than two-tenths of one percent of his own money to
charity. He just wants you to give the government more so he
and the Democrats can feel better about themselves.
   Mitt Romney has given over 16 percent of his income to
church and charity.
   (APPLAUSE)
   And my friend, I feel a lot better about having a president
who will give generously of his own money instead of mine or
yours.
   (APPLAUSE)
   My concern is not Barack Obama's past, but my concern is
for the future. Not his future, but for the future of my
grandchildren, little Chandler and Scarlet. And under this
president we have burdened each of them with tens of thousands
of dollars of debt and a system that will collapse upon itself
because he thinks that we can prosper by punishing productivity
and rewarding reckless irresponsibility. The Democrats say we
ought to give Barack Obama credit for trying. Folks that sounds
like the nonsense of giving every kid a trophy for showing up.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Let's be clear, we're talking about leading the country.
Not playing on a third grade soccer team. Look, I realize this
is a man who got a Nobel Peace Prize for what he would
potentially do. But in the real world, you get the prize for
producing something, not just promising something.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Sometimes -- sometimes we get so close to the picture, we
really can't see it clearly. I've had the privilege of working
with Bono for the past few years in the One Campaign to fight
AIDS and hunger and disease around the world. Bono is an
Irishman and a great humanitarian. And I remember him telling
me of his admiration for America. He said, ``America's more than
just a country. We are an idea.'' And he reminded me that we
are an exceptional nation with an extraordinary history who owes
it to the generations who are coming after us to leave them with
an extraordinary legacy.
   But if we don't change the direction of our nation now, our
bequest will be nothing but an extraordinary shame. But dear
friends, we can do better.
   (APPLAUSE)
   President Obama is out of gas and Americans are out of
patience. And our great republic is almost out of time. It's
time that we no longer lead from behind, but that we get off our
behinds and leave something lasting for those who came after us
instead of a mountain of debt and a pile of excuses. Tonight,
it's not because we're Republicans, it's because we are
Americans that we proudly stand with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan
and we say, ``We will do better.'' God bless you. Thank you.
God bless.
   (APPLAUSE)

Transcript of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's speech at RNC | Fox News

Transcript of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's speech at RNC

Published August 29, 2012

FoxNews.com

The following is a transcript of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's speech at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 29, 2012.

MARTINEZ: Thank you. And good evening.
   Before I begin tonight, let's keep in our prayers that
families impacted by the storm affecting the Gulf coast. If you
haven't done so already, please donate to the Red Cross. To
find out more about how you can help those affected by hurricane
Isaac, please visit redcross.org/give. I am Susana Martinez.
On behalf of the great state of New Mexico, let me express my
gratitude for being invited to speak tonight.
   Growing up I never imagined a little girl from a border
town could one day become a governor. But this is America. In
America algo es possible.
   (APPLAUSE)
   My parents taught me to never give up and to always believe
that my future could be whatever I dreamt it to be. Success,
they taught me is built on the foundation of courage, hard work
and individual responsibility. Despite what some would have us
believe, success is not built on resentment and fear.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We grew up on the border and truly lived paycheck to
paycheck. My dad was a golden gloves boxer in the Marine Corps,
then a deputy sheriff. My mom worked as an office assistant.
One day they decided to start a security guard business. I
thought they were absolutely crazy. We literally had no
savings. But they always believed in the American dream.
   (APPLAUSE)
   So, my dad worked to grow the business. My mom did the
books at night. And at 18, I guarded the parking lot at the
Catholic church bingos.
   (LAUGHTER)
   Now my dad made sure I could take care of myself. I
carried a Smith and Wesson 357 magnum.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Yes, that gun weighed more than I did. My parents grew
that small business from one 18-year-old guarding a bingo to
more than 125 employees in three states.
   (APPLAUSE)
   And sure, there was help along the way. But my parents
took the risk. They stood up. And you better believe they
built it.
   (APPLAUSE)
   My parents also taught me about having the courage to stand
for something. So I went to law school. And I became a
prosecutor. I took on a -- a specialty that very few choose to
pursue. I prosecuted child abuse and child homicide cases.
Cases that were truly gut-wrenching. But
standing up for those kids, being their voice for justice was
the honor of a lifetime.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Sometimes you pay a price for standing up. When I was a
young prosecutor, I got called to testify against my boss. I
could have backed down, but I didn't. I stood up to him and he
fired me for it. So, I took him on, ran against him for district
attorney, and beat him by a landslide.
   (APPLAUSE)
   I fear some of our leaders today have lost the courage to
stand up. What we have now are politicians. They won't offer
real plans, and only stand up when they want to blame someone
else.
   And I don't say that just because a Democrat is in the
White House, I was a Democrat for many years, so were my
parents.
   Before I ran for district attorney, two Republicans invited
my husband and me to lunch, and I knew a party switch was
exactly what they wanted. So, I told Chuck, ``We'll be polite,
enjoy a free lunch, and then say good-bye.'' But we talked about
issues -- they never used the words Republican or Democrat,
conservative or liberal. We talked about many issues, like
welfare, is it the way of life or hand up? Talked about size of
government, how much should it tax families and small
businesses? And when we left that lunch, we got in the car and
I looked over at Chuck and said, ``I'll be damned. we're
Republicans.''
   (APPLAUSE)
   This election should not be about political parties. To
many Americans are out of work, and our debt is out of control.
This election needs to be about those issues and it is the
responsibility of both parties to offer up real solutions and
have an honest debate.
   In New Mexico, I inherited the largest structural deficit
in state history, and our legislature is controlled by Democrats
. We don't always agree, but we came together in a bipartisan
manner and turned that deficit into a surplus.
   (APPLAUSE)
   And we did it without raising taxes.
   (APPLAUSE)
   But that is not the kind of leadership that we are seeing
from President Obama. He promised to bring us all together, to
cut unemployment, to pass immigration reform in his first year,
and even promised to cut the deficit in half, in his first term.
Do you remember that? But he hasn't come close. They have not
even passed a budget in Washington, D.C. In 3 years.
   If he can take credit for government buildings small
businesses, then he can accept responsibility for breaking his
promise and adding $5 trillion to the national debt. Because he
did build that.
   (APPLAUSE)
   As the first Hispanic female governor in the history,
little girls often come up to me in the grocery store or in the
mall. They look and they point and when they get the courage to
come up, they ask, ``Are you Susana?'', and they run up and they
give me a hug. I wonder, how do you know who I am? But they
do. And these are little girls. It is in moments like these
when I'm reminded that we each pave for a path, and for me, it
is about paving a path for those little girls to follow. They
need to know no more barriers.
   (APPLAUSE)
   In many ways, Mitt Romney and I are very different.
Different starts in life, different paths to leadership,
different cultures, but we've each shared in the promise of
America. And we share a core belief that the promise of America
must be kept for the next generation.
   (APPLAUSE)
   It is success and success is the American dream, and that
success is not something to be ashamed of or to demonize. There
is one candidate in this election who will protect that dream.
One leader who will fight hard to keep the promise of America
for the next generation. And that's why we must stand up and
make Mitt Romney the next president of the United States. Thank
you.
   (APPLAUSE)

Transcript of Sen. Rand Paul's speech at RNC | Fox News

Transcript of Sen. Rand Paul's speech at RNC

Published August 29, 2012

| FoxNews.com

The following is a transcript of a speech given by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 29, 2012.
PAUL: Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank
you.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Thank you, Kentucky. Thank you.
   You know, when the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, the
first words out of my mouth were, ``I still think it's
unconstitutional''.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The left wing blogs were merciless. Even my wife said,
``could you please just count to 10 before you speak?'' So, I've
had time to count to 10. And you know what? I still think it
is unconstitutional.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Do you think Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas have changed
their mind?
   (UNKNOWN): No.
   PAUL: I think if James Madison himself, the father of
Constitution, he were here today, he would agree, the whole damn
thing is still unconstitutional.
   (APPLAUSE)
   This debate is not new. And it's not over. Hamilton and
Madison fought, from the beginning, about how the government
would be limited by the enumerated powers. Madison was
unequivocal, ``the powers of the federal government are few and
defined''.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The power to tax and spend is restricted by the enumerated
powers. So how do we fix this travesty of justice? There is
only one option left, we have to have a new president.
   (APPLAUSE)
   When I heard the current president say, ``you didn't build
that'', I was first insulted, then I was angered, and then I was
saddened that anyone in our country, much less the president of
the United States, believes that roads create business success
and not the other way around.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Anyone who so fundamentally misunderstanding of American
greatness is uniquely unqualified to lead this great nation.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The great and abiding lesson of American history,
particularly the cold war, is that the engine of capitalism, the
individual, is mightier than any collective.
   (APPLAUSE)
   American inventiveness and the desire to build a developed
because we were guaranteed the right to own our success. For
most of our history, no one dared to tell Americans, you don't
build that.
   In bowling green, Kentucky, the Tang (ph) family owns the
-- a doughnut shop. Their family fled war-torn Cambodia to come
to this country. My kids and I love doughnuts, so we go there
frequently. The Tang's (ph) work long hours. Mrs. Tang (ph)
told us they worked through the night to make the donuts. The
Tang (ph) family have become valedictorians and national merit
scholars. The Tangs (ph) from Cambodia are an American success
story, so Mr. President, don't go telling the Tang (ph) family
that they didn't build that.
   (APPLAUSE)
   When you say -- when you say they don't build it, you
insult each and every American who ever got up at the crack of
dawn. You insult any American who ever put on overalls or a
suit. You insult any American who ever studied late into the
night to become a doctor or a lawyer. You insult the
dishwasher, the cook, the waitress. You insult anyone who has
ever drag themselves out of bed to try -- to strive for
something better for themselves and their children.
   My great-grandfather, like many, came to this country in
search of the American dream. No sooner had he stepped off the
boat than his father died. He arrived in Pittsburgh as a
teenager with nothing, not a penny. He found the American
dream. Not great wealth, but a bit of property in a new land
that gave him hope for his children.
In America, as opposed to the old country, success
was based on merit. Probably America's greatest asset was that,
for the first time, success was not based on who you were, but
what you did.
   (APPLAUSE)
   My grandfather would live to see his children become
doctors and ministers, accounts and professors. He would even
live to see one of his sons, a certain Congressman from Texas...
   (APPLAUSE)
   ... a certain Congressman from Texas run for the presidency
of the United States.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Immigrants - -immigrants have flocked to our shores seeking
freedom. Our -- our forbearers came full of hopes and dreams so
consistent and prevalent were these aspirations that they
crystallized into a national yearning we call the American
Dream. No other country has a dream so inextricably associated
with the spirit of its people.
   In 1982, an American sailor, John Mooney, wrote a letter to
his parents that captures the essence of the American Dream. He
wrote, Dear Mom and Dad, Today we spotted a boat in the water
and we rendered assistance. We picked up 65 Vietnamese
refugees. As they approached the ship, they were all waving and
trying as best they could to say, ``Hello American sailor, hello
freedom man.''
   It's hard to see a boat full of people like that and not
get a lump somewhere between chin and belly button and it really
makes one proud and glad to be an American. It reminds us of
all what America's been, a place a man or a woman can come to
for freedom.
   Hung and Twan Tratrin (ph) are brothers and friends of
mine. They came to America on one of those leaky boats. They
were attacked at sea by pirates, their family's wealth was
stolen, Twan (ph) spent a year on a South Pacific island
existing on a cup of rice and water until he was allowed to come
to America. Now both of these men and their family are proud
Americans. Hung (ph) owns his own business and Twan (ph)
manages a large company. They are the American Dream.
   So Mr. President, don't go telling the Tratrin (ph) family
you didn't build that...
   (APPLAUSE)
   When the president says you didn't build that, he's flat
out wrong. Businessmen and women did build that. Businessmen
and women did earn their success without the success of American
business, we wouldn't have any roads, bridges or schools.
   Mr. President, you say the rich must pay their fair share.
But when you seek to punish the rich, the jobs that are lost are
those of the poor and the middleclass.
   (APPLAUSE)
   When you seek to punish Mr. Exxon Mobile you punish the
secretary who owns Exxon Mobile stock.
   When you block the Keystone Pipeline, you punish the welder
who works on the pipeline.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Our nation faces a crisis, America waivers. Unfortunately,
we're one of a select group of countries whose debt now equals
their Gross Domestic Product.
   The Republic of Washington in Jefferson is now in danger of
becoming the democracy of debt and despair.
   Our great nation is coming apart at the seams and the
president just seems to point fingers and blame others.
President Obama's Administration will add nearly $6 trillion to
our national debt in just one term and I'm hoping it's just one
term.
   (APPLAUSE)
   This explosion of debt is unconscionable and unsustainable.
Mr. President, we will not let you bankrupt this great nation.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Republicans and Democrats alike though, must slay their
sacred cows. Republicans must acknowledge that not every dollar
spent on the military is necessary or well spent.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Democrats -- Democrats must admit that domestic welfare and
entitlements must be reformed.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Republicans and Democrats must replace fear with
confidence. Confidence that no terrorist and no country will
ever conquer us if we remain steadfast to the principles of our
founding documents.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We have nothing to fear except our own unwillingness to
defend what is naturally ours, our god-given rights.
   (APPLAUSE)
   We have nothing to fear that should cause us to forget or
relinquish our rights as free men and women.
   (APPLAUSE)
   To thrive, we must believe in ourselves again, and we must
never, never trade our liberty for any fleeting promise of
security.
   (APPLAUSE)
   Author Paul Kengor (ph) writes of a brisk evening in a
small town in Illinois. Returning home from a basketball game
at the YMCA, an 11 year- old boy is stunned by the sight of his
father, sprawled out on the snow in the front porch. He was
drunk, his son would later remember, dead to the world,
crucified.
   The dad's hair was soaked with melted snow matted against
his reddened face. The boy stood over his father for a minute
or two. He simply wanted to let himself in the door and pretend
his dad wasn't there. Instead, he grabbed a fistful of overcoat
and he heaved his dad into the bedroom, away from the weather's
harm and the neighbors attention. This young boy would become
the man, Ronald Reagan.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The man we know as Ronald Reagan, whose sunny optimism and
charisma shine so brightly that it toured the malaise of the
late 1970s, a confidence that's been so broadly that it pulled
us through a serious recession, and a faith that tugged so
happily at the hearts of all that a generation of Democrats
became Republicans.
   (APPLAUSE)
   The American dream is that any among us can become the next
Thomas Edison, the next Henry Ford, the next Ronald Reagan, but
to lead us forward away from this looming debt crisis, it will
take someone who believes in America's greatness, who believes
in and can articulate the American dream, someone who has
created jobs, someone who understands and appreciates what makes
America great. Someone who will lead our party and our nation
forward. I believe that someone is our nominee, Governor Mitt
Romney.
   (APPLAUSE)
   As Reagan said, our freedom is never more than a generation
away from extinction. If our freedom is taken, the American
dream will wither and die. To lead, we must transform the
coldness of austerity into the warm vibrant embrace of
prosperity. To overcome the current crisis, we must appreciate
and applaud American success. We must step forward, unabashedly
and proclaim, you did build that. You earned that. You worked
hard. You studied. You labored. You did build that.
   (APPLAUSE)
   And you deserve America's undying gratitude, for you, the
individual, are the engine of America's greatness. Thank you.
   (APPLAUSE)

Confessions of a Colorado Conservative

Friday, August 31, 2012