the washington post on the latest developments in the 2012 presidential campaign. "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. and c-span is going to des moines, iowa, for the faith and freedom coalition. rick santorum will be among the six republican presidential candidates addressing the forum tonight during its fall banquet. you'll also hear from businessman herman cain, former house speaker newt gingrich, texas governor rick perry, and representative ron paul and michele bachmann. you are watching live coverage, on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> good evening.

good evening. i am the vice president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition. on behalf of the iffc, i want to say thank you to each and every one of you for being with us in this presidential cycle. since the republican national committee chairman and the national media are here, let me share my top-10 list as to why iowa should continue to be the first in the nation for the next presidential cycle.

number 10, iowa is the best place to kiss. >> whoo! >> iowa is the best place to pigs, because we have more pigs than people. [laughter] number 9, we also have plenty of babies to kiss because we are all excited about the iowa right to life slogan, populate iowa. [applause] number 8, iowa is a diversified state. not in color, but in colofrgul

opinions. no. 7, in iowa, there are more political operatives, more political science professors, more political reporters, more political columnists per-capita than any other state. [applause] number 6, iowans take their political responsibilities seriously by attending any and asking unwanted questions. no. 5, iowans can tell the difference between a real person and a robot. [laughter] [applause] between consistent and flux

sweating positions, between talk and walk. number four, by voting for the candidate of their choice, iowans have proven that money cannot buy their votes. [applause] number 3, only in iowa, each candidate gets an opportunity to stand on a bale of hay and give their stump speech to total strangers in the iowa state fair. number 2, after campaigning in iowa in winter, all candidates understand why iowans are so

sturdy and why the wimpy live in florida. number one, iowa is a four- letter word for the losers and the winners. thank you. [applause] let us get started. jeff, who is the lead pastor at the church and a candidate for the new iowa senate district 22 will give the invocation. the chair of the republican party will lead in the pledge. first, two sisters to win the miss iowa title, 2004, and 2006

miss iowa, will sing the national anthem. please rise and remain standing until the national anthem is done. thank you. >> is this a great night? yes! [applause] i tell you what, take one second to turn around and you will see some of the greatest people in iowa. some of the greatest people in iowa. outstanding. i was asked to give a quick announcement. you don't want to miss this. steve emerson, wednesday night, the 26, 7:30 will be speaking on terrorism. it will be an outstanding evening. but pray together. father, thank you so much for

this day that you have made. we rejoice and we are glad that in it. we are grateful for our nation. you told us in our words to pray for our leaders, so we do that right now, we do with humbly, yet we do it constantly. father, we pray for our president and vice president, that they would humble themselves to you, choosing to follow you. that our congress would do the same. humbling themselves to one another. putting "we the people" first. father, thank you for this great state, the great state of iowa. thank you for our governor and lieutenant governor, for both sides of the aisle. father, i pray that all of them will truly humble themselves before you. humbling be for one another. and putting we the people first.

we are so grateful, thankful for this evening. at father, thank you for the candidates who have chosen to run. they have put their lives on the line, their families on the line. thank you for their willingness to run for the presidency. bless them and their families. bless them tonight, as they share from their hearts their very core convictions. and i asked in jesus' name, amen. >> please turn towards our beautiful flag and place your hand over your heart. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with

liberty and justice for all. >> it is such an honor for us to be here tonight to sing. the national anthem has held a very special place in my heart, and now even more so after my husband, gabe, was deployed with the national guard to afghanistan. and thank the late -- [applause] and thanfully, as are 3-year-old daughter put it, daddy did come home. [applause] thank you. we would like to dedicate tonight's nationally a thumb to

all of our veterans and their families who have so briefly -- to all of our families and veterans who have so bravely served. can you see light dawn's early what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars

through the perilous fighht watched ramparts we were so gallantly streaming glaree rocket's' red the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night was still there o, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free

and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ [applause] >> thank you. please be seated. let us recognize our guests. when you hear your name, please stand and remain standing until we applaud the entire group.

the first, we want to recognize it to people who worked long hours for the past several months to put together this event. diana hanson and carmen bosmna. thank you for your hard work. [applause] next, we want to recognize the officers and the members of the board of iffc. steve, the president, morris, the treasurer, lisa smith, secretary, board members mike kennedy, danny, bernie hayes, peggy herman, keith hunter, norm

rosenthal, brad sherman, and joe lorton. thank you for all your work. [applause] next, we want to recognize the leaders of other congenial organizations. bill, co-chair of the republican party of iowa, steve, national representative of the rebel pelican party of iowa, the national committeewoman of the republican party of iowa, jennifer, executive director of the iowa right to life, tamrara scott, and a host of truth of our times, jodie, assistant director of professional educators of iowa, charlie, with

the tea party of america. thank you for working with us. [applause] we want to recognize the members of the republican state central committee, shelley adkins, david fisher, drew, jeremiah johnson, kim, emily, james mills, at john ortega, steve, thank you for your service to the republican party. [applause] we want to recognize the chairs of the republican county central committees.

greg, laura, glenna, terise, bob anderson, randy horn, irene, kevin, jeff, corey adams, and dean fisher. thank you for your service to the republican party of iowa. [applause] we want to recognize the members of the iowa house. davis, julian, pat, chris, eric, kevin, glen massey, kim pearson,

don, henry, jsoason schultz, and ralph. thank you for representing us. [applause] we want to recognize to members of the iowa senate, jerry and pat. thank you for representing us in the iowa senate. [applause] we want to recognize the secretary of agriculture, bill. thank you for your service. we want to recognize the state auditor, david. thank you for your service. [applause]

we want to recognize the secretary of state, matt schulz . thank you for your service. we want to recognize congressman tom lee thumb. thank you for your service and leadership in the iowa house. thank you. [applause] we want to recognize it john archer, who is running for the congress of the news second district. john, thank you for putting your name on the ballot. [applause] we want to recognize senator grassley and his wife, barbara, for many years of your service and for your leadership in the u.s. senate.

thank you, senator. [applause] [cheers] before i conclude this segment of the program, let me be clear about three issues. first, we believe that no local government, no mayor, no state legislature, no state supreme court, no congress, in the u.s. supreme court, and no president should interfere with god's gift of life.

[applause] creation of the magical relationship between a man that any woman, which we all call marriage. [applause] and with god's wishes about our natural death. second, we believe that the statue of liberty and the usa should stand for legal immigration and not harboring people who broke immigration laws. [applause]

we need to secure borders and pass immigration reform that matches demand and supply. the time has come to stop giving excuses, benefits, and subsidies for a legal immigrants and their families. [applause] on a personal note, for people like me, who follow the legal process, became a legal immigrant, and a proud citizen of the united states of america, any type of amnesty for illegal immigrants is a slap on our faces. [applause] lastly, wheat and arty party

friends -- we and our tea party friends demand that the federal government bring back the economic responsibility through fiscal responsibility, capitalism, and private sector creativity. [applause] it is economic development efforts that create only an illusion of job creation by driving the companies to move from one location to the other. let's create real jobs by reforming all tax codes, reducing taxes, and removing obstacles for the corporations to bring back jobs and money is from overseas to the usa.

[applause] now it is my pleasure to welcome the iffc president for a few remarks. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. we welcome you to the most historic political event of 2011, leading up to the january 3 iowa caucuses. we want to thank each and everyone of you for making this evening a smashing success. tonight is the beginning of the end of the socialist agenda that permeates washington, d.c. [applause]

we are going to reclaim our constitutional form of government in november, 2012, and save this great republic for our children and grandchildren. most of us in this hall tonight firmly believe that the man occupying the white house needs to be given his walking papers. most of us here tonight believe that mike should be given his dismissal papers. [applause] and replacing him with al, from council bluffs. most of us in this room tonight would like to see the seat that was vacated filled with cindy, tying the state senate 25-25, so we do not have a dictator and i

will forever. -- a dictator in iowa forever. how will we pull this off? activating the grass roots, of phone calls, we will have an active and engaged clergy, who will no longer be told to sit down and shut up. we are going to be soldiers marching into battle. this is a great crowd tonight, indicative that this movement is alive and well and we are on the march. your financial and volunteer support has allowed the iowa faith and freedom coalition to become the most effective organization in iowa. first, you have been highly successful lobbyists. norm is working to ensure that the pro-family agenda and i what is advanced. he does not take no easily.

next, the iffc distributed voter guides. we have staffers actively involved in eight of the most competitive races in the state, working hard to turn out the pro-family vote. six of those candidates won. the organization to radar. -- this organization generated 550,000 phone calls and several dozen state competitive wagerac. in the election cycle we will be working hard to ensure the success of those projects that brought much success in 2010. voter guides involvement in the most competitive state legislative races insure that mike brown salt is no longer the ruler of iowa.

and then we will be working hard to educate pro-family iowans, and ensuring the pro-family agenda will be victorious that night. many of you tonight had a caucus card. our volunteers have been circulating, asking you to take part and be part of a caucus training school to either participate or lead one. please fill those out. volunteers are handing out caucus packets. we will be getting in contact with you soon. i would encourage you to lead us all tonight after listening to the great speeches and the great presidential candidates, but not let it lie there. we must become active. we must replace barack obama to save our republic. thank you all. [applause]

it is my distinct pleasure at this time to introduce a friend of 20-plus years, a man who is probably one of the most articulate spokespersons and the pro-family movement, who never sticks his foot in his mouth. he seems to be like teflon to the press. he is a great spokesperson. he is the founder of the national faith and freedom coalition, and multiple issue pro-family organization which will make its mark more and more as we see these years proceed. it is an organization that political candidates and causes have to pay attention to. without further ado, please welcome my great friend, ralph reed. >> thank you. thank you, iowa. [applause] did you notice when they were introducing the dignitaries

earlier that steve shepard's name was mentioned more than anybody? did you notice? that is because he is doing such an incredible job building this movement. on behalf of faith and freedom members all over iowa, thank you, my friend, for your leadership. we are honored to be on the same team with the. [applause] i know that i speak not only for the faith and freedom members here in iowa, but all over america, that we want to make sure that iowa continues to play a decisive and pivotal role in choosing the next leader of the free world, and iowa should continue going first in choosing our president. [applause] i thought you might agree with that. the pundits and pollsters continue to be confounded by the

persistence and the endurance of the evangelical vote. the evangelical vote. not just here in iowa, but all over the country. between 55% and 60% of all of the voters who walked into a caucus location in 2008 were self identified evangelical christians. it was not just in iowa. if you look at the exit polls in the 26 states that held primaries for which we have exit polling data, 44% of all of the voters who shadowed the threshold of a voter booth was a self identified evangelical christian. i do not know why the media and the pollsters continue to be surprised. in 1988, pat roberts and shocked

the political establishment by defeating incumbent president of united states here. after george bush came here in 1999 and tom brokaw asked him who his favorite philosopher was, he said jesus christ. i still remember. some of you may have been there. tom brokaw said, can you elaborate on that? [applause] george w. bush looked at him without blinking an eye and said, if i have to explain it to you, you do not understand. [applause] when mike huckabee came out of nowhere four years ago to win these caucuses and catapult his way to seven primary victories, the hard way -- the heartbeat of this movement. we are not looking for a human messiah to save our country.

we are not looking for somebody like the other side was looking for four years ago. we understand there is only one messiah who has ever walked on the face of this earth. there has only been one perfect man. he walked in the villages of judea and he rose from the dead and he sits at the right hand of god the father. that is where we put our hope, in the name and the person of jesus christ. [applause] it is because of our love for him and the calling of god in our lives that we are about in this process. not that we are going to impose our values on anyone else. one can only come to god of their own free will. but rather, to address injustice

where we see it, to establish good in the public arena and to help those who are hurting and would otherwise be left behind. we believe we have been given a great birthright, a priceless inheritance by those who came before us in the form of the constitution of the united states, the bill of rights, and the declaration of independence. we want the government in washington to return to that blue paint and do nothing further beyond that blueprint -- that blueprint and do nothing further beyond that blueprints. . [applause] sometimes, we bring forward issues that others might prefer not to talk about. we are compelled to do so. like the fact every human being is made in the amazon of almighty god -- image of

almighty god and every being is worthy of our love and our protection. on that we cannot and will not retreat. [applause] as three members of the iowa state supreme court found out the hard way, we believe marriage should be defined as a sacred union between a man and a woman as the essential building block of our society. [applause] we believe the federal government should have to balance its books every month just like we have to sit down at our kitchen table and balance our checkbooks every month and live within their means. [applause] now we have a key ally in this struggle, especially on the fiscal issue, in the tea party

movement. how many of you are active in some way, shape, or form in the tea party in iowa? good for you. i notice they have been taking your name in vain recently. have you heard some of the things they have been saying about you? jimmy hoffa said you should be "taken out." when a teamster leader says you should be taken out, he does not mean to dinner. this was at a rally for the president of the united states. nancy pelosi compared you to not seize -- nazis, which is part of the reason she is the former speaker of the house and john boehner is the speaker. [applause]

and then there is joe biden. he has become a punch line. just the mention of his name. he compared you to terrorists. can you imagine? i have news for hoffa, pelosi and biden and the people who smear you and attack you every day. that is, our right to organize, to speak out, and to petition our government has been purchased with the blood of those who paid the ultimate price that we might be free. they now saw around us as the apostle paul so eloquently said, -- now surround us. we will not be silent. we will not be intimidated and we will not go away until

america is restored to the principles upon which she was founded. [applause] let me tell you what is going to happen here in iowa and nationally in the next 12 months as a result of this organization, the faith and freedom coalition. we are going to distribute over 40 million voter guides in america's evangelical and pro- family churches. we are going to build a profile of socially conservative voters , a voter file that will be 27 million voters strong. we are going to contact every one of those voters 7-12 times. we are going to mail them, telephoned them, and e-mail them. if they have not vote by

election day, we are going to pick them up and take them to the polls and to make sure they vote. [applause] and when the dust settles, barack obama and michelle obama are going to be packing boxes into a moving van that is going to pull up to 1600 pennsylvania avenue and he is going to go back to chicago where he belongs. [applause] on january 20, when the new president that you have helped the let finishes taking their oath of office, that president is going to walk into a room in the capital. a few minutes after that inaugural ceremony, they are going to sign into law legislation that has already been passed by a republican and senate house repealing obamacare and leaving it on the ash heap

of history where it belongs. [applause] ronald reagan once said the closest thing to eternal life on this planet is a federal program. this time, it is going to be different. in order for this to happen, we are going to have to work harder than we have ever worked. we are going to have to give more than we have ever given and we are going to have to pray for our country like we have never prayed. there is a bucket on every single table. i want somebody at every table to hold up those buckets right now. there are white envelopes in every single one of them. pass those envelopes out at that table right now. i want every single person in this room -- we should probably exempt children under the age of six. anyone over the age of seven, i want you to put something in

this envelope for the effort of steve and his leadership team at the iowa faith & freedom coalition. get out a check. put some cash in. we take credit cards. there is a place to put a credit card number on that. pour them in the bucket. use a pen, a pencil, cut your finger if you need to. sellout that check and put it in this tombolo. we are going -- fill out that check and put it in that envelope. thank you very much. god bless you and god bless the great state of iowa. [applause] >> thank you, ralph.

there is a special senate election on november 8 that will tie the senate 25-25. you need to put some people in a car and head over there and help those people door knock and make phone calls. this will send a message. please help out where you can. at this time, i want to introduce a good friend of mine. a guy who came to the helm of the republican national committee in january of this year. he was one of five candidates running for chairman. i was one of his early supporters. i was convinced he was the best person to lead our party toward victory in 2012.

in wisconsin, they took that the state senate and picked up two new congressional seats. they picked a new republican governor, probably the most colorful and at the conservatives in our movement, scott walker, who has taken on the big unions. this man is going to resurrect his party and bring us great victories in 2012. my friend, reince priebus. >> thank you for the great work here tonight. this is an incredible show in

here tonight. as a follower of christ, this is an honor and a blessing to be here tonight. when steve asked me to come by, i said yes, absolutely. i want to brag on one of his partners, the national committeewoman from iowa. where are you, kim? thank you to you. let me put on my party had for a second. you have a serious iowa gop here. matt is not here tonight. i want to say thank you to matt for running a great organization. i have good news for you in iowa. a few hours ago, it is official. nevada will hold their caucus on february 4. iowa will be the first caucus in

america, the first contest in america. it is true. my name is really reince priebus. it is true. i know it is a bizarre name. i am a regular guy. my son's name is jack. my daughter is grace. my father is richard. my sister is married. ie. i got reince. it is what happens when a greek and a german get married. it is a cultural disaster. i am learning to live with it. the eighth and freedom. it is your cause. it is our cost-. cause. we fight for freedom. we stand for faith.

they have long defined america. not separately, but together. a and free them inextricably, intertwined. -- f mayaith and -- faith and rate them. inextricably intertwined. my family is greek. in greek, grandfather ispa papoo. as and a hero, i love to my grandpa. an 8 year old, i love my grandpa. he loved politics. i remember going to greece as a nine year-old guy. i remember walking on the balcony and seeing a new democracy flag. there are three parties in

greece. there is the new democracy party. there are the socialists. and there is the kke, which are the communists. next to the new democracy flag in downtown athens was an equally large american flag out on the balcony. i remember my papoo coming back to kenosha, wisconsin, where i grew up. americans go there for a week and we raced back. papoo, they come for a couple of months. i can remember nine, 10 years old, sitting on the couch for hours, listening to my papoo tell me stories. you remember the world of books, the old encyclopedia's? he would read a -- links all--- old encyclopedias?

he would tell me stories hours at a time. it did not matter who it was. everybody had a story. i do not think most of them were true. he loved everything and every little detail about america. he loved this country. he was not from here. that had a profound impact on me growing up, nine, 10 years old. i remember when we first moved the family out to washington a few months ago. i have a little guy by the name of jack. he is 6. i brought adapt to the world war ii memorial. i remember standing in front of that memorial with over 4000

gold stars representing 100 lives lost in world war ii. in front of those stars, and chiselled in the granite, it says, here it marked the price of freedom. i happen to believe we are in a battle for freedom in this country. i know that not a single person is here -- i am not standing in front of you as the chairman of the republican national committee because i am concerned about the future of the republican party. i am not concerned about the future of the republican party. i love the party. the party was founded in wisconsin in 1854. i love the party. i am not here and you are not here because of anything like that. i am here because i am concerned

about the future of this country. i believe we are in a battle for freedom. it is the same battle of freedom that found in our country. it is the same battle of freedom that change madison, reaffirmed in the bill of rights. is the same battle that form our party. here we are today. it is a battle for freedom between government's insatiable appetite to grow and what is born in every american heart, which is unique to america. individual and economic freedom. that is where we are today. we have a great debate in america starting right now. that debate is, do you want to have a country of makers 41 to

have a country of takers -- makers or do you want to have a country of takers? when my son jack is my age, it is going to cost 45 cents on every dollar made in america -- 45 on every dollar made in america to run the federal government. that is a battle for freedom. if you know people who do not think that is a battle for freedom, what is. what if it is 72 cents, 82 cents, 99 cents on every dollar made in america just to run the federal government. we are in a battle for freedom. i am sure you have heard that the president -- what he was up

to this week. he is on another bus toward paid for by the taxpayers. he says we are not campaigning. there is nothing to see. they just happen to run the bus through virginia, ohio, north carolina. they are not going to montana or utah. they are going through every battleground state in america. this president is obsessed with politics. the politics cannot create good jobs. good speeches do not create good jobs. the president has a love affair. that love affair he has is with the sound of his own voice. he does not love fallen through on his promises, does he?

the president says he wants to reduce the deficit and the debt ceiling and wasteful spending in washington. here is the problem. the rhetoric does not match the results. he says he wants to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. what did he do? he introduced the biggest structural deficit in the history of the world. not a single democrat in the senate vote for it. he said he wanted to get the debt under control.

on this trajectory, our debt will be twice our entire economy. that is the economic definition of bankruptcy. a government that has to surrender its sovereignty to its bondholders cannot guarantee prosperity our freedom to anybody. in a country that buries its kids in an avalanche of that cannot rest in any bested of the moral high ground. a country controlled by china cannot compete with china. we have all been blessed in this

room. in different ways. after it is all said and done, there is nothing but thankfulness and gratefulness to god for all of the blessings in our lives. me included. i am just blessed and grateful that god gave us a hard to care about the future of our country and about what is happening in our government. there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. there is only one perfect person who walked the face of this earth. i plan on running the party by the concept of addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division. we have so much to fight for in this election. we are going to come together. i want you to know that the

republican party, the rnc, the iowa gop -- we are here to work with you. this party is not in competition with the conservative movement. this party is part of the conservative movement. i intend to keep it that way. i intend to work with you. together, we can come up with the best stimulus plan for this country. economists from los angeles to new york, people like paul ryan and mitch daniels would sign up for our stimulus plan and here it is. fre barack obama -- fire barack obama and put a republican in the white house and put america back to work. god bless you and have a great night. [applause]

>> after my brief introduction, for a few seconds, the candidate will give a speech for 10 minutes. the senator will be asking questions of the iowa energy forum. steve will be asking questions to the candidate. at this time, we request the senator and steve to take their seats at the front table here. [applause] in the interest of time, please give only brief applause when a candidate is coming to speak and

when the candidate is leaving after completing the answer to the fourth question. first candidate. please welcome the plane talking -- plain talking, rapidly rising, no nonsense, non-politician and businessman, former ceo of not father -- of herman cain.izza, >> thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you for this invitation. and thank you for this meeting. it was ronald reagan who

reminded us just how fragile this thing called freedom is. he said freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. we cannot pass it on in the bloodstream. it must be fought for. or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our grandchildren what the united states of america used to be like. i am not going to have that conversation with my grandkids. i do not think you are going to have that conversation with your grandkids, to talk about what the united states of america used to be like. and this is a battle, a fight

for freedom. it is a fight for freedom. this nation has protected that precious thing called freedom since its inception for 235 yfears -- years because of america's strength, the strength of the declaration of independence as perceived by the founding by others, the strength of the constitution of the united states of america. it simply needs to be enforced, not written. that is what the american people are looking for, strength in terms of our free-market system. america's strength. we have the greatest economic engine on the planet. it is sputtering right now

because we have an economic crisis. our economybut when it receivest fuel, no other nation on the planet can touch it. america is great because of its strength. last, but not least, because of the strength of our military and our men and women in uniform. [applause] but there is one strength that you rarely hear mentioned when people talk about america's greatness. it is because of this particular strength that i am here tonight, that i am it on this journey. that is america's ability to change and we have to change the

occupant of the white house again in 2012. [applause] america survives because of its ability to change. throughout its history. we have had some ups. we have had some downs. but we have been able to change whenever the will of the people demanded it. i know something about america's ability to change. if it had not been for america's ability to change, i would not be here tonight. i grew up in atlanta, georgia in the 1950's and 1960's during the height of the civil rights movement in this nation. it was not just in the south. it was all over this nation. i can still remember riding on

segregated buses in atlanta, georgia. i can still remember the sign at the front of the bus that will forever be branded into my memory -- whites seat from the front, coloreds seat from the rear. i can still remember that. but because of america's ability to change, i stand here today and i own the bus with my picture on the side. [applause] american's ability to change is one of our greatest strengths

and the founders got it right. they got it right in that document called the declaration of independence. they got it right in that document called the constitution. it was not so restrictive that it did not allow us to change when it had to -- when we had to. they got it right when they said "endowed by their creator." not the president. not congress. "and vowed up by their creators or -- in doubt by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are right. no abortions, no exceptions. [applause] liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and when they indicated that among these are life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness, it suggests they might have been talking about some others. i believe there is another unalienable right that the founders intended. that is the right to protect yourself. the right to protect your family. the right to protect your property. we call it the seventh amendment to the constitution of the united states of america. that is an unalienable right. the founding fathers got it right. we have to be the defending fathers. that means we have to do three things in order to take back the white house, take back our congress, and get this nation back on the right track. number one, we must stay in formed because of stupid people are ruining america. -- state informed because stupid people are ruining america.

[applause] we can win because there are more of us. we just have to out vote them. secondly, stay involved. it is great to see so many of you here tonight. as a route and steve challenged you earlier, when you leave here tonight after the speeches, don't do the same thing you might have done before. as the great philosopher, emmer earl of gauzy says, "kick it up a notch -- emiril legaze says, "ticket up a notch." that is a joke. we need to lighten up. the third thing i asked you to

do is to state inspired. stay inspired. the liberals want you to believe we cannot do this. the liberals want you to believe they have at this nation in a choke hold and that they are going to hold onto it and not let it go. but one of the greatest strengths of this nation is the will of the people. when the will of the american people on leashes the spirit of america, we can -- unleashes the spirit of america, we can achieve what ever we want to cheat -- we can achieve what we want to achieve. i am inspired by the greatness of this nation. i am inspired by the face of that first grandchild in 1999. when i looked into that little place for the very first time, the first spot that went through my mind is what do i do to give her a good start in life. the first thought that went to

my mind was what do i do to make this a better nation, to make this a better world for her and all of the other little faces. you see, we do not have a lot of time to get this right. we have got to get it right in 2012 and i believe that we will because we are reminded that while we are on this journey, we all have a limited amount of time to be here. we have to decide how we are going to use our time, our talents, and our treasure in order to make a difference, not only in your community, but to make a difference in this world and this nation. dr. maes at morehouse college used to remind the young men at morehouse when i was a student there that life is just a

minute. only 60 seconds in it. forced upon you, cannot refuse it. did not seek it. did not choose it, but it is up to you to use it. you must suffer if you lose it. give an account if you abuse it. just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it. in 2012, it is our responsibility to honor the memory of ronald reagan as he described america as that shining city on a hill. but in the last few years, that shining city on a hill has slid down to the side of the hillside and it is our responsibility in 2012 to take it that shining city on a hill back to the top of the hill

where it belongs and never apologized for america's greatness. [applause] gentlemen. >> thank you, mr. cane. specific energy policies affect our jobs and our policies. what is your comprehensive plan to shake your future administration's energy policy. please include how that vision differs from that of the current administration. >> the current administration does not have a policy. [laughter] we will have an energy independence strategy because america has the resources to become energy independent. we have enough oil, coal, natural gas, shale -- we have

the resources to become energy independent. we are putting that strategy together. because energy independence is not only an economic imperative, it is a national security imperative. we do not need to be dependent upon foreign oil from countries that do not like us. this is why we are going to become energy independent. the first barrier some people like to say we will have in doing that is that the epa will not let us do that. well, as president of the united states, i will make sure epa has an attitude adjustment. [applause] they work for us. >> if you could reverse one

energy related policy decision from the last three years, what would it be and what would you have done differently? >> if i could have reversed one energy related policy over the last three years, what would it have been? i would have allowed at the american people -- allowed at the american people to decide what kind of light bulbs they want to put in their homes. americans believe in choice. green energy is a joke. you ought to be able to pick what lightbulbs you want. that is why they call this the "faith and freedom coalition." [applause] >> thank you for coming this evening. at we are honored that you are here. what would you do specifically to prevent abortion on demand and prevent -- and defend

traditional marriage. >> i believe that we need a constitutional guarantee board at a traditional marriage between a man and a woman. in terms of preventing abortion on demand, i would not sign any legislation or government funded abortions. i would not sign any legislation that in any way allows the government to be involved in it. i would strengthen our current laws that prevent abortion. i believe abortion should be clearly stated and illegal across this country and i will work to defund planned parenthood and make sure that i. just judges that will enforce the constitution. no activist judges. i will also make sure we do not allow any bureaucrats to get in the way in order to protect the life of the unborn. [applause]

>> thank you. question no. two -- what would you do to restore fiscal responsibility and promote creation of jobs in the united states. >> in order to promote fiscal responsibility, we need to do two things response -- two things. i have promoted a job plan that i am sure everybody has heard of. we must grow the economy at the same time reduce spending in washington, d.c. here is my approach. that would be an across the board to 10% mandated coming from the president of all federal agencies. like most business people do, you do a deep dive into every agency to find programs that need to be thrown out. the government accounting office documents waste, duplication, and inefficiency on a regular basis. but it as if nobody took the

report and put together and did something with it. i believe we can have cost coming down so that we can stop adding to the national debt. it starts with putting a chill in the engine for economic growth. this is why i would throw out the current tax code and put in the bold plan we have proposed called 9-9-9 to get this economy growing. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mr. cain. please welcome the ottawa born woman, -- the iowa born woman with the titanium spine.

the winner of the iowa straw poll and congressman, michele bachmann. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. thank you so much for loving our country so much that you are here this evening. your presence says to the rest of the nation that barack obama will be a one-term president. thank you so much for your presence. he will be a one-term president. i know that because i have been on the front lines for the last five years in washington, d.c. i came into office the same day that nancy pelosi raised her right arm and got the gavel in her hand as speaker of the house. i have watched the destruction

that has come upon our nation with the out of control spending, with the tax increases, with the effort to put into place the takeover of 16 of the american economy with the passage of obamacare. it was my honor to be called president obama's chief credit when it came to opposing him on the issue of obamacare. this is something we know in 2012. it was stated earlier by some of our speakers. we must in 2012 have a very different kind of a president. every day i am on a plane somewhere all across the united states of america, from what i see everywhere across the country, people have made up their minds. they have decided that barack obama will not have a second term. now the question will be who will replace barack obama? will it be a candidate who has a

proven record of standing for us and what we believe in? this is the year when social conservatives can have it all because from my experience, a social conservative is a fiscal conservative. a social conservative is a national security conservative. we can have it all this year. growing up in iowa -- i was born and raised here -- i tell people everything i needed to know i learned in the state of iowa. i thank god for the background and the fake my parents gave to me. my parents, from a very early age, make sure our family made it to church on the weekend and that we played at night and we prayed before our meals, but it was when i became 16 years of age that i was confronted with a piquant -- with the question in my own life -- what would i do with jesus christ?

what would this place be in my own life? i made a decision in 1972 when i bowed my knee and received jesus christ as my lord and savior. my life was changed or ever. at that moment, i radically abandoned my life and myself to him and said whatever i am en whatever i will be, it is yours and it is for you to show me the way on that decision. i thank god for what the lord has given to me and what he has done for me and this nation. over the course of time in growing with him, i married a man who also gave his life to jesus christ. we established our home on jesus christ. after 33 years of marriage and five biological children, we were privileged to bring 23 foster children into our home. we'll see the goodness and grace of god on our nation. the values i have learned, i

have taken with me. i have stood on those values in washington, d.c. as a member of congress. i have stood up as a firm, strong ally to our friend, israel, and as president of the united states, i will stand with israel. [applause] as a member of the united states house of representatives committee on intelligence, we deal with the nation's classified secrets. i can tell you quite clearly that it was a tremendous mistake for barack obama to put daylight between the united states and our ally, israel. we have been seeing the truth of that decision and when he called on israel to retreat to her indefensible 1967 borders in may of this year, that sent a signal.

that sends a signal to nations all over the world that it was time and open season for them to increase their hostilities. this is the first president since israel declared her sovereignty -- 11 minutes after she declared her sovereignty, harry truman recognized israel. every president since then has stood by israel until all barack obama. he has sent those signals of weakness and, today, we have seen unspeakable actions, including recently where, literally in my mind, it was an act of war with iran chose to commit an act of international assassination in our nation's capitol. this cannot be abided by. it is something the united states needs to send a signal. that is why as president of the united states i will stand by israel and i will stand with our allies. i will stand against our

enemies, which would be and iran with a nuclear weapon. this last week, what have we seen besides the incident of international assassination? we saw president obama but the united states into a fourth war with no identifiable american national interest. there is no more important task for president than to be commander in chief. i see that from the perspective of the intelligence committee. i would never consider negotiating and releasing the hostages in guantanamo bay. that is something we cannot do. we have the mastermind of the 9/11 disaster and tragedy, caliche, mohammad, who is in guantanamo bay. we would never consider negotiating those admitted terrorists for an american in a hostage situation. i also want you to know quite

firmly, i stand for life from conception until natural death. a president must know and recognize what barack obama does not. he says that he personally does not believe in abortion. the president obama also believes that the government must not intervene when it comes to the issue of abortion. i believe that the government must intervene and i stand for a federal constitutional amendment to protect life from conception until natural death. [applause] i also believe sitting on the intelligence committee, we know now that there are 59,000 illegal mexicans that come across the border every year. this is a national security threat. i am the first candidate to sign a pledge to build a fence on our

southern border. as president of the united states, i will not only bill that fence in the first year of my presidency, i will make sure we have the boots on the ground to deal with this issue. we will cut out taxpayer subsidized benefits for illegal aliens and for their children. we will not stand for subsidies for illegal aliens or their children when it comes to higher education. i also believe it is time to put forward legislation to deal with the issue of a anchor babies in the united states of america. [applause] english needs to be the official language of the united states government. [applause] this is our year where we do not

compromise. this is our year where we do not settle. we need to look at the records of the candidates. we need to look at what we have done and what we have fought for. for the last five years i have been at the tip of the spear on issue after issue whether it has been standing up for our friend israel, whether it has been standing up against out-of- control spending, whether it has been standing up and get barney frank on the financial services committee. i have done this against tdodd- frank. it was set our president need to come in after being sworn in and sign this repeal bill for obamacare. i will repeal obamacare because i fought against obamacare. i wrote the bill to repeal dodd- frank. i understand what needs to be done to repeal those bills. i grew up in iowa with three brothers and no sisters. that is the best preparation for

politics any girl could ever have. [applause] we do these things not because we are easy -- these things are easy, we do these things because they are part and because they must be done. i firmly believe that 2012 is it. i believe this is it. this is america's last chance to get it right because we know from the international monetary fund, this is the last election when the united states will be the premier economic superpower of the world. we know that according to their figures china will be the economic superpower before the 2016 election. we only have one chance. we need to have a candidate we can count on.

someone who will cut back on the spending. we have to cut it by 43%. we need someone who gets tough love. i get tough love. i raised 28 children. i am the old woman in the issue. i have taken tough love. not only to nancy pelosi, but i have also stood up against the republican leadership in washington, d.c. i know how to fight, but i also know how to get things done. we need someone who understands what this president does not -- our nation will rise and our nation will fall. and the way we uphold the values that americans have stood for. it was george washington and our founders who told us in the northwest ordinance that we stand on religion and morality and virtue. our nation since the early

by0's has not this off one one. religion, growing the bible and prayer out of public school classrooms. and now out of the marketplace of ideas. throwing morality out of mainstream public life and mocking virtue. our nation was formed on religion, morality, and virtue. we believe in religious liberty. once again, as a nation, we must stand tall. looks very difficult right now, but one of my favorite heroes in the old testament as someone you do not hear very often. his name is jonathan. jonathan's father was saul. king saul led the israelites army. he was defeated because as he looked up at the top of the cliff, there were the

philistines. they had a big army. he gave up and he was paralyzed. but not his son, jonathan. jonathan turned to his armor bearer, his fellow soldiers, and said, "the lord will hear us. if we climb the cliff and they say come up, then we will know the lord is on our side. we can scale the cliff and see that victory." the armor bearer said to jonathan some of the most fateful words recorded in holy scripture. he said, "i am with you heart and soul." jonathan and his armor bearer scaled the cliffs. they said, "come up to where we are." jonathan and the armor bearer went to the top of the cliff. not only did jonathan and the armor bearer defeat the

philistines on the cliff, scripture says it was the entire army. on that day there was faith and a miracle. it will take a miracle to set america back on course and on our foundation. but i believe in miracles and i believe in the one who sends miracles. it is not too late for the united states. i know that together -- together we can take this nation back and we can restore it to the foundation that the founders so brilliantly dave and fought and boldand gave their liveast measure to secure for us. i thank you. [applause] >> congresswoman, we are

privileged to have you tonight. what would you specifically do to prevent abortion on demand and tibet -- and defend traditional marriage. >> on abortion on demand, i would be fully supportive of a federal constitutional amendment to define life beginning at conception. i believe in life from conception until natural death. i would support all pro-life language that comes across my desk. i recently introduced be informed choice act so that everyone prior to having an abortion would have to listen and see her unborn baby before making that all-important decision to choose life. [applause] it is also very important for everyone in this room to know we already have taxpayer funded abortion. obamacare, pour the first time in history, gave us taxpayer funded abortion. we will get one chance to repeal

obamacare. one chance -- that is 2012. $105 billion is already embedded in obamacare in a series of postdated checks that obama is casting right now to implement taxpayer funded abortion in all 80 states. we only have one chance to get rid of what will ultimately become socialized medicine. this is a pro-life issue to repeal obamacare. i will not rest until i elapsed 13 light-mike -- until i elect 13-like-minded senators to help me repeal that bill. [applause] in answer to what will i do to defend marriage, i did. in my home state of minnesota

when it was extremely unpopular, i introduced a bill to define marriage as one man and one woman. we persisted. even after i left minnesota, i work with my successors. now minnesota will be the first state to have on its ballot the definition of marriage as one man and one woman in this upcoming year. as president of the united states, i would fully support the federal marriage amendment to define marriage as one man and one woman. [applause] >> thank you. what would you do to restore fiscal responsibility and promote creation of jobs in the united states. >> i have introduced my plan, which is more than a tax plan, more than an energy plan. it is a comprehensive plan to turn the economy around and get it back on the right rail. we have to do, quite frankly, what i learned growing up in

iowa. you cannot spend more money than what you take in. [applause] this is non-negotiable. we are spending 43% more than what we are taking in. this is a morality issue. it is an economic-year -- issue, but it is a morality issue. when ronald reagan was president in the early 1980's, america was the no. 1 creditor nation in the world. we had all the money and we were loaning it to other nations. we are now the biggest debtor nation in the world. just from the time i have been in congress, from january 2007, we were $8.60 trillion in debt. after the debt ceiling vote that i was fighting against, raising that debt ceiling, we now have the capacity to be in debt

$16.70 trillion. we have almost doubled our indebtedness in 4.5 years. that is why we have to have someone, as i have often said, with a titanium spine to say no and do the very difficult thing that needs to be done and that is cutting back. i will. i will shut down the department of education. i will shut down the epa. i will shut down the department of energy. all shut down the department of interior. i will shut down the department of commerce. we have to decide once and for all big federal government gets practically nothing right. shut it down, sending back to the states. we can do this. the country will be better for it and it will lead to a pro- growth economy. that is my entire life. i am a former federal tax litigation attorney. my husband and i run a profitable business.

i believe turning a profit is a very good thing. i stand for profit and believe in profit. the first thing we have to do is what you would do in your home and what you would do in your business. if you are in financial trouble, you either freeze your credit card in the freezer or cut it up. in the case of the united states, you take the credit card away. they have to cut back on spending. then you cut taxes to some of the lowest in the industrialized world. i will abolish the united states federal tax code and have a flatter, simpler and contacts. then you abolish the mother of all regulatory bills. go to michelebachmann.com. >> what is your comprehensive plan to shape your future

administration's energy policy. please include how this differs from the approach of the current administration. >> my plan is 180 degrees different from the current administration's plan on energy. i have been fighting this during my entire time in congress. this is one of the best poris the united states of america have to tell. earlier this year, the congressional research service issued a report that says the united states of america is the number one energy resource rich nation in the world. god has given us such a tremendous gift. if we legalize american energy production, which i have been advocating do not my time in congress, we will create very quickly 1.4 million high-paying jobs. we will increase domestic energy supplies 50%. that will bring $800 billion into the united states treasury. we have more oil in three western states than all of the

oil in saudi arabia. we have 25% of all the coal in the world. we have some of the largest fines of natural gas found recently in pennsylvania. solar, wind, biofuel -- we have it all. i want to legalize it all. i also want to change the epa and get rid of the epa. we have 50 at the state level. i want to get rid of it so we can open up american energy production and be the leader in the world. [applause] >> if you could reverse one energy-related policy decision in the last three years, what would it be and what would you have done differently? >> there are so many, but the one that has really hurt the economy in a most devastating

way was the moratorium the president obama put on after the oil spill that occurred. there was devastation that occurred because of the oil flow that occurred, but there was nothing that was worse than the moratorium that he put on. the gulf coast region -- [applause] the gulf coast region still continues to feel the effects from the moratorium. here is something else with energy. i have toward the anwar region, which is the most perfect place on the planet to drill for oil and we should be drilling in anwar. every lease back its purchased for drilling before anything happens, there is a radical environmental group that filed a lawsuit to drive up the price on those leases.

we need to end that practice and we need to set up special courts to deal with that because we have seen our energy policy absolutely tied up in knots. i have spent four years on this issue. i know what needs to be done and i have proposed an energy policy that will open upper, on block, unleashed, and create high- paying jobs across the united states of america. this is the first and easiest thing the next precedent of the united states can do and this will be the treasure trove that god has given to the united states to turn our economy around and i cannot wait to do it. [applause] is that it? thank you. god bless you. , left the united states of america. i love you all thank you. -- god bless the united states of america. i love you all. thank you.

[applause] >> thank you, congresswoman. please welcome a lifelong conservative who is a proven leader in the fight to create jobs and to protect the unborn, texas governor rick perry. [applause] >> thank you. thank you all for coming out and being with us tonight. i want to state -- say a special thanks to rice prevent. thank you for the work you have done and the invitation to be here today. it is important for all the candidates to come and ask all of you for your votes and support. i really have a special connection to the iowa voters, partly because of that little

town in texas called paint creek where i grew up. instead of growing corn, which we were watching being harvested this morning with steve king, we were growing cotton. when i was not attending school, i was helping on the farm, or over at mr. overton's place with the boy scouts -- boy scouts of america. my mother said that was where i needed to be. we had two churches there at paint creek. we had a baptist church and a methodist choice. -- baptist church in a methodist church. you had a choice. pick one. that building that housed grades 1-12 -- it was a bit smaller than hickory high in hoosiers.] i am and product of those humble beginnings. i never associated happiness with what we had materially, but

we were highly blessed spiritually. the fabric of my existence was family and faith and community. we were knit together by strong relationships with that abiding faith. if a neighbor became sick, the community pitched in to help raise the crops. i know that spirit is still alive and well right here in iowa. i was reminded of it a couple of months ago. they loaded up hay to send to texas to help are renters or going to a tough time with the drought. that is the way it is in small- town america. people look out for one another. it happens through private initiatives. it does not happen because of government. as americans, we do not believe washington should be more central in our lives. we do not believe government exist to spread the wealth or

dictate equal outcomes. we believe government exists to protect our rights and to guarantee our freedom. [applause] our founding fathers were some of the very first to declare our rights were endowed by our creator and that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. while liberty may be the gift of god, it's preservation requires the sacrifice of man. in order for america to maintain its moral authority abroad, we must set a high moral standard at home. that starts with protecting our most innocent and how vulnerable unborn children. [applause] 50 million have died because america has not guaranteed the right to live expressly stated

in the declaration of independence. as governor of texas and throughout my career, i have taken an unwavering stance in defense of life. i signed legislation requiring parental consent for a minor to have an abortion. i signed the prenatal protection act. i signed the informed consent law. this year i signed two other productions, one a law that ensures pregnant women received a sonogram before an abortion. i was proud to defund planned parenthood in texas. [applause] that sonogram built is tied up in the courts and it reminds me of one of the most important responsibilities of any president. that is to appoint federal judges to uphold the constitution of the united states instead of writing. activist judges who gave us roe vs. wade.

it is time for activist citizens to pass a human life amendment. [applause] on this issue you do not just need to listen to my words. you can look at my record. i have always wanted those strict constructionist to uphold the law and defend our founding principles. being pro-life is not a matter of campaign convenience, it is a core conviction. that conviction should include the protection of embryonic stem cells. [applause] the real advances in stem cell research involving adult stem cells. we do not have to compromise our values to advance science. this is true of embryonic stem cell research and it is true of human cloning. one final thought on the issue of life -- it is a liberal

canard to say i am personally pro life, but government should stay out of that decision. that is your view, you are not pro-life. you are pro having your cake and too.g it to, we respect life as a gift of god. what god has created we should always work to protect. that is not only an article of faith, it is a natural law. when it comes to faith, it is the core of who i am. it is and is essential at as much as -- it is an essential act as much as breathing is and is essential act. i wish i could say i came to faith by virtue. in reality, it was a struggle. it was only when i had nowhere else to turn that i turned to

god. i had gone off to college. i served my country in the united states air force and i finally came to terms with the central guiding role of a personal god in my own life. i discovered my own limitations. my own broken this. -- brokeness. i found the true source of love and change and that is a loving god that turns hearts of stone into parts of flesh. -- hearts of flesh. [applause] we can find hope in the imperfections of the people of god used to write about in the scriptures. moses was a hot-tempered. david, he gave in to temptation.

solomon once persecuted christians and later wrote about his personal struggles in the book of romans. we are not disqualified by our imperfections because we are weak and he is strong. that is the good news. we are not called to be perfect. if any of you have what my debate performances over the last three or four times, you know i am far from perfect. [applause] here is another thing you need to know about me, i stick by my principles. no matter what comes my way, my principles stayed the same. defend freedom, value life, make policy decisions based on what is best for our families. i will not excepted de's status quo as the fate of america. i will not accept an america that is less productive at home

and less of influential at home. i still believe in american essentialism. i still believe like america -- like american he -- like ronald reagan and abraham lincoln. i will not apologize for our country or our values, i will protect them. i will stand for life. i will stand for freedom. i will protect the right of people of faith to march on the public square and participate in this cherished democracy. i ask for your prayers. i ask for your involvement. i ask for your vote. god bless you and thank you for allowing me to come tonight. [applause] >> thank you, governor perry. what is or compress a plan to shake your future administration's energy policy and please include how this differs from the approach of the

current administration. >> it is a pretty simple concept. make what americans by, by what americans make, and sell it to the world. that is what we need to be focused on in this country -- expanding our domestic exploration, pulling back regulations that are killing jobs as stopping our ability to use the 300 years of energy that we have a in this country, reduced and we focus, if you will, that epa that has been talked about broadly here tonight, level the playing field. i talked about creating 1.2 million jobs by doing just that without having to go through congress. the president is using executive actions an executive order to make those changes. white america will be more energy sufficient we will send hundreds of billions of dollars offshore every year to countries that are hostile to our picture.

it is not sensible to me. let's get america working and open up our oil and gas reserves, open up our energy whether it is when, solar, nuclear -- whatever it might be. get america working and start in the energy industry. [applause] >> if you could reverse one energy-related policy decision from the last three years, what would it be and what would you have done differently? >> i agree with congresswoman bachmann that the most devastating event that occurred with this administration was the need-jerk reaction after the deepwater horizon event and shutting down the gulf of mexico from drilling. what it has done -- if we just went back to pre-obama levels of job creation, one-third would be

outside the gulf region. 80% on the number of approvals for permits. it takes 400% logger today to get a permit in the gulf of mexico. bobby jindal and i were talking within the last month. 12,000 jobs have been lost. this president has killed more jobs with his regulatory schemes that have gone forward and that need-jerk reaction of stopping drilling and that is some of the fastest things we can turn around for the new president. [applause] >> thank you. gov perry, thank you for coming this evening. what would you specifically do to prevent that abortion on demand and defend traditional marriage? >> i would do the same pace as

the rhythm of the united states that i have done as governor of texas. -- i would do the same plane as the president of the united states that i have done as governor of texas. justices have to understand their role of reading the constitution. when they read the constitution, they will overthrow roe vs. wade. i look forward to the day when we truly have a constitutional amendment that protects life. any taxpayer funds for abortion would be vetoed if they came to my desk. [applause] >> what would you do to restore fiscal responsibility and promote the creation of jobs in the united states? >> obviously the creation of jobs is one of the most

important issues that face this country from the standpoint of how to get our family's strong again. i laid out two weeks ago a plan clearer on the energy side, 1.2 million jobs, by opening up those federal lands, by pulling back those regulations that are killing jobs, by rebuilding the epa into an agency that is therefore no other purpose than to work with cross-state issues or what have you. you can get this country working very quickly, but you need a country that -- you need a president that has a record of job creation. just like in my state, i would use four simple principles. keep the tax burden as like as you can on job creators. send a clear message of the regulatory front that you have a clear and predictable regulatory climate. have a legal system that does not allow for over-suing.

you have to have a president that stands up and if a bill comes that spends more money than you have in, if they pull out a pen -- a president that will say if you send me a piece of legislation that spends more than what we are bringing in, i will veto it it will be something as magnificent as a sharply that sends a message that we will not spend more money than we are bringing in in this country. god bless you and thank you for allowing us to be a part of this tonight. [applause] >> thank you, governor. please welcome the column and

cool man of ideas, the co- author of the 1994 contract with america, former speaker newt gingrich. [applause] >> thank you very much. i want to thank the faith in freedom coalition. i want to thank you personally for coming out tonight. i want to thank ralph reed for what he is done all across the country to build the faith in freedom movement. 2012 is the most important election in this country since 1860. next year we will decide

whether the disastrous policies of class warfare, bureaucratic socialism, radical judges, and bureaucrats who treat us as subjects rather than citizens will be continued in office, or whether we will decisively repudiated and 80-year drift to the left -- a drift in our newsrooms, a drift in our colleges and universities, adrift with our judges, and a drift among elected politicians -- elected politicians. let me give you one example. the president has announced what will be seen by historians as a decisive defeat for the united states in iraq. despite the best effort of our military, which is, i think, the finest military in history, the

failure of our civilian institutions and, frankly, but the failure to understand the scale of the problem means we will have lost the third iraq war. as a historian, i think it needs to be said. we won the first iraq war in 1991 by getting iraq out of kuwait in four days. we won the second iraq war two defeat saddam hussein's in 23 days. for reasons i frankly do not understand, ambassador bremer then changed our mission to radically changing iraqi society. after eight years, thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars, we will leave in defeat. do not kid yourself. it is defeat. iran is stronger. when the head of iraq goes to a conference on terrorists, when he promises

assad he will help prop him up as dictator of syria, when they refused to sign an agreement to protect american forces against iraqi law. we have lost influence despite many american dead, more american wounded, and hundreds of billions of losses. we need to fundamentally rethink our policy or the entire region. we need to recognize that iran is dangerous. how dangerous is pakistan with over 100 nuclear weapons? we need to understand how precarious the entire region is. that is an example of what makes this an extraordinarily important election. look, the process of recovery economically isi predict to youn election night, as it is clear that obama has been defeated and

the democratic senate has been defeated, lake that night, the recovery will begin. -- late that night, the recovery will begin. [applause] people react very quickly to news. investors will change. small businesses will start hiding -- hiring. we could have been dramatically different christmas in 2012 if it was a good buy obama christmas as opposed to a reelect obama christmas. do you want a great christmas? and vote against obama. for any democrat, that will be an appealing idea. keep this easy. he is the best food stamp

president in american history. we want to be the best paycheck president in american history. president obama is just a start. while he personifies the move to the left, there is vastly more work to do them beating barack obama. one of the first things i will do is send a bill to congress to ask them to fire bernanke immediately so that we can replace him. i will insist that the fed be audited. i will insist that all of the decision documents for the last three years will be published so all of us can know who got our money and whites and who did not get our money and why. -- and why and who did not get our money and why. when i replaced bernanke, which

i hope we can do within the first 30 days, it will be with somebody that will be committed to a sound dollar. we should go back to a dollar as good as gold. it should not be eroded by it mathematical theoreticians that think that they are smarter than you. if you go to newt.org and you look at the 21st century contract with america, it is a comprehensive document that will continue to grow and evolve until we issue the final legislative version and the final executive order version. everybody will know going into the final week of the campaign what this is all about. the very first executive order will be assigned a 4:00 in the

afternoon the day i am sworn in as president at about the time the obama family arrives at andrews air force base to go back to chicago, the very first executive order will eliminate all of the white house czars as of that moment. [applause] the second executive order will reinstate ronald reagan's mexico city policy. no u.s. money is spent for abortion anywhere in the world. the third executive order will reinstate president george w. bush's conscience policy which says no doctor, no hospital, no nurse, no hospital can be compelled to perform any medical

procedure against their religious beliefs. the fourth executive order will order the state department to open the united states embassy in jerusalem and recognized the sovereignty of the state of israel. [applause] the fact is we are going to develop more executive orders over the next year. you can go to newt.org and participate. they will all be laid out in an orderly form. in the last month of the campaign, if the president says he is for something, we can print it out and have him sign it right there. there are a lot of things i would like to get into overtime. the environmental solutions agency should replace the epa. you imagine the bureaucrat that

rides on metro to sit in an air- conditioned high-rise building to sit there imagining dust. that he writes a dust regulation based on zero understanding of farming. now you know why we should replace the epa. [applause] i would immediately move to defund planned parenthood and move that to adoption services to create an alternative to abortion. [applause] i always tell people that i do not ask you to be for me. i ask people to be with me. the scale of change we need is going to take 8 hard, difficult years. there will be a lot of counter

reaction from the left, a lot of fighting with special interests. it can only happen and that if the american people are with us. if we are going to shrink government in washington, sweeney to grow citizenship back home. -- we need to grow citizenship back home. this is the most historic election since 1860. as your nominee, i will challenge president barack obama to seven lincoln-douglas style debates. there will be a timekeeper, but no moderator. [applause] to be fair, i would agree that he can use a teleprompter. after all, if you had to spend

at an entire three-hour debate defending obamacare, would you not want the help of a teleprompter it? i think they will be as historic and decisive as the original debates of 1858. i think he owes it to the country not to hide behind $1 billion exported by a white house incumbent. not to speer and destroy his opponent. to stand face to face with the american people so that they can have an opportunity to hear both sides. i can assure you as your nominee, i will be able to represent american exception alyssum, private property rights, and the american constitution better than he can represent class warfare, weakness in foreign policy, and

total confusion in the economy. i look forward to your questions. [applause] >> thank you, mr. speaker. what is your comprehensive plan to shake your future administration's energy policy and please be clear how this differs from the current administration? >> i have heard you ask that several times tonight. tell us how it will be different than the current administration. i would say, you have got to be kidding. this is the most anti-american energy administration in history. this president goes to brazil and says to the brazilians, i am really glad that you are drilling offshore.

i want us to be your best customer. i thought he had that exactly backwards. the job of the american president is thought to be a purchasing agent for other countries. it is to be a salesman for the united states of america. [applause] a friend of mine said that the only way to develop alaska is to sell it to the brazilians, and then obamas will think it is terrific. if you go to the 21st century contract with america, we outlined an energy plan. it is pretty straightforward. michele bachmann had it right. we have more energy than anybody in the world. 20% of your energy comes from wind. that is second only to denmark. i have always been a supporter

of ethanol. i did it for practical reasons. if my choice is for the next dollar to go to iran or iowa, i choose iowa. if you look at the growing efficiencies of corn production and the growing efficiencies of an ethanol production, says there has been a 25-year success story which has kept money at home in rich world communities. the fact is that we need to develop more and better science in biofuels, not cut them off. i do not want to pick a fight with any of my good friends who are running. i get a little weary of people who represent oil, which has consistently taken tax subsidies for their entire history. they are really not sure about these subsidies. it is always these subsidies, not the ones down there.

when senator coburn introduced a bill that was anti subsidies, he did not include gas and oil. it was in oklahoma. that would have been suicide. we need to include things like wind and solar cells that there is a capital investment rationale. i would continue to develop flecks fuel vehicles. the next page is getting deflects fuel tanks -- the flex in vehicles. you have to have gas stations that have it. i am also for oil and gas. it is crazy for us to have an area off of alaska that has as much oil and gas as the gulf of mexico. our current litigation policies allow all sorts of environmental

groups to give that up. i have a very simple model. heat the $500 billion in energy that goes overseas at home. it is better for the economy, it is better for american jobs, it makes it much easier for us to deal with dictators overseas the way we should deal with them, without any concern about economic reprisal. [applause] >> i am trying to be consistent. >> you are doing good. i was not trying to attack you. you are not some news guy. >> if you could reverse one energy policy decision from the last three years, what would it be? >> the biggest one is personnel. if you are going to have a secretary of the department of energy, you should have one that

is interested in american energy. the current secretary favors something that makes sense in a classroom at berkeley and makes no sense in the real world. i would have a secretary that favored american solutions as opposed to a current secretary that has done all that he could to stop any production anywhere in the country. >> people are gratified that you are here tonight. what would you do to prevent the more -- on abortion on demand and defend traditional marriage? it >> i just released a fairly lengthy paper that takes up item 9 in the proposed 21st century contract and outlines the framework to bring balance back to the judiciary. most of the major crises in our culture are driven by radical

judges that violate american history and are doing things that are destructive. after the 2002 ninth circuit court decision that one nation under god in the pledge of -- pledge of allegiance is unconstitutional, i got really intrigue. i wrote a book called rediscovering god in america. stick it has chapters on the judiciary. irish -- i talked a short course at the university of georgia law school. the courts were third. first comes the legislative branch, which is closest to the people. second comes the executive branch, which is to execute the law. the third and least important is the judiciary. the federalist paper, alexander hamilton says that the judiciary would never pick a fight with

the two other branches because they would lose. in 1958, they said that the supreme court was supreme over the two other branches. it is always the supreme court within the judiciary branch. each of the three branches balance the other two. jefferson when asked about judiciary supremacies said that would be absurd, it would be an oligarchy. lincoln in his first inaugural about the dred scott decision and the supreme court that you can argue led directly to civil war -- you cannot do anything about slavery. lincoln says in his first inaugural to say that to believe that nine people could dictate to the entire nation the meaning of the constitution would be the end of our liberties. [applause]

there are four practical consequences of this. consequence number 1 is that on occasion the president ignores the court. jackson thought it was unconstitutional. he said that is fine. in the judicial branch, they can believe that. we are both sworn to uphold the constitution. he promptly ignored them. that is doable. franklin delano roosevelt he promptly caught german saboteurs and said that they would be dialed and executed. they said do not issue habeas corpus. they did not. as president, i would instruct the national security apparatus to ignore the three most recent supreme court decisions on terrorism. i would say those are null and

void and have no effect on the united states and i will not tolerate a federal judge risking the safety of the united states. [applause] the second thing you can do is that congress can clearly use its power to define rights of appeal. the congress could have said, and if we had been clever we would have read into the defense of marriage act that it is not appealable. this has been done before. it was done by jefferson in 18 04. this is one that somebody at princeton has been studying. to take the 14th amendment, which says that congress shall fight person and pass a law which says that a person in the united states is the find at beginning at conception.

-- defined at beginning at conception. the last thing is a bit stronger. jefferson's secretary of state was james madison. you would have to assume that he had some knowledge of the constitution. in 18 02, they passed the traditional reform act. this abolish as 18 out of 35 federal judges. over half of all of the federal judges. they are not in peach, they are abolished. no salary, and go home. i am not as bold as jefferson. a judge in san antonio issued a decree that not only could students not pray at their graduation, they could not use

the word benediction, invocation, god, prayer, they could not ask them to stand. if they did that, they would be in violation. in his court should be abolished now. [applause] we do not have to tolerate radical anti-american judges rewriting the american constitution and pretending that we are helpless. once we have abolished his court, we should served notice to the ninth circuit that they are on sufferance and if may continue to be radical, they will be unemployed. [applause] >> mr. speaker, what would you do to restore fiscal responsibility and create jobs

in the united states? >> the only way you get to a balanced budget is with a full employment economy. i do not have to offer you a theory. when i became speaker, we were working with a liberal democrat in the white house. imagine how much more fun it will be to have a republican house and senate working in the same direction. even with clinton in the white house, we passed the first major welfare reform. we saved it for more than a decade. we passed the first major tax cut in 16 years. as a result, unemployment went down to 4.2%. when you take people off of food stamps and unemployment and they're taking care of their family and paying taxes, you reduce spending and increase revenues the right way. here is a sense of scale. when i became the speaker in

1995, the congressional budget office projected $2 trillion in deficits. when i left office, the congressional office projected $2 trillion in surplus. [applause] that is a $4.90 trillion swing in four years. controlled spending overhauled the fundamental workings of the federal government. use the 10th amendment to return power to the states and blocked medicaid and save $700 billion in a decade. go through a process of fundamental change on unemployment. if in need the money, sign up for training to get the money. we are not paying people to do nothing for 99 weeks.

review every aspect of the federal government and start abolishing or shrinking departments starting by abolishing the department of energy costs which for 30 years has been the anti-energy department. i would say to all of you, if you have the right approach, if you pass the right tax cuts, if du repeal sarbanes-oxley, if you modernize the food and drug administration, if you replace the epa with the environmental solutions agency and if you a favor and like people who create jobs and get rid of class warfare at every level, you would be astonished how much we will get done and how rapidly people would get back to work. i will close with this example. in september, 1983, i help with

this campaign, in september, 1983, because reagan cut taxes and praise job creation, we added in one month at 1,100,000 jobs. it is doable. we can do it. it is not magic. it does take courage and the right principles. it takes you to be with me, not just for me. all of us have got to make it happen. good luck and god bless you. [applause] >> thank you, speaker. please welcome the champion of civil liberties and a champion

of the constitution, the advocate of the gold standard, congressman ron paul. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very much. i am very delighted to be here to visit with this nice crowd on a very important issue. faith and freedom and family is very important. we are lacking a lot of the enthusiasm for that in this country today. my wife is with me this evening. we are about to celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary. [applause] family is very important. if a government gets too big,

the family as undermined. if we resort to the government taking over family responsibilities, then the family is diminished. the family has been diminished over several decades now, especially since the 1960's. you will find that the government has grown tremendously since the 1960's. we have a pretty strong admonition in the old testament about the strength of families. when the israelites left egypt, there were temptations' not to follow god's comment. when they got to their promised land, they lived under judges. they did not have a king. they had a patriarchal family society. they got bored with this. there was a time when the people came to samuel and said, other countries had -- have kings.

we would like to have a king. we would feel safer and more secure. samuel was old and they knew he would die. the two sons of samuel were not to be considered good judges. they needed something to reassure them. samuel responded by advising them strongly, and do not serve -- choose a king. they king will do you harm. stable raise your taxes, they will draft your young people. they will use your women. your society will break down. they said that if you pick a king, you are pushing got a side. it will undermine the family. it is amazing this. he talked about taxes and the cost it would be if you asked for a cane.

i think we have drifted in the direction of excepting a king in washington d.c.. i would like to undermine this king that we have been building for some many decades. we need more family values, not by the united states government. [applause] in first timothy it was said that anybody that does not care for his own family has denied the faith and that is worse than an unbeliever. the admonition is very strong in the new testament that we have obligations to our family. if you do not take care of your family, it is worse than being an unbeliever. we have a personal responsibility is. think of the breakup of the family. how many divorces occur.

how many children are born out of wedlock. close to half now. the family is in serious trouble. i see this coming about. i witnessed this in the 1960's. i was drafted into the air force in the 1960's. this was during the vietnam era. a lot of things changed in the 1960's due to this war that was not going well. it was an undeclared illegal war. there was a resorting to drugs in this country. this was the decade when abortion became commonplace. i was a medical resident at that time. the law still said, and no abortions. the culture change. the abortions were being done. they were being done in the hospital i was studying in. the morality was dictating the

behavior. by 1973, what happened? the law accommodated to the moral standard of the people. we complain about the law. all that we have to do is change the law and we will become a moral people. it does not work that way. morality can reflect our laws. the laws cannot make us a moral people. that has to come from our heart. [applause] in these last several decades from the 1960's on, there were a lot of changes. the work ethic was undermined. the welfare state grew by leaps and bounds. it was the introduction that government would take care of us for madison. we moved in the cover -- in the way that the government would take over our educational standards.

we had a department of education. the family is supposed to be responsible for this. to deliver this power and authority to washington d.c. has been very detrimental to us. one other area that occurred during this period of time, as so many things were changing, it was the issue of money. the issue of money -- a major cape -- change occurred in 1971 when this country rejected the issue of honest money. it issued in an age of a spendthrift government. since that time, the spending has exploded, the deficits have exploded. the money supply has exploded. at the same time, our personal liberties have been undermined. there is a direct correlation with this.

biblically, there is a strong admonition about honest money. isaiah talked about the debasement of the currency. debasement is inflation. diluting the mail -- metals or clipping declines. -- the coins. it was wrong. in leviticus, they say that we should always follow on test weights and measures. there are dozens of quotations in the bible telling us we should have honest money and honest measurements. we know that we are not to steal and not to lie. the monetary system we have had today is based on stealing and mining. it is equivalent to counterfeiting. if you cannot do it, why do we permit our government to commit the same crime of

counterfeiting through the federal reserve by destroying the value of our money? we should look seriously at this matter. [applause] education is now the role of government. we have a department of education. how did we get there? did we amend the constitution? the constitution gives no authority for the government to be involved in education. we ignored it. we ignored it going to war. did the obama administration asked congress to go to libya or to uganda. the wars since 1962 have been undeclared. our government got involved in night -- education not by

defending the constitution. have we improve education? no. the cost of education has skyrocketed. the quality has crashed. we are graduates waiting people from our colleges. they have over $1 trillion worth of debt. more than all of our credit cards. we got careless. this sounds good. we might as well do this and ignore the constitution. we did this with the housing effort. the government is supposed to make sure that everybody has a house. the people that they were supposed to help, they lost their jobs and will -- they lost their houses. we were so careless following the rule of law and following the constitution. we are challenged. we are challenged today because we not only ignore our constitution, but we have

reneged on replacing the importance of government on ourselves and being personally responsible for everything we do and our family. if we had strong families, we could have a small federal government. we have drifted a long way from that. we have accepted a notion that big government is good and it will take care of us. we believe that safety and security, as they wanted a king in the old testament saying that a king can provide safety and security. safety and security comes from our own efforts. that is especially true in a free society. in a totalitarian society you can be safe and secure. you will be treated like a cattle in a field, not like a human being. too much has happened over the

past several decades. since 9/11, which have been so complete set in saying, do what you want. give us the patriot act. do what you can to make us safe. that will not make a save. washington d.c. is incapable of keeping us save. what will keep us safe is a strong belief in our responsibilities to ourselves, our family, our neighbors, and assuming responsibility for ourselves. going in this wrong direction, we have driven this country into bankruptcy. we now face a horrendous problem because we do not believe in honest money anymore. the most significant and most rent in event to us as a result of the lack of understanding of families and civil-rights and

the constitution has driven us to the sovereign debt problem. it is worldwide. this debt is so huge that it is greater than anything in the world. it is threatening the breakdown of society. we see riots in the streets in greece. there is going to be a lot of anger. we have had too much dependence on the government taking care of our sales. not of enough faith put in ourselves. people of faith should understand how importing it is to not become dependent on the government whether it is in social ways or whatever. we need to cut back on the spending. i have made a few modest proposals. i think that this is so serious that in the first year i do not think we should make the proposed cuts in five years.

if you understand how serious this is, you ought to cut now. i suggest that we cut $1 trillion out of the budget in one year. if this is not done, it will get a lot worse and it will hurt everybody. if you do it in a deliberate fashion, you can cut some spending that will be a lot easier. you do not have to pick on the elderly or the sick. you can start by getting rid of a few departments. let's get rid of five of them. hud, that is a corrupt organization that did not provide houses. department of energy and the department of education. the department of commerce, the department of the interior. that is for starters.

if you want big government to stop, you have to deal with the money issue. you have to have a biblical money. you have to have honest weights and measures. you cannot do it with a central bank that has been given a licence to print the money. that is crucial if you want to get the economy working again. very simply, we got into this mess because we were careless with our constitution and we do not have an understanding of our civil liberties. we have to think about that one we think about our religious freedom and we think about our right to educate our children. protecting all of the liberties of an individual as well as obey and the constitution, i do not think it would be that difficult to get back on their feet again. if will continue to do what we are doing now, it will get much,

much worse. i think are bad recession started as long as 10 years ago. no new jobs. we have been in the doldrums. japan has been in the doldrums for 20 years. if we do the right thing and go back to our roots and look at our values and look at our constitution, we could be back on our feet in a year. [applause] >> thank you, congressman. i get asked this question again. what is your plan to shape your administration's energy policy and include how this differs from the current energy policy? >> my plan is that we need to produce energy the same way we produce cell phones.

we need to get the government out of the way. we need a lot of competition. we need to deregulate. i have spent in washington off and on for a good many years. i have met a lot of bureaucrats and politicians. they do not know anything about energy. they have the responsibility for providing the right environment. that is the market environment. that is the point i am making the cell phones. we have problems, but the market delivers the cell phones. could you imagine if they had one company? it would cost a lot of money and the cell phones would not work. we need to understand property rights. we need to understand contract rights. we need to understand

competition. the obama administration does not understand any of this. i reject anything that they do. they want to put on moratoriums on the suspending regulations. as soon as you can get to the concepts of property rights, all texas energy was developed without this. when we came into the union, we have no government property. out in the west, so much as government-owned land. we have to get private property owners. we need to get out of the way. [applause] >> if you could reverse one energy-related policy decision from the last three years, what would it be and what would you do differently? >> the overall policy of

interference. the policy this administration has followed of intervention. he follows a philosophy of economic intervention. you have to reverse the policy of keynesian economic intervention. 3 and still in the american people the idea of how free markets work and how honest money works. that has to happen. all of the policies that result from intervention disturb the markets. you cannot do that unless you have a lot of other things. in order to reverse that, you have to deregulate across the boards. you have to have a sound money system. who would generate the type of energy that we need? we do have the energy. there is no doubt about that. we do not understand the issue of property rights and competition.

we are in this mess we are in. not deciding exactly where you are going to buy your oil, i do not fear the fact that you might have imports. what if somebody wants to sell us something cheaper? you have to have freedom of choice. you have to have free markets in order to find out where the best deal is. that should be across the board with all products, not just energy. >> congressman paul, thank you for being here tonight. what would you do to prevent abortion on demand and defend traditional marriage? >> traditional marriages between a man and a woman. i have supported the defense of marriage act. and to protect the state's rights to make sure that the

federal government never dictates or mandates the definition of marriage. i think -- i have a bill in that has not been mentioned. we could accomplish a lot with marriage or abortion if wicks up one more principle. i want to change our courts and constitution. as an o.b. doctor, i know when life begins. i assume responsibility for two people. if i do harm to the fetus, i can be sued. there is no doubt about the morality and the legality of it. i support these efforts. my bill is called "we the people's act." we cannot wait until the courts

change and not waiting to change the constitution. that is very, very difficult. lives could be saved by saying, why do we not get roh vs. wade appealed by removing the jurisdiction of all of these issues from the federal courts? that is what we need to do. [applause] when roe vs. wade was the law in texas, it went to the supreme court. they nationalize it. i know it is tempting to wait for the courts to be changed and the amendment to be passed. it is taking too long. one of the biggest problems we got into, and i remember it so clearly because i went to that experience of watching the law changed in 1960, you can pass

this with another law. it cannot be repealed. it could be done just by majority vote is bank president would sign it. i would work very hard on that to revitalize that interest and to try to encourage people to say that it might not solve every single problem, but look at how much it could help. that is what i think we should do in the meantime until we finally solved the problem by changing the courts or changing the constitution. [applause] >> congressman, what would you do to restore fiscal responsibility and create promotion of jobs in the united states? >> the fiscal responsibility i alluded to in my opening remarks. it is related to the monetary system. it is related to the people's

appetite for government. if we as a people continue to believe that we should have an entitlement system from cradle to grave and we should be the policeman of the world and have 150 bases in 150 countries, 900 bases around the world, if we reject the admonition of the founders saying stay out of tangling alliances and the internal affairs of other nations, said you cannot do it. we have allowed this desire to do so much, the appetite to do more than we could afford. it took so long for us to destroy the productive capacity of this country. for a long time, we were the freest and most prosperous. then we try to overspend. then we raise taxes. then we borrowed. there was a limit to borrowing.

we set the treasury bill over to the fed. they created the money out of thin air, which removes the restraint on politicians. politicians get reelected by spending money. they brag about it and get reelected. what do they do? they destroy our jobs and chase them overseas and gave us a mountain of debt. if you could not have monetizing of debt, if it you did what the founders said, there were biblically oriented. they broke the rules themselves with the continental dollar. they destroyed the continental dollar. they were burned. they said, no paper money and only gold and silver could be used. we threw that out the window without amending the constitution. we introduced this corruption in the money and then an explosion

of the debt. you will not get jobs back until the debt is taking care of. the all the appropriation bill i've voted on was to help the veterans. we now have to deal with it. when you have lower interest rates and pure amid -- pyramiding of debt, you get debt that runs away. you have to get your debt down before you can get your own personal economy growing. we have had a 30 million increase in our population since 2000 and no new jobs. that is unsustainable. we have to look at monetary policy, foreign policy, and the restrictions would best be done to get our jobs back by having

honest money. we have chased our jobs overseas because of bad economic policy. we have lost faith and confidence about what a good economy is about. we have lost our determination to follow the rule of law and do only the things authorized in the constitution. if we did that, it would be a short period of time before we could be back on our feet again and have the jobs. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, congressman. please welcome a true and a consistent conservative, a defender of life, a strengthen our families, and outlawed

partial birth abortions, former senator rick santorum. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. are you numb yet? i am very impressed that everybody is still here or the vast majority are still here. i am really excited to be back in iowa. this is my 5,403rd trip to iowa. a little exaggeration. he reminded me that i have 21 more counties to go. we are working very, very hard here. i know you have been to a louche with candidate after candidate

talking about policy. i was tempted to do that. to hammer through some more policy. i want to share some other things with you. to wrap up the evening and talk a little bit more about why i am here. i am here because karen and i have been married 21 years. we have seven children. we are blessed to have those children. we home school those children. i am here because i believe as newt said, this is the most important election since the election of 1860. we need a leader that we can trust. i said in my announcement speech that in 2008 the american people elected somebody that they could believe in. in this election, the american

public will elect somebody that believes in them. that is the fundamental difference. you have heard a lot of policy from a lot of people as to whether the folks that are delivering this are authentic. can they be trusted? are these the people that stood up when they had their opportunity and did what could be done? did they stand up and fight the tough battles. did they have the policy prescriptions? did they fight those fights or did they have the opportunity to fight those fights? when it comes to national security issues, i thought those fights. i introduced a bill on iran. the iran freedom support act. it was the accent -- existential threat to israel. at the time i said that the bigger threat was iran. that is what we need to be

focused on. i introduced a bill in 2004 called the iran freedom support act. i had no co-sponsors. nobody would sign on to that bill. within two years, it passed unanimously in the united states senate. they understood what i saw. it was a very unpopular war that was going on in iraq. that is going on today. i stood up and said here is the problem. we need to do something to overturn the government of iran. what is going on in iraq right now is that we are losing the battle to iran. they will be stronger when we leave. they are strong now. that is why we cannot get a deal with them. that is why we cannot protect our soldiers. the sphere of influence is growing. look at the attack the other day. the thwarted attack.

there was a mistake that the iranians to focus here in america on the saudis. the saudis are the head of the islamist world. they are the head of the islamic world. that is why they went after the saudis. they want -- iran wants to show that they are the ones that should be leading the islamic world in an islamist direction. they went after them here in the united states because they wanted to show the rest of the world that they are not afraid of going after the great satan. they believe that the president of the united states is too weak to respond. will not have the courage necessary to do this. if the obtain a nuclear weapon, iran will have a nuclear shield to do what we saw thwarted the other day on a day to day basis

and not worry about what is going on with somebody potentially attacking them. no nuclear power has ever been attacked. i was out on the front line before anybody saw this. i fought. i have been out there on the front lines on the issue of the economy. reducing the burden on our economy through these huge entitlement programs. i was the author of the welfare reform bill, not because it cut money, because it transformed lives. i am someone that looks at the basic economy of our country. you heard the debate on bloomberg. it was the debate on the economy. not one person beside me mention the basic economy, and that is the family. if we do not have strong families in this country, we will not have a strong economy.

have been out there fighting the fight on the economy. on cutting government back and strengthening the family. i wrote a book in response to hillary clinton's book. she wrote a book called, it takes a village. i wrote a book called, it takes a family. it is a policy prescription. 400 pages of how, if we're going to transform america. i understand what all of the folks are talking about. hopefully, what we are successful, it is whether we are going to cut taxes for higher income people or not. we have to unite them on something that is commonly shared. that is the sense of the first economy, the family.

we have to unite them on how we are going to bring people together to strengthen the american families and strengthen marriage. my economic plan is focused. we cut taxes and we do things. we focus on one very important thing. growing the opportunity for middle america to expand. i did it by focusing on the manufacturing sector of the economy. you allow people that are not college educated -- college education people are doing pretty well in our economy. we do not talk about that. let's talk about the family. let's talk about those that want to provide for their families and provide them a platform. if provide a society where jobs can grow and provide jobs for people that are skilled and semi-skilled. our plan does that. it can get bipartisan support to

do that. i was in new hampshire and spoke to the bipartisan legislature. i went through my 0, 0, 0 plan. 0 is better than 9. it zeros out the corporate tax for manufacturers. zeros out taxes on profits that come back into the country. it will create jobs in this country. one of my supporters in the new hampshire the legislature said that two democrats came to them and said it they would like me to go into their we need to bring people together on the basic