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Campbell Brown
Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin Address Republican National Convention
Aired September 03, 2008 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We decided, Anderson, a few days ago that it would be a good idea to send Kyra up to Alaska...
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
BLITZER: ... talk to people up there who actually know this woman who be, potentially, the next vice president of the United States.
COOPER: Yes. And there has certainly been a lot of criticism of the -- the coverage of Sarah Palin.
No doubt, we will be talking about that over the next several hours of our coverage.
But, again, you can see how the excitement is building in this room as we reach the 10:00 hour on the East Coast, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, two very powerful speakers. No doubt, this room wants to hear everything they have to say.
BLITZER: And -- and let's not forget that they will -- after Sarah Palin speaks, only then will they begin the roll call for the presidential nomination. And, obviously, John McCain will win that.
And, tomorrow, they will have the vice presidential roll call. So, they have actually sort of reversed the traditional way of doing it. Normally, they have the roll call, and then they have acceptance speeches.
Technically, she will not be delivering an acceptance speech tonight, because she hasn't been nominated by this party yet.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she is speaking to the convention as John McCain's pick to be his running mate. She's not officially the Republican nominee until tomorrow, but she's speaking to the party and speaking to the country at a critical moment.
BLITZER: All right.
I think Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, himself a Republican presidential candidate, I think he's walking out on the stage right now.
Rudy Giuliani, he will get a warm reception. He's a great speaker. We will see what he has to say. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Good evening. Thank you very much.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Thank you. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Thank you very much.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Thank you very, very much. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Thank you very much. And good evening. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Almost exactly one year ago today, during a presidential debate in Durham, New Hampshire, I said that, if I weren't running for president, I would be supporting John McCain.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Well, I'm not running for president, and I do support John McCain.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Every -- every four years, we're told that this presidential election is the most important in our lifetime. This year, with what's at stake, 2008 is the most important election in our lifetime. And we'd better get it right.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: This already has been the longest presidential campaign in history, and sometimes to me it felt even longer.
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: The American people realize this election represents a turning point. It's the decision to follow one path or the other. We, the people, the citizens of the United States, get to decide our next president, not the left-wing media, not Hollywood celebrities, not anyone else but the people of America.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
GIULIANI: That's right. USA.
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
GIULIANI: Thank you. Thank you.
To those Americans who still feel torn in this election, I would like to suggest one way to think about this to help make a choice in 2008.
Think about it this way. You're hiring someone to do a job, an important job, a job that relates to the safety of yourself and your family. Imagine that you have two job applications in your hand with the name and the party affiliations blocked out.
They're both good and patriotic men with very different life experiences that have led them to this moment of shared history. You've got to make this decision, and you've got to make it right. And you have to desire -- you've got to decide, who am I going to hire?
On the one hand, you've got a man who's dedicated his life to the service of the United States. He's been tested time and again by crisis. He has passed every test.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Even his adversaries acknowledge -- Democrats, Republicans, everyone acknowledges that John McCain is a true American hero.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: He -- he loves America, as we all do, but he has sacrificed for it as few do.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: As a young man, he joined the military. And being a "Top Gun" kind of guy, he became a fighter pilot. He was on a mission over Hanoi when his plane was shot down.
He was tortured in a POW camp, but he refused his captors' offer of early release, because this is a man who believes in serving a cause greater than self-interest, and that cause is the United States of America. America comes first.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: He has proved his commitment with his blood. He came home a national hero. He had earned a life of peace and quiet, but he was called to public service again, running for Congress, and then the United States Senate, as a proud foot soldier in the Reagan revolution.
His principled independence never wavered. He stood up to special interests. He fought for fiscal discipline and ethics reform and a strong national defense.
That's the one choice. That's the one man.
On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer. What? He worked -- I said -- I said, OK, OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.
He worked as a community organizer. He immersed himself in Chicago machine politics.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Then he ran for -- then he ran for the state legislature and he got elected. And nearly 130 times, he couldn't make a decision. He couldn't figure out whether to vote "yes" or "no." It was too tough.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: He voted -- he voted "present."
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: I didn't know about this vote "present" when I was mayor of New York City. Sarah Palin didn't have this vote "present" when she was mayor or governor. You don't get "present." It doesn't work in an executive job. For president of the United States, it's not good enough to be present.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: You have to make a decision.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: A few years later -- a few years later, he ran for the U.S. Senate. He spent most of his time as a celebrity senator: no leadership, no legislation to really speak of.
His rise is remarkable in its own right. It's the kind of thing that can happen only in America.
But he's never -- he's never run a city. He's never run a state. He's never run a business. He's never run a military unit. He's never had to lead people in crisis.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: This...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: He is the least experienced candidate for president of the United States in at least the last 100 years.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Not a personal attack, a statement of fact. Barack Obama has never led anything, nothing, nada.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Nada, nothing.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: The choice -- the choice in this election comes down to substance over style. John McCain has been tested; Barack Obama has not.
Tough times require strong leadership, and this is no time for on-the-job training.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: We agree. We agree with Joe Biden...
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: ... one time, one time, when he said that, until he flip-flopped and changed his position. And, yes, being president means being able to answer that call at 3: 00 in the morning. And that's the one time we agree with Hillary.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: But I bet you never thought Hillary would get applause at this convention. She can be right. Well, no one can look at John McCain and say that he's not ready to be commander-in-chief. He is. He's ready.
And we can trust him to deal with anything, anything that nature throws our way, anything that terrorists do to us. This man has been tested over and over again, and we will be safe in his hands, and our children will be safe in his hands, and our country will be safe in the hands of John McCain. No doubt.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: I learned as a trial lawyer a long time ago, if you don't have the facts, you've got to change them. So our opponents want to re- frame the debate.
They would have you believe that this election is about change versus more of the same, but that's really a false choice, because there's good change and bad change.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Because change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: John McCain -- John McCain will bring about the change that will create jobs and prosperity. Let's talk briefly about specifics.
John McCain will lower taxes so our economy can grow.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: He'll reduce government to strengthen our dollar. He'll expand free trade so we can be more competitive. And he will lead us to energy independence so we can be free of foreign oil.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: And -- and he'll do it with an all-of-the-above approach, including nuclear power, and, yes, off-shore oil drilling.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Drill, baby, drill?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Drill, baby, drill.
This -- this -- this is the kind of change -- now, you guys are ready to break out. Whoa.
This -- this -- this and a lot more is the kind of change that will create growth, jobs, and prosperity, not what they want to do, tax us more, increase the size of government, increase tariffs, hurt jobs, send jobs elsewhere.
We need John McCain to save our economy and make sure it grows, but we need it for a more important purpose. There's one purpose that John McCain understands, Republicans understand, that overrides everything else: John McCain will keep us on offense against terrorism at home and abroad.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: For -- for four days in Denver, the Democrats were afraid to use the words "Islamic terrorism."
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: I imagine they believe it is politically incorrect to say it. I think they believe it will insult someone. Please tell me, who are they insulting if they say "Islamic terrorism"? They are insulting terrorists.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GIULIANI: Of great concern to me, during those same four days in Denver, they rarely mentioned the attacks of September 11, 2001. They are in a state of denial about the biggest threat that faces this country. And if you deny it and you don't deal with it, you can't face it.
John McCain can face the enemy. He can win, and he can bring victory for this country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Let's look at just one example at a lifetime of principled stands that John McCain's brought about: his support for the troop surge in Iraq. The Democratic Party had given up on Iraq.
And I believe, ladies and gentlemen, when they gave up on Iraq, they had given up on America.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: The Democratic leader -- the Democratic leader of the Senate said, and I quote, "This war is lost."
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Well, well, if America lost, who won, al Qaeda, bin Laden?
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: In the single biggest policy decision of this election, John McCain got it right, and Barack Obama got it wrong.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Senator McCain -- Senator -- Senator McCain was the candidate most associated with the surge, and it was unpopular. What do you think most other politicians would have done in a situation like this?
They would have acted in their self-interest, and they would have changed their position in order to win an election. How many times have we seen Barack Obama do this?
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Obama -- Obama promised to take public financing for his campaign, until he broke his promise.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Obama -- Obama was against wiretapping before he voted for it.
(AUDIENCE BOOS) GIULIANI: When speaking to a pro-Israeli group, Obama favored an undivided Jerusalem, like I favor and like John McCain favored. Well, he favored an undivided Jerusalem -- don't get too excited -- for one day, until he changed his mind.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Well, I will tell you, if I were Joe Biden, I would want to get that V. P. thing in writing.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Our hero, our candidate, John McCain said, "I would rather lose an election than a war." Why? Because that's John McCain.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: When Russia rolled over Georgia, John McCain immediately established a very strong, informed position that let the world know how he'll respond as president at exactly the right time. Remember his words? Remember what John McCain said? "We are all Georgians."
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Obama's -- talk about judgment. Let's look at what Obama did. Obama's first instinct was to create a moral equivalency, suggesting that both sides were equally responsible, the same moral equivalency that he's displayed in discussing the Palestinian Authority and the state of Israel.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Later -- later, after discussing this with his 300 foreign policy advisers, he changed his position, and he suggested the United Nations Security Council could find a solution.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GIULIANI: Apparently, none of his 300 foreign policy security advisers told him that Russia has a veto power in the United Nations Security Council.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: By the way, this was about three days later. So -- so he changed his position again, and he put out a statement exactly like the statement of John McCain's three days earlier.
I have some advice for Senator Obama: Next time, call John McCain.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GIULIANI: He -- he knows something about foreign -- he knows something about foreign policy. Like Ronald Reagan, John McCain will enlarge our party, open it up to lots of new people.
In choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has chosen for the future.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: The other guy looked back. John looked forward.
Governor Palin represents a new generation. She's already one of the most successful governors in America and the most popular.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: And she's already had more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket combined.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: She's been a mayor.
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: I love that.
I'm sorry -- I'm sorry that Barack Obama feels that her hometown isn't cosmopolitan enough.
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: I'm sorry, Barack, that it's not flashy enough. Maybe they cling to religion there.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Well -- well, the first day -- as far as I'm concerned, the first day she was mayor, she had more experience as an executive than -- than Obama and Biden combined.
Then she became governor. She's reduced taxes. She's reduced government spending. She's encouraged more energy exploration.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: She's been one of the most active governors -- she's been one of the most active governors in the country, and Alaska can be proud of having one of the best governors in the country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: She's got an 80 percent approval rating. You never get that in New York City, wow.
(LAUGHTER) GIULIANI: As U.S. attorney, a former U.S. attorney, I'm very impressed the way she took on corruption in Alaska, including corruption in the Republican Party. This is a woman who has no fear. This is a woman who stands up for what's right.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: She -- she -- she is shaking up Alaska in a way that hasn't happened in maybe ever. And with John McCain, with his independent spirit, with his being a maverick, with him and Sarah Palin, can you imagine how they're going to shake up Washington?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Whew, look out. Look out.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: One final point. And how -- how dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president. How dare they do that.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: When do they ever ask a man that question? When?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Well, we're at our best when we are expanding freedom. We're the party that has expanded freedom from the very beginning, from ending slavery to making certain that people have freedom here and abroad.
We're the party that believes in giving workers the right to work. We're the party that believes that parents -- parents should choose where their children go to school.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: And we're the party -- and we're the party that unapologetically believes in America's success, a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom that inspires the world. That's what our party is dedicated to.
So, my fellow Americans, we get a chance to elect one of our great heroes and a great American. He will be an exceptional president. He will have with him an exceptional woman who has already proven that she can reform and that she can govern.
And now the job is up to us. Let's get John McCain and Sarah Palin elected, and let's shake up Washington and move this country forward.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: God bless America. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GIULIANI: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the governor of Alaska and the next vice president of the United States, Sarah Palin.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PALIN: Thank you. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PALIN: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PALIN: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PALIN: Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, I will be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America. And I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against confident opponents at a crucial hour for our country.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions, and met far graver challenges, and knows how tough fights are won, the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.
(APPLAUSE)
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost, there was no hope for this candidate, who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. But the pollsters...
(APPLAUSE)
The pollsters and the pundits, they overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself, the determination, and resolve, and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain.
(APPLAUSE)
The voters knew better, and maybe that's because they realized there's a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
(APPLAUSE)
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by. He's a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who now have brought victory within sight.
(APPLAUSE)
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.
(APPLAUSE)
PALIN: I'm just one of many moms who will say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way. Our son, Track, is 19. And one week from tomorrow, September 11th, he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew, Casey (ph), also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.
My family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
PALIN: So Track is the eldest of our five children. In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between, my strong and kind- hearted daughters, Bristol, and Willow, and Piper.
(APPLAUSE)
And we were so blessed in April. Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig.
You know, from the inside, no family ever seems typical, and that's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys.
Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special-needs...
(APPLAUSE)
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message for you: For years, you've sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. And I pledge to you that, if we're elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
And Todd is a story all by himself. He's a lifelong commercial fisherman and a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope, and a proud member of the United Steelworkers union. And Todd is a world champion snow machine racer.
(APPLAUSE)
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package. And we met in high school. And two decades and five children later, he's still my guy.
(APPLAUSE)
My mom and dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town. And among the many things I owe them is a simple lesson that I've learned, that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.
And my parents are here tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
PALIN: I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath (ph).
(APPLAUSE)
Long ago, a young farmer and a haberdasher from Missouri, he followed an unlikely path -- he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. And a writer observed, "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity," and I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people. They're the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, and run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America.
(APPLAUSE)
I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.
(APPLAUSE)
I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick. (APPLAUSE)
So I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education even better. And when I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and I knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska...
(APPLAUSE)
... I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved.
(APPLAUSE)
I guess -- I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.
(APPLAUSE)
I might add that, in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they're listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
(APPLAUSE)
No, we tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
(APPLAUSE)
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes and whoever is listening John McCain is the same man.
(APPLAUSE)
Well, I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And...
(APPLAUSE)
... I've learned quickly these last few days that, if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
PALIN: But -- now, here's a little newsflash. Here's a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.
(APPLAUSE) Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reason and not just to mingle with the right people. Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.
(APPLAUSE)
No one expects us all to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant's heart.
And I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE) This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys.
Suddenly, I realized that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power-brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order, we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
(APPLAUSE)
I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is a law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over-the-top.
(APPLAUSE)
I put it on eBay.
(APPLAUSE)
I love to drive myself to work. And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef, although I got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her.
(APPLAUSE)
I came to office promising to control spending, by request if possible, but by veto, if necessary.
(APPLAUSE)
Senator McCain also -- he promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest. And as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
(APPLAUSE)
Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending, nearly $500 million in vetoes.
(APPLAUSE)
PALIN: We suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress, "Thanks, but no thanks," on that Bridge to Nowhere.
(APPLAUSE)
If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.
(APPLAUSE)
When oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged: directly to the people of Alaska.
(APPLAUSE)
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way that they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
(APPLAUSE)
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
(APPLAUSE)
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are open, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher. When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we're forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
(APPLAUSE) To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world's energy supplies, or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, or that Venezuela might shut off its oil discoveries and its deliveries of that source, Americans, we need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And...
(APPLAUSE)
And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: We've got lots of both.
(APPLAUSE)
Our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems, as if we didn't know that already.
(LAUGHTER)
But the fact that drilling, though, won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
(APPLAUSE)
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines, and build more nuclear plants, and create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need...
(APPLAUSE)
We need American sources of resources. We need American energy brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.
(APPLAUSE)
And now, I've noticed a pattern with our opponent, and maybe you have, too. We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers, and there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the State Senate.
(APPLAUSE)
PALIN: This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word "victory," except when he's talking about his own campaign.
(APPLAUSE)
But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot...
(APPLAUSE) ... when that happens, what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?
(APPLAUSE)
The answer -- the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights.
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Government is too big; he wants to grow it. Congress spends too much money; he promises more. Taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan.
And let me be specific: The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, and raise payroll taxes, and raise investment income taxes, and raise the death tax, and raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. (AUDIENCE BOOS)
My sister, Heather, and her husband, they just built a service station that's now open for business, like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they...
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How are they going to be better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you are trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or in Ohio...
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... or you're trying -- you're trying to create jobs from clean coal, from Pennsylvania or West Virginia.
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You're trying to keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.
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How are you -- how are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election: In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
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PALIN: They are the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners or on self-designed presidential seals.
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Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speech- making, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things, and then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things.
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They're the ones who are good for more than talk, the ones that we've always been able to count on to serve and to defend America.
Senator McCain's record of actual achievements and reform helps explain why so many special interests, and lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd. He's a man who's there to serve his country and not just his party, a leader who's not looking for a fight, but sure isn't afraid of one, either.
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Harry Reid, the majority of the current do-nothing Senate...
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
... he not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain."
Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man.
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Clearly, what the majority leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain and that is only...
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... that's only one more reason to take the maverick out of the Senate, put him in the White House.
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My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.
(LAUGHTER)
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This world of threats and dangers, it's not just a community and it doesn't just need an organizer. And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they're always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely: There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you.
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There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. And that man is John McCain.
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You know, in our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world, the nightmare world in which this man and others equally brave served and suffered for their country.
And it's a long way from the fear, and pain, and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
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PALIN: But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made. It's the journey of an upright and honorable man, the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this great country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on Earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even to the captives by the grace of God, the special confidence of those who have seen evil and have seen how evil is overcome. A fellow...
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A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio...
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... Tom Moe recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway by the guards, day after day.
And the story is told, when McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn towards Moe's door, and he'd flash a grin and a thumbs up, as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through the next four years.
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For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
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If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme, and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
Thank you, and God bless America. Thank you.
