>> and then harry reid will have

the very rich opportunity to join speaker pelosi, now nancy pelosi, in the new minority. and more importantly, commonsense and a a new hopefully conservative majority will run the united states senate, and don't think a conservative senate wouldn't be a huge change from decades of leadership here in washington, d.c., but it gets even better year take a look at the governor's seat in this last election. after these governor seats, we have 29 out of the 50 seats are in republican hands. 29 governor seats. 20 our democrat combat is always an independent out there somewhere. so even more good news, and i think this actually might be some of the best news of all.

in our state house seats in our state senate seats, because of all the work that you did we flipped 680 seats in the state houses in state senate of this country. that's a record number by the way. and what's even more electrifying about these numbers is the fact that all the work that you did paid off this year in the once every 10 years redistricting cycle. so the governors and all of the legislatures that control the political lines that will determine these races for the next 10 years will be drawn this year with these new governors and representatives controlling the chambers all across this country. if there was ever a time to make a change, this is it and you did it.

because you not only so prize the brainpower for a lot of these collections, you with a hands on and defeat on the aspen witt and did the doorknocking. you drove people to the polls. because this was a historic change election. and this was the change that we were hoping for, and you did it. so give yourself a much deserved round of applause. iq. -- i do. and i think after all that work is altogether fitting and proper that we throw ourselves a huge party, and so here we are going to party. and so conveniently enough, i'm throwing you a party today at 5:30 p.m. so come one come all, the bar tab is my. come to my party. you're all welcome, all 11,000 of you. so one drink per limit.

so, 5:30 today. your all welcome to i want to thank your handle and a person want to thank everyone of you for everything you did and paid off. after this weekend, we need to start focusing on step two of taking the country back. as much as we are patting ourselves on the back this weekend, and we were successful, now it's a step too. step one will be for not if we don't successfully complete step to. are you savvy? are you savvy? because we have to win a conservative senate. the same type of rand paul's and marco rubio's that came in this year, we need more of the same to come into the senate so it's a conservative senate, not just a republican senate. did you hear me? a conservative senate going

forward. and the all important must have for 2012 is best, making barack obama a one-term president. [applause] >> stand up. stand up. stand up. i think you are up for it. i am, too. this is it. this is the real world. this is when you count. that's why it's important. that's what all of our chips are on 2012. this is it. you are up for. i'm in. year in. so why is it so important? why are we on our feet? why are we up for 2012? it's important for this reason. because your future is

personally tied into the result of the next election. it's that important i want to give you just a few facts. when the liberals took over the house of representatives, the national debt was $8 trillion. atlas at january 2007. $8 trillion. even for liberals that's a lot of money. that's how much it was, but during the next four years that the liberals held sway here in our nation's capital and nations credit card, get this, the liberals drove the debt up another $6 trillion, to now 14 trillion. and we are being asked once again to raise the debt ceiling. have you heard about that? raise the debt ceiling. think about this. think about the context. it took this government 230 years from 1776 and tell 2006,

230 years from inception of the nation and kill 2006, our national debt was a hard problem dating $8 trillion. we were all biting our fingernails very worried about it, and in only four years time with a speaker pelosi, a harry reid, the liberals increased that amount by a whopping 75%. what it took us 230 years to accumulate. and a spending spree caught the attention and imagination of everyone in this country last november. it caught their attention, and thanks to you and your enthusiasm the american people, republicans, independents, libertarians, even democrats went to the poll and said stop, enough, we're not going to go down this road any more of debt accumulation. and the numbers people over at the office of management and budget are now telling us that

as president obama wins another four year term, now, is that going to happen? >> no. >> okay. let's be clear about that, cpac family. be clear. we will be in debt to the tune of $21 trillion. that's six years from now. remember, four years ago we were 8 trillion. six years from now we will be at 21 if barack obama wins another term and goes on his trajectory. but as troubling as all of these figures are to us, there is one segment, however, who is not worried about this high level of debt accumulation here and that you might say are our friendly chinese bankers. they are not worried about this. you may know that the president of china is named hu. his name is president hu. and with all the money that we owe china, i think we might rightly say, hu's your daddy.

right? now let me just say, give and other living example of what a million, a million ,-comcome a trillion stomach is abstaining appear waving red flags think the trillion dollars is like a way amount of money. well, it is. if you take a million dollars and you convert it to seconds of time, a million seconds equals 11 and a half days. if you take a billion seconds and convert a billion seconds into time, that equals 32 years. there's a difference between millions and billions, but there's an even greater difference between billions and trillions. if you convert a trillion seconds into time, that equals 32000 years. so what we and we are talking

trillions going from a trillion to 14 to 21, this is a stunning level of debt that we have never even imagined before in the calculus of recent history. so let me explain what that level of debt can mean to you personally. according to the national center of policy analysis, in 2009 they said that college age students today, and we have any college age students here today? yes, yes. you all bmi party today. one drink, one drink limit. i mean it, too. i really mean it. i've got to say something here. i am a conservative. if your peak earning years, you would be looking at paying 37% of everything you make to the government just to satisfy social security and medicare. 37%, that's more than a third of

your income just to pay for that. just realized that doesn't include what you owe to the federal government for your federal income tax portion, and that could easily be another 25% of your income. and if you can do the math, pull out your calculator, that's 62% of your income choose your federal income tax and your medicare and your social security portion of what you make. but now that doesn't include your state income taxes, and that could be another 8% for a lot of you. but that doesn't include what you pay in sales tax. that won't include what you pay in gas taxes or local property taxes or telephone taxes or cell phone taxes. do you want me to go on? this goes on and on and on all the way to death taxes. they did you coming, they get you going. if you at all of this up, you college students that are here today, you are looking at 70-75% of your income taken away by the

government in taxes in your peak earning years. i'm a federal tax law. that's what i did for living in the real world. i have a doctor's degree i have a post-doctorate degree in tax law. all i did is practice tax law and i saw the devastating impact of high taxes on individuals, on businesspeople, on farmers. this israel. these are real numbers. this isn't just something that somebody is trying in a melodramatic way conjure up and scare you with. this is your future. this is your reality. that's why this isn't like the green bay packers and the steelers, like the republicans and democrats and his team is going to win. that is not what this is about. this is about the kind of america we are going to have and the kind of life you will have an a cup kind of future you will have it 2012 goes other than what all of us are hoping in the

next few years. because with 75% tax rate means for you quite literally is that three-fourths of your work day will be spent working to pay uncle sam, and you'll be living off 25% of your salary. so let me ask you this question, how are you going to pay for a mortgage on 25% of your salary? how are you going to pay for your car payment on 25% of your salary? or buy food on 25% of your salary? or pay for your energy bill or your electric bill, or more importantly how are you going to pay for your itunes download on 25% of your salary? then there's this monstrosity called obamacare. oh, yes, i'm with you. they had created 159 new regulatory boards and commissions. so just realized this over 2000

page bill that nobody read by the way, nobody read this bill, this 2000 page bill that the president signed has already generated over 6000 pages of the new rule. so don't think that we already have a law. this is a law that will never end. it is going to grow and grow and grow, and it will be 6000 pages of rules. no, it will be tens of thousands of pages of rule. because just like we hear liberals talk about the living constitution, have you heard that? these laws are leading laws. it is a what we vote on anymore when we put our little card into machine and we go read or we go green, it's what all the bureaucrats, behind the curtain continually conjure up. and obamacare is a never ending liberal give that keeps on giving toward liberalism. and as bad as it is it's only

the beginning which wouldn't be a problem apparently if you want to do more than 700 people have gotten a waiver from obamacare. have you heard about this? this is not exactly equal justice under the law. over 700 privilege unions or companies have been given a waiver from this crippling mandates and obamacare. so i guess under president obama's way of thinking some of us are a little more equal than others under obamacare. and i tell you what i like. i think i'd like to have a waiver from the last two years of the obama administration. i want a waiver. i want a waiver. there is no question, and i have no reservations in saying this. we have seen president obama usher in so solution under his watch over the last two years. [applause]

>> and obamacare is quite clearly the crown jewel of socialism. and repeating it is a driving motivation of my life. the first political breath i take every morning is to repeal obamacare. [applause] you, too. repeal now. repeal now. thank you. and i think the reason why we are also terribly motivated to make sure that this terrible piece of legislation gets repealed is because probably more than any other piece of legislation passed, this is legislation that has the potential for diminishing our quality of life quite literally making life and death decisions for all of us for the rest of our lives if we don't repeal this bill. it does the president obama's

socialistic programs of bailout and takeovers put bureaucrats in charge of the private sector giving us more regulations, more laws, more mandates, more burdens on the nation's job creators and owners. i'm a job creators and my husband and i we have created over 50 jobs in our state. we are so stinking proud of that that we been able to do that, and you've been able to do that we want to make sure more people across this country can realize that dream of starting a business and doing what they were born to do. because unfortunately under this regime that president obama has put in place it is a formula for destruction of job creation and it's an agenda that does jeopardize our free market system. because it does two things. it attacks our core values of incentives that drives growth, and personal responsibility here

can you imagine what do we get by taking away peoples personal responsibilities for their actions? all we have to do is look at the clinton administration, say no more. i only say that because president clinton came out last night and told me that i live in a parallel universe when it comes to my understanding of obamacare. and we want to talk about parallel universes for a moment? socialism kills job creation everywhere it rears its ugly head. except for government. it rears its ugly head, and we are witnessing unemployment for over 20 months in excess of 9%. in fact, dallas came out and said the current unemployment is actually at 9.5% and the only jobs that are growing in government when the music stops

it is game over. and the game doesn't end very well. we have a real-life example of where the socialistic path is taking us. exhibit a., greece. take a look at greece. here you have people in the streets rioting because they wanted more government. why were they writing? because the retirement age is going to go from age 61 to 63. all those evil bureaucrats. that is the end result of socialism when the demand equation knows no bounds your exhibit b., spain. spain has the highest unemployed right now in europe. remember, president obama told us early on in his administration we have to be more like a spain. do you remember that? we have to be more like spam to quit got to put in place the wind generation and all the things that spain is about because that's the future. i don't know about you, i don't want 22% unemployment and the united states.

that's spent reality right now. we don't want to be spain. we want to be america. we are the indispensable nation of the world. [applause] >> the indispensable nation of the world. is america. and socialism might sell well in a harvard faculty lounge but when it comes to finding a job, not so much. not so much. and a moral tragedy i believe person of president obama's agenda is not only that it's tax spending agenda is spending most of which are parents and grandparents took a lifetime to build up and whether current workforce is producing. i think the most egregious moral wrong of all is that today's government is intentionally consuming the future labors of generations of americans that are not even born.

this is unbelievable what's happening because you need to consider that no previous generation, not the heroes of the revolutionary war, not the heroes of the civil war, not the survivors of world war i or world war ii or the great depression or korea or vietnam your none of these previous generations have left any subsequent generation so tied up in debt that they're very substance was already spoken for before they even had a chance to come into this world. and it's baffling to me. it's baffling that this wasn't just any nation that did this. this is our nation that's done this. a great nation like ours, one that has reached the absolute unparalleled height of the world lone superpower status. we are one that it is the world leading innovator and inventions.

with the largest economy, the finest universities. we would choose an option for the future that is anything other than putting the best interest of this generation first? could we be so selfish? no generation has been more selfish than the current generation that's been running washington, d.c., and it's time we stop at. that's not compassion. that's selfishness. and this is what i believe. it's that you and your future are what matters to us now. and it's not about building a welfare state your i think it's building your state of well being. that's what we need to focus on because i think that you deserve no less a shot of life in which her parents received, than what your grandparents receive, and that's all coming back to by 2012 is so all important because if you do well, then america

will do well and we will be strong and we will be secure. and you know it's not all doom and gloom your because we certainly are not without solutions. in fact, i had just a couple of sucks country and -- a couple of suggestions. the present can stop the epa abandoning a cap-and-trade system that will destroy the future of energy creation in this country. [applause] >> the president could easily support a balanced budget amendment going forward. i signed onto it. he can sign onto it. you saw the "time" magazine cover that barack obama and ronald reagan. not so much, maybe a little short. at the president wanted to prove he was ronald reagan, he could sign a balanced budget amendment, and maybe we would

agree. the president is a graduate energy policy that actually increases american energy production. we are sitting on a gold mine here in the united states. [applause] >> we are the saudi arabia of energy right here. it's just illegal to access it here so let's get off of our dependence on foreign oil. we have all the energy we could use here in the united states. in the president to turn back some of the 132 regulations that he put into place in the two years that he has been on the job. and more than 132 of these regulations will cost us in excess of $100 million or more. then the president could repeal obamacare. he could support free market solutions like medical malpractice reform, really, not just say it, really do it and then allow all of us to buy any health care policy we want anywhere in the united states with no minimum mandate.

you do that, that attacks the root problem of health care which is the cost driver. free market works. [applause] >> and while all of these economic threats are very real, and they are, i've been a witness on the front lines of history the last four years in the united states house of representatives, they are will. they are white people all across this country didn't even care about political affiliation, they came together under this broad heading and said hey we don't like what these guys are doing, we got to have something else. and while that is so true and while we have come together, we need to remember that we can't forget that there are other threats as well. threats to the moral grounding of this nation and threats to our national security. because a wise man in solomon once said that strands are not

easily broken for any carbon what a better three-legged stool is strong and stable and it won't tip over very easily. and it's important in these distressing economic concerns are, we would be wise to recall and not forget that for our conservative to be victorious in 2012, it will take everyone of us and then some pulling together to bring the three legs of this conservative stool together, the fiscal conservatives, financial security leg and the social second third leg to work together. we cannot shun each other for 2012. [applause] the structural integrity and political appeal is not only rooted in his physical -- fiscal discipline but the social values

and the philosophy of peace through strength and i believe this is as valid today as it has been for the last 35 years. some would have you believe, however, that the rise of the tea party and the outcome of last fall's election means that conservatives stand for only one thing and nothing more. and that's reducing our deficit and shrinking government. and while that is absolutely vital and important, i strongly disagreed that that's all there is. and i believe that most conservatives agree with that as well. because -- [applause] as important of these spending cuts are, and by the way, we need a lot more of them than what we are getting served up today, such a narrowly based political agenda is neither appropriate to our times know or is it politically conducive to a broad based appeal that will determine our future success. and we're all about winning in

2012. so that's why this morning i am here to call on our movement, beginning here with you. you are the all important cpac base, all 11,000 of you to affirm our time-tested winning platform that rests equally on all three legs. i believe in this coalition. i believe in this three-legged stool that's our winning combination because i believe that you are incredibly talented. i believe that your filled with excitement. i believe you are motivated for 2012. i believe like you that we need to win the triple crown of 2012, which is holding onto the house of representatives, winning a conservative senate, and oh, yeah, baby, winning the white house in 2012. the triple crown. [applause]

>> i also believe we can do this. i don't think this is standing up here and blowing happy smoke up here. i believe we can do this. for one thing you're all incredibly good looking. and time appear. i can see that fact alone pleasure counted pleasure very excited, that leads to motivate us for 2012. i just want you to know we can do this. we really can. we can't mess up the. and one thing that we've seen happen too frequently is to see polls from the jaws of victory. have you seen it? i have. it will not, it cannot, it must not, it simply cannot happen for 2012.

for 2012 we take the gains we have, we add to them, that is how we will get our fiscal house in order. that's how we will stay grounded in our historic moral values. that's how we will retain peace through strength. we live in a very different world today, and we have this tiny window of opportunity called 2012. because if we don't take back the white house and when the triple crown in 2012, that window of opportunity of repeating obamacare they slammed shut. it may slam shut. and so just like the great people of new hampshire believe, live free or die. that needs to be our watchword as well. are we up? are we going to stand up? are we going to do this? is this our moment? is this our time?

do you believe? do you believe? do you believe? [applause] start okay then, let's do it. let's roll. 2012. thank you, cpac. thank you. thank you all. thank you for allowing me to come. thank you, cpac. thank you. ..

>> for the center for government integrity, a government watchdog group that investigated the clinton administration. he has served in numerous campaigns, conservative organizations and congressional investigations over the past 15 years. he previously served as chief investigator for the committee on government e reform and oversight in the u.s. house of representatives where he led the campaign finance and chinese espionage investigation under chairman dan burton. bossy's work on the committee was recognized by cpac in 1999. he also came to a lot of people's attention after the supreme court issued its momentous citizens united case. [applause] many people still mischaracterize that case. the purpose of that case was to see to it that corporations who

were not media corporations were on an even footing with corporations that were media corporations. it was a free speech issue and, of course, that was the case that caused president obama to denigrate the united states supreme court in last year's state of the union address. he is truly a champion of the conservative movement. please welcome david bossey of citizens united. [applause] ♪ >> well, thank you all very much. colin, thank you for that kind introduction. colin hamna was one of the patriots who joined in with let freedom ring with an am my cuts brief in our case. so thank you, colin, and a lot

of people in this room filed ame ca in this case. it was a wonderful victory. it's nice to have picked up 63 seats in november, and i'm really enjoying the fact that they're all mad at me, so it's nice. [laughter] i have a distinct honor and privilege today. we've all followed the extraordinary career of our next speaker. he is a grandfather, a scholar, a college professor, a best-selling author, a fell m maker -- film maker, a congressman and leader of the 1994 republican revolutioning, the speak speaker of the house of representatives. newt gingrich's resumé is impressive and his principles are desperately needed today more than ever. now, there's been a lot of talk inside the beltway over the last year about balancing the budget.

with our climbing $14 trillion debt, we desperately need that, and there's only one man who can actually claim to have of balanced the federal budget, and that's newt gingrich. under his stewardship, congress balanced the federal budget four years in a row for the first time since the 1920s. don't let the liberals and the mainstream media tell you that balancing the budget isn't possible because newt gingrich did it. you always know where newt stands. he is unwavering in his principles. he's the author of "the contract with america," and he knows the common sense, conservative approach to government and the american people, that they desperately need and gave us the majority in 1994 after, for the first time in 40 years.

i have the honor to have partnered with speaker callista gingrich on six films and just recently our first book together on ronald reagan, and he has made each one of those projects better with his knowledge and ted case to each project. two years ago newt and ca let's that coproduced with me, ronald reagan: of rendezvous with destiny. it's within called the premier documentary on the life of the president by many of his former staff and cabinet members. last year citizens united on september 11th premiered a film called "america at risk: a war with no name." and as we're coming on ten years removed from the devastating attacks from september septembe, "america at risk" explains the roots of radical islam. speaker gingrich is a man of big ideas. he is truly a one-man think tank

continuously developing ways to make america better for future generations. america faces a number of challenges in the years ahead. i hope and pray newt gingrich will be involved in answering the call to lead our country back to the shining city on the hill. fellow conservatives, please, give a warm welcome to my friend and the 58th speaker of the house of representatives, newt and callista gingrich. [cheers and applause] ♪

♪ muck

♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] ♪

[applause] >> thank you, all, thank you very much. i am delighted to be here. i want to thank dave bossie. we have a great working relationship with dave, and we have made a number of movies that we're very proud of and the new reagan book. what he did at citizens united both in the lawsuit last year and the hard work he's done to help elect conservatives across the country is truly remarkable, so i'm glad to be back with you. i also want to thank david keene who, while he has retired from that job, he has held together both the aclu and cpac since 1983, and he deserves a big round of applause. [applause] now, as all of you know, i

almost always start by going back to the very second cpac at a time when republican and conservative prospects seemed at their very bottom, when the country seemed to have lost it way, and when governor ronald ray began -- reagan, recently out of office, came here and said that we have to have bold colors, not pale pastels. and he laid out a policy which in a very short time defeated the soviet empire, rebuilt the american economy and rebuilt american exceptionalism. twenty years after that, i came to cpac as the first republican speaker in 40 years, and i outlined a series of bold ideas. a balanced budget, tax cuts for the first time in 6 years to still -- 16 years to stimulate economic growth, strengthening our intelligence capacity against terrorism. now i'm back. here we are 16 years later, and what's happened? well, just two stories from yesterday.

the germans are buying the new york stock exchange, and, in fact, thgerman exchange is bigger than the new york stock exchange, so they will have 60% control of the new york stock exchange. marks a major decline of new york as a center of world finance, it is a fundamental blow to our capacity to lead the world and to create jobs and, in fact, what's truly astonishing is that the german government and germany as a country pays 50% more for manufacturing than we do. you earn more money in germany, and they have the lowest unemployment rate since is 1992. so it's not always cheap labor. sometimes it's just terribly bad government. let's look at the case. the german government is pro-jobs. the german government is pro-manufacturing. the german government is pro-worker training. the german government is pro-exports. and now let's look at the obama government. [laughter] why are we falling behind? why is the new york stock exchange taken over by frankfurt? why are we in a mess?

why do we have over 9% unemployment? well, the obama administration is anti-jobs, anti-small business, anti-manufacturing, pro-trial lawyer, pro-bureaucrat, pro-deficit spending and pro-taxes. what do you think is going to happen? [applause] my favorite political governing slogan for the next four years is two plus two equals four. simple, basic, honest facts. if you want to kill jobs, you can, and democrats prove it all the time. [laughter] now, let's look at the second big story from yesterday. homeland security secretary napolitano said we have the most heightened threat since 9/11, that after ten years there are more terrorists in the united states who are indigenous terrorists recruited through the internet than at any time in the last decade, and yet this is an administration -- we did a movie called "america at risk: the war

with no name," this is the administration that doesn't even have the courage to tell us the truth about who wants to kill us. [applause] i know i would get attacked for telling the truth. so on somebody whose nickname is jihad jane confesses in the court to being a terrorrest, it would be be inappropriate to see what patterns might have led her to that. when you have a nigerian who arrives over detroit on christmas day seeking to blow up an airplane over a neighborhood to get collateral damage, when you have a pakistani who says you are my enemies, i lied, the judge was suitably shocked. [laughter] when you have a man jump up at fort hood with a card in his wallet that says warrior of allah, killed 12 americans and wounds 33, and the president and

the chief of staff of the army urged people not to jump to conclusions. [applause] do not generalize. when you have mayor bloomberg after they picked up a car bomb from the pakistani in times square whose first comment was let's not rush to judgment, it could have been someone who's opposed to obamacare. do you know how willfully, deliberately you have to hired from reality to assume that after thousands of terrorists and suicide bombers that your first thought is that somebody's opposed to health care? [laughter] i mean, this would be a psychological problem if it were not a public official. [laughter] [applause] the obama administration is wrong on terrorism, wrong on iran, wrong on the muslim brotherhood, wrong on hezbollah, and being wrong on that many national security items is an

enormously dangerous thing. [applause] but the president's popularity remains high because the media loves him. as one liberal analyst said, my leg shakes thinking of it. [laughter] time magazine just did a cover on reagan's 100th birthday: why obama loves reagan. now, i want you to know, first of all, my leg doesn't shake. [laughter] and i want the elite media to know something. i knew ronald reagan. [laughter] [cheers and applause] b i began working with ronald reagan in 973 -- 1974 when i first ran for congress. and i hate to tell this to our friends at msnbc and elsewhere, barack obama is no ronald

reagan. [cheers and applause] >> however, the media wants us to be responsible. the media wants us to be bipartisan. the media wants us to bring a new, positive tone to washington. so i'm going to risk shocking you. in the tradition of ronald reagan's 1975 bold colors proposal, i want to suggest that cpac do something very bold. and let me say, by the way, for those liberals who think 2010 was the peak, the fact that we have 2,000 more registrants this

year ought to tell 'em, oh, no. 2010 was the appetizer. 2012 is the entree. [cheers and applause] so what i'm going to say is so bold i'm going to ask you to hear me out before you react. i want us to offer president obama the opportunity to be the keynote speaker at cpac in 2012 if he earns it. [laughter] now, let me explain. many people write about moving to the center. many people cite bill clinton as moving to the center. just as with reagan, i was actually there. [laughter] clinton signed welfare reform and two out of three people either went to work or went to school. clinton signed the first tax cut in 16 years, and as art laffer

pointed out in "the wall street journal" this morning, it included the largest capital gains cut in history designed to create jobs, and unemployment went down from 5.4 to 4.0%, and that was the largest single step toward the balanced budget. we kept spending down to 2.9%, the smallest increase since calvin coolidge in the 1920s. bob livingston had a huge spending cut bill, john kasich authored a series of changes, the house gop moved fast. in fiscal 1995 the democrats' deficit was $164 billion. we brought it down a little bit the first year, but the second year we had it down to $2 billion from 164. the following year we had a $69 billion surplus in our third budget that we were in charge

of. over a four-year period, we paid off $559 billion in federal debt by controlling spending, cutting taxes and increasing economic growth. [applause] the number one job today is to create jobs. america only works when americans are working, and nothing would do more to balance the budget than to go from 9.2% back down to 4% unemployment taking 5% of the american people off of unemployment, off of food stamps, off of medicaid, putting them back with a job, paying taxes, giving their family a future. [applause] and let me emphasize something that republicans and conservatives all too often fail to be honest and direct and talk about. at a time when we have 45% black teenage unemployment in january, that is not acceptable to anyone

in america, and we should be the people who drive for the policy changes so every young american can get a job no matter what the ideological bias -- [inaudible] [applause] i'll be candid, we did not need a deficit commission. we needed a jobs commission that talked only with people who create jobs. i am sick and tired of congressional hearings where people who have never created a job show up to explain what their theory is of doing something they've never done. [applause] i'm going to outline two large strategies that'll move us towards job creation. an american energy plan and an environmental solutions agency to replace the environmental protection agency. [cheers and applause] so, first, let me discuss how president obama could move to the center, could be bipartisan

and could be invited to keynote cpac. [laughter] there are seven steps -- we just convinced every liberal of what they've always feared. [laughter] i think there are seven steps to the center for obama. first, sign the repeal of obamacare. [applause] let me make a point to my news media friends. 58% of the american people in the most recent poll favor repeal of obamacare. now, 58% ought to be the center. i mean, where's the center if it's not a majority of the americans? i know for some people the center is the faculty club at harvard or "the new york times" editorial board, but that's not factually correct. so if the president would truly like to be part of the american middle, sign the repeal. two, sign tort reform for

doctors. he said the other night he'd like to do it, let's let him do it. [applause] the congress should pass it based on texas and other reforms, the strongest possible tort reform bill and let him become president no by saying he didn't actually mean what he said because i if he said he didn't actually mean it, so wind have understand the action of something else he forgot to say because the teleprompter wasn't work withing at that particular moment, and it's not his fault. [laughter] [cheers and applause] three, sign the permanent repeal of the death tax. [cheers and applause] 78% of american people favor repeal of the death tax. that has been consistently a large majority for the last 30 years, and i would say to "the new york times," to cbs news and even, daringly, to our friends

at msnbc if 78% isn't the center of this country, where are you going to find it, and what are you doing when you get there? [laughter] [applause] fourth, sign a new hyde amendment so no taxpayer money funds abortion in the united states. [cheers and applause] fifth, sign a i new paul ryan-drafted conservative budget act to control spending and move to a balanced budget. [applause] sixth, sign a law to decisively control the border now. [cheers and applause] seventh, sign a tenth amendment implementation act returning

power from washington to the states and to the people thereof. this is not about shipping it from washington to atlanta or washington to sacramento. remember, the amendment actually says and the people thereof, so the power ought to go back to local people, local communities and they can decide what they want to give to state government. and that act should include concern. [applause] that act should include block granting medicaid so the states can control the cost and improve the quality without interference from washington bureaucrats. [applause] now, i hope you'd agree with me that a president obama who did those seven things would have come to the center and would deserve the invitation to be the keynote speaker next year. [applause] i would not bet a lot on that ticket, but -- [laughter] well, but now think about my two major policy proposals.

first, we need an american energy policy. at american solutions we discovered over the last few years 79% of the american people believe we need an american energy policy to create jobs in the united states. 79% of the american people believe we need an american energy policy to keep the money here rather than in china. no matter how you ask the question, it consistently comes out better than four to one. so wouldn't the center of american politics, the base of bipartisanship be doing what the american people actually want and having an american energy policy? [applause] now, by contrast what you have from the obama administration is a war against american energy. they just can't help themselves. even in the state of the union at a time when we're facing rising oil prices what does the president want to do? he wants to raise taxes on oil and gas. in america, not in saudi arabia, not in iran, not in venezuela.

so, callista and i were at the reagan 100th anniversary at the reagan library which, by the way, had a new branch that just opened. we had lunch with secretary of state george shut, and i was -- schulz. he finally said to me, you know, if you go all the way pack to 1973 and the very first oil shock done deliberately by the arab countries and you look at ronald reagan's state of the state address in 1974 where he called for american energy policy, schulz looked at us, and he said, it makes you wonder how many times we have to be hit over the head with a 2x4 to figure out this is serious. [applause] the foundation for the defense of democracy wrote me the other day and said, you know, lenin in the communist era said

capitalists will sell us the rope to hang them. but pit never occurred -- but it never occurred to him that they would give him the money to hang them. it allows them to subsidize madras sas across the planet, and for 30 years we've had the worst possible national security policy in energy, and it's time we stopped it, and it's time we passed an aggressively proof-american jobs, pro-american energy. [applause] in 2008 when gasoline was at $4 a gallon, american solutions launched a petition which, frankly, was actually working in the week before wall street collapsed. john mccain was ahead by three points, because the left couldn't survive in a world where we had the courage to say

why don't we find american oil and gas, and why don't we have the next building boom in the united states, not in dubai, and why don't we make sure that terrorists run out of money? so let's do it now. first of all, we open off of louisiana which, by the way, this administration with utter, total hypocrisy said they were going to lift the quarantine but then said, oh, but by the way, a new regulatory policy, and we don't issue any of the new regulations. so they have effectively stopped everything they promised us last fall they would allow to happen again. governor jindal wants it to happen, the people of louisiana want it to happen. they understand that $80,000 a year jobs aren't all that available in the unite, and they understand that shipping the rigs to egypt and the congo because they're more politically stable than the united states is not a good sign for our future. so let's reopen the areas only off those states that want to reopen them, but if a state wants to go and find oil and gas and wants to create more jobs

and, there are, wants to help the american balance of payments and keep the money here, let's let 'em do it now. [cheers and applause] we should end the environmental protection agency's war against american oil and gas. for example, shell one in 2006, five years ago, a lease to allow them to explore in the seas off alaska. $3 billion later the epa has refused to allow them to move forward or, and they announced last week they're stopping it. now, this wasn't the alaskan wilderness area. this was an area that was totally, legally open for explorationing in which the environmentalists inside the government and the environmentalists outside the government deliberately conspire today stop a company from creating american oil and

american gas in the united states in a way which can only be helpful to the saudis and the iranians, and i am tired of being told we ought to cripple our people in our country on behalf of countries overseas. so we have a situation where every time we stop americans, we strengthen our enemies, and we weaken our own economy, and this is a perfect case study. [applause] we should also stop the obama protection agency's efforts to cripple the development of gas and shale. we now have technology which lets us go down 8,000 feet, reach out as much as four miles horizontally. we can produce commercially-available natural gas from shale. we have an 1100-year supply. and the answer is you don't know what's happening 8,000 feet down and, therefore, your epa is going to protect you from the possibility that 378 years from

now something bad might happen. [laughter] well, let me tell you, something bad's happening this morning with all the people who can't find a job because the u.s. government is killing the industry and keeping the cost of energy up. [applause] we need to develop effective, clean coal pilot projects that prove the concept that we can use coal because we have more energy in coal than saudi arabia has energy in oil, and it is utterly, totally foolish to say the united states is not going to aggressively develop clean coal. the department of energy promised in 2003 they would have a plant done by 2008. they then studied it to death. they now hope to have one done by 2016. at the current direction, the chinese will have built, patented and licensed new technologies worldwide faster than our bureaucracy in washington can figure out how to issue the permit to even try. that is fundamentally wrong, and we should cut through all the red tape, and we should maximize

the ability of our own electricity industry and coal industry to develop new plants in the most rapid possible way. [applause] and, for example, the obama administration just a few i weeks ago reversed a permit that had been given for a coal mine in west virginia because the new epa bureaucrats decided the old bureaucrats were wrong. how do you invest? how do you have any sense of energy production when the anti-business bureaucrat could, in fact, take away every single thing you've done? so they ought to reverse that decision, they ought to go back to keeping their word, they ought to allow west virginian'ss to go to work to enable us to build nuclear power plants. there's something fundamentally wrong. [applause] i always say to my environmental friendsyou really wanted to get

carbon out of the atmosphere, if we produced as much electricity from nuclear power as france, you would take two billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the air. that's not the right solution. if it's a solution, then our economy would grow, free enterprise would work, and that would be wrong. so what they always want is a technology that doesn't exist but could someday if only you were patient long enough, and in the meantime why don't you ride a bicycle to prove you're a patriot because they're not going to permit you to do anything else. two things about nuclear power, we should dramatically streamline the regulatory process for the big plant, but there's a whole new generation of very small nuclear power plants that are very, very safe that should not come under the kind of regulatory design for a huge, giant, multimillion dollar plant. and be we could have a very big job creation technology. [applause] we should -- we should also insist on flex fuel cars and on

blended pumps and here i just want to say a word to some of my friends i think are confused about this issue, frankly. the president who first got my attention -- person who first got my attention on this is the former secretary of the cia jim -- [inaudible] who said this should be seen as a national security issue. brazil went to a flex fuel model, the very companies who will testify they don't know how to do it are building the cars in brazil. they said you're either going to build them or you're not going to be here. okay, we'll do it. the fact is, it allows the consumer to choose. it's a question of giving you a range of questions about what you ought to do. brazil today is totally energy independent by a combination of offshore discoveries, flex of-fuel cars and the use of sugar-based ethanol. and they don't pay a penny to saudi arabia, iran, iraq or venezuela. now, i just think we ought to be clear about this -- [applause]

let, let the consumers have the opportunity the choose what they want to do, and most of them will be economically-rational. and it's a step toward us getting away from relying on fossil fuels. i believe in investing in and developing new technologies if investments are made largely by the private sector without the government picking winners and losers. [applause] and i'm happy to say many of my friends, look, hydrogen matters, biofuels matter, solar matters, wind matters, but the truth is in the next 20 years what's going to matter the most is oil, gas, coal and nuclear because they are simply statistically going to remain the bulk of the supply. so we need to move forward on every front, not stop the biggest, most successful fronts while we wait around for a future that may or may not come fast enough. now, in order to have an american energy policy we need to replace the environmental

protection agency with a new, fundamentally different environmental solutions agency. [applause] so my friends in the media, i want to emphasize replace so it's not about tear down, destroy, eliminate, walk away, let the environment be destroyed, sell out to corporate interests and all that bologna. this is a different question, and terry maple and i wrote a book outlining the model of green conservativism. the question is could you, in fact, develop a better solution than a washington-based command and control top-down bureaucratic regulatory litigation model? now, i believe and, by the way, about 75% of the american people believe, that relying on science, technology, markets and incentives is a better future with better solutions than relying on bureaucrats, trial lawyers, litigation and regulation. it's a very fundamental question of can we do it better.

i want to replace, not reform epa because epa's made up of self-selected bureaucrats who are anti-american jobs, anti-american business, anti-state government, and i don't think you can reeducate them. allow them to go home, get a college job, write their memoirs -- what i did before the revolution -- and just go on with what they're doing. [applause] i don't think that epa bureaucrats who are dedicate today a washington-centered, top-down, bureaucratic control by litigation regulation are going to learn a new dance, a new approach and a new model. what we need is, and by the way, this is doubly true because obama wants to use epa so he can control all of the non-health economy to match his control of the health economy through obamacare. and it's the two of them together that are such a fundamental threat to this country by centralizing power in

washington d.c. i believe this would do a better job of protecting both the environment and the economy. principles are straightforward. localism when possible. i believe local people who actually live there may have a higher value for their environment. than a washington bureaucrat who's never visited their town and may never have been in their state. i believe that state governments can be very reliable partners and that there ought to be a cooperative attitude from washington seeking to work with the states, not a dictatorial attitude seeking to tell the states the limit of some bureaucrat here based on paperwork. [applause] i believe that incentives, innovators and entrepreneurs can solve environmental problems and improve the environment better than bureaucrats, litigators and regulators. i believe the environmental industry should see states and communities as partners, not adversaries, in solving problems with win/win approaches.

they should look for new science, new technologies and new approaches to get more energy, more jobs and a better environment simultaneously. as an american i reject the idea that you have to choose one or the other. we have never done that in our history, we have always believed we can create a better future, and in my mind a better future has a healthy environment and a healthy economy and healthy local control within a constitutional system of a limited federal government, and we americans should be able to do that. [applause] i taught on the second earth day 40 years ago. i was directer of a program at west georgia college. terry maple, as i said, wrote contract with the earth to outline green conservativism. i believe you can love nature and be a conservative, you can love the environment and also want american energy and american jobs. so i want to close by asking you

to do this: call your congressmen and your senators. ask them to introduce a general win american energy plan to cut through the red tape and litigation and get us to energy and jobs this year for american national security, for the american economy and for a better future and urge them to introduce and pass an american -- i'm sorry, an environmental solutions agency this year. and then let's give the president a choice. does he really want to be president? does he really want to veto every good idea that comes up from capitol hill or would he like to work with us in a cooperative, bipartisan, centrist majority absolutely supported by the american people doing the kind of conservative, sound things that the american people want even if washington elites hate them? let's let him choose. i don't actually personally believe he'll make it here next year, but still it's a goal. we're all having a good time, why shouldn't he get to come and have a good time too?

thank you all very much. [laughter] [applause] >> the conservative political action conference also heard from businessman donald trump who said he is seriously considering a run for president. this is 15 minutes. [laughter] ♪ >> well, with apologies to my better looking cousin --

[laughter] what a fantastic patriot wayne la pierre is. [cheers and applause] when i served as the solicitor general of texas, i had the great honor of fighting alongside wayne before the u.s. supreme court do defending the individual right to keep and bear arms, and we won a landmark decision protecting all of our second amendment rights. [applause] you know, in the wake of the arizona tragedy, a great many be in the media like to intone about civility. and it seems civility only applies to those that are not on the left. i don't know how many of you saw "the new york times"' breaking wire story this morning about this gathering. breaking news: band of lunatics invades washington. [laughter] terrorizes women, children and

innocent government bureaucrats. [laughter] and then, of course, we remember president barack obama on the campaign trail when he quoted sean connery from the untouchables: if they bring a knife, i bring a gun! that's the chicago way! [laughter] and, you know, come to think of it, that quote would have very much pleased our last speaker. it's the only time in history president obama has ever supported second amendment rights. [laughter] [applause] i'm very pleased, now, to welcome a surprise speaker not on the guest. [cheers and applause] to introduce our surprise speaker is our directer, lisa de pasquale, and she is here to

introduce donald trump. [cheers and applause] ♪ >> good afternoon. well, i am pleased to report that this is the large itself crowd we have ever had in all, in eager anticipation of our next speaker. we have overflow rooms filled, this ballroom filled, so i'll get to it. whenever we're pairing a speaker with an introducer, we like to find people that have some sort of connection, something in common. in this case the next speaker and i both have very iconic hair. [laughter] during this time in america when everyone is desperately trying to find or keep their jobs, there's a shockingly long line of people that line up for the chance to be fired by our next speaker. [laughter] he, quite honestly, needs no introduction whatsoever.

cond trump is one of the -- donald trump is one of the most successful businessmen in the world, an author, the creator and star of one of the most popular television franchises, a committed fiscal conservative and a proud american. in be his recent interview with ron kessler of news max, we saw that this is a man who believes this great country is worth fighting for, and he is someone who is thinking about tossing his hat in the ring for the 2012 republican presidential nomination. [cheers and applause] of course, that journal must begin with all of you concern journey must begin with all of you today. please join me in welcoming mr. donald j. trump. ♪ [cheers and applause] >> thank you.

wow, what a nice group. beautiful. [cheers and applause] thank you very much. great to be here. >> you're hired! [laughter] >> you're hired. my people. this is beautiful. [cheers and applause] thank you, darling. let me begin by thanking cpac for the opportunity to address so many of you today. it's a wonderful por rum and an honor -- forum and an honor to be here. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] while i'm not at this time a candidate for the presidency, i will decide by june whether or not i will become one. and i will tell you the reason that i'm thinking about it is that the united states has become a whipping post for the rest of the world. the world is treating us without respect, they are not treating

us properly. [applause] america -- america today is missing quality leadership, and foreign countries have quickly realized this. it's for this reason that the united states is becoming the laughingstock of the world. now, whether we like it or don't like it, that's what's happening. i deal with people from china. i deal with people from mexico. they cannot believe what they're getting away with. i've said on numerous occasions that countries like china, like india, south korea, mention ecoand the opec nations view our leaders as weak and ineffective and have repeatedly taken advantage of them to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year when they talk about raising your taxes, i think raise the taxes on some of these countries that are taking advantage of the united states.

[applause] over the years i've participated in many battles and have really almost come out very, very victorious every single time. i've beaten many people and companies, and i've won many wars. i have fairly but intelligently earned many billions of dollars which, in a sense, was both a scorecard and acknowledgment of my abilities. during my lifetime i've -- little different, right? little different than what you've been hearing. [laughter] [applause] during my lifetime i've always been told that a person of great accomplishment and achievement cannot become a politician or run for political office because there are too many enemies both very smart and not so smart strewn along this highway to success. people who have been in wars --

and this is war, life is pleasant, but it can be war -- people who have been in wars, even the most successful of them, leave themselves open to great criticism from the many that they have beaten and those that have watched the battles. the fact is this theory of a very successful person running for office is rarely tested because most successful people don't want to be scrutinized or abused, and that's what happens. if you see it, that's what happens. [applause] and this is why we don't have the kind of people that we should have running for office. unfortunately, however, this is the kind of person that the country needs, and they need it now. we don't have time to wait 25 years and get the right -- this country is in serious trouble. we need it now. [applause]

our current president came out of nowhere, came out of nowhere. in fact, i'll go a step further. the people that went to school with him, they don't even know -- they never saw him. they don't know who he is, right? [cheers and applause] with no track record and, i will tell you, he's got nothing to criticize. he had no record, can't be criticized. wonderful guy, he's a nice man, but there was no record, nothing to criticize. he didn't go in wars, he didn't go in battles, he didn't peat this one, that one, have enemies all over the place. nobody knew who the hell he was. [laughter] he's now our president. he's our president! >> who the hell is he? [laughter] >> but he is our president. business week magazine which is now bloomberg business week said in a -- [laughter] thank you very much. said in a vote of its readers

that donald trump was the world's most competitive business person. i don't know if that's true or not, but that's what the readers said. with bill gates being number two and warren buffett being number three. steve forbes stated that i was one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the history of free trade. that's an important word, free trade, because we don't have free trade. prison. [applause] we don't have free trade, we don't have fair trade, and i'm a fair trade believer. i love open markets but not when china's manipulating their currency, not when all of these other factors are taking place. [cheers and applause] thank you. and i can tell you, i'm a big buyer of products. i build buildings and other things. [laughter] and so many of those products, unfortunately, come from china.

and other countries, but china. we are rebuilding china. we're rebuilding china. you go to china right now, they're building the biggest airports in the world, the greatest airports, the best everything. and they're doing it because we buy so much of their product. and the reason we buy their product is because their, their currency is so low, and they have of it artificially so low that it makes it almost impossible for our companies to compete. now, i'll tell you the one thing that's very important, our companies make a better product. that's very important to know. [cheers and applause] we make a better product. so with steve forbes and with the business week statement, considering the shape the united states is in right now we need a competitive person, we need a highly-competent person or we're going to have very, very serious trouble very quickly. >> ron paul! [cheers and applause]

i've said on numerous i occasions that we should watch china and opec because, by the way, worse than china, worse than everyone, opec. they are ruly ripping out. [cheers and applause] -- truly ripping us. and, you know, i wrote it down coming over here today. one of my people in the car said, oh, my gosh, look at that. he actually didn't use the word gosh, but i'm going to ruse -- use it. [laughter] $4.50 a gallon for gas. it's going to go much higher, folks, get used to it. because we have nobody that calls up opec -- and they're only there because of us. we protect 'em! we have nobody that calls up opec and say that price better get low or, and it better get lower fast. we have nobody that does that.

[cheers and applause] they have a free rein, they have a free rein, and it's amazing. you know, the other day there was a small leak in the alaska pipeline. i said, watch, opec will announce an increase. they did, just a small leak. lasted like half a day. they announced an increase. now, egypt, they had the whole situation in egypt, people in the square, opec announced increase. anytime there's a little problem, they announce -- and nobody says anything. nobody says it's unwarranted. anyway, so you have to watch opec. you have to tell opec, folks, those prices are coming down, and they're coming down fast. and we're not going to be paying $7 and $8 and $9 which, believe me n a year or two from now you're going to be paying there as sure as you're sitting there because we have nobody to talk to them. this morning i'm leaving new york, and germany is buying the new york stock exchange.

can you belief it? [laughter] i thought it was kidding. i said, is this april fool's day? germany, major company in germany is whying the new york stock exchange -- buying the new york stock exchange. how about the somali pirates? now, you know, that doesn't really pertain to us. how simple would that be. give me one good admiral and a couple of good ships, we'd blast them out of the water so fast. [cheers and applause] so i have a reputation for telling it like it is. i'm known for my candor, i've had a lot of great victories, and i may be willing to put that to work. i mean, i wish that, frankly, i wish there was a candidate that i saw that would be fantastic because i love what i'm doing. by the way, ron paul cannot get elected, i'm sorry to tell you. [cheers and applause]

sorry. >> and uniwhat else? i like louis ron paul. i think he's a good guy, but honestly, he has zero chance of getting elected. you have to win an election. [cheers and applause] and i can tell you this, if i run and if i win, this country will be respected again. this country -- [cheers and applause] this country will be respected again, i can tell you that.

[cheers and applause] i graduated from the wharton school of finance, which is the best business school in my opinion. [laughter] but i graduated from the wharton school of finance as well as military school. both of those educational backgrounds have come into play to shape my personal and business relationship with what i do, who i do it with. there are tactics and strategies involved in any form of leadership, and i'm well acquainted with both. i'm also well acquainted with winning, and that's what this country needs now, winning. [cheers and applause] just very briefly, i'm pro-life -- [cheers and applause]

i'm against gun control. [cheers and applause] i agree with your previous speaker, and i will fight to end obamacare and replace it -- [cheers and applause] replace it with something that makes sense for people in business and not bankrupt the country. [cheers and applause] if i decide to run, i will not be raising taxes -- [cheers and applause] will be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars from other countries that are i screwing us -- [cheers and applause]

we'll be creating vast numbers of productive jobs -- [cheers and applause] and we'll -- thank you very much. and we'll rebuild our country so that we can be proud. our country will be great again. thank you very much, it's an honor. [cheers and applause] thank you. ♪ [cheers and applause] thank you very much. ♪ >> the cpac meeting also heard from former defense secretary donald rumsfeld who was introduced by david keene, the former chairman of the american conservative union.

>> thank you. our purpose today is to present an award that we present each year thanks to brad o'leary, a great friend of this conference and a great friend of all of us. we call it the defender of the constitution award. >> ron paul! >> and for the purpose, and for the purpose of this award and describing it, i'd like to, i'd like to introduce brad o'leary, and at the end of that we will bring out our recipient. >> thank you. [applause] each, each year we pick someone to receive this award whose career kind of is similar one of the signers of the declaration of independence. and we search for a document that has been signed by one of those signers.

this is a document -- >> can't hear. >> this is a document that was written 200 years ago by president james monroe. the document was signed when he was the ambassador to great britain at a time when great britain was our enemy and the french, headed by napoleon who wanted to be king of the world, was our enemy. and we picked it because their lives were paralyzed. both the former who wrote this document, and this was written by hand on both sides, and i want to give a little prestige to the document because this was personally written by the president of the unite. and -- of the united states. and they are rare to find, especially those that have meaning. and one of the reasons that they

were parallel in their history is that they were both congressmen, they both were friends of presidents. monroe advised washington, he advised jefferson, adams and madison. secretary rumsfeld advised ford, he was his chief of staff, and just like madison who was secretary of war, he became secretary of defense somewhere along the line we lost what we were doing with the military, and we think we're defending rather than at war with our enemies. but they both served in those prestigious jobs. they both were in the military. secretary rumsfeld came from the navy as -- retired from the navy

as a captain, and he went back to service of his country as secretary of defense under george bush when we were attacked, perhaps, by the greatest enemy we've ever had to face. and he has served in many capacities for reagan. reagan called him eight times to do something and eight times he agreed to do it. so his career in many ways measures that of the former president of the united states. and it's a great privilege to honor someone who for all, for many years as cpac has gathered to talk about what history will be or become, he's been part of that history that we talked about under ronald reagan and under the bushes. he made tons of wonderful things happen for america, and he fought our battles against enemies both foreign and domestic.

we're going to bring him up, but we have another special guest who's coming up with him. david? >> secretary rumsfeld, would you join us here for the -- [cheers and applause] ♪ [cheers and applause]

>> [inaudible] comes at a propitious time for his publisher because his memoirs were just published this week, and i believe he's going to be doing a book signing later. but that's not why we invited him, and that's not why he's here. usually when we present this award, we're able to do it, but -- ourselves, but i think that in just listening to what brad talked about in terms of the pair rells -- parallels between don rumsfeld's career and james monroe's career, we thought we needed some help. so we thought we'd bring somebody else up to present the award who is more familiar with much of what this man has accomplished over the years than we could ever be. and so we brought an additional presenter, the former vice president of the united states, dick cheney. [cheers and applause]

♪ >> thank you, all, very much. pleasure. [cheers and applause] thank you. [cheers and applause] >> usa! usa! usa! usa! usa! >> mercy. [cheers and applause] all right.

sit down and shut up. [laughter] >> [inaudible] >> boo! [inaudible conversations] >> the usual, spirited exercise. [laughter] [cheers and applause]

>> thank you. thank you very much for all your great effort. it's always great to come back to cpac because there's so many folks that are absolutely devoted to the nation, patriotism, to the united states and all of our values, and it is just a very special privilege to be asked by dave to come back and join all of you today. and this is a special occasion for me, too, because don rumsfeld has had a huge impact in my life. i love to -- [cheers and applause] tell the story about how i showed up in washington in 1968. i was 27 years old, a struggling graduate student, and i came with a grant to study congress for a year. and don was part of the orientation program. he was then a junior member of the house from illinois. he spoke to the group. i was very impressed, and then i

went and had an interview with him because you had to go negotiate your own office you were going to work in. but you were free help, the foundation was with paying my salary. it wasn't going to cost him a dime and, as i say, i thought, he can't pass up a deal like this. [laughter] so i went to see him and interviewed with him, and i'd been in there about ten minutes, and i found myself out in the hallway. he kicked me out. [laughter] he -- it was pretty clear that, well, it was the worst interview i ever had, let's put it that way. [laughter] but about six months later i was working for him. i, he'd gotten a job in the nixon administration, been recruited by the president to go take on a tough assignment. i had the gal to sit down -- gall to sit down and write an unsolicited 12-page memo telling him how he should do that new job.

[laughter] and then after he got sworn in, i got a phone call saying, came from a guy working for him that said, you know, would you come down tomorrow and join with the group? we're helping with the transition here, and you can, we'd like to have you be part of the deal. so i went down, about 50 of us there academics, policy wonks, that kind. and the secretary came in, and he spoke to the group, and then he left, and then his secretary came in. she said is there somebody in here named cheney? [laughter] and i held my hand up, and she said, come with me. she took me into his office which was right next to the big conference room, and i walked in. this was his first day on the job. he's got an old beat-up desk there, there's no carpet on the floor, there are pans catching the rain dripping through the roof. and as i walked in the door he looked up at me and said, you're congressional relations.

now get the hell out of here. [laughter] that's how he hired me. he didn't say, he didn't say do you want a job? [laughter] or i liked your memo or i'm sorry i chewed you out the last time you came in for an interview. he just said you're congressional relations, now get out of here. so i did. but that led to what's been one of the most significant friendships and relationships of my entire career. and i wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been for the chance that don rumsfeld was willing to take on an inexperienced, young, wet behind the ears graduate student over 40 years ago. and the fact that i've been able to do all that i have, i owe in the -- i owe in no small degree to his generosity and his willingness to trust me with tough assignments and not to come down on me too hard when i fouled up from time to time. but he's had a remarkable impact

not only in government, but in the private sector. we worked together in about three different administrations. he served twice as secretary of defense, the only man in history to do that. he was the youngest secretary when he was sworn in back in 1975 and the oldest secretary when he was sworn in 2001. [laughter] maybe if we give him a third term, he'll get it right. [laughter] [cheers and applause] anyway, america is stronger and safer and more secure today because of the man we're honoring here today. [cheers and applause] he's been there -- >> usa! usa! usa! >> he's been there in pivotal moments in our history. it's my privilege and an honor to introduce him this afternoon and to present him with this

very special award from the ark cu. don? -- acu. don? [cheers and applause] [applause] >> thank you very much. this is quite a group! david, congratulations. [cheers and applause]

thank you. please, be seated. thank you so much. dick, i thank you so much for those kind words and the memories which were almost 100% inaccurate. [laughter] he's told that story, and be he gets it wrong every single time. [laughter] the fact was, as he suggested, a young academic, and i didn't need one. [laughter] so he went to work for my dear friend, bill steiger, god bless him, and do did a great job there. and he also got it wrong when he said my secretary said is there a guy named changeny here -- cheney here, come on in. the person who actually went and asked him to come in was another

young fella working for me named frank carlucci who was ronald reagan's secretary of defense and deputy secretary of defense later. i suspect that a good many folks here would agree that we've just heard from the finest vice president of the united states in modern history. [cheers and applause] >> joe biden would have something to say about that. [laughter] but joe biden would have something to say about everything. [laughter] >> [inaudible] laugh. >> you know, they say in washington if you want to have a friend, buy a dog. [laughter] the rumsfeld corollary to that is buy a small one because it might turn on you.

[laughter] but many this case it's -- in this case it's not so. dick and i have been friends, as he said, for 40 years which may be something of a record in this city. it was my good fortune to find this friend at a very early stage in his prick service and -- public service and my public service and one who's been a model for all of us in his steadfast defense of our country. [applause] you know, i, i look at the many, oh, current administration's reversals of their announced policies on national security issues -- guantanamo bay, military commissions, indefinite detentions, cia drone strikes -- it makes me wonder if dick has had more influence on president obama than the people who got him elected. [cheers and applause]

i only wish the president had talked to dick about health care. [laughter] it would have saved us all a lot of trouble. the truth is that few people have done more over this past decade to correct what needs correcting, to remind american people of what strong, principled, conservative leadership looks like than dick cheney. and in, in -- and, dick, in case you were wondering, i think there's probably still time for you to file some paperwork for iowa and new hampshire. [applause] now, my thanks to david and to the american conservative union and for your invitation, for your years of dedicated leadership of the conservative movement. you're committed to the concepts of ronald reagan and bill

buckley i and to the free exchange of ideas. i commend you for standing up for those time-honored principles. it's good to be here. i have been around so long that i remember a time when cpac did not exist, when ronald ray began was still an -- ronald reagan was still an actor, when barry goldwater was our candidate for president, and we only worried about socialism outside of the united states. [cheers and applause] now, i'm honored the receive this defender of the constitution award and especially to be with so many people who understand how important it is for us all to defend the constitution. people in this room, i know, keep that flame burning and inspire so many millions of americans who share in our belief in limited government, a strong national defense and a sound fiscal base for a growing

economy. and, and our thoughts today are with the many thousands of other defenders of our constitution who are not in this room or even in this country. they're thousands of miles away risking their lives to protect our free society. the enemy they face is radical islamism, the totalitarian ideology that exalts death and loathes our values and the ideals we cherish. so if it's all right with you, i would like to share this award with the men and women of the united states armed forces -- [cheers and applause]ym

>> every single one is a [cheers and applause] every single one is doing what they're doing because they want to serve this country. [cheers and applause] every single one raised their hand and said, send me. [cheers and applause] >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> we know they're doing their part to defend our freedoms and so, too, must we. today americans face a national reckoning quite unlike anything i've seen in my lifetime, a lifetime that now spans one-third of the history of our country. that is amazing. [applause] what a young country we have! [laughter]

or what an old man i am! or both. the challenges we face at home is the gentle despotism of big government, big spending and big deficits. this appetite for boundless government often born of good intentions is couched in languages of compassion, but left unchecked, it can steadily erode our freedom and mortgage our country's financial ip pence. -- independence. and in the end, erase our proud culture of individual responsibility. no society has ever spent its way to prosperity. yet today there are those in washington who seem intent on trying to prove that america can be the first to do so. we need to look no farther than western europe, might i even say old europe? [laughter] [applause]

i think i did that once, and i caught a little dickens for it. [laughter] but we really do need the look to see if our future, we should continue on this course. there we see governments burdened by crushing debt, cradle to grave social welfare programs and societies willingingly ceding their sovereignty and voting responsibilities to faceless, transnational bureaucracies. no american administration should see that as a model to replicate. [applause] the recklessness of big government spending, trillion dollar budgets, bailouts to wall street and detroit and an irresponsible use of earmarks have taken a toll on our fiscal health. when i served in congress in the

1960s, the united states had the first federal budget of $100 billion. not a $100 billion debt or a $100 billion deficit, but a budget of $100 billion when lyndon baines johnson was president, and the country gasped at the thought of a $100 billion budget. you know, these days that's barely enough to pay for obama's teleprompter. [laughter] [applause] with this most recent election, the american people have had an opportunity to, again, demonstrate what principled conservativism is really about. and what it can achieve. the energy and drive of the tea party movement has brought needed recall praise to our party -- recalibration to our party and to our cause. the task now is to be persuasive

without being uncivil and to promote candidates who believe in american exceptionalism, men and women who believe in our country, are proud of our country and not just for the first time when they happen to be elected. [applause] the world will be watching, america, let there be no doubt. among our friends there is a perception that america's influence is waning. from the russian reset to the dangerously irresponsible failure to extend free trade agreements to friends and allies, america has seemed to be in retreat. much of the world is preparing for a post-american world, at least in part because the president and his administration seem intent on creating one. our endmies are further -- enemies are further emboldened

by our behavior. they do not care how many solar panels we manufacture or that i drive a hybrid car. they care more about national resolve, the determination with which we defend our country, our values and our determination to disrupt their aggressive activities. [applause] the enemies we face know who they are, and they know what they intend, but for whatever reason the obama administration refuses to even call them by name. how do we expect to defeat an enemy that we're too timid to even identify? [applause] now, a point where there is some discussion and debate in the country. as we begin to make tough decisions -- as we have to --

there may be the temptation to axe everything, including the defense budget. certainly, meaningful savings in a bureaucracy that large can be found without general tiding our country's security -- jeopardizing our country's security. [applause] the last time i looked there were $10 billion in earmarks that members of congress had added to the defense budget each year over the defense department's strong objections. they did not want the money. that needs to stopment. [applause] that needs to stop. but let there be no doubt, we do need to maintain a strong military to win in iraq and afghanistan and to deter potential aggressors tomorrow. to be sure, we have to reduce the deficit, we have to shrink the size of government, but we also must understand as

president reagan did that america has enemies that do not wish us well, and to keep them at bay we have to have a military that can deter and, if necessary, defend against those threats. isolationism is a luxury america and the world cannot afford. [applause] and there should be no illusions about a peace dividend. because there is no peace. military ec pendtures as a percentage of the gdp in a time of war are at an historic low. let's be clear: the radical islamists are not cutting back their recruiting, their purchasing and their training and planning, nor can we. i've recently finished my memoir, "known and up known,"

and launch a related web site that is rumsfeld.com where i've put the supporting documents for the book. literally hundreds of documents. and david has asked me to sign some copies of the book later today, and i'm happy to do it, so i hope to have a chance to visit with a number of you at that time. the book is the culmination of four years of work, a long gestation period. it's given me a wonderful opportunity to reflect on this blessed miracle that is our nation, and if there's one thought, one lesson in my long life that i would leave with you, it's this: there is no other country on the face of the earth that offers so many opportunities to so many people regard he is of their personal -- regardless of their personal circumstance than the united states of america. [cheers and applause]

for all the complaints you hear, and we all hear them from our country's critics, for all the apologies from the chattering class here at home, don't let anyone tell you that america is what's wrong with the world. because america is not what's wrong with the world. [cheers and applause] you know, when you get to be 78, you have the privilege of getting a titanium left hip and a titanium right hip and a titanium shoulder -- [laughter] after you do that, somebody comes in, a therapist, and tells you you've got to move your legs this way and move your shoulders that way, and you do like kind of a trained ape, you do whatever tte