tv C-SPAN Weekend CSPAN September 12, 2009 2:00pm-6:15pm EDT
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respect to the vets who keep the enemies in check. ia, i support the military and i also support the efforts of rick perry. it's getting scary. our government is getting reckless. you know how the saying goes. don't mess with texas. or the tenth amendment. we fought for independence. now this marks this administration wants to end it. and send it into a plunge. why the henk you think you want to take away our guns. not the kind that needs armies. i'm talking about the patriotic people at tea parties. thank you. [cheers and applause] . .
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freedom and space works, everybody -- freedomworks, everybody, peace. [cheers and applause] >[cheers and applause] >> what's up, america? [cheers and applause] let's set the record straight right now. we are here today because we, the people, have had enough. [cheers and applause] we will not sit silently while our liberties and our freedoms are being looted by elected
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officials serving their interests and not the interest of their constituents. [cheers and applause] we will not sit silently and let the massive wealth of government smother our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. [cheers and applause] we will not sit silently and let the massive growth of government debt smother the future -- our futures and futures of our children. our rally today, people, is about liberty. personally, i will not sit silently and let those who criticize our cause call it about race and call as rednecks. [cheers] jenin rafah loeanione garafalo,t
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read. i am outraged that there are prominent politicians i use the race card any chance they get to color their failures and failed policies. [cheers and applause] i am also outraged that black politicians have an affinity for socialism. the few examples -- charles rangelç, chairman of the house ways and means committee. mr. rangel says that bias and prejudice against president obama are the reasons why people are opposing the health care bill. [boos] mr. rangel, it is opposed because of the principal, not race.
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[cheers] kaing message to mr. randall, pay your taxes -- a message to mr. rangel, pay your taxes, pay your taxes, pay your taxes. [crowd chanting "pay your taxes!"] john conyers, he questions the need for lawmakers to read the bill. mr. conyers, that is your job. a message from america, mr. conyers, read the bill, read the bill, read the bill. [crowd chanting "read the bill!"]
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congresswoman diane watson admirers of fidel castro. congresswoman maxine waters have note -- has no problem with governments taking over oil companies. congress women, that is socialism and is evil. america, look at the urban communities these political representatives are supposed to be representing. are they any better since they have been in office? haarlem, detroit, los angeles. as a board member with the opportunity charter school in the heart of new york, i can tell you our government is failing our kids. not only have these liberal policies failed, they are trying to make matters worse with cap and trade. and let's get the terminology straight. in washington d.c. they called it cap and trade.
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i call it cap and taxes. it is a cap on energy. the goal of cap and trade is to force americans to use less energy by making it more expensive. it will reduce disposable income. and our standard of living. it will lead to job losses and an effect -- in manufacturing where they will move overseas. it will reduce economic growth. that is why cap and tax is a ball and chain for all americans. [cheers] it is an energy policy that will enslave everybody. for the sake of liberty and limited government, we cannot allow cap and tax to move in the senate. [cheers] america, emancipation from the race card, socialism, and cap and tax is a change of americans
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can appreciate. [cheers and applause] thank you. [cheers] >> and now, here is lifetime democrat voter and recent logger who is fed up with congress and his administration over this economy, bruce webster. >> hello. several weeks ago, my sweet wife, sandra, said there is a march in d.c.. we are going to go to it. i did not expect to be up here. it is true that i was a democrat for 37 years. but then again, when i grew up, democrats believe in lower taxes, free enterprise, capitalism, a strong defense, a firm stand against totalitarianism and equal
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opportunity before the law. come to think of it, may be too conservative for the republicans. [cheers] why am i here? i can sum it up in two quotes. about 250 years ago a wise scotsman by the name of david hume give us a warning for our day. he said, "is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." i am here because i am concerned about the liberties that we are losing. the second " comes from abraham lincoln in talking about the emancipation proclamation, he said, "america is the last best hope of earth." [cheers] now, let me ask you how many of you are veterans or have family
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members who are serving or have served in the armed forces? let me hear you. [cheers and applause] my father, lt. -- lt. john a. webster was at pearl harbor, was at the naval battle of guadalcanal, and long before he was 20 years old. he then stayed in the navy long enough to do two tours of duty in vietnam. his namesake, my son, john a. webster, a corporal in the murder -- in the u.s. marine corps has done one tour in iraq and is fighting with the court to go overseas again. [cheers] my nephew, darren green, is a corporal in the u.s. marine corps. he followed john into the marine corps and is currently in helmand province, right where the fighting is the worst.
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we know the men and women throughout the history of this country who have served a great debt. and 165 years ago, abraham lincoln -- excuse me, 146 years ago, abraham lincoln told us what that that was. -- debt was. he said it was for us to dedicate to the work that they have not -- so nobly advanced. he said it was for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead and from the honorable living we take increased devotion to that course for which they gave that last full measure of devotion. that we here highly resolve that these dead and our veterans will not have served and died in vain, that this nation under god shall have a new breath of freedom. [cheers and applause]
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and president lincoln did not say, he did not say the government of the white house, by the white house, for the white house. he did not say government of the courts, by the courts, and for the courts. and he most certainly did not say government of the congress, by the congress, and for the congress. what did he say? government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. that is our task. god bless us and god bless america. [cheers and applause] >> and now, here is national public policy analyst, president and ceo of freedomworks, matt kibbe. >> how are you guys doing? abc news is reporting that 1.5
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million people are here. [cheers] [cheers and applause] give yourselves a round of applause. [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting "usa! usa!"] >> as the president of freedomworks, i want to thank you for being here. you are making all the people that put this together look pretty good today. [cheers]
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we believe in two simple principles. one, freedom works. [cheers] tedero, equally important, government goes to those who show up -- two, equally important, government goes to those who show up. [cheers] guess what, you guys showed up. [cheers and applause] now, no offense to my friends in the media, but i suggest that we get our own head count today. reports are coming in the highways are closed down and our folks are streaming all the way back to the washington monument. [cheers]
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so, i know brandon asked you to do this. i'm going to ask you to do it again. pull out yourself phones -- your cell phones and a text "freedom" to my usa. if you do not have the right kind of phone, text "friedgen" to 69872. trust -- text "freedom" to 69872. if freedom can work here, we believe freedom can work anywhere. i want to quickly introduce to you guys the freedomworks oregon director, where if freedom can work in oregon, we can win. >> i want to give a shout out to
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everybody in the west coast, the left coast, the great united states of america. let's hear you. they came 3,000 miles to hear their voices today. i believe capitalism works and i am proud to be a capitalist. all of you that are proud, let's hear you. cheers] eight months ago, our president told us no longer works. he gave up on it. i believe it works. when my ancestors arrived in oregon 150 years ago, they did not have a government waiting for them to provide the housing, health care, clean water, or anything for that matter. they showed up in a wagon with their rifle and with their own hands and feet and got to work. they built one of the greatest states in the united states of america, just like the ancestors of those that live in texas and utah and idaho and california
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and indiana and ohio and you can go right to the list. this country has been built by risktakers, not by government bureaucrats. it is built by those that put their own capital at risk and take chances and they either get the rewards of the risk or they get the failures of the risk. that is what makes america great you can be more than you were born too. one less thing, our governor gave us in this last session of the state of oregon, the second highest marginal tax rate in the entire world, second only to belgium. and guess what, we're going to repeal it. we have enough signatures now to put it on the ballot and we're going to send our governor and legislature back to do it again and we are going to do it to these guys right here on capitol hill. thank you. [cheers and applause]
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>> i have a special treat for you guys. it is my pleasure to introduce senator jim dementidemint. [applause] this may be the first day in a really long time that senator demint is the most popular guy in town. [cheers] he is the author of a book that everyone of you need to recall "saving freedom." is a text book that tells you how to take your country back. senator demint. [applause] >> thank you. çthe new york times -- the "new york times" just reported that 500 people showed up here today on the mall. [laughter]
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well, i think you all know that the president has warned us that if we disagree with him he is going to call as ouus out [outb] -- call us out [outboos] okay, mr. president, we are out. [cheers] ladies and gentlemen, welcome to waterloo. [cheers] this is a day i have dreamed of for a long time. we stand together today in a critical battle for the heart and soul of america. it is not a personal battle against president of, or a partisan battle. it is a battle between big government, collectivism, and freedom loving americans.
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the stakes are high. will we continue to hold tightly to the principles of freedom that made america the most exceptional, prosperous, and compassionate nation in history, or will we fall for the false hope and empty promises of more government solutions? will we continue to climb the mountain of personal responsibility, free markets, judeo-christian values, and constitutional limited government? [cheers] or will we sink into the pit of high taxes, suffocating debt, and socialism? ["no!"] i join you today not as a u.s.
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senator, but as a fellow freedom loving american. i am not here to speak to you, but to stand with you. [cheers and applause] cantu join my voice with yours. it is time that the president and congress stop lecturing us and start listening to us. to many americans have fought and died for our freedom for us to give it away with apathy and silence. the majority of the politicians here in washington seem to think that americans are either asleep or stupid. but you have proved today that americans are wake, they are informed, and they are outraged. [cheers]
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we need new leaders who will tell us the truth. we do not need more alice-in- wonderland politicians promising more government solutions and having the audacity to tell us that these government programs will not increase our debt. our response must be clear, no more bailouts. no more trillion dollars government stimulus plans. ["no!"] no more trillion dollars spending bills packed with your marks. ["no!"] no more government takers -- takeovers, especially of health care, and no cap and tax energy taxes ["no!"]
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washington politicians in both parties have taken our country to the edge of economic and financial aid to it -- a financial disaster. the sad truth is that the president and congress still do not get it. they continue to pass bloated spending bills and create new government programs like there is no tomorrow now they are telling us that they want to control the most personal part of our lives, our health care. we must stop this government takeover of health care. and we must force the president and congress to fix what is broken instead of replacing what is working. [cheers and applause] we cannot allow the government to control one sixth of our economy. and we cannot put bureaucrats between americans and their
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doctors. friends, this is a critical battle for the heart and soul of america and for freedom itself. freedom fighters are outnumbered in congress, but not across america. we are winning this fight and if you continue to stand up and speak out, we will save freedom in america. [cheers] thank you for standing with me. [cheers and applause] ["usa! usa!"] >> good afternoon, i am very proud to introduce a man who our
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president wants to tax out of work through kappa and trade. greg carroll is a veteran of the u.s. navy and has been an electrician for over four years at the american energy corp. century mine located near beallsville ohio where he lives with his wife and four children please join me in welcoming greg carroll. [applause] >> first, i would like to say what a privilege it is to be here and represent all the american men and women who put on a hard hat and go to work every day. [cheers and applause] i have heard every politician at one time or another say, we will work hard for you, america, but there is no one that works harder for america and the men and women of the united states co-leader team. [cheers]
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we go to work every day to produce the fuel that powers america. now our assistance is being threatened. -- existence is being threatened. it is being trimmed by the cap and tax bill. [boos] it is no more than a tax bill that will pay -- be paid by every one of you hard-working americans. does anybody here want to pay more taxes? ["no!"] president obama, he has said, and i quote, unquote under the cap and trade bill, the electricity -- ", under the cap and trade bill, electricity bills will skyrocket." he did not lie.
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they will cripple our nation's energy manufacturers that depend on affordable and reliable energy to compete in the open market. we will export the rest of our manufacturing jobs to china. [boos] this industry is bigger than just the men and women who put the hard hats on and go in the mine to david cole, it is our families and communities. it is the small businesses that provide us with our goods and materials that we need to do our job. they will all be forced out of business under this cap and tax plan.
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[inaudible yelling] i will let you know right now i am not a professional speaker. but i will tell you one thing, coal miners loveç america. they love to get up every day and provide energy for america. [cheers and applause] and congress has turned its back on america. we know who you are and how you voted and america will fire you. [cheers] one last thing i am going to say, senators, if you want your
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final legacy to be the destruction of america, how we know it, vote for this cap and a tax bill and america will remember you and we will remind you that we employ you end we will fire you. [cheers] [cheers and applause] >> up next, we have the founder of the committee to reduce infection debts, which focuses on stopping deaths from hospital acquired infection through education. she has written extensively on the health care debate and her work has been published in the wall street journal, the "new york times" and forbes magazine and others. here is the woman who started it all by reading the bills. isn't that a first? patient advocates, that he mccoy. -- betsey mccoy.
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[applause] >> thank you, i am so glad to be here with you today. when president obama spoke before the nation on wednesday, he repeated his promise that if you like your health plan, you can keep it. but this bill proves that is untrue. take a look at pages 16 and 17. if you get your health plan through your employer, your employer has a grace period it courtesy of the government and they will be legally required to remove you to the plan the government wants you to have [boos] if you get your insurance yourself, you will not even have the grace period. you will be moved to what the government wants you to have as soon as anything in your current insurance plan changes. that is right. and when you file your taxes, if you can prove you are in the
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plan the government wants u.n. role -- if you cannot prove you're in the plan the government wants you enrolled in, you could be fined thousands of dollars. [boos] and 18 months after this bill is passed, the health choices commissioner, appointed by the president, and a panel of advisers, appointed by the president, would decide what your health plan covers and what your doctor can do, how much leeway or doctor will have, and how much you are legally required to pay for this plan. that is like a banker saying, here for this loan and in 18 months we will fill in the interest rate and terms of repayment. no deal. ["no! deal!"]
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the first -- this is a medical assault on seniors. if this bill is paid for partly with tax hikes, that is bad enough, but also with a $500 billion reduction in future medicare spending, that is 10% down, and a total of 30% more people will be enrolled in medicare as the baby boomers age. those numbers do not add up, mr. president. that means no more hip replacements, no more need replacements, no more ipod -- bypass surgery. it will undo 40 years of medical progress for our seniors. there is a better way. mr. president, get rid of this 1000 page bill and give us a 20 page bill in plain english, 20
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pages -- ç[cheers] 20 pages. you know, the framers of the u.s. constitution gave us an entire federal government's in a -- an entire federal government in 18 pages. we want a 20-page bill that will do one thing, provide coverage for americans who truly cannot afford health insurance. there are about 12 million to 50 million of them. americans who cannot afford health insurance. -- 12 million to 15 million of them. we will do that with that $500 billion in unspent stimulus money. issuit is sitting in a pot. we're the ones willing to cover the uninsured now. no additions to the deficit needed. and no pushing you out of the health plan you already like.
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most importantly, no need to dismantle the best medical system in the world. [cheers] you know, on wednesday night, when the president spoke he did not say one positive thing about american medicine. nothing about the great doctors and nurses who rescue patients from the brink of death every day. he only spoke about the victims. if you are seriously ill, the best place to be is in the united states. [bagpipes playing "amazing grace"] god bless america, and god bless doctors and nurses. [cheers and applause] >> put your hands together for
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radio and talk-show host, mason weaver. >> hello, free people. [cheers] how is the change working out for you today? i thought you would want to hear a black man speak to you without a teleprompter [cheers]cheers -- without a teleprompter. [cheers] mr. president, behold, your only public option. you thought he was sane world and change -- you thought he was saying hope and change. he was saying world and chains. -- rope and chains. i am saying, let's unite, no more-nations, no -- only americans, no more-nation' hyph.
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we do not need hope. we have got freedom. what would you change the hope to? from freedom to what? we are here to say today, no more, we have had enough. we have had enough, no more. ["no!"] we do not need you to apologize. we are proud of our country. we're proud of our culture. we're proud to be americans. [cheers and applause] decide today if you are going to be free or slave. decide today if you are going to be the slave to your master or the master of your own destiny. the site today -- decide today
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and then rest tomorrow. we have enough of being taxed to death and after death. we have enough of guilt. we have enough of [unintelligible] we have enough of paying you for a tax break. are you kidding me? we have enough of trying to get the government to recognize that we are free. and we are gathered here today, folks, and i am challenging you, the next time from 11 to 10, change this. elect folks that will represent your own ideas, that will represent your freedom. do not hesitate. we win when we show up. this is notç about health care. this is not about the taxes. this is about socialism. we have woken up. we are delivered. we have had enough. we want our freedom back. god bless you. [cheers]
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[cheers and applause] >> we are going to take a moment to thank some men who have been fighting the good fight against obama care for a long time for us. let's bring up congressman ron paul from texas and congressman louis goldberg. please give these men a round of applause for all their hard work. [applause] we wanted to take a moment to honor these men and now, it is still my great honor to introduce congressman mike prince -- mike pence. he is a republican member from indian -- indiana's sixth congressional district. he's currently serves as chairman of the house republican conference -- conference.
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[applause] >> i am from indiana and and it is an honor to welcome the largest gathering of conservatives in american history. [cheers] i think politicians think of you people as astroturf, an american -- on-american. i have to be honest with you, after nine years of fighting runaway spending here on this hill, you people look like the cavalry to me. [cheers] we stand together at an historic moment. in the life of the conservative movement and the life of this nation the coming weeks and months may well set the course
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for this nation for a generation how we as conservatives respond to these challenges could determine whether america retains her place in the world as a beacon of freedom or whether we slip into the abyss that has swallowed much of europe in an avalanche socialism -- of socialism. while some are prepared to write the obituary on capitalism and the conservative movement, i believe we are on the verge of a great american awakening and it begins now and with you. [cheers and applause] this administration and this congress are about to get a history lesson, start -- starting with what our founders said about the government. a silence is consent, it is now revolt. we, the people, do not consent to runaway federal spending.
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we, the people, do not consent to the notion that we can spend and borrow our way back to a growing america. and we, the people, do not consent to government-run insurance that will cost millions of americans -- cause millions of americans to lose the health insurance they have. [cheers and applause] this week, the president came to this hill and he gave one more speech about the same bad plan. mr. president, america does not want another speech. we want another health care plan that is built on freedom. [cheers] and we, the people, do not consent to members of congress passing 1000-page bills without everybody -- anybody ever reading them. members of congress should be
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required to read every major bill congress adopts. [cheers] i would be just as happy if some of them read this a little more often. the constitution of the united states [cheers] of cheers] -- the constitution of the united states of america. [cheers] çyou know, it reminds us that e are a nation led by the people and not the lead and the bureaucrats and politicians. -- the deletelite. it reminds us that the powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people. and now we're in the constitution can you findc the youzar -- find the word "czar."
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[cheers] the american people are not having it. but it is not just about dollars and cents. it is about who we are as a nation. as the president said in 1964, it is about whether we abandon the american revolution and confess in a little intellectual elite can far better plan our lives better for us than we can plan them for ourselves. my money is on the american people. my money is on freedom. my money is on the future. [applause] this great national capital is -- capital is filled with memorials to freedom heroes. americans whose faces are carved in bronze, whose names adorn
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monuments, and just across the river lie the remains of americans who paid freedoms price so we could gather here today. [applause] in their time, they did freedoms' work as citizens and patriots. now is our turn. let's do what greta americans here in this city have done before. let's stand and fight for freedom. and if we will the banner of freedom hi, i believe with all my heart the good people of this country will rally to our cause. we will take this congress back in 2010 and we will take this country back in 2012. [cheers] >> corin feasil, please mute
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your wife, cindy @ lost and found. -- please meet your wife, cindy, at the lost and found. >> please welcome john tate. >> it is great to be your review patriot here today. all for one reason, to take back our freedom. to take back and out-of-control government, to restore our constitutional liberties, to reclaim our republic. [cheers] that is the reason i and thousands of other americans have joined with campaign liberty, to promote and defend the great american principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, and free markets. to restrain government power, to stop things like real id, obama's health care scheme, and of course, the out-of-control
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federal reserve. you cannot be for freedom if you are for more power for the government. government power is the enemy of freedom. it is as simple as that. [cheers] we have all heard this coming budget figures, over $3.6 trillion of your money spent. but as bad as this is, it is nothing compared to what is going on in secret behind closed doors at the federal reserve. the past year has seen the worst plundering of wealth in the history of the world, all done by the art of control federal reserve and their minions of the treasury. we are now out into $13 trillion in bailouts and federal reserve loans, more than we spent on every war in our history. where will it all end? where is your money? that is why we believe the
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battle to audit the fed is vital to our fight for freedom. [applause] things are moving in our direction. over 75% of the american people believe it is now time for a full-scale audit of the fed. ç[cheers] and this issue has been scheduled for hearings on september 25. it is our time to fight together. together, we can win. thank you. [applause] >> i am not a revolutionary war reactore-enactor, financially pd by i freedomworks. i think if the people of 200
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years ago were to look at us today, they would be pretty damn proud. but like the guys who fought at lexington, when they showed up, it was pretty spontaneous. that was a grass roots movement. what we have to do is take this movement and make sure we are putting it in the right direction so that we can actually make this change, the change we believe in. once again, if you could pull out your phones and a text "my usa." we have a poll that we want to put out to make sure that the media knows what issues we find it important when this event closes. thanks for coming today. [applause] >> please put your hands together for a radio talk-show host, don thompson. [cheers] >> you know, d.c. is a
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spectacular city, but for $12 trillion i expect a little bit more. [cheers] i'm having the distinct pleasure of living all over america, no good people from all over america. i was born of a vote -- a guy -- i was born a buckeye. i have lived in nebraska, new mexico, west virginia. and today, i have lived -- i come to you with a message from the citizens of the commonwealth of virginia. virginia stands with you. [cheers] today, i bring a message from the citizens of the commonwealth of virginia to the people who work in this building. your soul belongs to the lord, but your career belongs to me. [cheers] do the right thing or you are
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fired. [cheers] and member of the commonwealth of virginia once gave a speech about give me liberty or give me death. but -- there is no way to judge the future but by the past. what is the past? the world's legacy is tierney and evil. -- is tyranny and evil. america was founded on freedom and we must protect that. we must protect that at all cost. [cheers] to all those who fight for freedom, not just the people here, but the people all across america at home, for those people willing to fight for freedom i pledge to you the same thing that i pledge to the 6000
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people at the richmond two-party april 15, the same thing that the 56 -- the richmond tea party at april 15, the same thing that the 56 signers of the declaration pledged to you, i pledge to you my fortune and my sacred honor. are you willing to pledge that to me? [cheers] are you willing to pledge that to the person next to you? are you willing to pledge that to everybody all across america? [cheers] let me hear you, then. [cheers] god bless you and god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪ [unintelligible]
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>> i just feel like it is worth çeven risking my life for. >> i like to follow the 18 enumerated powers of the constitution. i want the federal government to do that and no more. if we need health care reform, and we do, it needs to be taking care of by the states. >> right now, the majorities in congress and the presidency, now we have to prevent that stuff from happening. >> if this goes through, my family will pay a dealer price for it. >> we can send a real message that the concern that we have -- you know, people are just scared of what is going on in america. >> we are the boss. they work for us. it is often said by many people in the head ministration, i serve at the pleasure of the president, that kind of thing. but they really serve at the pleasure of us. >> the sleeping giant has to be awoken. i have never protested before, but it is time. i have met so many people here
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today that is their first time protesting. we have to stand up and take our country back. >> where were you when our nation failed? i said, i can honestly say, i was there, honey. i was there, fighting all the way, with everything i knew everything i had. my question to you is this, what are you going to say? [applause] >> february of this year, 22 of us were on a conference call that changed our lives. on that conference call was in the cramer, and she is now the national coordinator -- was amy kramer, and she is now the national coordinator of the two-party spirit in the cramer -- of the tea parties. amy kramer.
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>> i'm so blessed to be here with you today and to stand before you. you say i am no one special. i am just your average, everyday mom who is just like the rest of you, tired of seeing what is going on in government, tired of yelling at my radio, tired of yelling at my television and decided to get off my couch and get involved iand do something. [cheers] back in february there were about 22 of us that came together through a conference call. we planned to have a round of the parties. -- t parties. the first round of tea parties we had 50 tea parties a across this country with 30,000 people in attendance. on april 15, we had 850 tea parties across this country with 1.2 million people in attendance.
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and that was because of all of you. that was your tea party and today is americas t party. this is the biggest tea party of all. i congratulate every one of you. [cheers] when our elected officials went on recess, they were not very hospitable at these town halls, and they were not seeing in their districts and we were not sure where many of them work. but you can see in the south, hospitality is everything. so, we decided to bring the hospitality and the tea party here to our capital, that is, the american people's capital where they will hear us. they have no other alternative. [cheers] i have been very blessed these past two weeks, i have been going across the country on the tea party express.
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do you know about the tea party expressed? [cheers] you know, somebody told me before i left to go on that bus tour, i do not know why you are doing that because it is not very well organized and there is nobody that is going to show up for these tea parties. they were wrong. we started in sacramento and we have taken our message 7,000 miles across this country and join you here today. [cheers and applause] . .
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we have to keep engaged. i want to congratulate each and every one of you for making this trip, making this journey, because we are all in this together. we have to continue this fight. there's not any one person, any one organization that can fight this battle on our own. it is going to take an entire grassroots army. so i encourage you all to stay encaged. i want to invite my friend and my tea party express family member up to the stage. come on, america! >> [cheers and applause] >> we're the tea party express!
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we just finished 35 cities, 16 states in 17 days. and we are here. we have heard your voices, ladies and gentlemen, and we are standing united with you because we are not 50 red states or 50 blue states. but we are the united states of america, one nation under god. [cheers and applause] we are in a battle, ladies and gentlemen, for our freedom against our government, and it is time to take america back and move america forward in a positive direction. it is time to tell our government that the clock is ticking. november of 2010 is coming, and if they do not listen to the will of the people, we are going to hand them a pink slip.
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[cheers and applause] this government needs to stop the bailouts, reduce the size of intrusive government, stop the out of control spending, and spot this madness. [cheers and applause] it is time to give the control back to the people at the state and local levels where it belongs. ladies and gentlemen, i want to take a minute to introduce my team. ryan gill, diana, celena and william, donald, sal and janetb ron and kay, lloyd, gary, amy kremer and tiffany. thank you all so much. [cheers and applause] tea party express.org, ladies
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and gentlemen. thanks for your support. [cheers and applause] >> from the great state of tennessee, please welcome representative marcia blackburn. [cheers and applause] >> welcome to washington. i am absolutely thrilled that you are here. i don't know if there has ever been a larger conservative gathering in this city, but to all 1.5 million of you who have traveled here, congratulations. you have redefined gridlock in washington, d.c.. it is important that you are here, and i am thrilled to see you all, and especially excited about those tennesseans that
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are here. welcome. this week many of you have come by my office, and i've spoken with you. you told me that you felt called to be here today, and it is a noble calling. you've told me that you worry that america will soon cease to be what she has been. you worry that our glorious potential and our exceptional purpose will be buried not bipartisan bickering, but by thoughtless debt. and you have been called to serve liberty and to defend the futures of our children on grandchildren. it is a noble calling. many of my colleagues and i share that calling with you, and we have come to washington to answer that call. unfortunately, there are others here in washington who only
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feel called to your wallet. to those who have come here to washington to exercise government's first right of refusal on your paycheck, to keep that cold and grasping hand of government in your pocket, they would have you believe that they are making tough choices in this building behind me. but you and i know that spending more and more and more and more is not a tough choice for washington. spending more and more, washington is pushing the tough choices on to you, and you have had enough. you are the ones who are sacrificing, not those that are cowering in their offices in the building behind me. you have sacrificed the beat of this city.
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let's stand together and fight for freedom. thank you! [cheers and applause] >> now, please welcome the president of the institute for liberty, and drew langer. >> all right, everybody. i want everybody on this side to yell out don't tread, i want everybody everybody on this side to yell out on me. >> don't tread. on me! >> don't tyree! on me! >> don't tyree. on me! >> as they say at the institute for liberty, we fight against the tyranny of government. that is why we are here today. something has drastically changed in the last few months. as they said earlier, this is the largest gathering of free market, limited government individuals in the nation's history, and you all should be
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very proud. i think we can actually control the weather. if you look up, storm clouds are brewing over washington, d.c., aren't they? [cheers and applause] >> and a storm has come. you are that storm. the fact is that they are scared. and why are they scared? because they now know that you are all know more than they do about the legislation that they are trying to pass. they are well aware that you know what these pieces of legislation are going to do to our country. our pledge to read is not just about the members reading the bills, but it is about you reading the legislation and to take it back because the turning point in america has been reached. what i want you all to do right now, because we have to get that pledge signed, that let
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freedom ring pledge, i want you all to take out your cell phone and text the word pledge to 74362, "pledge" to 74362. i want you to keep one thing in mind as my friend from maryland says. cap their terms and trade them in. thank you all. [cheers and applause] >> now, welcome fox business network, and president and executive director of the amran institute. [cheers and applause] >>-1tñ you know, i am an immig to this country. i didn't realize they will follow me here. fa i don't know when this country
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became a country where irresponsibility is rewarded, where failure is bailed out, where need is a claim on your hard work, on your production, on your pocketbook. but that is where this country is heading. it is time we took back this country. it is time we we captured the spirit of the founding fathers. it is time we recaptured the idea that is america. and what is is that idea? this country is founded on a moral principle, on an ethical principle, on the principle of individual rights, on your rights, each one of you, to your own life. it is yours. not your neighbor's. it is yours, not the person who
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didn't get health insurance. it is your life, your liberty, and you have a right, an inailable right to pursue your own happiness. that is the spirit of this country. that is what this country is about. you owe yourself to make your life the best that it can be. you are not your brother's keeper. if you want better health care, work hard, get a job, buy health insurance, and leave us free. thank you all. [cheers and applause] >> he is the musical composer of the american tea party
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anthem. here is conservative singer, song writer and entertainer. lloyd mark us. >> hello, my fellow patriots. [cheers and applause] >> i am not an african-american. [cheers and applause] >> i am lloyd mark us, american! [cheers and applause] ♪ >> ♪ start spreading the news i am telling y'all today we are taking back america in 2010
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and the local coordinators for the tea party. now we have a fireman who responded to the world trade center eight years ago on september 11th. please welcome vincent. [cheers and applause] >> is this a great day to be an american or what? [cheers and applause] as you can probably tell, my accent is like the -- it has the new york sound to it. i may sound a little foreign. they consider me an immigrant with my slang here. but for me to stand here after responding to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in 2001, this was the most dramatic attack on america, on everything we are
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by people who want every single one of you dead. all right? just understand that. we lost so many great people in new york. we continue to lose them from these terrible diseases. for us, 9/12, when we worked at ground zero, we didn't even no what was going to happen tomorrow. after the sun came up the morning of september 12, we had hope that america had survived this incredible attack a that we stand together as a nation, as a people, and as americans, and no one is going to mess with us. [cheers and applause] today, 9/12 is here. tomorrow it is here for all of us. rally together, believe in america. god bless you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you.
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next we have the state representative from my home state of georgia, state representative tom graves. >> hello, america! on behalf of the great state of georgia and the georgia freedom fighters, we want to know, are you fired up yet? audience: yes! >> good. because we are fired up in georgia. it was in 1980 that president ronald reagan said, and it was a prophetic statement, when he said a government is never more dangerous than when we have the desire to help us, and blind us from how it can harm us. these are dangerous days. but guess what? we are blind no more. we can see clearly now. we can see what has been done, and yes, what we must do.
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we must take back america, the republic, and we must push back this overreaching, over-taxing, overburdensome, money-hungry government that seeks to preserve itself at our liberty. but guess what? this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. and we will not stand to be a people of the government, by the government or for the government. [cheers and applause] >> and we will demand from washington less spending, not deficit spending. we will demand a balanced budget, not a pork bill budget. we will demand personal responsibility, not the bureaucratic nanny. and yes, yes, we will demand to empower the patriot and not the
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politicians any more. [cheers and applause] so mark this day. mark it on the chalk board of your mind. because here at this capitol, on this high ground, we are bound together, here together united, and we will be steadfast and resost in preserving america and her liberty. and may today be forever known as the day that we stood together and said in one voice, "don't tread où6. me." can you say it with me? don't tread on me! one more time! don't tread on me! god bless you, and may the lord bless this great and glorious cause called america. [cheers and applause] >> here is the president of the hispanic leadership fund, mario lopez. >> hello!
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it's a beautiful day in america. audience: yes! >> it's a beautiful day to be an american patriot. it's beautiful to see so many of you standing here. there are almost as many of you here as there are pages in the obama care bill. [laughter] >> i think some of the speakers have been a little unfair to some of the liberals here. some of them do want to simplify our tax code, and we should take a moment to highlight that. sources tell me that at this very moment, president obama, leader reed and pelosi are working diligently behind closed doors. they want to boil down the complexity of the 1040 tax form. they want to make it two short lines. the first line is going to be how much did you make? the second line is going to be send it in.
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i humly stand before you as a living example of the american dream. my parents came to this country with a few dollars in their pockets and a dream to make a better life for themselves and their children. thanks to their hard work, sacrifice and dedication, i have been able to realize many of my personal goals in my life and stand here in front of you, in front of one of the greatest monuments to freedom, and talk about making sure we unite to make sure that other parents can achieve that dream for their children. [cheers and applause] when i was young, my family sometimes struggled tovñ make meet. as i becamm5qx more and more educated, i would sit down with my mom and dad and try to figure out if i could help them with all the bills and figuring out how to make the rent. and my parents would look at their paychecks and say you know, why does the government take so much away from us? it doesn't seem right. and it doesn't right. it is not right for government
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to get in the way of the dreams and goals of ordinary, hard-working people across this country. and that burden that government imposes on hard-working families has not only grown to the time, but now it is spiraling out of control, and we are hereb()ra to take it bac. take it back! take back the american dream. thank you! [cheers and applause] >> and now, former marine captain, kelly powe of the united states marine corps. [cheers and applause] >> hello, america! fighting for freedom is what gives me chills running up my legs. [cheers and applause] on this beautiful morning of tuesday, september 11, 2001,
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osama bin laden looked to wipe out our strength and pride. oh, how he underestimated the spirit and vigor of the american people. [cheers and applause] >> i decided to go into the military. i knew absolutely nothing about the military, but i knew i would serve my country, and i shifted the focus of my life. on july 31, 2004, i was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the marine corps on liberty island, facing ground zero. and i have had two tours in iraq since. my story is just one of many inspiring stories that describe the spirit of americans willing to fight for a cause greater than themselves, for liberty and freedom against tyranny. [cheers and applause] >> people defied king george by
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throwing tea into the boston harbor. in world war's one and two, and the korean and vietnam wars, men left their families knowing they may never return home. we are free because of the price paid by those who have sk faced much. i am thankful for heroes like my husband, who have fought battles. i am thankful to for the opportunity to serve as a marine officer. i am thankful for my friend, nate, who gave his life. he inspired his father, who is a surgeon, who leave of his private practice and become a marine doctor. he asked me to tell you the following. we have been in iraq to somehow complete nate'siw unfinished ta here. we both have performed our
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smaller roles in a larger mission. nate would be very proud of his fellow marines. [cheers and applause] >> i will never forget the blood i have seen shed for my country. i will never forget my friends who have lost life and limbs and those who have been severely disfigured. on september 12th united we stand not with just a bumper sticker. on that day we were one nation, under gone, indivisible. and we still are. we seem to have forgotten, but it is time for us to come together and reestablish the commitment we had on that day. our founding fathers affirmed their support for the decoration of independence by pledging their lives, fortunes and honor, and i hope that we do the same for our country. god bless america. [cheers and applause]
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>> he is the administrator of the small business administration and the author of a new book entitled "the engine of america." here is hector. >> hello great americans. [cheers and applause] >> welcome to this million patriot march. we are so happy to see you here. all of you are patriots. i was proud to be the s.b.a. administrator for five years. and the number one issue for small businesses was always health care. but i don't recognize any of the people that are talking about small businesses, those 27 million engines of this great economy. i don't think any of those people have ever made a payroll, i don't think any of them have had employees, and i don't think any of them have
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had to worry about access to health care. that is why we are so glad to see you here. it is real simple. we don't need another $1 trillion in debt to fix some of the problems that we have as small business owners. we get it. we don't need to go more in debt. we don't need more regulation. all we are asking for is common sense solutions, and we agree with the president in the sense that it needs to be bipartisanship. that is not too much to ask, is it? audience: no. i didn't think so. so if the powers that be agree, we need to help small businesses. and let's agree we all want reform. yes, we do. but make no mistake. if what you're selling is more bureaucracy, more regulation, more rationing, more debt, more taxes, less quality, less
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choice, less competition, less freedom to make our own choices, then repeat after me. we're not buying! beer not buying! we're not buying! >> god bless you all, and god continue to bless our great country, the united states of america. thank you! [cheers and applause] >> he was a national coordinator for the march on washington. >> hello, everybody. so good to be here finally. i know i have a lot of people out there from grass fire. let me hear it. [cheers and applause] all right. i just got a word that somebody has a great message for you,
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and his name is glen beck. [cheers and applause] >> he put together a special message for you that is special for all of these people here and all the people walking and interested in what we are doing. when you get done here, you know how to find him and his website. go there and see that special message that is just for you. i'm not going to ruin it for you. i just want to set the stage and let you know it is there. go find it, go see it because glen beck is talking to you, folks. he sees what you are doing, and he's got a special message for you. [cheers and applause] you know, it has been a long year. we started at grass fire and resist.net back in march for a march on d.c. a lot of people didn't think we could pull it off. we showed them, didn't we?
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[cheers and applause] i just want to say that this country means a lot to me. i believe in america. i believe in what america stands for. i mean in the people that are here and what you stand for. god gave us the right to freedom. god and our forefounders nade a way for us to be one of -- made a way for us to be one of the greatest countries on earth. and nobody is gonna take that from us. [cheers and applause] and jesus said, can they hear us now? i was told the other day at the liberty summit by one of the
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representatives that congress knows we are here. well, of course. we have shut down d.c. i think everybody knows we are here. [cheers and applause] my hope from this day forward is that america will get back to what it was founded on, that america will pay attention to the representatives, the senators -- well, that is fun. i didn't know i was doing a dance in the middle of this. come on, america! stand up! ♪ >> just remember that god has blessed america, and that blessing hasn't ended, and it
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is up to you to get out and make the changes that america requires to stay the land of the free. god bless you, your family and god bless america. [cheers and applause] ♪ and we use low cost, high impact techniques. we don't waste it. >> we got a nasty call from some anonymous source saying he put a bomb in the building, and we are evacuating right now. these guys will go to no end. >> we are so dangerous to america that they have to threaten us with bombs. they are throwing slurs at us.
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they are treating us like garbage. you know what? we are going to show up twice and strong. >> you beat! >> whoo! ♪ >> health care alone we are talking about 17% of the economy, and the government wants to control it. there are a lot of interests here in town that want to control it. we think we are going to stop them. they are doing this. we are more annoyed than scared. >> what can they do to me? kill me in what can they do to us? >> they are aware that we are here, and i think this is an effort to disrupt that activity. >> whoever would do this on the eighth anniversary of september 11th is a really sick individual. >> not only are they offensive, but they are dumb. our reaction is to keep
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working. [cheers and applause] >> he is straight from the bayou and new orleans, louisiana. he survived katrina. now he is hoping to survive obama. stand up and welcome national recording artist, bruce. >> i do a lot of recording in nashville. we are doing a recording of north of the bayou. i did do what i said i was going to do when katrina hit. i said i would do a benefit c.d. it is called forgotten, but not gone, and i am on it with marty stewart, and jack stewart. lee roy par necessarily sings the title cut. look for it. height it, maestro.
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>> ♪ you can stand there and snout lead, follow or get out of the way there is a time and a play to get in the race and that time to act is today you better get in the game or you will be to blame grab that bull by the tail new at 11:00 freedom's nigh free. will take you and me to stand up. stand up. make your voice heard stan up spread the good word stand up join the tea party cause. >> sing it with me. after i say stand up. >> ♪ those folks on the hil
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they are sending the bill want to cut our taxes with chain sauce and actions let the marketplace sort it all out. stand up. spread the good word. new at 11:00 stand up. help us throw all the bums out if you choose not to do a little thing like a voting booth don't complain about what you get they are going to take money and guns away you ain't seen anything yet stan up nlcs spread the good word m.v.p. m.v.p. stand up
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conservatives. here is william green. >> hello, mark. i can't tell you, you have no idea what a beautiful sight this is to stand here and see all of you coming here to stand up for what is right. [cheers and applause] god bless you for taking the time to come here. rightmarch.com has a motto. our motto is patriotism in action. this is what it is all about, taking action, because you are patriots. i'm just overwhelmed by the people of america that have woken up and have said we are taking our country back. and i'm excited about this. i've got another motto for today. the motto for today is it's the
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constitution, stupid. [cheers and applause] the constitution of the united states, one of my favorite amendments, amendment 10. the power is not delegated to the united states by the constitution nor prohibited by the stars, but are reserved to the people. that is what this document says. the things they are trying to do right now are not constitutional. and we need to make our voices heard. when they stand up and say, "we are going to have government provide health care for everyone because it is constitutional," they lie. when they say we are going to spend taxpayer dollars to give insurance to illegal aliens,
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and then they stand and say we are not going to really do that, they lie. when they say, "well, we are all for using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions," and they they turn around and say no, we are not going to do that, they lie. it is time for us to be able to stand up. i thank god for congressman wilson that had the courage to say you lie! [cheers and applause] >> and it is time for us to do the same and say you lie. you need to read the constitution, stupid. you need to read it, and you need to obey it. that is what we are here to do. go to rightmarch.com and send that message to your congressmen and senators, and tell them to read the
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constitution and obey it. thank you very much, and god bless you. [cheers and applause] >> please welcome an american immigrant and successful architect who was the subject of a buying graph, "legacy of the white eagle," a world war ii polish freedom fighter. >> my dear friends, hello americans. this is a great day, the greatest day of my life. [cheers and applause] first of all, i want to congratulate all of you and thank all of you for joining hands today in declaring your love, your patriotism and your loyalty to the united states of america. [cheers and applause] all of us owe our way of life, our cherished freedoms, and our
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independence to the vision areas -- visionaries who understood there can be no human progress under tyranny. [cheers and applause] our founding fathers used democratic ideals that will never be realized unless men are willing to lay down their lives. they believed that no sacrifice is too great and no price too high for the defense of freedom and independence. [cheers and applause] we are all envied by millions of disenfranchised, disheartened multitudes throughout the world. the iranians live under the
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tyrannical yoke of the war loads. the burmese and sudanese live in fear. young boys and girls live in fear that at any moment their school will be blown up by the taliban. yes, we certainly have a lot to be grateful and thankful for in this great land of ours. [cheers and applause] if you have not lived under tyranny, you cannot fully grasp how lucky you are to live in the u.s.a. and how important it is to continue fighting for our cherished way of life. [cheers and applause] i wrote a book called legacy of the white eagle. it is my story of growing up as
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a teenager in the midst of the brutal occupation of warsaw, poland during the long five years of the second world war. it is also the story of what people like you can do for freedom and independence when your country needs you. [cheers and applause] >> i was 10 when the germans invaded poland and began an era of unimaginable terror. when i was 12, the nazis closed our schools, and i was sworn into the underground army. when i was 14, i was arrested and tortured by the gestapo. at 15, i fought in the 1944 warsaw uprising, which saw the most vicious street fighting in world war ii. even worse than the battle of
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stalingrad. [cheers and applause] if you can imagine 180,000 civilians died in two months, the equivalent of the world trade center attack every day for 60 days. eventually we were forced to capitulate, and i think tuberculosis was transported to a prison camp in germany, from which i escaped nine months later. [cheers and applause] you would be justified in asking why did kids like me fight so hard during the war? war is a horrible thing, and life the most precious of gifts. why then did we kids resist and fight, many to death?
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it is because of our shared legacy of freedom. [cheers and applause] audience: freedom! freedom! freedom! freedom! freedom! freedom!4l [audience chanting] >> while you are here in washington, i urge you to visit arlington cemetery. while working manage the head stones, try counting them, and remember these young men and women who laid down their lives for you. please, please remember the great legacy of america. please remember that we all
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have the awesome responsibility to keep the flame of liberty burning. thank you, god bless, and god bless america. [cheers and applause] >> i just want to say we still need your help. this doesn't end today. we need to hear from you, what you think are the biggest threats to freedom. i want to remind everyone who hasn't yet to take part in our poll. text freedom to myusa, 69872. let us know what you think are the biggest threats to freedom. thank you. >> thank everyone for being here today. i want to stepped a special
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thank you to all the volunteers to made this day possible for us. [cheers and applause] one second. what i would like to do is ask you if you could kind of lower your signs, and then everybody -- let's let them get lowered. all right. everybody who volunteered to coordinate a bus, raise your hand. everybody who sent out e-mails inviting your people, raise your hand. everybody who volunteered on thursday, friday or today, raise your hand. everybody who volunteered in their local organizations to make this event possible, raise your hands. let's give all of these people a huge round of applause. thank you, thank you, thank you! [cheers and applause]
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>> i do want to thank everybody, and i want to encourage every one of you to get engaged and involved. not that you're not so far. but get out there. goat involved in your local politics. get involved in what is happening. make changes happen. today is not the end of an event. today is the beginning of making a change in 2010 that will insure freedom for everybody. so get out there, get involved in your organizations. you have seen many people come from a lot of different places today that represent a lot of organizations. there are plenty of places for you to go and get involved. do it. thank you all for coming out and sacrificing. we are so glad you did. god bless. [cheers and applause] >> this will be the last part of the afternoon. this has been a long day. i'm so grateful everyone showed
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up today. i can only agree with that they have said already. go back home and stay active. listen, president obama better look out, because we are all community organizers. [cheers and applause] >> everyone have a safe trip back. thank you for being a part of the march on washington, september 12, 2009. god bless you. [cheers and applause] >> all right, one very last thing. they are working on and launching a contract from america. be sure to check that out. give your input for what you want to see happen in our government. one last thing. we were here today to make our voices heard. congress, can you hear us now? [cheers and applause] can you hear us now?
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[cheers and applause] president obama, can you hear us now? [cheers and applause] >> we are speaking! thank you, everybody, for being here! and remember, let's flip this house! [cheers and applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪2z2lux$4h
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protest government suspending under the obama administration. if you missed any of this rally, we are going to show it in its entirety monday nigh beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern on crew. >> this week during a special session, the supreme court heard oral argument. >> there is no record that i am reviewing that actually goes into the very question that you are arguing exists, which is a patchwork of regulatory and injures prunes guidelines that are so unclear. >> hear the argument in its entirety today at 7:00 on c-span. starting october 4, a look at the role, traditions and history of the court during supreme court week. and after america and the courts, a memorial service for
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journalist and cbs evening news anchor walter kronkite, who died in july at the age of 92. we will hear remarks from president obama, nbc anchor tom brokaw, apollo 11 astronaut buzz aldrin, and former president bill clinton. see the service tonight at 8:35 eastern on c-span. >> 1.7 million new immigrants each year are followers of islam. from weekly standard senior editor christopher caldwell on c-span's "q & a." >> earlier today president obama spoke at a health care rally in minnesota, the first in a series to promote support for his legistlative plan. from the target center in downtown minneapolis, this is 45 minutes. [cheers and applause]
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>> i have to fly back home on one of their planes in a few hours. so i got to be careful about what i say. we've got some wonderful people who are here today with me. i just want to make some special acknowledgements. first of all, your two outstanding senators, senator amy clob char and senator ag franken are in the close. -- al franken are in the house. >> my great friend who was part of the obama for president movement before i decided to run for president, r.t.rybak, mayor of minneapolis is in the house. [cheers and applause]
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>> mayor of the great city of st. paul, chris coleman is in the house. [cheers and applause] >> your attorney general lori swanson is in the house. shards your state auditor, rebekah otto is here. >> and one of the finest public servants in the country, my secretary of health and human services, kathleen sibelius is here. [cheers and applause] also, the biggest obama fan in the country is in the house. [cheers and applause]
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>> i love this guy! michelle has a picture where she looks like sasha next to this guy. a great supporter and it's great to see you again. you know, i don't know if any of you caught it on television. you may have been watching "so you think you can dance." [laughter] >> but -- michelle loves that show, by the way. but the other night i gave a speech to congress about healthcare. [cheers and applause]
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>> and i can already see that this crowd is a lot more fun. [cheers and applause] >> but listen. i didn't go to congress just to speak to senators or representatives. i went to speak on behalf of the american people. [cheers and applause] >> because you see, i ran for this troughs because i believed it was time for a -- for this office because i believed it was time for a government that once again made possible for the dreams of america, that would look out for ordinary people.
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a government that understands the quiet struggles that you wrestle with at the kitchen table when you're going through all the bills. or when you're lying awake at night at the end of a long day and trying to figure out what you're going to do about healthcare for your children or what going to do about the situation with your mortgage, worrying about how stable your job is and what's happening with the economy, seniors who are worrying about their retirement security. you know and i know that healthcare is one of those fundamental struggles. [applause] >> because if you're one of the tens of millions of americans who have no health insurance, you live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. and contrary to some of the myths out there, these aren't
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primarily people who are deep in poverty. a lot of those folks are on medicaid -- medicaid. these are people who are working every day. these are middle-class americans. [cheers and applause] maybe your employer doesn't offer coverage. maybe you're self-employed and you can't afford it because it costs you three times more in the market place than it does for big companies. maybe you're one of the millions of americans who are denied coverage of a previous illness or condition. no fault of your own, but insurance companies decide it's too risky or too expensive for you to cover. in the last 12 months alone, 6 million more americans lost their health insurance, 6 million more. today we received more
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disturbing news. a new report from the treasury department found that nearly half of all americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next 10 years. [boos] >> think about. that more than one-third will go without coverage for longer than one year. we've got to do something. [cheers and applause] >> we've got to do something because it can happen to anyone. there but for the grace of god go i. it could happen to anyone. but i don't need to tell you that our healthcare problems don't stop with the uninsured. how many of you who have insurance ever worry that you might lose it if you lost your
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job or you changed jobs or you had to move? [applause] >> how many stories have you heard about folks whose insurance companies decided to drop their coverage or water it down when they get sick and needed it the most? [applause] >> how many of you know somebody who pays their premiums every month, only to find out that their insurance company wouldn't cover the full costs of their care like they thought they would get. [cheers and applause] >> we've all heard these stories. there's a father i met in colorado whose child was diagnosed with sear hemofeel yeah the day after he was -- hemophilia the day after they were born. they had a cap on their coverage. once the medical bills began to pile up the father was left to search frantically for another option or face tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills.
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a woman in texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance cancelled her coverage because she forgot to declare a case of ack northeast. true story. by the time she had her insurance reinstated her breast cancer more than doubled in size. small business people, i got a letter just this week from a small businessman. he said, i don't know what to do. i've always provided health insurance for my family. but here, the attached bill shows that premiums have gone up 48% in the last year. and i think that i'm probably going to have to stop providing health insurance for my employees. i don't want, to but i don't have a choice. these stories are wrong. they are heart-breaking. nobody should be treated that way in the united states of america, and that's why we're going to bring about change this year. [cheers and applause]
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>> it has now been kneel a century since teddy roz develop first called for health reform. it's been attempted by nearly every president in congress since. and our failure to get it done, year after year, decade after decade, it has placed a burden on families, on businesses and on taxpayers and we can't stand it any longer. we cannot sustain it any longer. [cheers and applause] >> if we do nothing, your premiums will continue to rise faster than your wages. if we do nothing, more businesses will close down. fewer will be able to open in the first place.
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if we do nothing, we will eventually spend more on medicare and medicaid than every other government program combined. that's not an option for the united states of america. so minnesota, i may not be the first president to take up the cause of healthcare reform, but i am determined to be the last. we are going to get it done this year. [cheers and applause] >> we are going to get it done this year. the good news -- here's the good news. we are closer now to reform than we've ever been. we debated this issue for better than a year now. and there's actually some solid agreement on about 80% of what needs to be done.
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that's never happened before. [cheers and applause] >> we've got -- our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses and hospitals and seniors groups. even drug companies, many of whom were opposed to reform in the past. this time they recognize, you know what, this is not going to be stopped. we've got to get on board. now what we've also seen in these last few months is the same partisan spectacle that has left so many of you disappointed in washington for so long. [cheers and applause] >> we've heard scare tactics instead of honest debates. too many of -- are scoring short-term political points instead of working together to solve long-term challenges. i don't know if you agree with me, but i think the time for bickering is over. [cheers and applause]
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neighbors and your friends, you know, you're at the water cooler or, you know, buying starbucks or whatever it is that you're doing, i want you to be able to say to people, "here's what's going on." the plan i announcedded will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. [cheers and applause] >> it will provide insurance to those who don't. [cheers and applause] >> and it will slow the growth of healthcare costs for our families, our businesses and our government. [cheers and applause] >> let me give you details. first of all, if you're a mom, one of the hundreds of millions who have health insurance through your job or medicare or medicaid or v.a., nothing in
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this plan will require you or your employer to change coverage or your doctor. all right? i want you to be clear about that. let me repeat: nothing in this plan requires you to change what you have if you're happy with it. what this plan will do is to make your insurance work better for you. so under this plan, under this plan it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of pre-existing conditions. [cheers and applause] >> when i sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it the most. [cheers and applause] >> they will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a
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lifetime. [cheers and applause] >> we will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out of pocket expenses. because in the united states of america, nobody should go broke because they got sick. [cheers and applause] >> and insurance companies -- insurance companies will be required to cover, at no extra charge, routine checkups and preventative care like mammograms and colonoscopies, because there's no reason we should be having diseases -- we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer or colon cancer before they get worse. that saves money and saves lives! [cheers and applause] >> now, if you're one oftens of millions of americans who don't currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan is going to finally offer you
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affordable choices. so if you lose your job or change jobs or want to start a business you'll be able to get coverage. [cheers and applause] >> you will have confidence that affordable coverage is out there for you. and we will do this not contrary to what folks say, by some government takeover of healthcare. we will do this by setting up a new insurance exchange, a market place, where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for an affordable health insurance plan that works for them. and because there'll be one big grudge because there'll be one big group, these uninsured americans will have the leverage to drive down costs and get a much better deal than they get right now. that's how large companies do it. [cheers and applause] >> that's how government employees get their health insurance. that's how members of congress get good deals on their insurance. you should get the same deal that members of congress get! [cheers and applause]
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>> now, if you still can't afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we're going to provide you or a small business owner tax credits so they can do it. and the first few years that it takes to set up the exchange -- because it will take a few years to get this all set up even after it passes -- but in the meantime we want to make sure people get some immediate help. so we're going to immediately of americans with pre-existing conditions who can't get coverage right now, we want to give them some low-cost coverage that will provide them protection from financial ruin if they become seriously ill. [cheers and applause]
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>> now, i've also said that one of the options is the insurance exchange. one of the options. most of the folks who are going to be offering insurance through the exchange are going to be private insurers. blue cross, blue shield. i think one of the options should be a public insurance option. [cheers and applause] >> now, let me be clear. let me be clear. let me be clear. it would only be an option. nobody would be forced to choose it. no one with insurance would be affected by it. but what it would do is it provides more choice and more competition. it keeps pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable, to treat their customers better. [cheers and applause] >> i mean, think about it. it's the same way the public
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colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students. that doesn't inhibit private colleges and universities from thriving out there. the same should be true on the healthcare front. [cheers and applause] >> now, minnesota, i have said that i'm open to different ideas on how to set this up. but i'm not going to back down from the basic principle that if americans can't find affordable coverage, we're going to provide you a choice! [cheers and applause] >> and i will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the coverage you need. that's the promise i will make! [cheers and applause]
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>> now, a lot of you might think this plan sounds pretty good, or when you're talking to your friends or neighbors they might say, yeah, that sounds all right. let me ask you this, how are you going to pay for it? and that's a legitimate concern. we inherited some big deficits. and some big debts. and we've had a big economic crisis that has required us to take some extraordinary steps. so we're going to have to get control of our federal budget. we have to do it. so it's a legitimate question. but here's what you need to know: first of all, i will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficit, either now or in the future. no ifs, and or buts. [cheers and applause] >> part of the reason i face the
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trillion dollar deficit when i walked into the door of the white house is because there were a lot of initiatives over the last decade that weren't paid for from the iraq war to tax breaks for the wealthy. i will not make the same mistake when it comes to healthcare. [cheers and applause] >> second of all, we've estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing healthcare system, money that's already being spent but spent badly, wasted and abused. right now too much of your tax-payer dollars and too much of your savings frankly are spent on healthcare that doesn't make us health yes. that's not my judgment. that is the judgment of medical experts and doctors and nurses, healthcare professionals all across this country. we love nurses. i love you! [cheers and applause]
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>> as i said on wednesday night, this is also true when it comes to medicare and medicaid. and medicare is one of these issues that has been, you know, really distorted in the debate. so i spoke directly to seniors on wednesday. i want to repeat what i said. we have stood up for four decades for the principle that after a lifetime of hard work, our seniors should not be left to struggle with medical bills they can't pay. [cheers and applause] >> that's the essence of medicare. that's how medicare was born. it remains a sacred trust. it needs to be passed on from one generation to the next. that's why not a dollar of the medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan. not one dollar. [cheers and applause] >> we will not be lowering benefits for senior citizens.
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[cheers and applause] >> the only thing that we will be doing is eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud as well as subsidies that are going to insurance company h.m.o.'s. [cheers and applause] >> subsidies that have profits but don't improve car. the other thing we want to do is create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead. and that's going to ensure that american seniors get the benefits that they've been promised. we'll ensure that medicare is there for future generations. and we can use some of the savings we get to actually fill the gap of costs on prescription drugs that so many seniors are struggling with. we can save them thousands of dollars on prescription drug costs. [cheers and applause] >> that's what the plan will do for senior citizens. [cheers and applause]
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>> don't pay attention to these scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. that will not happen on my watch. in fact, the folks who are making the accusations, they're the ones who have been talking about cutting medicare in the past. i will protect medicare. [cheers and applause] and here's the best thing. and this is important especially for minnesota. because medicare is such a big part of the healthcare system, making that program more efficient can help usher in changes in the way that we deliver healthcare that reduces costs for everybody. we have long known that some places, including minnesota, offer high-quality care at costs below average. [cheers and applause] >> look at what the mayo clinic is able to do. it's got the best quality and
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lowest cost of just about any system in the country. [cheers and applause] >> so what we want to do is we want to help the whole country learn from what mayo is doing. we want to help the whole country learn some of the good things that are going on in minnesota. that will save everybody money. [cheers and applause] >> the commission can help encourage the adoption of common sense best practices, everything from reducing infection rates in hospitals to helping teach doctors how to work together. so when you go to the doctor's office you don't have to take a test each time you see a doctor. you take one test and they e-mail it to every doctor. [cheers and applause] >> common sense stuff like that. >> now, this is the plan i'm pro -- proposing. it incorporates ideas from democrats and republicans. and i'm going to keep on seeking common ground in the weeks
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ahead. and i said to everybody in congress, if you come for me with a set of serious proposals, i'm going to be there to listen and my door is going to be open. i'm not going to waste my time on bad politics to kill healthcare. [cheers and applause] >> i'm not going to allow the special interests to use the same old tactics to keep things the way they are. i'm not going to let people misrepresent what's in my plan. [cheers and applause] >> i will not accept the status quo. not this time! not now! minnesota, we are closer to reform than we've ever been
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before. but this is the hard part. this is when the special interests and the insurance companies and the folks who think this is the way to bring obama down, thinks when they're going to fight with everything they've got. this is when they'll spread all kinds of wild rumors designed to scare and intimidate people. that's why i need your help. [cheers and applause] >> you know, there have been some of the pundits in washington who have been saying, well, maybe you've been trying to do too much. [boos] >> maybe you've been pushing too far too fast. [audience boos] >> i try to remind them, listen, i never said change would be easy.
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change is hard. it's always been hard. when f.d.r. -- when f.d.r. decided that social security was something that seniors needed -- when f.d.r. decided introduced social security, you know what happened? they called it socialism. but senior citizens decided that, you know what, if i've got some protection in my golden years, that's something that's worth fighting for. [cheers and applause] >> when medicare -- when medicare was introduced as an idea, they said, "this is going to be a government takeover, medicare." but imagine what seniors would be dealing with right now if they didn't have medicare. every time we've made progress
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it's because ordinary people banded together and they stood up and they said, "we've got to make congress. and we're going to push and product until washington finally reacts, finally responds." [cheers and applause] >> i've always believed -- because i've always believed that change doesn't come from the top down it, comes from the bottom up. it doesn't start in washington, d.c., it begins in places like minneapolis. it begins in places like st. paul. it begins with you sharing your stories, fighting for something better. that's how change happens. that's what's happening right now. [cheers and applause]
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>> so i ask you -- i asked you at the beginning of the rally whether you were fired up. [cheers and applause] >> some of you may have heard where that story comes from. but for those of you who don't know, i want to just tell the story real quick. my staff always tell me, "tell that story." but it bears on what's happening to healthcare today. because back at the beginning when i was running for president, nobody thought i could win. nobody could pronounce my name! [applause] >> and nobody except r. t. that was the only person who believed! [cheers and applause] >> so i went down to a -- it was
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right at the beginning of the campaign. i went down to south carolina to a legislative conference where i was supposed to be one of the speakers. and i was sitting next to a state representative there. nobody was that excited to see me, you know. but i really needed some support and endorsements, south carolina was an early state. so i said to the state represent, will you endorse my campaign? and she looked at me and she said, "i'll endorse your campaign if you come to my hometown of greenwood, south carolina." so i had had some wine and i was feeling kind of desperate. i said, "yes, i'll come to greenwood. sounds pretty good." only to find out that greenwood's like a hour and a half from every place else. you can't fly into greenwood. about a month later, i'd been campaigning in iowa for weeks. haven't seen my family, i'm
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exhausted. i get into greenville, south carolina, about midnight. i get to my hotel about 1:00. i'm dragging to the hotel. i'm carrying my bags, ready to hit the pillow. and suddenly my staff says, "sir." i said, "what "they said," sir, you have to be in the car at 6:30 tomorrow in the morning. "the. [laughter] >> i said, "why is that?" and "because you've got to go to greenwood like you promised." next morning i wake up and i feel awful, i feel terrible. i'm exhausted. and i stagger over to the window to pull open the blind. and it's pouring down rain outside. terrible day. and i go out and i get some coffee and open up the newspaper. bad story about me in the "new york times."
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[laughter] >> i pack up, i go downstairs. and i'm walking to the car my umbrella blows open. [laughter] >> and i get drenched. by the time i'm in the car i'm wet and i'm sleepy and i'm mad. [laughter] >> and i drive. and we drive and we drive and we drive. a hour and a half. we just keep on driving. finally we get to greenwood. although you don't know that you're in greenwood right away. [laughter] >> no, it's not like minneapolis. [laughter] >> so there's a little field house and a park. and we go in the field house. i walk in. i get a little more wet. i walk in. there's lo and behold 20 people there. 20 people! and i'm already thinking about the fact i've got another hour and a half i've got to drive
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back. [laughter] >> and they're all kind of damp. and they don't look like they're that happy to be there. the state rep had dragged them to the meeting. [laughter] >> but that's ok. i had a job to do. i'm running for president. i shake their hand, i say "how do you do? what do you do? nice to meet you." somehow i hear this voice shout out behind me, "fire up." and i almost jumped out of my shoes. but everybody else acts like this is normal. and they all say "fire it up!" then i hear this voice, "ready to go!" and the people around me, they just say "ready to go!" i don't know what's going on. so i look behind me and there's this little woman there. she's about 5'2", 5'3". she's maybe 50, 60 years old. and she looks like she's dressed for church. she's got a big church hat. and she's just grinning at me,
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just smiling. and she points at me and she says, "fire it up!" [cheers] >> now, wait, wait. the story gets better here. it turns out that she is a city councilwoman from greenwood. anita child. that's her name. she's also known as the chant lady because she does this chant wherever she goes. she goes "fire it up, fire up. ready to go. ready to go." she does this at every event she goes. to she's also, by the way, we discovered later, she also moon lights as a private detective. [laughter] >> true story. true story. but she's well-known for her chants. so for the next five minutes she starts chanting. she says "fire it up" everybody says "fire it up." "ready to go.
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"ready to go." this keeps going on. and i realize i'm being upstaged by this woman. and she's getting all the attention. and i'm standing there looking at my staff and they're shrugging their shoulders. [laughter] >> but here's the thing, minneapolis: after about a minute, maybe two, i'm feeling kind of fired up. [cheers] >> i'm feeling like i'm ready to go. [cheers] >> and so for the rest of the day, every time i saw my staff i'd say, "are you fired up?" they'd say "i'm fired up." "are you ready to goes? ." "i'm ready to go." it goes to show you how one
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voice can change a room. if it changes a room it can change a city. and if it can change a city it can change a state. if it can change a state it can change a nation. if it can change a nation it can change the world. it can bring healthcare to every american. it can lower our costs. it can make your insurance more secure. i want to know, minnesota, are you fired up? [cheers and applause] >> ready to go? [cheers and applause] >> fired up? [cheers and applause] >> ready to go? [cheers and applause] >> fired up? ready to go? they can't stop us. let's go get this done. thank you, everybody. god bless you! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪
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>> this week during a special session the supreme court heard oral argument on campaign finance. the first session for justice sonia sotomayor. >> this new record that i'm reviewing that actually goes into the very question that you're arguing exists, which is a patch work of regulatory and jurist prudence guidelines that are so unclear. >> hear the argument in its entirely today at 7:00 on c-span. starting october 4th, an extensive look at the role, traditions and history of the court from its justices during supreme court week. >> tonight on c-span, a memorial service for journalist and former cbs evening news anchor walter cronkite, who died earlier this year at the age of 92. among the speakers, president
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obama and former president bill clinton, former nbc nightly news anchor tom brokaw and apollo 11 astronaut buzz aldrin. that's tonight starting at 8:35 eastern on c-span. >> earlier this week, south carolina governor mark sanford was a guest on a local radio show. he answered listener calls on his state's economy, his plans for the future, and his recent exposed affair. this is 50 minutes. >> 5 minutes after 5:00. news radio 560 wvoc welcome back into the afternoon drive. glad to have you on board listening in all over the placement state and beyond. -- palmetto state and beyond. the south carolina governor is in the studio with us. if you have a question for him you can call -- we look forward to taking as many calls as we can over the course of this 5:00
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hour and tackling as much as we can with the governor. we have a lot to talk about. first and foremost as always, appreciate you coming on in here. it's good to have you back if the studio here. thanks for the time. >> my pleasure. >> let's dive into some things here. we'll get to the phone calls as i promised the listeners, what the hour is about, so you'll have a chance to talk with them as much as possible. but i mean, the piling on if you would is continuing today. it's the house speaker calling for the resignation and this and that. and do you think that's his way of saying, okay, i've polled enough people. i've got the numbers for impeachment so now i'm going to say it? what's the story with that. >> you can't judge another person's intent. he does what he does. i would have said that -- i think there was something very rational about what he said earlier. which was let's let the ethics process work its way through, that we have a group that's going to look at this. and let's let them come out with what they think or don't think. and then let's take steps
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accordingly. so i think it's unfortunate. it's a bit premature. because as i said repeatedly -- and let's throw the obvious out there in the air -- i had a real moral failure. we've talked about it. south carolina has talked on and on about it. and then some more about it. some more about it. i apologized again and again and again. and you get to that point where you can go back and beat and reprimand and whatnot ad nauseum on that front. but the measure of all of our lives is not when we fall down -- because we will fall down in different chapters -- but the question is, how do we get back up? and i think the real question for all of us in south carolina is, where do we go from here? i gave an interesting talk today at heartsville rotary club and i talked about how we have a real opportunity. people say you're running for president, doing this, doing. that we can't give you a victory on this and. that we actually have a chance for the first time in 6 1/2 years to look at restructuring and say are we going to make
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some changes in moving away from a really outdated model that sets the way we are as a government or are we going to make some changes in regard to spending capital, and economic development. and i think that's more important. because if you want to get back in the weeds on this other stuff, i can't apologize more than i possibly have on the first thing. and then a lot of this other has been pure politics. because if you go to the bottom line of where this administration has been on business class tickets and on airplanes and all those different things, we have a compellingly good record. i'd love to explore that at some point with you during our visit here over the hour. but a compellingly strong record in watching out for the taxpayer and watching out for taxpayer interests. >> we're talking with south carolina governor mark sanford. and i don't want to spend the whole hour at least my part of it. i'd like the callers to ask what they want. i don't want to spend a whole lot of time back on what we've will ever been. i have to ask where for people listening out there. this is kevin cohen talking.
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this not mark sanford. if you had even an ounce of respect for the lieutenant governor, an ounce of confidence in this guy, might that have changed your mind? might that have encouraged you to resign and walk away if you believed he could do a better job? >> no. i mean, that isn't really where i'm coming from on this thing. you know, after the original thing went down at the end of june, i very much wanted to resign, head to the farm and never, with all due respect -- the television cameras in this room, never see a television camera again for the rest of my life. but a number of my friends said, "you know, mark, if god's going to make lemons out of lemonade, if you believe in this process of hope, redemption, growth, you got to stay around for the rest of the show. won't be as fun but you got to stay around for that part, too. so you go through this process. and it really isn't about the lieutenant governor, his per its or deper its from my standpoint. other people may have different views from. that. from my standpoint it's about saying, wait a minute. all of our lives are imperfect.
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we're going to have different imperfections. and the question is, do we still go on and make something of that? allow god to make something of our lives? do we do that or do we just say, you know, that was kind of it. and i pack up the suitcases and i, you know, head for the farm or wherever it is that one wants to go. i think it's very, very important that if you have a chance, for instance -- i mean, i guess a different way of saying what i'm saying is, with all due respect to the lieutenant governor or anybody else, there is a proven track record of the last 6 1/2 years of pushing for restructuring. at times it's been uncomfortable. at times people haven't necessarily wanted to hear that or talk about that in columbia. but i think it has been long needed and we have begun that journey with regard to changing the way thick work in columbia. i think for instance there's been a long-needed conversation on spending. you can go back and look at peaks and valleys through the time. the business cycle is not a new thing. but yet we pretend that it is. and this idea of coming up with a different way of budgeting i
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think could be pretty important. so what i would say is, we have a 6 1/2 year track record of standing for certain things and continuing to advance on those things, albeit more slowly than we would have liked. i think it's important to look at this last legislative session, to continue to push with those things with perhaps a new level of humility and working with the general assembly. >> all right. i want to get some phone calls. i have to ask you this. from the standpoint of the general assembly, last session it was all, let's battle mark sanford on the stimulus and this and. that nothing got accomplished. i'm not looking to kick anyone specifically, but it was a waste. i mean, as a south carolinaen i was enraged at nothing getting done. i found it interesting that bobby herald said today step aside so we can get something done. can i hold up a mirror to the rest of the gentlemen also? it works both i was. i'm not looking to defend mark sanford. you've had to do that yourself.
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but nothing's getting done. >> right. and that's why i keep going back, to can we take all this political enaur? i don't know how many times i've been here in this studio with you. >> a lot of times. >> never before have i been here with a sea of cameras outside that glass wall, a bunch of reporters on the other side. hey, john, won't say hello to the columbia press corps but c-span and others here. can we take that political enaur and actually as south carolinaens say, where do we go from here? could we send an e-mail, could we send a phone call? could we send a letter? could we have a conversation over the back fence with a neighbor on changing the way this government works? i'll go to some of the things i talked about in hartsville today. we're the only state in the united states of america was budget-control board. in 49 other states they do it differently. this is the only state in the union where in the administrative functions that are handled by the other 49 governors that are actually handled by this entity called the budget and control board
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that is dominated or controlled by the gentlemen. you know, in our state -- general assembly. in fairness to my predecessor, jim hodges, he was elected by south carolina, he was elected as a democrat. he had certain ideals he wanted to push for. in fairness to him, his first check on the executive bench prerogative was not the general assembly or judicial branch of government, concerning the founding fathers. it was walk straight across the hall to the lieutenant governor's office, opposite party, opposite political persuasion, it's a dysfunctional system. if you had a president and vice-president elected where the president wants to go in one direction and the vice-president wants to go in the absolute opposite direction people would say, it's madness. it wouldn't work. we said with constitutional officers, again splintered. let's go back to -- it was the 1895 constitution, put in place by pitch fork ben tillman and it was built on the fear that a black man would be elected
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governor in reconstruction south carolina. traditional functions diffused to the wind. executive branch rules with regard to other constitutional officers are out there. and so i guess what i would say is, could people just pick one area where they want to make a difference and really it's the squeaky wheels that get greased. in politics make noise. whether it's talk radio, e-mail, phone calls. >> i have supported reform in the state with you since i met you. it makes sense. one of the things i've defended you on most is a lot of the reform issues that mark sanford's pushed have nothing to do with his term as governor, for the next guy or gallon gal, whoever that might be. but if you had even some semblance of a decent relationship with the general assembly, do you think there would have been more done? i mean, i have been told off the record by numbers of people in the house and senate, yes, if sanford wasn't just this or sanford wasn't just. that i think his ideas are great. i'd have voted for them every time but i get so much pressure
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from so-and-so and so-and-so i can't do it. >> right. i'd say two things. obviously, have there been missteps along the 6 1/2 could have, should have, might have, ought to have done different things with the general assembly? certainly. that's the nature of the human experience. you're not going to get it perfect. but the whole of what we've been pushing for is about taking gold from he who holds the gold. and if life is in the future these kind of things generally the guy who holds the gold doesn't want to give up the gold. the constitution since that racist constitution was put in place has been held by the general assembly. that's not against individual members, house or senate, but it is an absolute mark against the system. it has a lot to do with why we're 138% average of the cost of our state government other than other state governments. not because we get more in the way of good and services but we
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have a totally weird system. so a lot of the controversy that has been created has been created at times because we're trying to change the system. a lot of people profit or like or agree with the system particularly those who are within the pyramid. you go to the pop you lace out there and -- populace out there and people say, this does make sense. i jotted down a couple notes here. just on the issue of transparency alone. on the issue of how closed our political system was. when you came into office in 2003, signed a campaign disclosure bill because we were only one of three states in the country where in you could give unlimited and undisclosed amounts of money to a political party. it was like the wild west of political giving. we said, that doesn't make ought to disclose where it's coming from. in 2004 we said no more passes. it used to be on the back of an envelope. money would go to a cabinet agency. in the back of the envelope they'd say by the way we like these five projects and you best
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be funded these. we said no passes. in 2005 we worked on a disclosure with the ethics committee saying we ought to be able to -- a citizen ought to be able to pull up on a keyboard how much has been given to a candidate. and somewhere i got that and then work with the comptroller general here in 2007 to have online disclosure of all state expenditures. but the point is, in many cases if you're in the know in columbia it's a pretty good system. but if you're not, it's not such a good system. that process of trying to open the system up creates sparks -- and there have been a lot of sparks that have flown as you know over the last 6 1/2 years. >> can i add one post script? the other part where sparks have flown, and i think the -- why spending caps are important, is tied to this larger notion of the executive branch does not have a better perspective on where money ought to be spent but it does have a different
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perspective. and historically when we came into office, for instance governors didn't really have an operational effectively branch government. we had all these hearings trying to pull up a chair at the table even though we had no right to pull up a chair at the table. but our point was if the construct of our budget is good for your district, your district, you can end up with a lot of duplications. seven or eight at the same things. which is why we're 138% of the u.s. average in the cost of our state government. if, however, as an equal perspective in that budget process the executive branch says, wait a minute. i don't have a better perspective but different perspective. we've already got seven of those, do we really need an eighth, wouldn't that be a good thing. so our view was -- the front row seat of what happens in any political year is where do you spend and where do you spend it? and what's it on and how much? and so we pulled up a chair at the table. and that too, getting in what was the historicky, has caused other frayed feelings or sparks
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to fly. the bottom line of what i'm saying is, if you simply traded marbles and stayed between the 40-yard line and the 40-yard line, yeah, everything would have been great. but that isn't what i was hired to do. and that isn't what we've tried to do. >> how seriously before it hit the fan in late june, how seriously were you going to run for president? i mean, had you in your mind -- i know you'd heard about it for years already, but in your mind did you think you were going to run for president? >> no. i mean, i originally said this is not where i am. we had this conversation. it comes up, keeps coming up. this is not where i am. there are a lot of different -- what happens in politics, you have both friends and foes, hearing from a lot of foes of late. but the friends, they wish for you, they put hopes and dreams. they say, you know, we like where you're coming from. we want you to do more. and say there was a certain level of just sort of push to life. chairman of the home governors
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association. and then the steamless thing came up, you're doing that because you want to run for president. no. go back and look what i first ran for congress 15 years ago, it was the exact same stuff. >> you know in your heart if it was something you wanted to do. >> so the answer is no. it didn't fit with the ages of our boys. because what you have to do in that process is basically say goodbye to three years of life. i'll see you in three years. and marshall, we've got one year left with him before he goes off to college. and you know the ages beyond that. >> interesting. let's take our first timeout. we'll come back to mark sanford. i've had my turn. when we come back it's your turn. stay with us. >> all right. for the phone callers you need to put your headphones on so you can hear the callers and go from there. >> all right. >> so the interesting question
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-- [indiscernible] >> when people asked me is mark going to run, i would always say, don't ask mark, ask jenny. i think she was pretty burnt on that. so i didn't know where your heart was at when it comes to the -- you start hearing from the people. and you at least have to say to yourself, run against obama in 2007? maybe when things hit the fan in june i would have said, chances now, who can beat obama? time permitting, i want to ask you about healthcare.
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>> [indiscernible] >> put the head phones on. and mark will be your first caller. >> a couple of earlier actions into the information, two notches pine belt. also a deer on west single road out in the chapin area. traffic line is open. >> no agenda, no skin, just the facts as they happen. columbia's news radio 560 wvoc. >> 23 minutes after the hour. our guest is governor mark sanford in the studio. and the only thing i will tell
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the callers before we get to the callers is that governor sanford and his office, they didn't say word one in terms of anything in terms of restrictions, nothing, just totally making it out to the studio. we want to take your telephone calls. i will ask that you try to keep your questions quick and succinct so we may take as many callers as possible. mark you're on with governor mark sanford on wvoc. >> hi there. i'm going to keep this quick. governor sanford, our state is plagued with legislators that are not coming from principle, they are coming from their own political agendas that think they're going to benefit themselves. free enterprise is everything. it gives us everything we've got. you're defending it. you need to stay. >> all right. thank you, mark, for the call. thoughts? >> well, i agree with him. [laughter]
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>> what else to say? well, i would say this, though, and it is an interesting point, though. and that is there is a disconnect that i hear as i travel around the state. and what i hear whether it's a rotary club talk or small business or other places, and what i hear in columbia world, what i consistently hear is comments like the one he just gave and where there's a disconnect is with the political world and the media world. and so going to his point, you know people operate in self-interests in general in life and obviously in the world of politics. there's no exception there. so i'll give you an example of -- some people have thought it would propel or help their political career to keep this thing alive and keep it stirred up. other folks with all due respect to some in the media i think have believed that it would help sell newspapers. and so they work to keep it alive. and so going back to the first point, you know, there's a
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senator in the up state who held "an investigation" on us using a business-class ticket on economic development trips. now, if that investigation was really about sort of getting to the bottom line of how did we use tax-payer resources, rather than simply going out and saying, i think you broke the law, which is a big thing to say when you're winner person in a position of elected office saying that about another, rather than simply going out and saying that he would have done a little homework. what he would have found with regard to business class tickets as we begin to do a little homework is that it turns out that that has been the accepted practice of the department of commerce for the last 25 years. and that republican and democratic governors of like have used business-class tickets on these internationally economic development is what you're saying. >> well, but it's worse than that. so other governors, other secretaries of commerce, other staff members and as it turns
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out other members of the general assembly. and so before you go out and say, hey, you broke the law, it would seem to me you'd want to say to a fellow senator who's been on these other economic development trips this thing. or the catch is, turns out john land, and again i'm not bb gunning then governor hodges for his economic development trip or governor laynce, but there were only three people on senator thomas' subcommittee, one of whom is senator land. it would seem to me if you've got three people in your subcommittee, one who used a business-class ticket. if you were about get together bottom line you'd be bringing it up with one of the folks two seats over rather than simply going out and making headlines. so yeah, there has been, going back to this last call as referenced, some degree of politicalization obviously. >> back to your telephone calls. .
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up, and i am the guy who messed up, i will simply say what i said before. it is in their best interest to keep things stirred up. i was gone over that weekend, and i am guilty of that. >> is that impeachable. >> that is for the general assembly to decide. >> we have talked about where you have done that you are morally working on fixing. but is that something to -- that is impeachable? >> that is for others to decide. there have been a governor is impeached in the history of this state, and they have been through fairly heinous things in terms of taking money out of the state and purchasing property, hundreds of thousands of dollars. there is certainly a world of difference in terms of what has happened here.
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>> are you looking for a fight if the house and senate come after you? >> i am not looking for a fight. water ultimately seeks to its own level. the moral wrong was all mine. its consequence is past, present, and future. i am working through those. there is a very different story -- it has been about a lot of spending things that are being driven by politics. if you look at the raw data of us using a business class ticket to go on an economic development trip across the country, there is a compelling record. not only of the ticket itself, but we used to have a jet that had transatlantic capacity. when i came into office, we sold the jet so that any trip would be taken on a commercial aircraft.
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what i do believe -- if i read the headlines that folks have read over the last 45 days, i would want to impeach me. if i believe they were true. there is a whole -- as paul harvey used to say, "the rest of the story." anytime you go out and use -- the state paying 1/3 or 1/2 less, it is telling you something. when you go out and begin to look at, wait a minute, not only was he gone, they opened up the house or the summer residence they used to be reserved for the governor. they brought in hundreds of thousand dollars of revenue. or it used to be that the governor was given a bmw when he came to the office, and he turned it over to the -- i could
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go through a laundry list of savings. again, and eventually water seeps to its own level. i think a lot of the media circus now will probably subside. >> gov. mark sanford with us until 6:00. back with more of your calls in just a minute. first, headlines. >> thanks, and good afternoon. another top-ranking official calling for the governor to step down. he said he gave it a lot of thought. >> what has become clear is that governors and for's issues will continue to dominate our state as long as he continues to stay in office. [unintelligible]
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>> providing nothing -- i should not say that, i am sure they will come after it. if it gets to that point, that's not going to change your mind. your income for the long haul. -- you are in it for the long haul. >> [unintelligible] what i would say is that two wrongs don't make a right. the moral wrong was mine. i own it. i have said more about it than the state and the world wanted to hear. i laid all the cards out there and agonizing detail. a lot has been going on since then, and it has been selectivity -- i call a selective outrage. you broke the law, but they don't mention it in the
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subcommittee, the business class ticket, the democrat governors, the congress. i mentioned any number of different folks -- i wanted to resign for all of the obvious reasons. it has never gone on to people trying to create a picture that doesn't exist. i don't think that that is right. we have really done a very good job of trying to watch out for the taxpayer. for someone to use it to their political advantage that, we never really liked the guy anyway, to undermine that is a problem. >> the point i made is with you and i talked about on the radio
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last time. if there wasn't the other thing, this stuff would not draw any attention at all. [unintelligible] that is just what the governor does. >> i started to write a letter to a friend asking him about it. they were talking about it. >> when you're going on a trip to try to get business -- >> who cares? if you have a standard practice for 30 years, a comptroller were general division will say this is ok by us. they brought up during the campbell administration. the reason we didn't go and that's -- in depth, we have
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[unintelligible] you're going to be showing up looking bedraggled, and you don't want to be falling asleep in the closing meetings or the dinner that night. >> who would have a problem with that? anybody knowing what the potential return is, a few thousand dollars to fly the governor around, you obviously want that. i want that. >> it has not been a problem for 30 years. the comptroller general of the state looks at every budget, every said metal for every governor. they have never had a problem with that. that is where it gets a little bit strange. wait a minute, you guys have been watching this for 30 years.
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you have a legislative audit for the department of commerce. they find no problem, and now we're saying is a huge problem? it is a little bit selective, but it is a world of politics. >> is it worse here, or is it worse in d.c.? >> i don't know. it is always in the eye of the older. >> was it worse nbc before june? or is it worse here since june? >> i would say -- i have a bunch of media cameras, don't want to offend you guys. in fairness to obama, and i have never really thought about him recently with the storm that exists with health care. whether you agree or disagree, if the net of the reporting is
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to go out and find a guy who most loudly objects to his proposal and that's the guy you throw out there, that is advocacy journalism as opposed to it -- it is trying to sell a story rather than explaining what is really happening. it depends on the event. >> here we go. welcome back to our program, thank you so much for being with us on this tuesday afternoon. mark sanford is our guest. we continue with our calls. karen is next on the board. thanks for our -- thanks for your patience. >> how are you, governor stanford? >> fine, how are you? >> good. i appreciate having the kind of support for our governor's office when things coming out -- i wanted to see if you have
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heard about how that is going, and if you have a plan in dealing with that? >> yes, ma'am. as you obviously know, because you follow this, we are very much against real id. it was fostered at proposed by the previous administration. i spoke with then governor janet napolitano. both of whom are democrats. we pushed against it because of civil liberty concerns. we want to be protecting liberty and governments. we thought that there were too many dangers to civil liberties. a long story short, janet and up with the new administration, becoming secretary, and we have
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been working with her. she has made adjustments. real id went out the window, pass that he was put in its place. -- past id was put in its place. we actually held a press conference about a month and a half ago. i would encourage you, and if there are other listeners to care about the civil liberty component and the privacy concerns, i would urge them to make noise. >> you are making the tour of south carolina, you're doing the rotary clubs. what about right now in terms of jobs? where are we with the double- digit unemployment?
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>> the chamber is going to come out with its legislative rules after labor day. what we had said is that basically we have three goals in terms of the legislation. we have three different blocks. constitutional officers and the lieutenant governor running together on a ticket. second, we want the whole peak and a value approach. [unintelligible] third is economic development. we're trying to get input -- i visited with the manufacturing area today that was trying to get a virtual town hall meeting on some ideas that you will have that make a difference. i am continuing the process. we're going to come out with two
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or three items with legislative colleagues and with the chamber that we think could make a difference. at minimum, the notion of reforming has to be on there. it has to better connect the recruitment arm was where jobs are needed. i think there is a growing appetite for some level of tort reform. there is a major piece of infrastructure, we had the by state compact. we have the lock that down. when the panama canal opened, we are well-positioned for throughput. if we have it, we are good. if we don't, it will be a problem spot. those are a couple of things that we're working on outside of our recruitment.
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-- of out right recruitment. wyss of billions of dollars in new investment in south carolina -- we saw billions of dollars in new investment. the bigger part of what has happened today are the little businesses, the midsize businesses. what are we doing on their playing field? there is workers' comp reform, the employees' security commission. >> we're taking your calls for the next 15 minutes are so. we're thrilled to have the folks down in port city, we were just talking about what is going on down there. let's continue with our calls. key share, thank you for waiting. >> how are you?
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>> i'm good. >> my question is, if you resign, i do think all the issues and problems that people are saying about you will just go away? >> i don't. if i did, i would have resigned. if i thought that that was the cure-all for problems in south carolina and treating the most beneficial legislative year, better education, resolving the unemployment, i would have resigned. at the end of the day, i don't think the voice for fiscal sanity as we have pushed it over this last legislative session, i think we need an advocate for restructuring. we have pieces of it. the in the reform, -- dmv reform, accountability can with that.
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there is the first changed to the dot is the early 1900's. we have been able to restructure within our own cabinet agencies. i would hope for the chance to work with people across the state and a different like- minded house and senate members. a lot of people say that with constitutional officers, wait a minute, with the lottery, a lot of members say they are against the lottery, but it is such an important issue. it ought to be decided for the people -- by the people of south carolina. can't return it back out to the people and have them decide whether they want to elect or have appointed the constitutional officers. that is why i am still here. there are couple of things that are important for the lives of our kids, my kids.
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>> there are some in the mails asking something similar to this. let me throw it your way. a number of people are asking, if you had to do it all over again, because of the soul mate thing, someone the really cared for, would you do it all over again? >> no. have you watched the last 60 days of my life? we all want to do it over. that is the nature of being human. i apologize, as i have some many times before. i am human. i make mistakes. i also believe that god can use imperfect people to perform his will, and that there are in perfect people that perform in all walks of life. whether in the world of business, or in the body of politics, we have to get up each
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day and not call it quits based on the states that we -- based on mistakes that we make. what i'm trying to say is, where are we right now? what are the opportunities that we have before us with regard to changing government for the better in south carolina? not a shotgun blast, but a rifle shot. what are some things that we could do that to -- that we could do protect the taxpayer? that is not where i am. that makes it particularly relevant, the amount of misinformation. let me give you one other factor. the whole state planes thing was called into question. the guy used to the state planned -- plane 1/3 less than
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any previous governor. in the last administration, there was a jet. it had a management fee of $10,000 a month. if you look at the cost in total, just the use of the debt alone was more money than we spent on the entire state airplane. just that alone. add to that -- you know how frugal i am on some of this stuff. we ended up taking a step that no governor has taken before, we saved taxpayers $60,000 in the process. we changed the procedures that former governors will have the state plan relocated from columbia airport because it was a couple of minutes quicker. we quit doing that to save taxpayers $70,000. i could go down a very long
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list. we have used it five times -- less than five times in my time is governorship because it was more expensive per hour. all those things we try to go the extra mile. >> i think most people understand that. most people who look at it from the big picture get that part, obviously. i don't think the second half of the story would be a story. i have been very open on this whole thing, how i felt about it. i am done with that from a talk radio standpoint. it is either going to be impeachment, it is not going to be mark sanford resigning, it is not going to be what he did in argentina, it is going forward. they're going to pick a fight, and easy going to fight back not?
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he sound like you're ready for a fight. >> i am not looking for a fight, but i am looking for the truth. you can't go out and say, you broke the law, three people that have been taking business class trips. perfectly within the law. there is this notion of selective outrage. i have a problem with that. >> thank you for waiting, you're on with gov. mark sanford. >> thank you for joining us today. speaking of the truth in the past without piling on, to go back to the original story, to provide some background before ask this question -- i attended a world trade center dinner that was in honor of argentina's ambassador to the united states. during that dinner, the ambassador mentioned that he had met with you during his visit to south carolina and that when asked -- would it be a priority
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as part of your economic of element agenda, the ambassador said that you advise him that that would not be a priority. i am curious about what changed your mind year later when you decided to add the argentina leg to your trip to brazil. >> your down there, and brazil. you are in that neck of the woods. it is completely true to say that the dominant trading partners with south carolina have been europe, predominantly tied to germany based on the bmw ohub. and you have a number of other european firms. and then we have a very strong connection with southeast asia.
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it is for that reason that we have longstanding offices going back to campbell's time. we strengthen the that by basically putting a beachhead in shanghai. our point to the chinese was, you have a problem. 30% of exports are tied to the united states. 3% of ours are going in your direction. the epicenter is moving. if you're not investing in a place like this, this problem is going to grow for you. we're trying to make the pitch of -- long story short, we opened up the beach had there in shanghai. the other office we opened up during this it ministration -- during this administration was an office in toronto based on the fact that we had david wilkins, an ambassador to canada.
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if you're in the neck of the woods and you have a chance to say, is there something else we can pick out, you do so. >> he is clearly -- >> i got that. >> there is an ulterior motive if you're down in argentina. >> if that was the case, then all the other places i had been around the globe -- i guess i should not have gone to those places, too. the fact is, i was in eastern europe earlier this year. i was prospecting. is there something we are missing in poland that we don't have going that we ought to? that is the nature of prospecting. business people do it every single day. i have been to a lot of other places where we don't have a lot in the way of active leads. >> we will come back after a
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break with a few more minutes. >> first, fast, and accurately. in-depth coverage from an experienced team of news professionals. wvoc. >> we can appreciate in value these days. they are still offering their tenants one topping he said. now with a 20 an ounce soft drink for $5. try a large, one topping with a dipping sauce for $10. to get to medium to topping pieces for $15. -- two medium, two-topping pizzas for $15. >> what are you doing to keep yourself busy? >> for instance, [unintelligible]
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today, i was dealing with appointments. the governor's office has two sets of appointments. [unintelligible] we are on air, so when i come back to you i will share. >> since june, how everything right now, no matter what you say, not because there is anything -- it is the media, part of your job. everything you say is going to be dissected. is it just not fun right now? >> is what it is. >> i have been around long enough, and with every guest there is a time when the microphones are on and when the microphones are away. i sympathize with knowing that everything is a right now is being dissected.
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fairly or unfairly. just a couple of more minutes. time for a couple more calls may be with gov. mark sanford. kathleen, thank you for calling. go ahead. >> hi, governor sanford. i am chief davis's wife. >> tell him hello for me. >> for the callers who don't know, i have been duck hunting with her husband. >> what i am really concerned with, how is the republican party going to withstand? it seems like it is crumbling to me. i am worried that with the elections coming up next year, even here in south carolina -- >> i am going to cut short because we only have 90 seconds.
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the election next year, are you an asset or liability? are they going to run against mark sanford, or they're running against republican? >> this notion of political liability works. >> it worked for obama against bush. >> i don't believe that. people will say that, but at the end of the day, i think obama was an articulate, incredibly well spoken, measured human being. as i told you, i was sitting there the night he gave the talks in chicago with my boys and tears coming to my eyes. i think he was a better candidate. i might disagree with his ideas, but i don't think he won because
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of a bush. politics is about ideas, and they're bigger than human beings. i am not the republican party, and the republican party is not me. think about the times i have been on the show, called a libertarian. i don't think that what happens next is going to be based on that. >> thank you for coming in. more tomorrow. gov. mark sanford on wvoc. ♪ >> more about the mark sanford interview and what lies ahead for the governor from "washington journal earlier this week. this is half an hour. the other political story getting attention this wednesday morning can be found front-page of south carolina's largest newspaper, from columbia, south
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carolina, the republican speaker of the house is urging the republican gov. mark sanford to resign from office following revelation from june of this year of his extramarital affairs and the stories that followed. kevin cohen is from a radius station in south carolina. he will join us. but we will share with you an excerpt of his conversation with mark sanford on this revelation. >> you know, you can't judge another person's intent. he does what he does. i think there was something rational about what he said earlier, which was, let us let the ethics process work its way through. we have a group that is going to look at this and let us let them come out with what they think or don't think and then take steps accordingly. i think it is unfortunate. it is a bit premature. because, as i said, let us throw the obvious out there -- i had a
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real moral failure. south carolina has talked on and on about, and then more about it. i apologize about it, and again. we get to the point that we could go back and beat and reprimands and what not on that front. but the measure of all our lives is not when we fall down -- because we will fall down. but the question is, how we get back up. i think the question for all of us as south carolinians is where we go from here. we have a lot of opportunity. we actually have a chance for the first time in six and a half years to look at the issue of restructuring and say, make some changes and moving away from a really outdated model that really sets -- or are we going to make changes for spending
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caps or economic development? i think that as more important. i can't apologize more than i possibly have, and a lot of the other has been pure politics. if you go to the bottom line of where this administration has been on -- business class tickets, airplanes, all these things, we have a compellingly good record and i would like to explore that at some point during our visit over the hour. a compelling way strong record in watching out for the taxpayer and taxpayer interest. gov. host: mark sanford was on wvoc yesterday and a host is joining us from south carolina. will the governor resign? guest: i do not think he is going out on his own. i think what will happen is you'll see impeachment.
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what you heard from the senate republican -- i don't think the governor will go without being forced. host: who is bobby farrell, a republican speaker of the house? what is the relationship and what led to the letter yesterday? guest: bobby harrell has been speaker -- he took over from the person who became president bush posset ambassador to canada. he has been in a very high- powered position. in south carolina, we don't have the most powerful governor, by any means. the speaker of the house and the senate pro temp, those are the most powerful people in the state of south carolina. as a result they carry a lot of influence with fellow lawmakers, more so, i believe, then the governor. and the governor alienated so
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many people in the south carolina general assembly over the years that it emphasizes bobby harrell -- in this case hearing him post labor day making these comments, i really believe -- believe it indicates they will make impeachment a top priority. i personally have said in my audience at the regas station, they have been very adamant that impeachment is not the right answer. i think there has been a real shift over the past two months since this whole thing broke and became a huge national embarrassment, everybody was calling for is resignation. i have called for his resignation but to this day i still believe mark sanford should walk away. but i cannot support impeachment but i think most of the listeners of my riding program did not support impeachment, either, because we have some and other problems that we can't afford for the general assembly when it reconvenes in january to have to go through these proceedings. host: you tried to press it during your interview and when
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you're in a commercial break we continued to roll with your cameras. can you give us a sense of what your -- you gleaned? guest: i have known since he was a congressman down in charleston. that is interesting, because bobby harrell is also down from the charleston area so they have known each other for years. you would think there would be a stronger political alliance. but there is not. they have been pretty good rivals. and they have both taken -- which is fun for talk radio and the media -- they have both taken it to the media to air their differences on a number of occasions that of sitting down like grown men. it is fun for talk radio but i don't think it is productive for south carolina. i have personally spoken to the governor and i have to admit, a lot of times what happens are the commercial breaks or newsbreaks during a radio talk show is more interesting than what happens when you are on the air. i don't know if the guest feels he or she can let their guard
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down a little bit or just talk a little bit more openly. gov. sanford is pretty savvy. he knew the c-span cameras were still rolling so even he was guarded in what he was saying, but i did try to press him on that. i felt i had the responsibility sent to the news had just come out that body harrell was calling for the resignation -- bobby harrell. you can't -- host: you can watch that video on c-span.org. our guest -- his program, afternoon drive, airs 3:00 until 6:00 eastern time. let us get back to the letter that the speaker of the house sent to gov. sanford. the daily trickle of allegations has shown there is no end in sight to the constant distractions caused by you remaining in office. he went on to say, your actions have amounted to a self- inflicted wound that has forced unnecessary suffering on the people of south carolina.
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guest: pretty good drama. those are some very guarded, carefully thought-out words on the part of the house speaker. there is no question that ever since gov. sanford came forward june 24 with his extramarital affair and made public and acknowledge all of it, no question that has been a tripling of this after the other and after the other. but i think it is slowing down. what i think now going on would be a political witch hunt. i am not saying that as an advocate of mark sanford, because i still think he should resign. but that said, i do think what is going on right now is much more a political witch hunt -- thus sharks kind of swimming in the water. we have an election coming up for 2010 for the governor's race. i think there is a lot of that to take into consideration. who is aligning themselves with home. i am going to support this guy, that person. mark sanford is not a candidate for 2010 but clearly people are trying to take up sides with five different republican
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candidates. i think that is a big factor. if you look at just the relationship the governor has had or lack of with our south carolina general assembly over the years, there are a lot of folks who say he has embarrassed the general assembly -- very popular governor. he does not have a lot of a resume to show for -- but before this became public he had 70% approval rate. he really used public sentiment against big government and the general assembly. i think there is a revenge factor, also. but i really think you are seeing people in the general assembly piling on right now, things the governor has done with travel and spending. and he has been such a watchdog. a very frugal governor. i think this is something that if it -- there wasn't the extramarital circumstance i do not think you and any way, shape, or form see this as a store because this is no different than the president should -- predecessor, and
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before that. they all had the same exact travel itineraries. this is no different than what they did. host: keven cohn joining us from south carolina. i want to follow up on something else you pressed him on, the 2010 elections. he indicated he didn't think he would be a factor in 2010. what was your reaction to his response? guest: i disagreed with them. i still do. he said his political career -- in fact, the first time he use this " he was a month ago, he said, i am politically dead, i am a non-factor. i highly disagree. if i am a democratic strategist and i am running against the republican nominee, whoever the person is, i'm doing the same thing barack obama did in running against john mccain, which is run against george bush as much as you run against john mccain.
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i think they will show a republican, house controlled, senate controlled, and the governor's mansion all controlled by republicans and yet very little has gotten done in south carolina. we have 12% unemployment and it has been a real mess. i am a fairly conservative talk radio hosts but i did not see how anyone in the state's republican party and deny they had an opportunity being -- opportunity to do great things being in total control. you see the state economically. you add that to the scandal, and clearly i think if i'm a democratic strategist, i will use that against anyone running and saying, i am going to show pictures -- whether the congressman, state attorney general, they all had photo ops they have taken with gov. mark sanford. i will show those and everyone of my commercials and use them as an advantage. i disagree with gov. sanford on that wholeheartedly. host: before june, how serious was talk about a presidential
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bid in 2012? guest: i think there was much too beard i have asked him about on and off the air and i have talked a -- talk to him about it over the years just to gauge where he is out. no question this is something he was thinking about doing. i don't know that mrs. sanford was all that keen of the idea. part of the reasons why mark sanford said initial term limits when he went into washington and the house for representatives because i did not think she liked the washington lifestyle and enjoyed south carolina more. and the four children they have our young sons with one just before college. i don't think this was something in the and that mark sanford was going to do. but no question governor sanford was being talked about and that light and with his battle on the stimulus, he had intrigued a lot of strong conservatives as to whether or not he could be that guy that connects with america. i@@ b/g'@ @ @ @ @ @ @ e
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>> i don't know that he is a good enough debater to win over people. he is a very bright and intelligent man. clearly, as obvious from the last 60 days, his political career will end when he leaves office unless he is forced to leave before that. >> the republican line for kevin cohen, go ahead. >> i was watching the talk show this morning before "washington journal." show before "washington journal." there was a caller that i agreed with. he asked -- or she asked -- i can remember -- how it will hurt the republican party. not just south carolina. we also have a senator in nevada that is a lot of trouble, but he is not up for election in 2010. i question is, i know you are conservative.
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i am conservative. but what governor sanford railed against president clinton, he is doing the same thing now. he had an affair. but in argentina. guest: true. caller: all of these moral values go aside when they are an office -- that is where i am frustrated with some people in the republican party. guest: anthony, i appreciate question. the thing i point out is that the most voters -- not all -- i think can separate the political party from the individual's and distractions -- individual's indiscretions. i don't think people will vote differently in new york with the governor's race comes along, based on elliott spitzer and what he did as a democrat. i do not think they will penalize the party for it because it happens to widespread on both sides of the aisle. i don't think they will label the republican party the party
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that cheats on their spouses or anything like that. it is too widespread. it is a shame when it happens in any capacity because it is just a tragedy to see a marriage with four young boys as their children basically get shattered and splashed across the media on a day-to-day basis, to see the young kids getting dragged through that and mrs. sanford, is very difficult. it is part of the game. when you enter into the world of politics you are acknowledging, this is part of it. my private life is going to be public. unfortunately the kids didn't have a choice. the whites didn't run for office, she didn't have a choice. -- the wife did run for office. i don't think people will penalize the republican party as a whole. for every mark sanford you trot out you can trot out a democrat. it happens. i do not condone it. i wholeheartedly condemn it as a married man, very happily married, i don't see it -- i
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don't acknowledge it. i will not get into the moral aspect, that is for each person to decide. but the bottom line from our perspective looking at it from south carolina, i don't think they will penalize the republican party because of mark sanford's sexual indiscretions. you can certainly judging what he has done politically play-by- play. but i don't think the condition as a republican saying he is a bad republican. host: mary from manchester, new jersey. caller: i'm curious. i have watched the this affairs of the broken watch gov. sanford when he appeared on c-span and spoke out about a variety of things. and i watched your interview, your radio interview with him yesterday. i am curious, from a different perspective, how destructive do you think he is as a man? his initial act of into that --
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infidelity was destructive enough but this continuing public self flagellation, if you will, seems to been very destructive personally. host: before i have you respond, let me go back to interview. here's more from "afternoon drive" from wvoc. >> do you think you have done anything in people? i know we talked about what you have done more rarely, but in your opinion have done something in mpeachable. >> that is for others to decide. there have been eight governors in peach -- impeached, those are for things, taking money and buy property -- big, hundreds of
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thousands. there is certainly a world of difference of what happens in those instances and what has happened here. host: your response? guest: i look at the governor from impeachable stand point, i don't believe it. but self destruction -- there are people here trying to look at as much footage, c-span, what he has done locally and they have tried to put it through a psychologist and asked if this man has had a mental breakdown. when you look at the fact that your marriage has been publicly shattered, looking at your put -- career, we are not talking about a small councilman but we are talking about the face of a state who had been talked about as a candidate to being the most powerful person in the world, the president. a huge spiral and the short time. mark sanford, every time he seems to come in from of the camera -- this is what intrigues people -- everytime he opens his
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mouth he will be dissected and so many ways. to get to mary's point, i do think he has spiralled a little out of control and they had to reel him in. his handlers and the people trust most, he has been much more guarded. i think governor sanford is in a situation right now where if i were advising him, the only thing you talk about his politics at this point. stay away from anything personal. stay away from anything that is not on a focus because the more he seems to open his mouth, the more he seems to get in trouble. you can't dig your way out of this. host: why did he agree to go on your radio talk show yesterday? guest: he is continuing by doing the rotary clubs and different clubs around south carolina. he is trying to reconnect with people in a grassroots effort, give face-to-face time. he has been on my program really going back eight years when he was first candidate.
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he knows my audience has been fair with them -- if not, start. he also knows i have been very fair with him. i have supported a lot of his initiatives. when i do criticize him i do so in a constructive way and i give them a chance to answer fairly. i think he felt he was in a safe environment, instead of being ambushed by a talk-show host just looking for sensationalism or ratings and that is not my goal for any guest. i guess i would say he felt safe in the environment, he came on and answered the questions. i think he is trying to reconnect with people, but if i were his handler -- just like what he said on c-span over and over again -- i have apologized as much as i can for this. i think he has -- is right. there is no new way to say i am sorry for what he has done. the only thing at this point that can happen politically is for him to either regain the people's trust or not. it so, i think -- so, i think
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his intent is to get as much face-to-face-type meetings or even doing appearances like this. host: 8 you were from south carolina. jim from rock hill. -- a view or from caller: i took a survey. they once mr. sanford and peach. -- it is up for the government to straighten it out. they forget. you belong to the united states of america. what you call yourself american for? you are either in north america or south america -- you are in the union of the state's. always remember that.
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everybody should realize that right now. we are united, not divided. right now the country is being divided. we have a man in office, a good man, let him do what he has got to do. don't stop him. let him do it. everybody has got to be united now. if you are not denied that, you will be divided. host: let me use this opportunity to share with the audience another excerpt of an interview conducted yesterday with republican gov. mark sanford. more details of who was in contact with the governor when he traveled to argentina. >> a while ago whenever this message for started, your staff didn't know where you were and they did have contact with you. is that true? >> your staff did know where you were. >> there was a back channel way
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of getting ahold of me and ultimately folks did. i changed my flight and came back home. >> the media is just over planning this. not the way it truly is. >> again, if you are the guy who messed up -- and i am the guy who messed up. i will not cast stones about where folks are coming from. i will simply say what i said before, is some people have seen it in the best interest, i think, to keep things stirred up perhaps a little bit more than all to be the case. i was gone over that weekend and i plead guilty. >> is that impeachable? host: gail is on the phone from clover. good morning. caller: i have my opinion of governors' sanford's actions. i am appalled at his marital problems.
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possible reason for him resigning were being in peach is that he left the state with no governor -- impeached. every time he left like that, he left the state without a governor and no one to take over, either. host: your response? guest: no question, he was out of pocket. i did not think anybody can apologize for it as much as he adds. i did not think it is impeachable. he said there were back channel ways to detect them -- the last time was found was three of four days and his cellphone have been shut off. i really do believe he was out of pocket a little while, so much so by staff had to lie and say he was hiking the appalachian trail when he was out of the country with his mistress or girlfriend or
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whenever you feel comfortable calling the lady. the bottom line in that respect is, yes, i do think governor sanford made a horrific mistake as the ceo of the state, the face of the state. if something really bad happened in north carolina, if there had been natural disaster, if a bridge collapsed, or a bad weather situation took place, or if we needed to call out the guard, where would be the governor to make the decision? certainly there are things in place, obviously, if the governor when not in place but they would have turned to the lieutenant governor. i don't think the state would have collapsed. but at the same time people would have looked for and wanted their governor to be there to be a calming influence. he wasn't there. thank goodness nothing bad happened. disaster averted, this and that. but in the end, was he awake? absolutely. is that impeachable? i don't think it qualifies. but it is horrifically irresponsible on his part. other than apologizing and
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learning from it, i don't think it is worthy of kicking him out with less than a year to go when they reconvene in january. but there are people who will try to use that. host: lori from cleveland, ohio. caller: i have more restatement than a question. maybe it is not really an impeachable offense that it is rather personal. i really feel bad for his wife and the children and hopefully they can work things out. we all make mistakes and errors -- maybe we shall not judge so harshly. i think it's a look of the job. i think it's a look of the job. if he has if he has not done a good job, then don't vote him in again. if he has, let him come back.
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it is a personal mistake to make in life. i believe in the bible. david made mistakes. you know, he was forgiven by god. >> thank you for the call. >> the the thing about that to understand is the ramifications of the governor's actions. if you are one of those that feels like it is his personal life, that is fine. you have to ask why people from cleveland, connecticut, new hampshire, there is a reason why that is happening. not just because c-span has a wide, a vast audience. but because everyone is aware of this. i spent some time in detroit at the wedding. everyone that heard that i was there said, you are from south carolina. what about the governor? i was in new york going across
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the times square, and she was walking out with your boys. it is national news. . ask, can mark sanford and his final year as governor of south carolina with -- in a state with 12% unemployment, in a state where we desperately need jobs, does he have any credibility when he goes to other places around the country, when he goes internationally, but he have the credibility to bring anything home to south carolina, to do anything to improve our difficult economic situation? difficult economic situation? that question. certainly, what happens in his marriage is between mark and jenny sanford, but as a result of in making it so public, you have to ask, will anyone taken seriously when it comes to letting him get anything accomplished. we in south carolina deserve a government, we deserve a general assembly, we deserve a government trying to get things done any time we desperately need leadership. host: keven is the radio talk-
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how the obama administration can gain leverage over iran in nuclear negotiations. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. in his weekly online address, president obama talks about the risk of americans losing their coverage if changes are not made. health care is also discussed by senator john koreshan of texas in the republican address. he talks about the need to build bipartisan support for comprehensive plan -- center john corning. >> on wednesday, i addressed a joint session congress and the american people about why we need health insurance reform and what it would take to do it. since then, have continued to hear from many americans across the country about why this is so urgent and important. i have heard from americans who cannot get health coverage, men and women who worry that one accident or illness would drive
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them into bankruptcy. and at her from americans with insurance who thought that the uninsured always referred to someone else, but between skyrocketing costs, insurance, practices, they are beginning to worry that they could find themselves uninsured, too. it is an anxiety this keeping more and more americans awake at night. over the last 12 months, nearly 6 million more americans lost their health coverage, that is 17,000 men and women every single day. we are not just talking about americans in poverty. we are talking about middle class americans. in other words, it could happen to anyone. based on a new report from the treasury department, we can expect that about half of all americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next 10 years. if you are under the age of 21 today, chances are more than half that you will find yourself and injured at some point in that time. where than one-third of americans will go without coverage for longer than one
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year. i refuse to allow the future to happen. in the united states of america, no one should have to worry that they will go without health insurance, not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. once i signed my health reform plan into law, they will not. i plan will provide more security and stability to those who health insurance, offer quality insurance is -- drink health insurance for families, businesses, and our government under control. first of all, if you are among the hundreds of millions of americans who already have insurance through job or medicare or medicaid or the va, nothing in my plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. what my plan will do is make the insurance you have for better for you. we will make it illegal for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre- existing condition or drop the
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coverage when you get sick. there will no longer be allowed to place an arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you could receive in a given year are over a lifetime. will place a limit on how much you could be charged for out-of- pocket expenses, because no one should go broke just because they get sick. if you are one of the more than 30 million americans who cannot get coverage, you will finally have quality, affordable choices. if you lose your job, change your job, or start your own business, it will be able to get coverage. as i have said over and over again, i will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficit. this plan will be paid for. the middle class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. if it can successfully slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of 1% each year, it will reduce the deficit by four trillion dollars over the long term. affordable quality care within the reach of tens of millions of americans who do not have it
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today. stability and security for the hundreds of millions to do, that is the reform we seek. we have had a long an important debate, but now is the time for action. every day we wake, more americans will lose their health care, their businesses, and their homes, but also the dreams they have worked for in the peace of mind they deserve. they are what we have to succeed. if you are willing to the country before party and the interest of our children above our own, if you refuse to settle for politics or scoring points is more important than solving problems, and if you believe that america can still come together to do great things, then join us. give us your help, and we will finally get health insurance reform done this year. >> hi i am center john koreshan of texas. eight years ago the american people experienced the worst terrorist attacks and our history. thousands of innocent people lost their lives in the fields
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of pennsylvania and in the ruins of the pentagon and the fallen towers of the world trade center. this year and every year we honor those we lost on 9/11. our hearts go out to all those who remember that day as both the national tragedy and a personal tragedy. the terrorist who attacked us on 9/11 enjoy safe haven in afghanistan, and that is why winning in afghanistan remains so important. the afghan people, like the american people, are tired of war. they did not want the country return to the control of religious extremists, and neither did we. president obama has renewed america's commitment to afghanistan. he has the right leadership in place. these leaders are developing a campaign plan based on the successful search strategy that worked in iraq. our troops and their commanders in iraq and afghanistan does or broad bipartisan support, and they will have it. republicans who support the deployment of additional troops
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as well as the resources our troops need to be successful as they tend to deny safe haven to al qaeda. republicans will not waver in our support for our forces in the field or president obama as he fulfills his responsibilities as commander-in-chief to protect the american people. on afghanistan, president obama has shown the kind of leadership he promised during the campaign. he has built consensus and earned bipartisan support. yet on health care reform, he has taken a much different approach. he has paid lip service to bipartisanship while rejecting the ideas that would build bipartisan support. as a result, the president has alienated not only independents and divided his own party but republicans as well. the president of another big speech this week to try to turn his numbers around. but instead of talking, the president and congressional democrats should spend a little more time listening.
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at town halls and public events across the nation, american people are asking the right questions about health care reform. they are asking, how can washington lower health-care costs by spinning drove into dollars more over the next 10 years? how can washington cut $500 billion from medicare without reducing benefits for seniors? how can a new government plan keep insurers honest, when our existing entitlement programs are riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse? the president told us wednesday night that ago there remain some significant details to be ironed out." he was not kidding. the most significant detail is the cost of this plan and impact on our long-term budget deficit. when you start counting in 2013 the first full year of implementation, the cost of the house bill comes to about 2.4 trillion dollars over 10 years, according to the senate budget committee. instead of a top down plan that
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will bust the budget, president obama should work with republicans on a bottom up solution that the american people can support. republicans want to save medicare and medicaid from bankruptcy by offering more choices to beneficiaries and making providers compete for their business. republicans want to expand access and lower the cost of private insurance by expanding competition at the state level. republicans also want common sense medical liability reform that eliminates don't lawsuits against doctors and hospitals. we need to put an end to jackpots justice. by listening to the american people and working across the aisle, president obama can deliver common-sense health care reforms that will access -- expand access to care. thank you very much for listening, and god bless you and your family and the united states of america.
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>> not look at a recent interview president obama gave in which he said he would be willing to consider taxing soda and other sugary drinks as a way to battle obesity. from this mornings "washington journal," is 25 minutes. >> joining us is susan neely, president and ceo of the american beverage association. what brought you to our attention is a recent interview featuring the president, and a statement he said about soda. what did he say, and how did you respond to it? musing that perhaps we should look at a tax on sugared beverages as tackling a broader obesity challenge. the president also said but one of the down sides is the american public doesn't like big brother tell them what to eat and drink and i say right on, mr. president, we hear that. that people don't want the government telling them how to eat or drink and they also don't think a tax will work in terms of really tackling what is a
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serious problem, obesity. host: is that musing not a large concern for your organization or is it a concern? guest: muse something a concern in the context that the health reform debate going on in capitol hill there are those outside of congress who have put the idea on the table that a tax on sugared beverages, any beverages with calories, really, should be a means to be considered as a means to pay for that and we don't think that is the right way to go and the majority of american public doesn't either. host: do sugar beverages in your opinion add to the obesity problem? guest: i think all calories add. we are eating and drinking too much and not getting enough exercise so we need to watch all of that. beverages, cookies, cakes, cheese burgers, fries, pizza, everything that is delicious but we have to eat them in moderation, make sure we get
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fruits an vegetables and get enough exercise. calories in, calories out. that is how you achieve balance. host: if such a tax becomes a factor or reality. what does it do for you industry? guest: it would have a significant impact on an industry that provides $134 billion to the economy, eaffect 750,000 other jobs so a taxç would have a negative impact on our employees, their families and these are god paying jobs in the beverage industry with pensions and healthcare benefits and it would impact the communities. host: it wouldn't stop policeman buying soda, would it? guest: they will buy sodas or other ways to get the calories. that is what i think is the error. you single out one food or beverage saying let's try to currently consumption of that. well, then i move to another onr and if i'm overconsuming
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