very top with hillary clinton deciding that the benghazi consulate was more like paris than it was baghdad. it was a war zone and it was a mistake from the very beginning to have nobody protecting that consulate. [applause] six months in advance of the attack on the consulate, there was a request made of hillary clinton for a plane to fly the plane around in case of emergency. guess what. that emergency did arise and the night we were looking for reinforcements in triply, do you know what we were doing? we were begging to let them have the libyans use one of their planes, which was an american plane that we paid for. but we had to beg the lip libyans because there was no plane because the state department refused to allow a plane to be there.

this was something that was a terrible and tragic error. but a couple of days after hillary clinton state department turns down the plane. do you know what they have money for? they found $100,000 for a charging station for electric cars at the embassy in vienna. hey found $100,000 to send comedians to india to make chy not war. they spent $5 million on crystal glassware. but didn't have enough money for security. hey spent $650,000 on facebook ads. seems they need more friends at the facebook for the state department. they spent $700,000 when they say i didn't have enough for security, they spent $700,000 on landscaping at the embassy in brussels. so all of this is going on. meanwhile colonel woods is

there with a 16 man personnel team a month before the attacks and he said we need to stay. the british embassy is pulling out. there have been attacks on our complex. we need more security not less. hillary clinton's state department what do they say? no. so i finally got her in front of my committee on the way out. and i frankly said look, if i would have been president i would have asked for your resignation. cheers and applause] and i asked her a question. i asked her a question. i said did you read the cables from the ambassador? she never read them. it's a dare licks of duty. it's something that should preclude hillary clinton from ever being considered as commarpped in chief. -- commander in chief. cheers and applause]

thank you. but if you want that to happen, if you want a republican to be the next president of the united states, we are going to have to be a bigger, better, bolder party. there's a big debate going on, though. some say for us to be bigger we have to dilute our message. we need to be democrat-like. we need to be more moderate to get more electoral votes. i couldn't disagree more. in fact, i think the core of our message we could be even more bold, more honest, more forthright. [cheers and applause] when ronald reagan won a landslide, he ran unabashedly on lowering tax rates for

everyone that it would stimulate the economy and 20 million jobs were created. that's what we need again. it isn't about being tepid. in washington, you've got people in washington saying i'm for revenue neutral tax reform. i frankly if that's what we're for i'll go back to being a doctor, back to kentucky, and continue. but that's not why i ran for office. to say oh mr. smith will pay a little more and mrs. jones will pay a little less. but the overall tax burden will be the same. let's be unabashedly for returning more money to iowa, leaving it here to create jobs. [cheers and applause] but how do we get bigger and better? i think we don't give up our core message. but part of our message has to reach out to people where they

are. so i spent a lot of time in the last year going to historicically black colleges, going to predominantly hispanic audiences. going to berkeley. going to places republicans haven't gone before. but i'm not going there and changing my message. i'm going there with the same message. i spoke to the conservative political action committee and i told them, you know what? we're conservatives and we believe in the second amendment but we also believe in the fourth amendment, we also believe in privacy. [cheers and applause] i took that exact message to berkeley. and i was received in both places. young people will vote for us. but it isn't that you don't meet young people and say i'm not voting for republican because they're for the balanced budget amendment. you don't meet african americans who say i'm against the balanced budget amendment. it's not where they are

particularly young people. they don't have any money, any job. they don't care about regulations and taxes. but everyone of them has a cell phone and they think frankly it's none of the government's business what they do on their cell phone. [applause] there are ways we can reach out. but you've got to realize where people are. i'll bring up something that may not bring everybody together just you can think about it. if you think about the war on drugs. i think drugs are a scurege. i think we've maybe gone too far that marijuana is a problem. and yet i also think it's a problem to lock people up for 10 and 15 and 20 years for youthful mistakes. if you look at the war on drugs, three out of four people in prison are black or brown. white kids are doing it, too. if you look at the surveys, white kids do it just as much as black and brown kids but the prisons are full because they don't get a good toirn, they

live in poverty. it's easier to arrest them thoon in the suburbs. but i will tell you if you got into the african american community and ask them if you think the law is fair they'll tell you know. -- no. >> in 19 0 there were 200,000 kids with a dad in prison there's now 2 million. i'm not for saying no laws but i am saying that look, most of us are christians or jews or of the jude yo christian faith. and it's like we believe in redemption. we believe in a second chance. should a 19-year-old kid get a second chance? i think yes. let's be the party that has compassion that doesn't say the behavior is right but says you know what? when you're done with your time, that you get the right to vote back. let's be the party that is for extending right to vote back to people who have paid their time, who have reformed their ways. [applause] so i say we don't need to dilute our message. but i think if we can take our

message or aspects of our message to people where they are, people who live in poverty, the republican message should be you know what? we'll come to your town. we'll come to detroit. and we're not going to bring money from iowa, we're not going to bring money from kentucky. but we'll so dramatically lower your taxes that it would be a $1 billion stimulus for detroit by leaving money in drit that originated in detroit. then we have something we can offer. but if you're for revenue neutral tax reform you're not bringing anything to detroit. touf believe that we can have less taxes and smaller government and that will help create jobs. we have to believe in what we once believed in. if we do that we'll be the dominant party again. we have a strong force here. but frankly the president won iowa twice. so we can't do the same old same old. the definition of insanity is thinking the same thing will get you different results. the real question we have as a party is we have to decide can we be true to our purpose, true

to our core, true to our message, and figure out how to reach out to people? that's what we have to do. [applause] there was a painter by the name of robert hen ry about a hundred years ago. and he said, paint like a man coming over the hill single. -- singing. i love the image of that. if we could be the party that proclaims our message with a passion of patrick henry but also proclaims our message, our core message that we truly believe boldly proclaim that message like a man coming over the hill singing, then i think we will be the dominant party again. i want to be part of that. and i hope you'll help me. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] .

>>, senator paul. we have two announcement before we move on to our next agenda imet. first, if you have any amendment to our platform, the amendments are due now. it is just past 11:00. please bring them up here to the table to the right of the stage. or to the left of the stage depending if you're up here with me or down there with you. the next announcement is members of the credentialing committee, you are needed in the credentialing committee room immediately. so if you are one of those who served on the credentialing committee please feel free to exit now and go to hall b which is where the credentialing committee meets.

ok. the next item on our agenda is a report from the committee on rules. so will the chair please come to the podium. >> thank you. let get started with the rules committee report. i would like to thank the rules committee john from the third district was our secretary and i served along with she willy from first district, don, kalea. siah, bonnie and so thank you very much. also, i know many of you have not had a chance to read the rules before today and i want to apologize. apparently the part is the same email system that the i.r.s. did for lois learner. i am going to go over some

highlights in the rules very quickly. in the general rules, rule 1 c motions from the floor other than a nomination requires second from 50 or more delegates. so if you make a motion you'll have to have 50 people rise with you. the chair will do a quick count to see whether your motion will be recognized. it will take a two thirds vote to approve and to suspend or amend these rules once approved. in section 1, rule j, those persons who wish to make nominations, present motions, or speak to the convention, shall have after being recognized identify themselves by name and county. please remember to do that so the chair doesn't have to ask you to. also, very important rule 1 k, in debate on any subject, the number of speakers shall be limited to three delegates on each side. three in favor, three opposed one minute apiece.

if the motion concerned in this -- this is new this year. if the motion concerns the work of one of the convention committees, for example this rules report, the committee chairman may at his or her option be recognized to speak first in opposition to the motion. also, rule 1 l there are microphones marked opposed and in favor. the opposed microphone is to my left. the in favor microphone is to my right. please select the appropriate microphone to make it easier for the chairman to recognize ou in at nating order. also, another rule, rule 3 a just to point out highlights again. a call for a division requires a second from 60 or more delegates consisting of at least 15 from each district. if someone calls for a division

and you're supportive of the call please rise so we know that more thap one or two people believe that the call is in question. in the area of elections for lieutenant governor, attorney general, and treasurer candidates, nominations will be made from the floor nominating speeches may not exceed two minutes. nominations will be seconded but there will be no seconding speeches. only registered republicans eligible to hold their respective office may be nominated and voting shall be by written ballot. in the event of a second or subsequent ballots, the candidate receiving the least number of votes will be removed from conversation. finally on the platform, there shall be no debate on any

individual plank or section or the entire report of the platform, unless an amendment has been properly filed and according to our rules those amendments needed to have 50 signatures from delegates representing ten counties and as was just announced they were supposed to be turned in by 1:00 a.m. if you are the lead sponsor of a platform amendment, please be ready to approach the microphone and on the speaking in favors side so you will be recognized. the chairman will make two attempts to call you and give you the opportunity to address your motion, after that we will move on. lastly, no person other than a convention officer or committee chairman shall be allowed to speak on more than four items unless they are the lead sponsor of an amendment. so there will be limited to the amount of time that a person may address this convention. and i will turn it back over to our chairman.

[applause] >> thank you, david do i have a motion to approve the rules as amended? is the mike turned on? and -- >> can you hear me? >> there was a need to -- >> my name is lena, i would like to amend two rules. >> thank you. >> the first one is -- >> ma'am you are out of order at this point in time. >> you can't move the rules until they're amended -- >> you need to wait for the point of discussion about the motion and a second as i will

be calling them. and then you will have opportunity to speak. do i have a motion to approve the rules as presented by the committee? is there a second to the motion? is there any discussion? >> now it's my turn? i would like to amend. rule 5 g under platform eaments and debate to change the sentence the last sentence to read the deadline for subsubmission of amendments shall be 12 noon or when we recess for lunch. whichever is later. >> did you get the motion? >> is there a second to the motion? i'm going to need to see a few more people. >> the rules haven't been adopted yet so you don't have to have 50 people.

all you need is a second and a motion. >> we have enough people standing we're going to consider the motion seconded. is there any other discussion? the motion is to end item 5 g from 11:00 to 12:00 or when we adjourn for lunch. whichever is sooner. >> later. >> i apologize. all in favor of the motion. say aye. all opposed to the motion say nay. the nays have the motion. the motion is defeated. >> my second amendment would be

to amend 5 h under platform amendments and debate. to delete lines 1 through 14 and change the last sentence to read platform amendments must be submitted on paper with the requisite signatures as described in rule 5 f. and i will discuss that when you're ready to have me discuss it. >> there is a motion on the floor. did you get that captured? to amend 5 h and delete lines 1 through 14. is there a second to this motion? >> and to change the last sentence. >> and to change the last sentence. >> platform amendments must be submitted on paper with the requisite signatures as described in rule 5 f. >> give us one moment to apture that.

is there a second to this otion? is there any -- the motion is on the floor. it has been seconded. is there any further discussion? on this motion? >> i would like to discuss please. there are some delegates who do not have computers. and yet any amendments were supposed to be sent electronically. delegates from warren county didn't even get their platforms until thursday. i got mine late thursday afternoon. some people didn't even get them, period. they had to pick up one here. somebody at rpi needs to do a better job of getting those out in time for us to be able to ee them and read them.

[applause] >> thank you. is there any further center >> yes. i want to say a little bit more. requiring amendments to be sent electronically is just another way of making it difficult for delegates to amend a plank and a way to muzzle them. i object to this. the platform should be the most important part of the convention not speeches. the platform should be started within an hour of the call to order and not the next to last point on the agenda. [applause] >> thank you. we have a motion and a second. is there any further discussion on this motion? all in favor of the motion say aye. all opposed to the motion say nay. there's been a call for a division.

all in favor of the motion. lease stand. thank you. please be seated. ll opposed please stand. the no's have the order. the no's have it. he motion fails.

yes, sir. on.ow i have a mic that's >> just a point of clarification on the rules. i don't know if mr. chung could answer this or not. ut i'm looking at platform amendment 5 e. it says if a quorum is lost or a motion to adjourn is carried before the conclusion of the conversation of the amendments filed all planks not previously considered shall be accepted as reported by the committee and included in the final report, which is published on the party website. just by way of clarification does that mean if we have not debated a particular plank and it has not even come before us as delegates, but the committee has recommended it in reviewing them before coming to the delegates, it would be part of the committee? or part of the final planks and platforms? >> and you would like a response on the chairperson or

from the committee chair? >> it seems that could mean that if we adjourn prior to addressing these planchingse -- >> i'm going to ask the chair to the rules committee to return to the microphone. >> thank you. >> thank you. the intent of this rule e under the section on platform is that should we lose a quorum, maybe even before the platform discussion, the proposed platform as printed in the tabloid, that was built by the platform committee, will be approved. those amendments that are proposed today that no one has seen or considered will simply disappear. >> i was just clarifying because it seemed to indicate that there was a committee and i didn't know if that would be the standing platform committee would review it. so if we have not seen it as delegates, then it has not become a part of the platform. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> thank you very much. >> madam chairman. point of order. in the future --

>> the chairman will recognize the person. >> greg muller. in the future, you have two microphones that you've designated for for and against. there were people waiting to speak to that last motion and it just got blown through. so i would also like to clafrle that it's just these two center microphones. >> understood. >> so next time if you could check the microphones that ould be helpful. >> madam chair. >> the chair recognizes this microphone here. >> heather. clarification please there was a call for a head count and was it not heard or is that is there a reason why that was not done? >> the chair did hear that there was a call for a head count. however, it was clear that the no's had the motion at the time. from the standing vote that was taken. >> i disagree.

so that was why the head count was called. >> the chair will confer with the particle terrence on stage. -- parl taryns on stage. >> i will clarify the statement that was just made. i could see clearly from up here as could the two parl tearians. so a number of people stood for the ayes and a number of people stood for the nays. it was clear more people stood for the nays. we saw no reason to continue with the head count. >> so is it -- just clarification. if someone calls for that, the chair can override it. correct? >> i do not understand what you said. >> if someone calls for a head count someone can override the

request. >> if it is clear from the chair that there is no need for a count, physical count because of what we can see standing in the room, yes, the decision of the chair will stand. >> all right. back to the business at hand. we do have a motion on the floor and a second to approve he rules committee report. i now ask you consider the motion on the floor. all in favor of the motion to approve the report on the committee of the rules please say aye. all opposed say nay. the ayes have it. the report is adopted. [applause] it is now my pleasure to introduce a special guest speaker. the louisiana governor please help me welcome to the stage the honorable bobby jindal.

[applause] >> thank you all very, very much. thank you all very much. [applause] thank you all for that very warm reception. i want to first of all start off by thanking my good friend your governor terry for the great job he is doing for the people of iowa. [applause] >> cutting taxes, growing the economy, reforming your educational system. he is going to do a great job if we give him another four years. let's hear another round of applause. [applause] >> you've got several great leaders here whether it's your

senator chuck grassley, or steve king your congressman. i had the privilege of getting to know the next united states senator from the great state of iowa. isn't joni an amazing principled conservative? [applause] there are so many reasons to help her get elected. she will rein in taxes, rein in government spending. but if you needed one more reason to get excited, how amazing come this november when we get to retire harry reid? we no longer have to call him the majority leader of the united states senate? [cheers and applause] i thought long and hard about what i wanted to share with you today. i want to share with you today my greatest concern, my greatest frustration, my greatest fear of the obama administration and his legacy. there is so much that worries me about president obama.

i worry about $17 trillion of debt. i worry about an e.p.a. that's going to strangle our economy. i worry about more taxing, more spending, more borrowing. i worry about a diminished america on the world stage. i worry about an economic growth of 2% recovery. i worry about a culture that becomes more course day by day by day. but the thing that worries me the but the thing that worries me the most, not only is the governor of the great state of louisiana, but as the father of three children, is this president's attempt to redefine the american dream. what do i mean by that? if you listen to this president long enough, if you watch his policy, you see a focus on class envy, a president intent on dividing us by ideology, age, gender, success, a president who talked about redistribution, a president who seems to believe that america is about equality

of outcomes instead of equality of opportunity. i don't know about you, but that is not the american dream my parents taught me about. the american dream is not about growing the federal government, taxes, spending. the american dream is not about managing the slow decline of this great economy of this great country. the american dream is not about making us more and more like europe. the american dream is different. the american dream is that the circumstances of your birth do not determine your outcomes as an adult. the american dream is you do not have to be born any rights it took to the right gender to th}) to the right parents to do well in this country. the american dream as if you work hard and get a great education, you can do better than your parents and grandparents. indeed, how many parents had told their young children, "if you work hard, you can be the first in our family to go to school. you can be the first in our family to be a small business

octor, entrepreneur, dr whatever your dreams are." , a parents have told a boy or girl, any child in the world they can grow up to become president of the united states? unfortunately, we found out how true that was in 2008 and 2012. my parents taught me an american dream where our best days were ahead of us, not behind us, where we are a forever young country, and i want to talk to you today how we have to fight to preserve that american dream for our children and grandchildren. i want to start by sharing with you why that american dream is so important to me. my parents, my dad especially, he has lived the american dream. my dad is one of nine kids, first and only one of his family that got past the fifth grade. grew up in a house without electricity and without running water. i know because we heard these

stories every single day growing up. maybe you've got a parent or grandparent like that who is the first in your family, and what's amazing is nearly 50 years ago, my mom and dad came from halfway across the world -- they came from america because they were in search of the american dream. i want you to think about something -- there was no internet back then. it was not that easy to get on a plane back then. international long distance phone calls were incredibly expensive. my parents had never been to america. my parents had never been to louisiana. my parents had been to louisiana -- my parents had never met anybody who had been to louisiana. but they had an unshakable faith that if you get there and work hard and get a great education, you can provide your children with a better quality of life. they knew the american dream was

alive and well. they came nearly 50 years ago so that my mom could study at lsu. my dad -- he did not know anybody. book,ned up the phone went through the yellow pages and started calling company after company after company looking for a job. i don't know how many people turned him down or how many people laughed in his face or slammed the phone down, but after hours, days -- i don't know, maybe even after weeks of finallyhone calls, he convinced a guide to take a chance on him. there was a guy at a railroad company that said, "you can start on monday." what i love about the rest of the story is you have to meet my dad to understand it. he had not even met his new job. he tells his boss who he has "that's great. i'll start monday. i don't have a car. i don't have a drivers license. you have to pick me up on the

way to work monday." his boss was so taken by his enthusiasm and energy he did that. six months later, i was born in baton rouge, same hospital where my -- a couple of my kids were born. by the way, when i was born, i was what you would likely call -- politely call a pre-existing condition. there was no obama care or .nything like that back then my dad did something that was pretty simple and pretty common back then. he went to the doctor and shook hands with the doctor and said, "i will send you a check every month until i pay this bill in full." no obamacare, no government programs, no paperwork, two guys in a hospital shaking hands, and that's just what you did. when my kids were born, we had great insurance. it took us hours to fill out the paperwork. it wasn't nearly that simple, but i don't know if that would

work today. i asked my dad -- it was a simpler time back then. i said, "how do you pay for a baby on lay away? if you skip a payment, do they take the baby back?" .e said, "don't worry you are paid in full. no one is going to take you back ." the reason i tell you back is my -- the reason i tell you that is my parents have lived the american dream. my dad would always tell my brother and me growing up that he was not leaving us an inheritance or a famous last name, but he said every single day we should get on our knees and thank god we were blessed to be born in the greatest country in the history of the world, the united states of america. [applause] my dad said what is so great is that if you are willing to work hard, if you get a great education, there's no limit on

what you can do in this great country. there's so many things i could done.bout that we have i just signed a couple of bills on thursday helping to make sure thesiana continues to be most pro-life state in the country. [applause] theut our own version of second amendment into our state constitution, but the thing i want to talk to you about today, and one of the things i think is the most -- one of the most important things we have done is we have fought to preserve the american dream for all church in -- for our children, and impart that means making sure every child has the chance to get a great education. if you say it's not fair to tell a child you have the chance to pursue the american dream if you are trapped in a failing school -- we have done several things. one of the most important things we have done is said we are

going to let the dollars follow the child instead of making the child follow the dollars. [applause] 90% of our kids in new orleans are in charter schools. we have doubled the percentage between reading a graph on -- a reading and math on grade level in five years. we have got one of the countries most expansive, ambitious, comprehensive, school chores -- choice programs so the parents can decide because every child learns differently. some children are better homeschooled. some children do better in public schools. some children do better in christian schools, parochial schools, online schools, dual enrollment programs. we trust our parents. unions did not like this much. one of them got up and said, "parents don't have a clue when

it comes to making choices for their kids." i cannot summarize the debate at her between the left and the right. you see, they don't think we are smart enough to the size -- to decide what size soda we drink. they don't think we are smart enough to exercise our second amendment rights. they don't think we are smart enough to buy our own health insurance product and decide what we want to buy. they don't think we're smart enough to pick the schools for our children or to exercise our first amendment rights. they took us to the state supreme court. we picketed. we won those fights. we have a program where we are saving taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. 93% of the taxpayers are happy with the program. it's growing by double digits. who could be opposed to giving children better education and more choices? .ric holder, that's who the department of justice, eric took us toally federal court to stop these

children from having a chance to get a great education. i went to d.c. and called the 's attemptsion cynical, hypocritical, and immoral. [applause] i'm on president obama's christmas card list anymore, but that's ok. i said that these kids only have one chance to grow up. i said it's immoral almost 50 years to the day of martin luther king's famous "i have a dream" speech to trap the children in failing schools, but it is also that the critical. i say it's hypocritical because you know and i know there's not a chance in the world eric holder or president obama would send their children to these failing schools they are trying to force louisiana kids to attend. [applause] and i'm glad they have the ability to send their kids to

great schools. i just want the same ability for kids in the louisiana, iowa, and every state of this great country. you may wonder how we get to a point where our federal government is trying to trap kids in failing schools. i would argue this goes back to something president clinton said in the 1990's. remember, he said the era of big government is over. never before has somebody been so wrong about something so important in our modern political history. david axelrod actually said something i was agree with -- i agree with. he was trying to defend president obama in the middle of one of the scandals. there have been so many it's hard to keep track, but this is what he said -- he said the federal government is so vast, so expansive, the president could not possibly be responsible. you know, he is exactly right. that is the problem -- the government is too fast and too expansive. we have seen things that i never

would have believed would have happened in the united states of america. i can build a time machine and go back in time, if i were standing in front of you years ago before president obama had taken office, if you really believed that the federal government would run up a $17 trillion debt, would you have believed me? no. if i had gone back in time and asked if you really believe the federal government was going to use the irs to go after conservative groups because of their beliefs, would you have believed me? no. if i had gone back in time and asked if you would really believe the department of justice would try to take away guns from law-abiding citizens while they provide guns to mexican drug cartels and fast and theory is, would you have believed me? no. if i had gone back in time and asked if you really believe that they would create a new, expensive entitlement program putting bureaucrats between our doctors and patients when we cannot afford the government we got, would you have believed me? no. if i had gone back in time and asked would you really believe

when our ambassador was killed in libya, they would blame it on a youtube video, would you have believed me? no. i had fun back in time and said that our secretary of state would get so exasperated with the congress, with the senate for asking her about this she would actually say "what difference does it make," would you have believed me? if i had gone back in time and said the department of justice would be spying on ap reporters in the press, would you have believed me? >> no. and here is perhaps one of the most dangerous overreach is a federal government power -- time and time again, we think we have seen the worst erie we have the federal government intruding into our religious liberties, one of the most dangerous assaults on constitutional freedoms by our founding fathers, can you believe that the obama administration found the supreme court threatening the green family and hobby lobby with fines of up to $1.3 million

a day simply because they don't to buy use their money abortions for their employees? one of the most important fights we face as a country is to stand up for our first amendment religious liberty -- religious rights. [applause] i knew the president did not like our second amendment rights . i thought he was ok with the first amendment. i guess he does not like those either. this president has the wrong idea about religion -- he thinks it starts and ends on sunday. the united states of america did not create religious liberty. religious liberty created the united states of america.

it is the reason we live in this great country. [applause] you may have noticed there was a controversy over the "dynasty" "duck a while ago -- dynasty" family and while ago. defenders wasst the governor of louisiana. you may have thought i defended them simply because the family is from louisiana. you may have thought i defended them simply because they are friends of mine. you may have thought i defended them because my little boys are big fans. you may have thought i defended him because i think it's great to have a tv show you can actually watch with your family, you know have to worry about the language and the images and all

that other nonsense that comes up. [applause] the reason i defended them is of the left.tired i'm tired of their hypocrisy, tired of them saying they tolerate the bait and dissent. the reality is this -- they do tolerate debate and dissent for everybody except for those that have the temerity to disagree with them. [applause] by the way, i don't think it's any coincidence the assault on religious liberty happened to be focused on even jellico christians in our society. i'm not generally in favor of lawsuits, but there is one lawsuit i would endorse -- we like to say that president obama is a smart man. we like to call him a constitutional scholar. i know he spent three years at harvard law school. i would encourage and recommend to him that he sues harvard law school to get his tuition money

back. i'm not sure what he learned while he was there. [applause] i thought it was pretty ironic a few months ago at the national prayer request, the president spoke eloquently about the war on religious liberty, on christians being persecuted overseas -- and let's be clear -- there's a silent war on religious liberty at home in america. there's a shooting war overseas. beingare men and women killed, executed, tortured for their beliefs overseas, and i'm not trying to compare the two, but it was disjointed to hear the president get up and speak so eloquently about the need to protect the rights of religious liberty, the freedoms, the ability of christians to worship on an international basis. i don't think he realized the irony that once again there was a grand canyon sized gap between what he says and what he does right here at home.

saiddent obama basically if you like your religious liberty, you can keep your religious liberty. [applause] as i close, i just want to focus on the latest piece of insanity that now defines our foreign policy -- apparently, the president has adopted a catch and release program when it s.mes to terrorist as i wrap up, i've got just three questions i want to ask, and i want to make sure i understand, want to make sure we are on the same page. the first question i got for you think the do you president of the united states should set the precedent that we now negotiate with terrorists? do you think the president of the united states should just

unilaterally decide when and how he wants to obey or break united states laws and constitution? do you think the president of the united states should release five terrorists who oppose not only the united states of america but our way of life so they can go back and rejoin the fight against americans? as i think about this, it leads me to one inescapable just difficult question. opinion on this as well -- are we witnessing the most liberal, ideological extreme administration we have seen in our lifetime right here in the united eighth of america? are we witnessing the most incompetent administration we have witnessed in our lifetime right here in these united states of america? [applause]

i've thought about this long and hard. this is a tough question like which came first -- the chicken or the egg? the only answer i've been able to come up with, the best answer , actually comes from secretary clinton herself. to quote our secretary, "what difference does it make?" [applause] i am here to tell you there's a revolution brewing. i am a complete optimist about the future of these united states of america. our founding fathers, our founding fathers trusted not in the brilliance of our federal government, not in the beautiful buildings and monuments of washington, d.c. -- they trusted in the brilliance of a free people. they knew if you got the government out of the way, if you freed the entrepreneurial spirit and the everyday love in hard work of moms and dads, that

truly, the american dream would be alive and well. they knew and we know that we will leave more opportunities for our children and we --erited from our parents then we inherited from our parents. i know this -- there's a rebellion brewing in these united states of america. people don't want incremental change. we want a hostile takeover of washington, d.c. our best days are ahead of us. god bless the united states of america. thank you very much for allowing me to speak with you today, and god bless the great state of iowa. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, governor jindal.

that was very inspiring. it's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, former united states senator from pennsylvania, the honorable rick santorum. please help me welcome him. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. back in great to be iowa. i am actually on vacation, and when i was asked to speak your today, i talked to my wife, and she said, "it's right in the middle of our two-week vacation," and i said that chuck grassley has always told me i should vacation in iowa more often, so here i am. i am honored and happy to be here. [applause] admit, i will not be here long. i have a book i will be signing which you will be hearing about in a minute because -- because i want to talk to you about what

is in that book. if you cannot make the book signing, i will be at my friend's reception later this afternoon. hope i get a chance to see .verybody i feel like i'm coming back home in many respects. had a wonderful experience a couple of years ago. i can tell you that it changed me. it changed our family. we have a very special place in our heart for the people of the state of iowa. last time i was talking to a group anywhere near this side was just down the road at stony creek inn on caucus night. that night, i got up and talked , and iy grandfather talked about my grandfather's funeral. when i was a young man, the first person i had ever seen who

.ad died was my funeral i knelt next to his casket. he was a coal miner, worked until he was 72 years old. i remember looking at his hands, these enormous hands of a coal miner who literally as an immigrant dug his way for freedom and opportunity for me and my family. the reason i talked about that that night and i continue to me, about it was because to he -- even though he was not a republican, he was a dang democrat, but that hard work, responsibility, take responsibility for yourself and create a better life for the next generation, that the great experience, that blue-collar experience -- to me, that is the republican party. up,s ago when i was growing the republican party was the country club set.

it was the corporate set. .t was the 1% if you look at the surveys right now, those folks are voting republican anymore. the 1% on the republicans, by and large. the areas we use to win, rich suburban areas -- they are not republican anymore. , you knowcross iowa the republicans i met were hard working people, folks who were not the corporate executives, onple who work for a living -- earn wages, small business people trying to piece things together, who believed in the inrican dream, who believed work and responsibility. that's the republican party. that's who we are, but let's be honest -- that's not how we talk as republicans. that's not our message, as the

republican establishment would .ave us dictate our message is all about corporatism and business. i remember at the convention, i spoke on a tuesday night at the national convention, and i walked into the arena, and there were placards on all the seats. do you know what the plaque richard reid? ."e built that >> do you know what the placards read? "we built that." at aent an entire night convention bringing out small business person at the large business personal one after another talking about how they .uilt their business not one time did we bring out a business owner and a worker to talk about how they built their business. can win every business person's vote and still lose

elections by landslides. we need workers if we are going to win. we need to start talking to workers if we are going to win. is who we are. that is who the workers in the republican party are. that's who the base of the republican party are. look at any of the surveys. as far as a lot of workers in america are concerned, we don't care about them because we don't talk about them. if our message is -- which it has been for quite some time, cut taxes, particularly focused on higher income individuals to create growth and opportunity, balance the budget, and cut part of the you are 80% of americans who do not get welfare benefits and are not the top income earners, where are you in this picture? see, what is the most favorite word of every single person in america?

their own name. deliver as get up and message and paint this beautiful picture of growth and economic prosperity, but as we paint that picture, they do not see themselves in this picture. we are not going to win elections then. i wrote this book "lou koller conservatives," and i'm traveling the country talking to candidates, and painting for candidates, and encouraging them -- i wrote this book "blue collar conservatives." start talking about average working americans. start -- stop talking about corporations and wall street and business. yes, we want to be the party of growth, but we also want to be the party that is pro-worker as well as progrowth.

how do we do this? well, it's very simple. one of the reasons i think we did as well as we did not just here in iowa but in ten other states which we won and others we came very close, is we went out and talked about the core things that connect to average working americans. things like energy and keeping energy costs down, not just so your bills are lower. but also to create jobs in energy but also to create manufacturing jobs. because lower energy costs result in a better opportunity for manufacturers to be profitable. and i went out with a whole plan on manufacturing, how we have to bring jobs made in america back in the lex con of the republican party. [applause] and we need not just the rhetoric to say we want things

made in america. we want policies that make that possible. americans can compete. we can compete with higher wages because we have better talent, we have better patent protections, cheaper energy. but we have higher taxes and higher regulations and higher litigation costs. and that's something government can do something about and that's something republicans should be talking about if we want to be successful in getting working men and women's votes in this country. we need to talk about manufacturing. when you talk about energy we need to talk be construction, rebuilding the infrastructure of america. we can do that by shifting resources not new tax bus shifting resources from the waste and the excess of this bloated federal budget. and state budgets. and start putting people back to work. start talking about jobs, 70% of americans don't have college

degrees. but if you listen to our rhetoric you would assume that they all do. because that's the jobs we're talking about. but we need to have good-paying jobs, family-sustaining jobs. in areas where folks who don't go to college can also raise a family. it connected with people. i'll give you a little statistic during the campaign. it was -- i had a meeting with governor romney's people shortly after the campaign. and they shared a survey with me. which sort of stunned me. but i noticed that all the exit polls were always wrong and they would come out about 6:00 and always underestimate how well i did. they started noticing that, too, state after state that they did better than what the exit polls showed. and we didn't do following, we didn't have any money to do polling. but they started asking the question not just who you plan to vote for but when are you planning to vote? and what happened startled me.

they show med a poll from the last state the campaign was in. and if you were going to vote before 6:00, governor romney and i were tied. if you were going to vote after excuse me. 5:00. if you were going to vote after 5:00 i was ahead by 21 points. over 6 million workers stayed home and didn't vote in the 2012 election. they wouldn't vote for barack obama. but they didn't think we cared. because we don't talk about them. and their lives. and it's not just about economics. because you know what? the folks struggling in america, the people whose wages are stagnant and inflation is keeping away. but there are other things going on in their life, too, that's not getting ahead. do you know what the democrats are going to hit us with in the fall. you know what's coming. they telegraphed it and they

did for 2016. income inequality. what's our answer? what are we going to say? cut capital gains taxes? what's our answer? well, let's look at their studies. because they actually did studies. you know what their studies showed? all the liberal colleges and think tanks did these studies on income inequality and guess what they found out two major things. number one, income inequality has not increased in america in the last 50 years. number two -- that doesn't mean that's good because that we have had a lot of income inequality. and we should be concerned about that. but what they found was the number one factor, the number one factor to determine whether people will rise in society or not is not education. you know what it is? marriage and family. marriage and family.

if you were raised in a two-parent family you do better. if you live in a two-parent family, the husband and the wife and the family do better. yet where are we as republicans? i'm not talking about going out and fighting the battle of redefining marriage. i'm talking about the battle of reclaiming marriage as an institution that we should be romoting in america. [applause] we have lost the marriage debate in america for one reason. because during our watch marriage has been redefined. marriage is now by most people's cal bration simply a romantic relationship between two people that the government affirms. well, ladies and gentlemen, if that's all marriage is, then as far as i'm concerned anybody

should be able to get married. but that's not what marriage is. at least that's not what it used to be. marriage used to be the union of a man and the woman for the purpose of coming together to have children to raise the next generation and give every child in america their birth right to be raised by their natural mother and natural father. cheers and applause] why can't we reclaim marriage? why can't we do what we did with a whole lot of other things? everybody knows you shouldn't text and drive. why? because everybody in society says don't do it. you know you're not supposed to smoke. you know you're supposed to drink -- not supposed to drink issuingrd beverages. none of those things have the health impact on children on adults that marriage does. we need to be campaigning on the public good of marriage.

and we need to have policies that promote the two things i just talked about. work and marriage. [applause] there was a study i talked about it all the time. if you do three things in america, if you do these three things you are almost guaranteed, 2% chance you will ever be in poverty in america. number one, work. number two, graduate from high school. and number three, get married before you have children. you do those three things in america you'll never be in poverty. now -- [applause] look to what the obama administration is doing on work and marriage. i was campaigning in wisconsin and the state senator came up to me and told me that in wisconsin if you are married and have -- if you are unmarried and have two children, and you make $15,000

a year, you receive $38,000 in government benefits. if you marry, you lose them all. do you understand what that -- and that's not just wisconsin. it's in every state. it's more in some states. you know what that means? that government prohibits, makes it economically infeasible for single moms to marry. it makes it a bridge too far. because it's economically impossible to make it work. and the same thing with work. you heard all the talk about obamacare how it's a disincentive to work because the more you work the less your subsidies get. look at all the welfare programs. every single one of them, the more you work the lower your benefits get. we have a government right now that is fixated on keeping people unmarried and not working.

and we have to be the party of work and marriage if we want to be successful and if america is o be successful. i think we're going to have a great 2014 here in iowa. i think -- we have great candidates. the great governor. great senate candidate. great congressional candidates. i have no doubt 2014 is going to be a good year. simply because of how bad the president and his party is doing right now. but you know what? and i understand why candidates and all of you want to go out and just bang the president. it's fun. it's easy. it's getting easier every day. just look what's going on in iraq right now. his major foreign policy accomplishment, al qaeda has been decimated. yeah, right. this president is a failure on every front.

but ladies and gentlemen if we want to transform america, not the way he's talking about it, but back to the values that made this country the greatest country in the history of the world, the reason why people wanted to come here, then we have to have a positive agenda. and we don't have to do what the establishment says we have to do. we don't have to be more like them. we have to be true to the principles that made our country great. which are the principles of the republican platform. and are conservative principles. cheers and applause] we don't have to compromise in my opinion on anything. because what concervix is is simply this. what has worked. what we want is what we know has worked. to create a great america. we don't have to go out and appeal to different interest groups because for diversity's

sake. you want to appeal to recent immigrants? you know all almost all recent immigrants are working up the economic ladder. almost all are in blue collar or service related jobs. start talking to them not about immigration. we don't have to talk about immigration. if we do you know what we should talk about? how immigration is suppressing their wages. and keeping their wages down. and not allowing them and their family opportunity to rise in america. that's a message that doesn't say we have to bring in 2.5 million people a year and give amnesty to 13 million people. it's a message that we as republicans care about you as workers to keep your wages -- to have your wages be family sustaining wages and undermining those as the democrats want to do will simply do one thing. put you more on the government payroll which makes you want to vote more like democrats. and that is not what anybody

wants. ladies and gentlemen, we have a message for average working americans. we are the party of average working americans. we need to be that party not but we need to talk about it, we need to campaign on it, i had a meeting just this week with the prime minister of australia, tony abott. you know what he told me? he told me he campaigned -- and the reason he was able to win as a conservative in australia s he campaigned on blue collar values. on working people values. ladies and gentlemen, the people of america, the workers of america know that president obama's policies have let them down. thai just have to know that we care. and the last election, 23% on

people of the exit polls answered this question this way. they were asked the question what's the most important issue in the election for you for president? 23% said does he care about people like me? those people were all lower and middle income people. all lower and middle income people. a quarter of the electorate. you know what? our candidate got 19% of those votes. i know you care about working americans because you are working americans. but you need to demand your leaders to stop listening to the voices in the big cities who want to talk about capital gains and cuts for higher income individuals' taxes and start talking about creating growth and opportunity for all working americans. then we will be a majority party not just in iowa but across this country for a long,

long time to come. thank you very much. and god bless you. [applause] >> thank you senator san tax reform. now that our speaks here have wrapped up we're going to take your calls and thauthsdz on the iowa state g.o.p. convention. and you can see the numbers up on your screen fror republicans. for democrats. and all others can use the all others number. you can also send us a tweet. and if you're joining us from c-span radio welcome as well. the quad city times let's take a little overview here showing that the 2016 hopefuls to make

introducty visit at the iowa g.o.p. convention just heard from the three potential 2013 presidential hopefuls speaking here today. kentucky senator rand paul, louisiana governor bobby jindal. and wrapping things up here rick santorum trying to convince iowa republican activists they are worthy of conversation in about 18 months when iowa would hold the first in the nation caucuses. we're going to get to your calls now. we've got on the line with us dennis calling from georgia. go ahead. caller: god bless you all. i've been listening. i just got home from work. i'm a graveyard worker. at an automobile plant. i am 58 years old. i have a high school graduate. but i like what everybody said today. it is the working america.

i made some choices in my life that wanted to work. my dad work, his father work. we're a working family. and we are a family. and it is family values. i'm a catholic. i believe in marriage as the most vital thing that we can do. but i don't mind working. i love working. >> host: so then i guess what rick santorum just said spoke to you? caller: absolutely. and i've been a republican all my life. i'm not rich by any means. i make $20 ap hour. but i work 50 hours a week to make that money. i have eight kids. i have -- they all went to college. they're all married.

i cose to go to work to get some additional benefits so that in the last eight years of my working career i can get my house paid off. we've been in for 18 years. i can relax a little bit. i still want to work but i believe the country has gone the wrong direction with mr. obama. host: so when it comes to 2016 who do you think you're going to be voting for? wiveragetsdz i like the -- caller: i like jindle who was on earlier. he always speaks to me. host: all right. caller: and i think if he runs that's who i plan on voting for. host: let's take a look here at an article. from the shreveport times. the headline bobby jindal spending two days in iowa. the louisiana governor at the g.o.p. convention. the presidential testing grounds. iowa republicans still a little

fuzzy on just who he is. but he's doing everything he can to remedy that especially if he runs for president in two years. he is thinking and praying about. he would be the first indian american president but also he is also the first indian american governor in the united states. his fellow republicans spoke at the convection just now. rick santorum, rand paul. they've made multiple trips to iowa but this is his first public appearance in iowa since the end of the last presidential cycle when we saw him here. taking your calls. we want to get your thoughts and we're going to take the thoughts of yol anda. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have been watching the -- state republican party convention on tv and i am a democrat. a life long democrat. but i don't see that as central to this issue. i am very discrrnled by what i

heard rick santorum say is decisive language. i am a doctor. i have a phd. i worked very hard on my late mother and grandmother's shoulders. i stand. so when i hear him talking about the working class, i am the working class. when i hear him talking about the immigrants don't let them in. and i don't see that president obama has ruined everything. i don't want to live in a country where we don't provide health care for everybody. host: you just listened to what the republicans had to say. did anything speak to you from these three that we just heard from or who are you thinking of from 2016? guest: it will be someone from the democratic party. i have sat and have listened all morning to what thetch said thus far. it's decisive and it doesn't represent the kind of america i choose to live in because it will exclude me. it will exclude my son and all of the work we have put in to

make sure that we do contribute to this society. host: and you mentioned the deviciveness. we heard some of that from someone on the democratic side, the des moines register reporting that the dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz of florida was here yesterday just outside holding a press conference saying all republicans are right-wing extremists. the tea party has swallowed the g.o.p. and that there are signs of deeper political extremism. especially after the number two man in the house eric canter lost his primary race to a little known tea party favorite. again those are the comments from florida representative debbie wasserman schultz. taking your calls now sheila is up next in fredericks. >> hi. good morning. i actually live in his district. and he didn't lose because he lost because he had bad campaign manager. i wasn't even aware that there

was even an election because there was only one sign put out so i wasn't even aware of what date that the election was being held. but his campaign manager was awful. but regarding these candidates now in the past i believe i voted democrat but i didn't vote -- i didn't vote for president obama. and that was because i did not like -- i don't agree with the homosexual. and so after listening to these guys the only one i would look at is rick santorum. and the reason why i'm an african american female. divorced mother of one. my son is just graduated college. yes, i am -- i worked my way up. got a degree in financial management. and my son just graduated. and he has a degree in communications and i believe in and i came from a working class family of 12. mother and father married for 40 years. host: what did you hear from

rick santorum that you really liked? guest: the fact that he talked about the working class. and the fact that he is right ornt money when he says that the issue on the -- we don't need to talk about immigration. it's about opportunity. and i liked how he talks about the family. because let's face it we all know that two are better than one. i can tell you that from a -- it's harder if you are by yourself trying to purchase a home, trying to do all of that. and i don't like debbie wasserman schultz. i don't like the change of the democrats. i don't like all this division. because what i don't like, i don't like the fact -- i have a son and he needs to have opportunities open for young men in this country. host: thanks. we're going to get to a couple more calls here. joe's calling from staten island, new york, on the republican line. what are your thoughts about the iowa state g.o.p. convention? caller: first, thanks for

-span. i voted for ron paul in 88. i don't -- [inaudible] i like what he said about cutting budgets but i don't trust him in foreign policy. cruz is a crackpot. he shut down the government. he lost my vote because they shut down the government. maybe marco rubio because he worked his way up. and immigrants not spanish but immigrants my grand father came from italy. he [inaudible] no credit cards. he saved money. and my mother worked her way from high school. and i paid for my -- paid back student loans. and maybe rick santorum because he talks mick.

-- middle class. host: alex on the line for democrats. go ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i was listening to c-span this morning and at the governor from louisiana. bobby jindal. and all he did was talk about the government. and then you live here and you have to have a government. and all i have to say is if you don't like the way this government does things leave the country. go somewhere else to live. host: who do you want to see running for president or even some of the votes in the mid terms? caller: [inaudible] i like to see host: who? caller: governor mark o'malley.

host: from maryland. caller: right. thank you. host: taking a look at facebook a couple comments. maryland says this group is the best the g.o.p. can find? they really are in trouble. lori also writes. i can't stand santorum. jindal seems pretty level-headed. out of the three, i'd have to stand with rand. taking your calls now. iowa state g.o.p. convention we just saw. what are your thoughts about it? and glenn's on the line from michigan for independent callers. go ahead. caller: thank you very much for taking the call. and i would just like to say about the lady who called before and said senator santorum said we shouldn't allow any immigrants in. he didn't say that. he was talking about the issue of immigration and how it's a big reason that we've had stagnant wages for decades now. he was talking about that we should have a sensible level of

immigration. if you flood the labor market with cheap labor by mass immigration, it helps to suppress wages. that was the point he was making. he wasn't being anti-immigrant or anything like that. host: and you're in michigan. how are things for you, the job force working economy, that sort of thing in your neck of the woods there? caller: well, we're about 49th out of 50 out of the 50 states. so things aren't too good here yet. and just one other thing on the issue of immigration. e have the most generous since 1965 immigration act we've had the most generous immigration policies in human history. host: who do you want to see run for president? caller: right now, i like senator santorum, ted cruz, and a few other people.

just one more thing about immigration though, we should have an immigration policy that's in the best interest of all americans citizens. host: thanks a lot. evans, what do you think about what you saw today at the iowa state g.o.p. convention? caller: hello. you hear me? well, first of all, it's a pleasure to talk. i've been observing for years. i'm a capitalist and a democrat but i'm not a fanatic. i voted for mccain and romney and since then president kennedy years ago. i've been here for many years. 100% for females but always like to have a male should be president and rule our country. that's what i believe.

host: so if you see hillary clinton there on the ballot. caller: i have nothing against the person personally but i like and respect a male as our leader in this state. host: all right. judy from pennsylvania. what are your thoughts about the iowa state g.o.p. convention? caller: i really enjoyed watching it. senator santorum is one of my favorite. i would have voted for him in the last election, i would have voted for him. and i certainly would vote for him again. i think he makes a lot of sense. i've been a registered republican my whole life and i'm 72 years old. i have never taken any government assistance. a rked, i volunteer a as foster grandparent under that program and have for eight years. these are some of our programs that our dear president would

like to cut back on. and yet it helps to keep those of us who are older and gives us something to work towards, something to work for, something that makes our life meaningful. and gives us a little bit of income so we don't ever have to take any government assistance. i was brought up that you worked hard, and you didn't take government assistance. so i'm a republican through and through. host: would rick santorum be your choice for president? guest: rick santorum would definitely be my choice. host: let's take a quicker look. he ran for president two years ago. u.s.a. today has an article about him in which he talks about another potential 2016 candidate hillary clinton. he asked if he assumed that she would be running. that they gently do not nominate old and tried and true. and that hillary clinton would not be a typical democratic choice. now, he finished second to mitt

romney in a republican primary back in 2012. he has a new book out blue collar conservative and he talks a lot more about his ideas and his positions. in this u.s.a. today article. back to your calls. richard in nuge on the independence line. -- new jersey line. caller: with my tv turned down as i'm supposed to. host: thank you very much. caller: i am a veteran of the korean war and i tried the v.a. and i quit them about 20 years ago saying oh boy. i remember walking into a v.a. hospital and seeing a poor guy in a letter right as you walked in and i said this is not for me. and that's what this president this group has done. they put in want to socialize medicine and you'll get something like the v.a. host: who do you think in terms of leading the country

in terms of leading the country for the future, who do you want to see? i'm a registered independent, so i am open-minded . i like jack kennedy, and unfortunately, he got shot. i don't see any of the democrats. it would just be a republican, that's all. thanks. and we have a tweak here -- support are therefore rand paul. turning over to facebook here, chuck says -- and chris writes on facebook --

it is still early, and there's a lot of governors out there. bill is on the line in la mesa, texas, for republicans. what are your thoughts about the gop iowa state convention? caller: i feel that rick santorum would be the way to go. i heard everything that he had to say, and he made some good points on his speech and his statements, and i feel that the democrats have put our country in such a mess that financially we needtruggling, and some good, god-fearing people in office to turn our country back around. host: what stuck with you about rick santorum's comments? the way he holds himself and conducts, and he comes right out and pulls no punches. he is very firm on what he

stands for and what he believes. the lastor him election, and unfortunately, like you said, he came in my choices,if i had he would be the one that i choose for president. lucille, calling from claremont, new hampshire, on the democrats line. what are your thoughts? lucille, go ahead, are you there? thoughts -- caller: my thoughts at this -- united we stand, divided we fall. all right, your calling on the democrats line. anymore thoughts? ofno, they all promise a bed roses. republicans, the only thing is a lot of the year. they are for the elderly, social .ecurity, medicare, medicaid

it's very sad when you vote -- and i am 82 years old -- that you have to hear this kind of fear that is the going on in this country. it almost makes you think -- are we headed for communism? dear god, i hope not. and i thank you very much. you, lucille. thanks to all of our callers today. we'll have more live coverage later today on c-span. we will take you to uc irvine for president obama delivering the graduating class' commencement address on the 50th anniversary of president johnson's address during the dedication ceremony on the site that would become the university. you can watch our live coverage starting is the president begins his remarks. fromsome of the speakers

the iowa convention. we start off with kentucky senator rand paul. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. [applause] thank you. can tell you most everybody in washington has seen joni earns that. and i can tell you that the shaking inf pork are their boots and worried joni will come up there. [applause] you we are going to do everything to make sure that she does come up there. can send ushow iowa a guy who disparages farming and disparages my friend, chuck grassley. i don't see how that is going to happen. [applause] i don't know about you, but i'm

not so excited about the president freeing the taliban. i'm not so excited about the president saying somehow they are no longer a danger. i'm not so excited about hillary "oh, the taliban and of no danger to americans -- is of no danger to americans. oh i said the other day in texas that if this president likes to trade so much, we've got that marine on gun charges down in mexico. why don't we do a trade, but this time instead of trading the taliban, why don't we trade him five democrats? [applause] john kerry, hillary clinton, nancy pelosi -- i can come up with a list. but here is the funny thing about trying to tell a joke when you are in politics --

immediately, reporters are like, "seriously, and he just compared democrats to the taliban?" ,o we had to issue a correction so we sent out a tweet and said, "just kidding, except for loc -- ."losi i've got good news and bad news from washington. the good news is -- the government is open. the bad news is your government is open and still borrowing a million dollars every minute. the debt is spiraling out of control. and look at the numbers, you will be frightened for your country and your kids' future. some are saying that this burden of debt costs one million jobs every year. it is literally out of control, but during the shutdown, they sent us a notice and said, "tell us who your essential employees

are and who your unessential employees are," and i said we are really going to learn something about government, learn where the problems are. .his sounds like a good process intelligence cover that there are 100 thousand federal employees that make over $100,000 a year that were declared unessential. i thought, "my goodness, that's the bulk of the government. maybe we could have a smaller government. this is washington. i discovered there is a trick. declared unessential, you don't have to show up for work during a shutdown, but you are still paid. only in washington could you shut the government down and it costs more than keeping it open. completely insane, but i asked or a report from my staff. . asked what the irs said 90% unessential. what did the epa say? 95% unessential. i said, "we are getting

somewhere here. maybe we are going to learn something." then i actually went through some of the epa employees. one woman had not been to work in 20 years. no contact, no e-mail for five years. we found that she's been fired? no, you don't get it -- she is a federal employee. we cannot even fire the people at the ba will have lied to us about our veterans, made up lists and allowed veterans to wait in a line and i -- we cannot fire them. this is how dysfunctional your is.rnment there was a woman at the v.a. selling jewelry and vitamins from her computer and had employed 17 paid interns that were family members of hers. they found another guy who had for sixnloading porn hours a day. he still works for the epa. it's a disgrace. at my favorite is they found guy named jonathan beal. he had been working at the epa

for 11 years, jenny mccarthy's right-hand man. a look and he always was getting raises and performance bonuses. his reviews were good, but he had not been to work in six months. they did something extraordinary -- they followed up and asked his boss. the reason he's not here very often as he is also a cia agent. kind of an interesting combination. then they did something extraordinary -- they called the cia, and they said, "jonathan who?" turns out he had never worked for the cia, but i imagine this guy makes $150,000 a year sitting at his apartment or house next to the pool with a asksand his boss calls and if he is coming in, and he says, "no, i'm in istanbul on secret assignment." this is where your government is, completely crazy and completely out of control. we went through this shutdown,

so i guess it was terrible, the government shutdown, right? no, two thirds of your government is on autopilot, mandatory spending and never shuts down. medicare, social security, medicaid. a third of your government is national defense, and the other stuff we spend money on, so we did the right thing. we said we should pay our soldiers, so we opened up the military and paid for the military. 1/6 ofare down to government. you would have thought the world was ending on the sky was falling from all the talk from the establishment media. the president, though, was afraid you might not notice. remember what he did? the world war ii monument. no telling how many employees it took. this no entrance, there's no exit, but he wanted to make sure you knew that you were going to pay a penalty if you messed with him.

if you want an image to remember in the confrontation for the shutdown from trying to get the president to do the responsible thing, if you want an image to remember, remember the world war ii veterans cutting the placards, cutting the barricades and throwing them on the lawn at the white house. [applause] the democrats and the president say they cannot find anywhere to cut, so i have been pointing out a few things in a few areas where he might consider it. we spent $1.8 million last year on the rollup beef jerky. spent $5 million studying the collective action of fish. we spent a half $1 million developing a menu for mars. this is a good job -- if you have a 26-year-old kid who

cannot find a job and you are looking for a job, this is a great job. stipend, two weeks, all expenses paid in hawaii. the prerequisites to get the job are difficult, though. you have to like food. they send these 20 something-year-old kids to hawaii with the assignment to develop a menu that is a half $1 million study to develop a menu for mars, and you know what a bunch of college kids came up with? pizza. quarter of a million developing a 3-d printer for pizza, so i am imagining -- are we going to be able to get it on the mars module that we are sending? we are going to send a 3-d printer to make it so when we get to mars -- this is your government, the total and complete dysfunctionality of your government, but they say they cannot cut anything, but the problem are the entitlements, and none of us are saying get rid of that. we are saying reform the entitlements.

[applause] but here is the disappointing thing, and this is what discourages me about washington. we had a vote to cut $3 million. now, some will tell you, $3 million, that's peanuts. why bother? if you don't start somewhere, how are we ever going to get started? [applause] this was to cut $3 million for twiggy, the water skiing squirrel. now, i like dumb pet tricks and if you email me one i will look at it. but i'm not for having the taxpayers spend $3 million for twiggy the water skiing squirrel to support the selling of american walnuts in spain. and god love you if you've got a walnut farm but that's your job to advertise them, not the taxpayers. [applause] but we had a vote. and here's the disturbing thing. that's easy.

this should be really easy. the vast majority of republicans, americans, democrats, should say when you have a $1 trillion annual deficit that we should be able to cut twiggy the water skiing squirrel. but here's the disappointment. it failed. the majority of republicans voted to keep the money. and here's the other thing we need to know as republicans. it's not that we're against the safety net. but we think a safety net should be temporary and the able bodied should eventually get back to work. that's tough love. [applause] but as republicans, we can't be out there for what it takes, which is tough love, if we're not willing to stop corporate welfare. we've got to stop and end all the welfare at big business. it's crazy. [applause] when i think of this administration, i think of old mcdonald's

farm. old mcdonald's farm of scandals. here a scandal, there a scandal, everywhere a scandal. but of all the scandals the one i think that bothers me the most is benghazi. [cheers and applause] there's been a lot of discussion of the talking points. the democrats say well that's political. well, i'll tell you what's not political. if you are going to consider somebody to be your commander in chief, you have to have somebody who will secure the troops, protect the embassies, and who will send reinforcements. [cheers and applause] the debacle in benghazi started in the very beginning at the very top with hillary clinton deciding that the benghazi consulate was more like paris than it was baghdad. it was a war zone and it was a mistake from the very beginning

to have nobody protecting that consulate. [applause] six months in advance of the attack on the consulate, there was a request made of hillary clinton for a plane to fly the plane around in case of emergency. guess what. that emergency did arise and the night we were looking for reinforcements in triply, do you know what we were doing? we were begging to let them have the libyans use one of their planes, which was an american plane that we paid for. but we had to beg the lip libyans because there was no plane because the state department refused to allow a plane to be there. this was something that was a terrible and tragic error. but a couple of days after hillary clinton state department turns down the plane. do you know what they have money for? they found $100,000 for a charging station for electric cars at the embassy in vienna.

they found $100,000 to send comedians to india to make chy not war. they spent $5 million on crystal glassware. but didn't have enough money for security. they spent $650,000 on facebook ads. seems they need more friends at the facebook for the state department. they spent $700,000 when they say i didn't have enough for security, they spent $700,000 on landscaping at the embassy in brussels. so all of this is going on. meanwhile colonel woods is there with a 16 man personnel team a month before the attacks and he said we need to stay. the british embassy is pulling out. there have been attacks on our complex.

we need more security not less. hillary clinton's state department what do they say? no. so i finally got her in front of my committee on the way out. and i frankly said look, if i would have been president i would have asked for your resignation. [cheers and applause] and i asked her a question. i asked her a question. i said did you read the cables from the ambassador? she never read them. it's a dereliction of duty. it's something that should preclude hillary clinton from ever being considered as commarpped in chief. -- commander in chief. [cheers and applause]

thank you. but if you want that to happen, if you want a republican to be the next president of the united states, we are going to have to be a bigger, better, bolder party. there's a big debate going on, though. some say for us to be bigger we have to dilute our message. we need to be democrat-like. we need to be more moderate to get more electoral votes. i couldn't disagree more. in fact, i think the core of our message we could be even more bold, more honest, more forthright. [cheers and applause] when ronald reagan won a landslide, he ran unabashedly on lowering tax rates for everyone that it would stimulate the economy and 20 million jobs were created. that's what we need again.

[applause] it isn't about being tepid. in washington, you've got people in washington saying i'm for revenue neutral tax reform. i frankly if that's what we're for i'll go back to being a doctor, back to kentucky, and continue. but that's not why i ran for office. to say oh mr. smith will pay a little more and mrs. jones will pay a little less. but the overall tax burden will be the same. let's be unabashedly for returning more money to iowa, leaving it here to create jobs. [cheers and applause] but how do we get bigger and better? i think we don't give up our core message. but part of our message has to reach out to people where they are. so i spent a lot of time in the last year going to historicically black colleges, going to predominantly hispanic audiences. going to berkeley.

going to places republicans haven't gone before. but i'm not going there and changing my message. i'm going there with the same message. i spoke to the conservative political action committee and i told them, you know what? we're conservatives and we believe in the second amendment but we also believe in the fourth amendment, we also believe in privacy. [cheers and applause] i took that exact message to berkeley. and i was received in both places. young people will vote for us. but it isn't that you don't meet young people and say i'm not voting for republican because they're for the balanced budget amendment. you don't meet african americans who say i'm against the balanced budget amendment. it's not where they are particularly young people. they don't have any money, any job. they don't care about regulations and taxes. but everyone of them has a cell phone and they think frankly it's none of the government's business what they do on their cell phone.

[applause] there are ways we can reach out. but you've got to realize where people are. i'll bring up something that may not bring everybody together just you can think about it. if you think about the war on drugs. i think drugs are a scurege. i think we've maybe gone too far that marijuana is a problem. and yet i also think it's a problem to lock people up for 10 and 15 and 20 years for youthful mistakes. if you look at the war on drugs, three out of four people in prison are black or brown. white kids are doing it, too. if you look at the surveys, white kids do it just as much as black and brown kids but the prisons are full because they don't get a good attorney, they live in poverty. it's easier to arrest them thoon in the suburbs. but i will tell you if you got into the african american community and ask them if you think the law is fair they'll tell you no.

if we are the party of family values, in 1980 there were 200,000 kids with a dad in prison there's now 2 million. i'm not for saying no laws but i am saying that look, most of us are christians or jews or of the judeo christian faith. and it's like we believe in redemption. we believe in a second chance. should a 19-year-old kid get a second chance? i think yes. let's be the party that has compassion that doesn't say the behavior is right but says you know what? when you're done with your time, that you get the right to vote back. let's be the party that is for extending right to vote back to people who have paid their time, who have reformed their ways. [applause] so i say we don't need to dilute our message. but i think if we can take our message or aspects of our message to people where they are, people who live in poverty, the republican message should be you know what? we'll come to your town. we'll come to detroit. and we're not going to bring money from iowa, we're not going to bring money from kentucky.

but we'll so dramatically lower your taxes that it would be a $1 billion stimulus for detroit by leaving money in drit that originated in detroit. then we have something we can offer. but if you're for revenue neutral tax reform you're not bringing anything to detroit. touf believe that we can have less taxes and smaller government and that will help create jobs. we have to believe in what we once believed in. if we do that we'll be the dominant party again. we have a strong force here. but frankly the president won iowa twice. so we can't do the same old same old. the definition of insanity is thinking the same thing will get you different results. the real question we have as a party is we have to decide can we be true to our purpose, true to our core, true to our message, and figure out how to reach out to people? that's what we have to do. [applause]

there was a painter by the name of robert hen ry about a hundred years ago. and he said, paint like a man coming over the hill singing. i love the image of that. if we could be the party that proclaims our message with a passion of patrick henry but also proclaims our message, our core message that we truly believe boldly proclaim that message like a man coming over the hill i singing, then i think we will be the dominant party again. i want to be part of that. and i hope you'll help me. thank you very much. [cheers and applause]

>> thank you very, very much. thank you very much. you for that very warm reception. i want to start off right thanking my good friend, your governor, for the great job he is doing for the people of iowa. [applause] taxes, growing the economy, reforming your educational system -- he is going to do a great job if we give him another four years. let's hear another round of applause for terry and kim. [applause] you've got several great leaders here, whether it is your senator, chuck grassley, whether it is steve king, your congressman -- i tell you what -- i had the privilege of getting to know the next united states senator from the great state of iowa.

isn't joni an amazing principled conservative? [applause] there are so many reasons to help her get elected. she will rein in taxes, rein in government spending. but if you needed one more reason to get excited, how amazing come this november when we get to retire harry reid? we no longer have to call him the majority leader of the united states senate? [cheers and applause] i thought long and hard about what i wanted to share with you today. i want to share with you today my greatest concern, my greatest frustration, my greatest fear of the obama administration and his legacy. there is so much that worries me about president obama. i worry about $17 trillion of debt. i worry about an e.p.a. that's going to strangle our economy. i worry about more taxing, more spending, more borrowing. i worry about a diminished america on the world stage. i worry about an economic growth of 2% recovery. i worry about a culture that

becomes more course day by day by day. but the thing that worries me the most not only as the governor of the great state of louisiana but as the father of three young children is this president's attempt to redefine the american dream. now, what do i mean by that? you listen to this president long enough, if you watch his policies, what you hear, what you see is a focus on class envy. is ayou hear, what you see president intent on dividing us by geography, age, gender, success. you see a president who talks about redistribution, a president who seems to believe that america is about equality of outcomes instead of equality of opportunity. i don't know about you, but that is not the american dream my parents taught me about. the american dream is not about growing the federal government, taxes, spending. the american dream is not about managing the slow decline of this great economy of this great country.

the american dream is not about making us more and more like europe. the american dream is different. the american dream is that the circumstances of your birth do not determine your outcomes as an adult. the american dream is you do not have to be born any rights it took to the right gender to th}) to the right parents to do well in this country. the american dream as if you work hard and get a great education, you can do better than your parents and grandparents. indeed, how many parents had told their young children, "if you work hard, you can be the first in our family to go to school. you can be the first in our family to be a small business owner, entrepreneur, doctor, whatever your dreams are." how many parents have told a boy or girl, any child in the world they can grow up to become president of the united states? unfortunately, we found out how true that was in 2008 and 2012.

my parents taught me an american dream where our best days were ahead of us, not behind us, where we are a forever young country, and i want to talk to you today how we have to fight to preserve that american dream for our children and grandchildren. i want to start by sharing with you why that american dream is so important to me. my parents, my dad especially, he has lived the american dream. my dad is one of nine kids, first and only one of his family that got past the fifth grade. grew up in a house without electricity and without running water. i know because we heard these stories every single day growing up. maybe you've got a parent or grandparent like that who is the first in your family, and what's amazing is nearly 50 years ago, my mom and dad came from halfway across the wor-