to fight for freedom in our country. [applause] the men and women of cpac are going to play a fundamental decision the men and women gathered here today are going to play a critical role in reigniting the miracle of america. how do we do that? how do we win? how do we bring back the miracle that is america? [laughter] god bless you. [applause] >> ted cruz for president. >> number one, we reassemble the reagan coalition. [applause] we bring together fiscal

conservatives and social conservatives and national security conservatives. we stand strong for economic growth but we also stand for life and marriage. [applause] we defend the constitutional rights but we also stand and lead the fight against isis and a nuclear iran. [applause] we need all three legs of the proverbial republican stool. not one leg, not two but the way we get to 51% is we bring together conservatives and libertarians and evangelicals and women and young people and hispanics and reagan democrats. [applause] and how did we do that? we do that fundamentally, by

standing with the people. and not with washington. [applause] washington wants obamacare. the people want liberty. [applause] washington wants amnesty. the people want rule of law. [applause] washington wants power over the internet. the people want freedom online. [applause] and don't believe president obama when he says that if you like your internet, you can keep your internet. [laughter] hillary clinton embodies the corruption of washington.

[applause] we need to run a populist campaign standing for hard-working men and women. [applause] we need to take the power out of washington and bring it back to the american people. [applause] now how do you differentiate? there are lots of terrific candidates, 2016 looks like it's going to be a crowded race. and there are a lot of people here who are powerful, they are inspirational, they make your heart soar, they inspired me every day. how do we differentiate? well, we all know that in a campaign, every candidate comes up and tells you, i am the most conservative guy that has ever lived. that's just what they say.

i'm pretty confident you have not seen any speakers come up and say, actually, i am a swishy squishy moderate who stands for nothing. i'm pretty sure the none of them actually stood here and said that. everyone of them will say, you bet you, i'm as conservative as all get out. but we have a way to tell the difference. the word tells us you shall know them by their fruits. [applause] and so i would encourage all of the men and women gathered here today, demand action. not talk. [applause] if a candidate tells you, they oppose obamacare. fantastic. when have you stood up and fought against it? [applause]

if a candidate tells you they oppose the debt ceiling that is crushing our kids and grandkids, terrific. when have you stood up and fought against it? [applause] if a candidate says they oppose president obama's illegal and unconstitutional executive amnesty, terrific. when have you stood up and fought against it. [applause] if a candidate tells you that they support the first amendment, freedom of speech, religious liberty, that they support the second amendment the right to keep and bear arms, fantastic. when have you stood up and fought for them? [applause] talk is cheap. the candidate tells you they support life, the candidate tells you they support marriage when have you stood up and fought? [applause]

if a candidate tells you they stand with the nation of israel, terrific. when have you stood and fought? [applause] if a candidate says that they oppose iran acquiring nuclear weapons capability, fantastic. when have you stood and fought? actions speak far, far louder than words. we need to look to people who walk the walk and do not just talk the talk. if a candidate says, they oppose common core. fantastic. when have you stood up and fought against it? you know, i had a former boss who used to say if i'm ever accused of being a christian, i would like for there to be enough evidence for them to

convict me. [applause] now that is powerfully true and it is equally true of being a conservative. if you are really a conservative, you will have been in the trenches, bear the scars, you will have been fighting the fight. and i will tell you what the men and women of cpac understand. it is that the biggest divide we have in this country is not between republicans and democrats. the biggest divide we have in this country is between career politicians in washington and the american people. [applause] [cheers] so if you have a candidate who stood against democrats, that is

great. when have you been willing to stand up against republicans? [applause] when have you been willing to stand with the people? this is a fundamental choice in our country, a fundamental direction. that the men and women here will decide. it was 40 years ago at cpac, that president reagan said the path to victory is not in painting in pale pastels but in bold colors. [applause] i am convinced, 2016 is going to be an election very much like 1980. [applause] now it is worth remembering, in 1980, when reagan ran, washington despised reagan.

remember, reagan had primary gerald ford, the sitting republican president in 1976. if you want to take off -- tick off republican leadership? come within an inch of toppling the incumbent republican president. but president reagan told the people of this country, the republican party is not a fraternal order. we share philosophical commitments to freedom. and the republican party matters only in so far and in so long as we stand for liberty and the constitution and for the american people. [applause] our nation is in crisis at home, millions of americans are hurting. obamacare is a train wreck.

and that is actually not fair to train wrecks. [laughter] [applause] and all abroad, america has receded from leadership in the world. we see the president describing the horrible terrorist attacks in paris as a quote, "random act of violence." there is nothing random about radical islamists going into a kosher deli to murder jews for their jewish faith. [applause] when 21 coptic christians are beheaded, we see the president saying they were simply egyptian citizens. they were murdered for their christian faith and the president of the united states needs to stand up and defend them. [applause]

to turn this country around, it will not come from washington. it will come from the american people and so i would ask everyone of you, if you will join our grassroots army, and then take out your cell phone and text the word constitution to the number 337 33. let me give it to you again. take out your cell phone and text the word constitution 3373. 3. it will be each of you empowering the people that turns the country around. i will tell you as my father said to me, many many times after he fled cuba. i saw freedom taken away once, and i will die before i let it happen again. [applause] thank you and god bless you.

[applause] >> heeeelllllo cpac, how are you all doing? give it up for senator ted cruz. you are already less than two years and we can fundamentally transform america back to what it was, and that is great. are you all happy about that? great to see you, and honor to be here. i have some questions, some of them from twitter and facebook. you did a 21 hour filibuster. [applause] the purpose was to strip funding 21 hours. from the health-care bill. i watched most of it, by the way. your fellow republicans, rick santorum, called you a bomb thrower. senator mccain said it was an

agonizing odyssey and then used the term wacko. center graham said it was hostagetaking and political overreach. [boo] i didn't say it, relax. my question, what do you say back to those senators who criticized you for standing up your promise? >> look, the simple point is, we shouldn't be listening to washington. [applause] we should be listening to the american people. obamacare is a disaster, millions of americans have lost their jobs, have lost their health care, have lost their doctor and sean, i seem to , recall that many of those critics said, when so many men and women stood up and said stop the train that is obamacare. the washington pundits all said, this will be a disaster, this will keep harry reid as majority leader forever. now, did i miss that in the last election? [applause]

the key to change is not just growing government in washington, the key to change is the result of that fight. millions rose up and said stop the disaster that is obamacare . in november 2012 republicans across this country campaigned saying if you give us the majority, we will stop obamacare and what happened? we won the biggest title wave since the 1920's and we retired harry reid as majority leader. [applause] >> my next question. we have a similar fight going on. just a show of hands, how many people would like to see the republicans defund the president's executive order on immigration? [cheers] my question to you is that it seems in the senate there is a disagreement between you and some republican senators over a

deal that would fund the department of homeland security and separate out a separate bill on not funding the executive orders on immigration. what do you say, why do you think that is the wrong strategy? >> look, unfortunately republican leadership is cutting a deal with harry reid to give in on executive amnesty. and the question why is that they are not listening to you. i talked about the divide between washington and to the people. in washington, k street and wall street love amnesty. they support the substantive policy. there is a mendacity about washington. they want to take a show vote but they don't actually want to follow through on what they say. how do we change it? the only way to change it -- you know sean, what i'm trying to do, think about it in the tech context. we know about disruptive a

pps. inevitably, the incumbent providers fight back viciously. when uber comes into a city, the taxi commissions do everything they can to kill it. what i am trying to do more than anything else is bring a destructive atpp to politics. to move power back to the american people and everyone who has a vested interest in keeping decision-making in the smoke-filled rooms, and both parties, they fight vigorously because they don't want the power to be back with the american people. >> senator, we witnessed the horror of what is happening with isis. we have seen mass beheadings women sold into slavery, the harvesting of organs, radical islamists on the move, they had taken a lot of the ground that our brave troops died for in

iraq, for thousand of them. my question to you, the jordanians after one pilot they responded with fierce opposition and force against isis. the egyptians, they have shown massive force and retaliation after 21 coptic christians were simultaneously he headed. what is your analysis, your take on one america needs to do and why can't this president admits that the islamic state is in fact islamic and radical islam exists? >> we need a commander in chief who will actually stand up and defend the united states of america. [applause] we need to stop this bizarre orwellian doublespeak. we cannot defeat radical islamic terrorism with a president unwilling to utter the words "radical islamic terrorism." [applause]

you know the states department spokesperson said we can't win this by killing isis. we need to give them jobs. what utter and complete nonsense. listen, that is precisely how we win this. we kill the terrorist leaders before they kill us. [applause] [cheers] >> all right, i want to warn everybody, i am asking this next question because i know the liberal media will. so might as well get it out of the way for them. that is my job, i get paid to do that. >> no, i have not stopped being beating my wife. >> your mother was an american citizen, your father was from cuba, you were born in canada, you had dual citizenship. there are a bunch of liberal

birthers out there who would try to make the case that you are not eligible. a quick, short answer. >> i was born in calgary, my mother was an american citizen by birth, under federal law that made me an american citizen by birth, and the constitution acquires that you be a natural born citizen. >> we are going to do our thick lightning round because we're running out of time. what with the top five agenda items of a president ted cruz what would they be? , >> repeal every blasted word of obamacare. [applause] [cheers] number two, abolish the irs. [applause] take all 125,000 irs agents and put them on our southern border. [applause]

number three, stop the out-of-control regulators at the epa and alphabet soup of washington. [applause] number four, defend our constitutional rights. all of them! [applause] and number five, restore america's leadership in the world as a shining city on a hill. >> all right, we are running out of time. this is our last lightning round. one or two word answers. abortion? >> we should defend every human life from conception to natural death. [applause] >> gay marriage? >> marriage is a question for the states and it is wrong for

the federal government or unelected judges to tear down the marriage laws in the states. [applause] >> colorado, good idea legalizing marijuana or bad idea? >> i was told that colorado provided the brownies here today. [laughter] >> uh-oh, i just ate them. >> your viewership is going to go up 20%. magical mystery hannity hour. >> oh yeah. >> i actually think this is a great embodiment of what supreme court justice louis brandeis called the laboratories of democracy. if the citizens of colorado decide they want to go down that road, that is their prerogative. i don't agree with it, but that is their right. >> three people, first words that come to mind. >> hillary clinton?

>> washington. >> bill clinton. by the way, i want to say hi to that hot chick in the second row seven. how are you doing, sweetheart. i'll give you a tour backstage. sorry, he's not responsible for this. bill clinton. >> youth outreach. [laughter] [applause] what? >> barack hussein obama. >> lawless imperator. >> in light about what the country has been talking about in recent days, and we have less than 30 seconds, why does ted cruz love america? >> this country is the greatest country in the history of the world. [applause]

it has been a haven for freedom. when my dad was imprisoned in cuba and fled 58 years ago, he came because no nation on earth has let so many millions come with nothing and achieve anything and if we get back to this, brighter days are ahead we could do that together. [applause] >> senator ted cruz. see you later, cpac. [applause] >> we continue with some of the speakers from the first day of this year's annual conservative political action conference held here in washington dc . next we hear from scott walker. it is about 20 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome governor -- >> good evening. thanks. hi guys. well, thank you. as a kid, i grew up loving history. i loved reading about our founders, they were like superheroes. bigger than life. but being the son of a small-town preacher and a mom who was a part-time secretary, our family did not have the money to go to some of the historic sites like we have here in the nation's capital. years ago, a few years after i was governor, we have a chance had the chance to go to

philadelphia. we jumped at it. we got up early in the morning and went past the liberty bell and to independence hall. and as someone who loved our founders, i was ready to be blown away. we walked in there early that day and looked at it. if you have been the, you know the room itself is not much bigger than this stage. as we look at the chairs, they are not that much different from the ones you're in now except they were a little bit older than these. it made me think for a moment that these were ordinary people. ordinary people who did something quite extraordinary. they did not just risk their political careers, they do not did not just risk their business ventures, these are people who literally risked their lives for the freedoms we hold dear today. right? [applause] moments like that remind me that what makes america great, what makes us exceptional, what makes

us arguably the greatest country in the history of the world is that in moments of crisis, be it economic or fiscal, military or spiritual, there have been man men and women throughout our history who have stood up and made decisions to think more about the future of their children and their grandchildren than they did about their own political futures, ladies and gentlemen here tonight, this is one of those moments in american history. [applause] let this be the time, let this be the time where we can tell future generations what we did. to make america great again. right? that is why we created our american revival.com, to get out and tell the story about what we need to do to transform america, reignite the american spirit, to move this great country forward. but you know, the biggest challenge to that is just up the way, just down the river up the potomac, to washington, or is it

as i like to call it, 68 square miles surrounded by reality. today, in washington, we have a president who thinks we grow the economy by growing washington. think about that. last year, we saw a report that showed that six out of the top 10 counties, the top 10 wealthiest counties according to median income are right here in the d.c. area. they think growing the economy is growing washington. well i've got news for them, we believe in america it is growing -- that is growing the economy in cities and towns and villages all across this country, that is the way to go forward. [applause] we understand that people create jobs, not the government. we are going to have the people -- help the people of this great country create more jobs, create more opportunity. now up the way there in

washington, we have a president who measures success in government by how many people are dependent on the government. we should measure success by just the opposite. i how many people are no longer dependent on the government. [applause] we understand that true freedom and prosperity does not come from the mighty hand of the government, it comes from empowering people to live their own lives and control their own destinies. that is the american way. [applause] you see here in america, there is a reason why we celebrate the fourth of july and not april 15. because in america, we celebrate our independence from the government, not our dependence on it. [applause] that is right. [applause] our independence from the government, not our dependence on it. that is the american way.

and up the way in washington, we have a president, a president who draws lines in the sand and fails to act. a president who calls isis the jv club. calls yemen a success. and who calls iran a country we can do business with. to add insult to injury, his former secretary of state gave a reset button to the russians. a reset button. we need a leader who stands up and realizes that radical islamic terrorism is a threat to our way of life and to all freedom loving people around the world. [applause] we need a president, a leader who will stand up and say, we will take the fight to them and not wait until they bring the fight to american soil for our children and grandchildren.

[applause] we need a leader who will stand with israel. [applause] and we need a leader who understands that when the prime minister and leader of our longtime ally asks to come to congress to share his concerns about iran, we should show him and his country our respect. [applause] we need to show the world that in america, you have no better ally and no greater enemy. in america, we will stand up for what is right and stand up what against what is wrong. i think back to 2009 when we were thinking about running for

governor. we sat down and thought about it and ultimately prayed about it. we knew it would be tough. but we got in that race for governor back then because we were worried that our sons, matt and alex, who are now 19 years old and 20 years old, would grow up in a state that was not as great as the one that we grew up in. as parents, that was unacceptable. today, many years later, i'm proud to tell you that because of our reforms, our state is indeed better than the state i grew up in. [applause] we took on the powerful special interests in washington and returned the power back into the hands of the hard-working taxpayers. they did not like that, they tried to recall me, but in the end we showed them we can fight and win for the hard-working

taxpayers. [applause] because of that, in our state we , we don't have seniority 10 anymore. we can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance and put the best and brightest in our classrooms and we can keep them there. [applause] and you know what, it is working. it is working. our school scores are better our act scores are second-best in the country. our graduation rates are up over the past four years, our reading rates are up. we put the power back in the hands of the taxpayers and the people they elect to run their school boards. on top of that, we were able to take the state where the unemployment rate in 2010 was 9.2% at its peak and it is now down to 5.2%. [applause] we are a state that has been taxed and taxed and today i am

proud to say after four years as governor, we have produced the burden on hard-working taxpayers by nearly $2 billion. a typical homeowner in our state is paying less in property taxes now than they were four years ago. and 2016, they will pay less than they did in 2014. how 2010. how many other governors can say that? [applause] we have led the way with lawsuit and regulatory reform. we defunded planned parenthood and signed pro-life legislation. [applause] we enacted concealed carry and passed castle doctrine. [applause] and we passed a law in our state that says that if you want to

vote, you need to vote legally and it should be easy to vote but hard to cheat and in our state we pass a law that says you need a photo id to vote in the state of wisconsin. [applause] and just breaking, as of next week, wisconsin will be come the 25th state in america that allows workers the freedom to choose whether they want to work for a company and be in a union or not. [applause] so, how did we do that in a state that hasn't gone -- >> [yells] >> apparently the protesters come from wisconsin as well. [laughter] but you know what, those voices cannot run up the voices of the millions of americans who want

us is enough for the hard-working taxpayers as long as i am a leader i will continue to do that going forward. [applause] we won in wisconsin, a state that hasn't gone republican for president since 1984. that is more than 30 years ago. in fact, that was back when i was in high school and i actually had a full head of hair. but you know how we did at? we did it without compromising, we stood up and said what we were going to do and then we did it. we showed that fighting and winning for the hard working taxpayers. we won the last election with nearly 12% of the independents. they want someone who will fight and win every single day for the hard-working taxpayers.

that is exactly what we need in this country going forward. [applause] so the last thing i say as we close here and we will take some questions is that we need your , help. i mentioned going to philadelphia at the beginning of my comments and one of the things i loved, one of the things i loved about going to in the to independence hall was standing barely in the morning and looking at all of the desks and chairs and seeing the chair up in the front where george washington sat for nearly three months. and if you know the story of that, the legend goes that james madison said that ben franklin looked at the chair day after day and wondered, because on the back of the chair is a half rising sun. he wondered if the message was that the sun was rising or

setting? and madison said at the end of the time together, he believed the sun was rising, just as our country was. not to go back in time. don't confuse that. but rather to use that as a guide as we go down the path to provide a brighter future for our children and our children's children and those yet to be born. we need your help moving forward. we need your help making america great again. if we can do it in wisconsin there is no doubt we can do it in america. thank you for letting me come out and share with you. [applause] >> thank you. thanks governor. governor walker, ned ryan. we would like to know, should you become commander-in-chief, how would you deal with threats such as isis?

>> the interesting thing sometimes people in the media don't understand that as a governor, i actually get a threat assessment from the fbi. without divulging confidential information, i have been concerned about that threat. not just a broad, but here in american soil. you have already seen some of the stories about what we see in the twin cities, some of the issues there. i think it is clear, i think of my two sons, one of whom is with me today and the other will be here next weekend, i know all of you as parents feel the same way, i want a commander in their chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical islamic terrorists do not wash up on american soil, we will have someone who leads and ultimately will send the message not only that we will protect american soil but do not take this upon freedom loving people anywhere else in the world. we need a leader. with that kind of confidence. if i can take on a hundred thousand protesters, i can do

the same across the world. >> governor walker, in recent times, obviously with the economy and jobs, it has been hard for the american youths. . how do you plan to impart hope to the american youth for the future, to give them opportunity and jobs? >> i think i mentioned that i have a 19 and 20-year-old who are pretty proud of the fact that in our last campaign, as tight as it was, we ultimately won 49-48% among 18 to 24-year-olds. why is that? it was not just technology. we did a lot of that. i think talking not just my sons to my sons and others that we just heard from. they want us to take the power out of washington. washington is washed up. the power structure is broken. they believe the top-down government knows best.

go along to get along mentality to go forward. i think the rest of us particularly our young leaders , understand the way to grow the economy and the future of this country is to build the economy from the ground up and say that if you want to start your career, start your business, you should not have to wait. you should get government out of the way. the left, the liberals are the ones who want to push you down. they want you to wait your turn. they want you to go through multiple layers of permits. we should send an open message to say that in america, if you want to live the american dream we are going to make it as easy as possible. i think as they not only with young people with all freedom loving people in this country. >> governor walker, we have been seeing in the news recently that the fcc's plan to regular the

internet. what would be your plan to deal with that attempt to regulate the internet? >> those are the kinds of things we will talk about going forward if i decide to be a candidate. to me, the guiding principle should be freedom. i think not only young americans but all of us want a free and open society. we want to have the government out of the way and make it is easy and accessible as possible. that is what we're going to do it in any decisions going forward, should we choose, my lawyers love that, we are exploring a campaign, should we choose to run for the highest office in the world. >> run, scott, run. >> i did run in track. and i ran three times in the last four years. i'm getting used to it. >> do you support raising the minimum wage? >> i think arguing about how low wages are is a faulty argument. i think in my state and across this country, we need to talk about how we can lift up people

with the education and skills that they need to succeed at jobs that pay three or four or five times the minimum wage. i will let the left worry about how low they want people to be. i want everyone in this country to live their piece of the american dream and help them get the skills they need to support their families going forward. [applause] >> governor walker, you are done, thank you so much for answering those questions. >> thank you. thank you everybody. appreciate it. [applause] >> also speaking thursday at the conservative political action conference here in washington, louisiana governor bobby jindal. this is 20 minutes.

♪ [applause] >> thank you all very much. thank you all very very much. it is great to be here with you. how great is it to be with thousands of fellow conservatives who understand that we have got to get our country back on the right track? [applause] i want to talk to you about three things today. first, we must repeal every single word of obamacare. [applause] not a little bit. but all of it. and the reason i start here. i'm not going to spend a lot of time telling you why obamacare

is so bad. we know it was built on broken promises. president obama said he would cut our premiums $2500. he didn't do it. he said he could keep your doctor. not true. if you like your health plan you can keep your health plan. not true. i don't need to tell you that we didn't need government bureaucrats between doctors and their patients. i'm here to tell you some the me something you may not know. and this troubles me greatly. at the same time the republicans in washington are about to wave the white flag of surrender on amnesty, they are about to wave the white flag of surrender on repealing obamacare. i'm here to tell you that we have got to tell them we will not stand for that. [applause] you now have republicans in washington dc telling us we can't repeal the tax increases we will keep the smaller tax increases. you have republicans in washington telling us, you can't

get rid of this entitlement program without creating another entitlement program. you have republicans in washington telling us that the way to count success is not by empowering patients but rather by counting how many people have insurance cards, whether they got meaningful access to affordable care to the doctors they want. i'm here to tell you, i don't remember them saying in the campaign ads saying we're just going to repeal the easy parts of obamacare. they won elections in red states and blue states and purple states. one of the most important issues, one of the most important promises they made was that if we gave them the majority, they would repeal and replace every single word of obamacare and it is time for them to govern the way the y campaign and get rid of obamacare. [applause] we don't need obamacare.

lite. we don't need a second democratic party. we don't need to be cheaper liberal democrats. we need to be principled conservative republicans. i don't know about you, but the election was not about getting a nicer office for center mitch mcconnell. it was not keeping a bigger office for speaker john boehner. it was about taking our country back and it starts with repealing obamacare. [applause] now the second thing we have got to do, and the common theme is showing the incompetence of washington dc. the second thing we need to do, i'm in federal court are now right now suing arne duncan and making it clear that we need to remove common core from every classroom in america. [applause] now why do we care so much about common core?

we care about education because first, it is important for us to grow our economy. studies have shown that we could add trillions of dollars for our economy if we would just catch up with other industrialized competitive countries. we can earn thousands of dollars more if we had great teachers. it is important to us economically. secondly, we care about education because it is who we are. we are a aspirational society. you shouldn't have to be born to wealthy parents to do great rings in our country. [applause] third and most importantly, the reason we care about education the reason we fund public education in america in the first place, is because we are self-governing republic. we need to teach the next generation to be critical independent anchors.

we need to teach them to make informed decisions for themselves and others when they vote in elections. we need to train the next generation of leaders. we object to common core because the federal government has no right imposing curriculum content standards in local classrooms when these decisions have always been made by parents, teachers, local leaders. there is a 10th amendment to the constitution specifically to prohibit the growth of the government into areas like the k-12 government. we have seen the government get more expensive and intrusive. it must stop and it must stop here. we must repeal common core. [applause] but make no mistake about it, for the left, this is a pattern. this is the same group that is not think that you and i are

smart enough to exercise our religious rights. they think we are not smart enough to own guns. they think that if you live in new york city you are not smart enough to drink big gulp. they don't think that we are smart enough to pick the best educational options for our children. the reality is, the dollars need to follow the child. we trust parents, not bureaucrats to make best decisions for our kids. whether that is homeschooling or parochial school or christian schools or charter schools or public schools or online programs, we trust the parents. we got that done in louisiana. the teachers union said this, parents don't have a clue when it comes to making choices for their kids. let me repeat that. parents don't have a clue when it comes to making choices for their kids. when they are honest, that is

what the debate is about. they don't trust us to be smart enough to be educate our own children. they think that if you -- if these he does not force us to adopt their standards, curriculums, test, we not smart enough to educate our children. founding fathers got it right. they knew the purpose of the limited federal government is to secure but not create our god-given rights. [applause] now the second practical reason we opposed common core, and i would invite any parent undecided about this, look at the standards, the content themselves. i have done that. my little boy is a third grader. he was a second grader last year. if you are undecided, look at the math. this is the new, new math. my boy is a great student.

he brings home his math tests and gets all the questions right. the problem was the second half of the test. there, the dj said he have to explain why your answers are right using common core methodology. and set 18 plus four, it is 20 minus two plus four. you have to draw circles for the tens and squares and direct tangles for the ones. it takes six steps to swing your answers. i love my little boy. but he was seven years old at the time and had the attention span of a gnat. this is what he wrote. for every single question, he wrote," just because it is. " [applause]

the teacher sent home the test and said i don't know what to do with this. my wife talked to my son and called me over and said you need to talk to your son. when he is my son, he has never done anything good, by the way. i sat down and after a couple of minutes i said go outside and play. i couldn't tell them he did anything wrong. you think the math standards are bad? what would happen if the federal government were defining making standards for how we teach american history to our kids? under this administration, american history would be all about victimization. it would not be about american exceptionalism. we have got to stop common core. this is not the first or last time the federal government tries to interfere with our local classrooms. let's repeal common core.

[applause] thirdly and finally, this issue is much more important than the first two issues. as a country, we must fight and win. we must win the war against radical islamic terrorism. i want to share something with you that brings no joy to my heart. i want to share something with you i don't say as a partisan, as a republican, as it conservatism -- as a conservative. president obama has disqualified himself and shown himself incapable of being our commander in chief.

[applause] now, why do i say that? these barbarians, they are murdering journalists fort ron cartoons they do not like. they burned alive jordanian pilot. killed over a hundred schoolchildren in pakistan. they put it on social media as a recruiting tool. this is what our president had to say. he says, we are not as war with islam -- at war with islam. but we are at war with radical islam. [applause] if we have a president who won't even identify the threat we

face, --he has an attorney general who says we're not even in a state of war. how many of you are going to be happy when eric holder is out of a job? [applause] his state department says we can't kill our way to victory in this war. how have we ever won a victory in any war besides killing our way to victory? and finally, they say that we will not wearin this war through military, but through jobs. we have a president who will not even named enemy we face. we need a war on the evil that is radical islamic terrorism.

[applause] i gave a speech in london the god of people--that's got a few people upset. islam has a problem. individual leaders need to say specifically by name that these barbarians, these terrorists, they are not martyrs going to enjoy a reward in the afterlife. these individuals are going straight to hell, exactly where they belong. [applause] i also said this. i said here in the west, we have a responsibility. those who want to come to our country must assimilate and integrate.

we used to be the melting pot. now the politically correct side says we are a salad bowl. there is nothing wrong with saying if you want to come to america, you should want to be american. [applause] there is nothing wrong with saying that english is our language and we are going to teach american exceptionalism to our children in civics. there's nothing wrong with -- i'm tired of hyphenated americans. we are all americans. [applause] my parents came to this country over 40 years ago. it was the first time they got on a plane. they couldn't google louisiana. they had never visited anybody who had been to baton rouge.

they came to live the american dream. and my dad and mom used to teach us every day, they used to say get on your knees and thank god almighty your a blessed to be born in the greatest country in the history of the world. the united states of america. [applause] and set of identifying the threat we face, we have a president who criticizes america and ones is about the threats of the crusades. mr. president, i have a deal for you. i will keep an eye out for the medieval christians. why don't you do your job and win the war against radical islamic terrorist that we face today? >> governor. >> let me close with two

thoughts. the one time ever i want the congress to give the president more than what he asked for. they need to give him the tools to win this war remove the time limit, the ban on ground troops, tell the political left we want our military leaders to do whatever it takes to hunt down and kill these radical islamic terrorists. that is how you know you have won a war. [applause] and my final thought is this. i've talked about the need to repeal obama, get rid of common core and win this war. in 2016, it is not an option for us to win this election. not because we are republicans or conservatives but because we care about this country. this president is bankrupting our country financially

morally, our international standing. you must win this election. we can win this election, we will win this election, so that our children can say the same prayer my parents taught me that they are blessed to be born in the greatest country in the history of the entire world. the united states of the america. >> >> what is your response to president obama's executive order on amnesty? >> we told them they give us the senate majority, they would stand up to this unconstitutional illegal act. the president said he was going to issue this executive order. he delayed until after the election.

now he has broken the constitution and broken the law. they are not dictators. it is time for our republican leaders in congress to grow a spine. it is time to do the job we elected them to do. no amnesty. of a niece to secure the border. >> people want to know when our you going to announce your intentions for 2016? is>> we will make that decision in the next couple of months. what's more important, forget the polls and fund raising, forget the consultants forget the media. a they need to think about what they would do if they are elected president. that's how i spent the last year. i spent it on detailed policies,

on foreign policy, on educational reform, on replacing and repealing obama care. our best days are ahead of us as a country. we have to choose to renew those principles of freedom. of we need principal conservative leadership. we don't need another republican that comes to washington and wants to make the liberal media happy. i want a leader that remembers what they promised us when they ask us to vote for them. >> let's given another round of applause for governor bobby jindal. >> thank you all very very much. >> the founder and ceo of american majority joined us on today's washington journal, from the side of the sea pack convention just outside washington dc. he talked about this year's convention and the upcoming washington times presidential straw poll.

host: we are joined now by ned ryun founder and ceo of american majority come here to discuss his conservative -- the conservative agenda for the 2016 presidential election. good morning. guest: good morning. host: can you tell us about what american majority is? guest: i founded american majority in january of 2008 with the idea of going out and doing two things. identifying and training people to run for state and local office. i'm a big believer that the real change we want to see his conservative -- it doesn't begin in d.c. we train people to run for school boards, cutting emissions, statehouse and state senate. we train activists to be better at what they do. -- county commissions, statehouse in state senate. encouraging people to run for

office and supporting them and not relying upon rallies or other things that might take up a lot of time. we've been doing this for about seven years now. done trainings and 45 different states. and trained well over 30,000 people. a good start. we are headed in the right direction. we've been doing training at cpac, equipping people. we've been excited about what we've been able to do here in 2015. host: we can see that you are in the middle of the action. can you talk about what the big issues are that are being talked about at cpac this year? guest: it has been interesting to watch. we've had virtually anybody that is considering running for the 2016 nomination in the gop primary here. it's been interesting to see what they talked about. immigration has been a big issue. isis, global jihadist some is

another big issue. it's been interesting to see the reaction, the response. i was impressed. jeb bush came yesterday. he did a very good job of being in the midst of maybe what was not the most friendly crowd, but he did a solid job. it's been interesting to see the debate and conversations taking place. let everybody make their case as to why they think they should be the nominee, not only policy wise. how are they going to do this politically? how will they put the right infrastructure in place and raise the money to be successful? i've been hammering this and a lot of the boot camp sessions. unless we went politically, we are just having great conversations. i want to see what people can do to put pieces in place to win politically. the next couple of months will be telling to see what these

potential nominees are able to do. host: ourur viewers can join the conversation. republican line at 202-748-8001. democratic line at 202-748-8000. independents can call 202-748-8002. you can e-mail us. ned ryun since he mentioned jeb bush, i would like to play a clip of him speaking earlier this week. his response to those who feel like he may not have what they're looking for. [video clip] >> i mentioned candidates -- some people boo when i mention your name. >> for those that made a boo

sound, i want to be your second choice -- it's a record that may be hard for people to imagine because it's a record of a college men, of getting things done. taking conservative prince pulls, running on them and having the courage to say this we need to take on -- host: you mentioned you were impressed with his performance. why were useyou so surprised that he did well? guest: most of the crowd was not going to be friendly towards jeb bush. he did an admiral job of being able to make his case on some points. a lot of people do not agree with him on common core come his immigration stances. he did some good things as the governor of florida that many in the crowd would agree with. whether it's government spending taxes.

there is ground for agreement with those who attend cpac. just the fact that he showed up and did a solid job. kudos to him. we will see what happens now. it will be interesting to see -- scott walker has a big following here. rick perry did a good job yesterday. will there be a third player in the mix that can make this an interesting family is showing you speakers from this annual conservative political action conference. it began thursday in washington dc just outside the city. concert by the american conservative union. later they will be releasing the results of their annual presidential straw will create

-- stronghold. more speeches from the sea pack convention. we begin with marco rubio. this is about 20 minutes. >> i'm happy to be back for the fifth time. my first time was 2010 when i was 50 points down in the poll. four of them were under the age of eight a time. i'm glad to be back on you on the eve of the most important election in my lifetime. november 2016 is it going to be a choice about who is the next president alone.

the question before us is what kind of government we're going to be. we have been an exceptional nation. sometimes you wouldn't know we are in an exceptional relation by listening to the left. they describe us as a people divided online by gender and ethnicity race and class. our president described our nation as being arrogant. or dictating terms to others. but americans know we are exceptional. when was the last time you heard about a boatload of american refugees arriving on the shores of another country? it didn't happen on its own.

our greatness as a result of god's blessing, the sacrifices made by men and women in uniform. and the choices by the people here before us. god is still blessing america. we are still blessed with brave young americans are willing to sacrifice their safety for hours. what remains to be seen is whether we are willing to do what those before us did. whatever it takes to keep america exceptional. like those who came before us, we do face challenges. we have millions of hard-working families living paycheck to paycheck and they are wondering when things will ever get better for them. around the world because of the obama-clinton foreign-policy our allies no longer trust us and our enemies no longer fear us. this is the road our president has put us on. a government that increasingly controls every aspect of a lie from our health care choices to

now even the internet. a foreign policy that treats the ayatollah in iran with more respect than the prime minister of israel. [applause] here is the bad news -- the bad news is that today our nation is on the road to decline. here is the good news -- we are one election away from triggering another american -- [applause] imagine if we cut our taxes and simplified our tax code. imagine if we balance our budget. imagine if we appeal and replaced obamacare. [applause] if we did these things, are economy would create millions of better paying jobs and the american dream would reach more people than ever. imagine if we had leaders of that understood that the family, not government is the most important organization in society.

[applause] imagine if we had policies that helped people acquire skills not just for four years of college but for plumbers, electricians and airplane mechanics. those are good jobs, too. [applause] imagine if our laws protected innocent human life from conception to natural death. [applause] if we have these things, if we have these things not only what are people be stronger than ever before, but they would be equipped with the skills and values they will need to succeed in this new century. imagine if we had a commander in chief that understood the way to defeat isis is not to find them a job. [applause] imagine if we had a president who does not travel the world badmouthing america. after all, that is the u.n.'s job. [laughter] [applause] imagine if we do not have a

secretary of state who believes -- while the same time radical islamic jihadists are burning prisoners in cages and are beheading christians in libya. if we have these things, american would be the most trusted nation on earth and we would be safer. this new century presents us with significant challenges, but solving them are well within our reach. if we do, our future will be even better than our history and the 21st century will also be in american century. after all, leaving our children and our country better off the way we found it is what americans have always done. that is what we are called to do now. [applause] let me close with this. for me, this is deeply personal as it is for many of you. america does not owe me anything, but i have a debt to america that i will never be able to repay. in may 1956, my parents arrived here in search for a better

life. they had little money, no connections. quite frankly, barely spoke the language and had very limited education. less than four decades later, all four of their children live the lives and the dreams my parents once had for themselves. for me, america is not just a country. it is the place of that literally changed the history of my family. it is a nation of equal opportunity. it is the most powerful source for good the world has ever known. this is the america that welcome to my parents. this is the america that she ranged my world and this is the america that you when i are now called to leave behind. so, inspired by the memory of

who we truly have been and are let us now move forward to seize our destiny. the single greatest nation that man has ever known. thank you for having me. god bless you. [applause] thank you. thank you very much. >> give it up for senator marco rubio. [applause] good morning, cpac. how y'all doing? i can't hear you. [applause] by the way, if some of you are not feeling well this morning, it is not your fault. it is not jack daniels' fault. it is george w. bush's fault. >> by the way, i got my water, too. >> it is an honor to be with you. >> thank you. >> great senator from the state of florida. i love your family story. that is the american story.

here is where we are now -- this breaks my heart and i think it breaks the heart of everybody in this room. nearly 50 million americans in poverty. nearly 50 million americans on food stamps. we have 92 million americans not working, but the government tells us the unemployment level is great. we have $18.1 trillion in debt $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. how do we dig ourselves out of that hole? >> we have to understand the world is rapidly changing. we are basically having the industrial revolution every five

years. our leaders are still stuck in yesterday. they think they will pour more of your money into the same programs that did not even work that well in the past and we will get out of it. globalization is real. we are now in competition with dozens of other countries and unless we cut our taxes, reduce or regulations, get rid of obamacare, balance our budget and fully utilize our energy portfolio, we cannot compete. if we do that, we can compete with anybody in the world. [applause] we need to help our people be stronger than ever. that begins with strong families. empowering parents. allowing parents to choose where their children will go to school. that also means not having a national school board that imposes a national curriculum on the whole country. [applause] >> i will put you down as yes for common core. >> we need to understand in the 21st century, some of the best jobs require more than high school, traditional high school

but less than four years of college. we should not be stigmatizing those vocational careers. we should get more people from high school ready to work as technicians, you name it. the four year degree is still important. i went for a four-year degree -- i owed over $100,000 in student loans which i paid off with the proceeds of my book which is now available in paperback, if you're interested. [laughter] we have people graduating for a four-year degree that have no jobs and they owe tens of thousands of dollars. we should tell people if they major in greek philosophy, they will struggle to find a job. >> senator, let me ask you this. i think everybody in this room applauds everything you said. that is the vision of what conservatism is about. a lot of disappointment with the republican party. a lot of republicans run and the city want to repeal and replace obamacare but when it comes that moment where they could use their constitutional authority it is not happen. we have now kick the can down the road as a relates to the dhs funding bill.

every republican that i remember in this last election said they would do everything in their power that they would not allow obama's executive orders on immigration to go through but it appears some people are buckling a little bit. >> here is the problem in the party. there is a dispute between people who think our job is to do a better job of managing the government and those who understand we are at a crossroads in our history which every generation faces. every generation of america will ask the same questions. do you want america to be

special or do you want it to be another country? i understand these issues don't play well in america but when reagan took on the soviet union and the cold war and said they were destined for the ash heap of history, that was not popular in history. they called him crazy. there comes important critical moment in our history where you do stand up and say if we keep doing the same thing, it will not matter anyway. that moment has come. >> why is there mysterious reluctance and fear that the republicans will be blamed for a shutdown? >> that is the hypocrisy. we were in the minority and we filibustered and want to repeal it, we are shutting down the government. when they are in the minority and they filibuster, we are shutting down the government too. what anyway you look at it, that is how they will portray it. >> i keep hearing there are differences and strategies. is there a point where you stand on principles and put all political considerations aside? >> this latest issue of the executive order by the president is not a policy issue per se

alone, it is a constitutional issue. [applause] let me tell you something. i believe we need to cut the corporate tax rate, and personal tax rates, but if the president took executive order to cut the tax rate by refusing to collect more than a certain percentage i would be against that because you don't have the power to do that. if you lose that constitutional check and balance on power, you lose the essence of what makes our government different from a policy standpoint. [applause] 22 times the president said he did not have the authority to do what he did. as far as i can tell, in the past four years, the constitution has not been amended so i don't know where he found the constitutional power to do this. this is a constitutional debate. >> he made it up as usual. i think it is very key because

it is fidelity to the constitution. let me ask you about immigration. you went forward with your immigration proposal. at the end of the day, you said it did not work, i tried, it is not going to work. you kind of -- i interviewed you last time and you said you regretted going forward and you learned from the process and you thought you made a mistake. explain. >> it was not very popular. it is a very serious problem that needs to be confronted. we don't have the mechanisms in place with the enforcement of the immigration system. 40% of the illegal immigrants come legally and they overstay their visas. we don't know who they are. there were three sectors in the border that are completely insecure. it needs more fencing, security. we have illegal immigration system that is the most generous.

one million people in the world come to this country a year. it is all based on whether or not you have a family member here. it has to be based on some sort of merit and economic contribution. that needs to be dealt with as well. [applause] yeah, you have 10 to 12 million people in this country that have not violated our laws, i get that, but you cannot -- what i have learned is you cannot even have a conversation about that until people believe and know and is proven to them, that future illegal immigration will be controlled. that is the single biggest lesson. >> whenever there is a budget deal made and they talk about we will have tax increases and spending cuts, you get the tax increase on day one and then the spending cuts 10 years later and never happens.

is it not the same thing as immigration? >> that is the strongest argument made against the bill and it is proving to be true. >> that happens the strongest argument against the bill. the president said i won't enforce the law. >> the fear of many people. everybody agrees that we have to deal with people that enter this country illegally have overstayed their visas. spending cuts, secure the border first? >> you can't just tell people we're going to secure the border. you have to do it. they have to see it working. then they have a reasonable conversation with you about the other parts. they don't even want to talk about that until that's done first. what has happened over the last two years, the migratory crisis this summer, the two executive orders, that is more true than it has been. >> you are a first term senator

from the great state of florida. we have a man in the white house, a one term senator, voted president as a state senator, had some very bizarre friendships in case you never heard me talk about it. i talked about it a lot. why do you want to be president of the united states? >> i haven't made that decision yet, sean, but good try to get me to announce it. >> on a scale of one to 100 where are you on the scale of committing to it? >> i don't know about the numbers.

it's very sim. the only reason i want to be in public service, i believe i owe a debt to america i don't believe i will ever be able to repay. some people don't think that way. i certainly feel that way. i think everybody in this room feels that way. \[applause] >> and to me, to me for someone who has literally seen my family's entire destiny altered by the fact that america happened to be 90 miles from cuba instead of some other country, i have to pay that back. i have to make sure that people who are trying to do the same thing now get a chance to do it. i don't want my kids to one day grow up and say how come you got to grow up in the greatest country in the world and we grew up in a country that has diminished. where is the best place to serve my country at this stage in my life? >> you won't run simultaneously for president and the u.s. senate. >> if you decide that's where you have been called at this time in your life to at least run for it and that's the best place for you to serve america that's where you run for. you don't think what is my exit strategy or plan b. i don't want to be in politics my whole life. i would like to do some other things like own an nfl team. i would have to sell a lot of books for that. >> one of the most pressing problems that the world faces right now, we have seen mass beheadings. we have seen people bender alive. we have a president that says the islamic state isn't islamic. >> they're not presbyterian. >> no, they're not.

we see the rise of anti-semitism, we see hostility against the prime minister of israel. would you deal with this crisis of worldwide terrorism, a group that wants to raise the flag of islam in the white house and meet all of us in new york. how will we deal with them? >> two separate points i make. understand why the president hasn't put in place a military strategy to defeat isis. here is why he hasn't done it, he doesn't want to upset iran. in his mind, the deal with iran is the obama care of the second term. they don't like it when we send military force in the region. they believe it should belong to them. what we should do, straightforward. isis is a radical sunni islamic

group. they need to be defeated on the ground by a sunni military force with air support from the united states, the egyptians, the saudis, the turks and the kurds put together a coalition from regional governments to confront them on the ground with u.s. special operations support and provide them logistical support and the most devastating air support possible and you will wife isis out. \[applause] >> let me ask you, we're running out of time. if you were elected president, quickly, what would be the top five agenda items that you would push hardest for in your first 100 days? >> the first is we need a healthy economy. tax reform, regulatory reform, repeal and replace obama care, fully utilize our energy portfolio and balance the budget. give people the skills they need for the 21st century, revolution anyways how we pay for higher education in this country. there are millions of good paying jobs out there. we should allow people to access the skill they feed in a

cost-effective way. we need the strongest most powerful military force in the him powerful military force in the world and a american foreign policy. \[applause] >> and an american foreign policy that tells the world it's bad to be our enemy and good to be our friend. the >> we're running out of time. this is our lightning round. >> abortion. >> i'm pro life. it's just as simple as that. >> gay marriage? >> i believe marriage is between one man and one woman. that's what it's been for thousands of years and it's served our people well. >> colorado marijuana legalization. >> i'm against the legalization of marijuana. >> should every law-abiding american, even in states with restrictive gun laws like new york, should they have the right to carry a weapon? >> the only people that don't care about gun laws are criminals. \[applause] >> i throw out a couple of names to you. >> hillary clinton. >> yesterday. >> bill clinton. >> what's the next one? \[laughter] >> really yesterday. >> barack obama.

>> failed. >> last question, you talked about your love for america and how we all really, we receive so push more than we could ever pay back. explain if you believe in american exceptionalism and why. >> in every other site, your future is decided by your parents before you. if your parents were rich or famous or politically connected and could pick up the phone and find you your first job, if not, you were stuck. the son of a bartender and a maid that worked at a hotel sitting on the stage with you today, that's why america is special. >> senator marco rubio, ladies and gentlemen. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> another speaker at the annual conservative political action conference was former governor rick perry. he was a presidential candidate

in 2012 and is considering running again next year. this is all a 20 minutes. >> i come to speak plainly about the times we live in. at no time has future been more uncertain and the world more dangerous than it is today. on three points, we must be clear. our country has entered a time of testing and our political leadership is failing the test.

the american people see a president who bows to political correctness in denial of the threats that we faced making grave miss calculations to make the world less safe. now, this administration's incompetence in iraq and syria have allowed the emergence of a cyst. they're using american tanks, american weapons and i-cyst began taking -- isis began taking cities that just a few years ago were secured by american blood. now let's be very, very clear about who isis is, what they represent. they are a religious movement that seeks to take the world back to the seventh century. their aims are apocalyptic. they mean to cleanse the world not just of christians and jews but of muslims who disagree with their extreme ideology.

and it is their stated vow to kill as many americans as possible. it's time, it is time for the american people to hear the truth. \[cheers and applause] >> the president declared in the state of the union that the advance of a cyst has been stopped and that is simply not true. \[applause] >> he says that isis is a religious movement. again he is simply wrong. to deny the fundamental religious nature of the threat and to downplay the seriousness of it is naive, it is dangerous, and it is misguided. isis represents the worst threat to freedom since communism. if egypt and jordan recognized that they are at war with radical islam, isn't it about

time our president proclaimed the same? \[cheers and applause] >> we didn't start this war nor did we choose it, but we will have the will to finish it. \[cheers and applause] >> now let me state another obvious fact about the middle east. it is not in the interest of peace and security of the free world that iran be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. \[applause] >> reports concerning this bilateral negotiation between the united states and iran indicate a deal on the table would allow iran to develop nuclear power after a certain number of years if they live up to certain treaty obligations. i believe it is fundamentally dangerous to grant iran's nuclear ambitions diplomatic cover. our discussions with iran should

be governed by two nonnegotiate principals. number one is iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons shall period! and number two, israel has the right to exist as a jewish state. \[cheers and applause] >> amen. it's time, it's time we stood with the most vibrant democracy in the middle east. the administration's policy of isolating israel must stop. you know, watching all of this unfold is the president of russia. he has been watching. as our president drew a line, a red line in syria that was crossed without consequences and then this russian president watches our president, and it was against this backdrop of weakness and empty words that putin annexed crimea, he entered ukraine.

it was those conditions that allowed him to negotiate a one-sided cease-fire at minsk with no real consequences. here is the simple truth about our foreign policy. our allies doubt us and our adversaries are all too willing to test us. no one should be surprised that dictators like asaad would cross the president's red line because he knows the president won't even defend the line that separates our nation from mexico. there are no real consequences when dictators and adversaries defy america and this must

change. for american to be safer america must be strong. for america to be safer, our border must be secure. gangs smuggle weapons and people. they are a clear and present danger to the health and safety of all americans. any conversation, any conversation about comprehensive immigration reform must begin with comprehensive border security. that's exactly why last summer, i told the president, i looked him in the eye, if you will not secure the border between texas and mexico, texas will. second point and i want to be very clear today, the conservative movement must be a

great agent of reform. to lead this country, we must offer a vision of change. our nation is $18 trillion in debt so every agency of government, every department out there, they must account for every dime that they spend, for the first time in american history, a generation of leaders is on the verge of breaking the social compact with the next generation and that is to leave a better country and with

greater opportunity than the way we found it. with debt the size of our g.d.p., our nation is involved with generational theft. there are fewer of us that believe in the american dream that in any time in the last 20 years. for middle class americans opportunity and security has been replaced with anxiety and worry. out-of-pocket health care costs, housing, college tuition, they have all gone up faster than wages. student debt is at an all-time high and this has to change. it is time, it is time to

restore hope and opportunity to the middle class americans out there and we can start with our tax code. we've got the highest corporate tax rate in the western world and it is time to lower that corporate tax rate to lift up middle class wages. we can do this. it is time to provide easier access to credit for small businesses. these lending reforms are squeezing our community banks and our small businesses. it is time to bring jobs and prosperity to main street, not just wall street. and it's time, it's time to stop this overregulation by runaway federal agencies that you realize the regulatory cost, this regulatory cost hits american families for about $15,000 a year.

that's the highest cost on your budget than anything other than housing. it's no surprise, though. it's no surprise that when one out of five american children are on food stamps because one out of 10 american workers are unemployed, underemployed or just so discouraged they quit looking for work. i'm going to say this quite plainly, the unemployment rate is a sham. it leaves millions of american workers uncounted. if the republican party doesn't take a stand for these unaccounted americans, the answer is not to expand the welfare state, it's to build the freedom state. i know it can happen because we did it in my home state. our formula was simple. you control the taxes and the spending, you provide smart regulations. you develop an educated workforce and you stop lawsuit abuse at the courthouse. in my 14 years as governor, we helped to create almost 1/3 of

all the private sector jobs in america. in the last seven years, we created 1.4 million jobs. you take those jobs out of the equation, minus those jobs created in texas this country lost a quarter of a million jobs. it's time to bring economic revival to every state in the country with policies that limited government instead of expanding it. now here is the third point. i have never been more certain than i am today that america's

best days remain in front of us. the weakness and incompetence of our government shouldn't be confused with the strength, the ingenuity and the idealism of the american people. our experiment and republican form of government, it's too durable to be sidetracked by one confused administration. you think about it, we have survived worse. we had a civil war in this country, we had two world wars. we had a great depression. we even survived jimmy carter. we will survive the obama years too. there is nothing wrong with america that can't be fixed with new leadership. you see, i see an america where a skilled worker with trained a job, where wages are on the rise and freedom is on the march. it's the birth right of all, not a government for a few select ones. it is time, it is time for american to lead the world. it's time to stand with our allies. it's time to pursue an america worthy of our founders' ideas. it's time that we build an america where our citizens and their children can dream again. so let's roll up our sleeves,

let's go to work and let's revive this great nation again. god bless you! thank you for being with us here today. thank you. \[applause] >> thanks for being here. thanks for being here. thank you. >> governor perry, we have a few questions for you if you don't mind. >> there you are. >> speaking so clearly, that was truly incredible, thank you. >> a few questions we have gotten on twitter, what would

you do in the white house about illegal immigration? >> well, obviously addressing this i have had a little bit more than just a talk about it. i have had to deal with it and i think that's one of the major issues that we got with washington and congress is that they talk, they talk and people literally die. we had to deal with this issue last summer when there were literally tens of thousands of individuals showing up, some of them unaccompanied minors on that southern border. i had to make a decision on how to deal with that because not only my state, but the country was being impacted by it. and the president asked me to come and meet with him on an airport ramp and i told him i would be glad to do it, mr. president, but i want to meet

with you and talk to you about this issue about our border. we met and it became abundantly clear to me that he was not going to address this issue. i told him, mr. president, if you don't secure this border texas will and that's exactly what we did. we sent the national guard there to secure the border and that's the point. if you do not secure the border first, you can't have a conversation about immigration reform. that's just the fact. you don't trust washington to deal with this. i don't trust washington to deal with this until they secure the border. we know how to do this. we can show them how to do it. we had a 74% decrease in the number of apprehensions in that 150-mile region of the border by deploying our national guard, by putting the law enforcement there. i will suggest one more thing and that is of avian assets, 24/7, fast response teams and we can secure the border. then you have a conversation of how to deal with this entire immigration issue. there are a lot of interesting

ideas on the table out there but until we secure the border first. >> thank you, governor perry. there is lots of talk of climate change. how would you as u.s. president if you were to run, how would you secure america's energy future? let me address this issue, i think there is some good examples of how to deal with our environment. as a matter of fact, during the last 14 years, texas added 5.6 million people to its population roles, 1.4 million jobs created in that seven-year period of time, 2007 through 2014. 5.7 million people, that's lots of cars on the roads in texas. during that same period of time using thoughtful incentive-based regulations we degree creased our nitrogen oxide levels, which by the way is a real pollutant it's a real emissions. levels were down by 16%, ozone levels down 23%. oxide levels down by 50% and our co2 levels were down, whether you believe in this whole concept of climate change or not, co2 levels were down by 9%

in the state. isn't that the goal with what we are working towards. you can have job creation and you can make your environment better. that ought to be the role of those 50 states. we put policies in place that helped remove old dirty burning diesel engines from the fleets. we were able to transition our electrical power system into the natural gas burning. that ought to be our goal in this country. it all starts with energy policy. open up the x.l. pipeline, create energy jobs in our country. that is what we should be working on in this country from the standpoint of creating jobs and making america more energy secure.

>> thank you, governor perry, we appreciate you speaking so plainly on this. thank you for coming today. >> thank you, god bless you all. thank you. >> friday the audience heard from real estate donald trump. this is about 25 minutes. >> it is such an honor to be here. we have done this before, the responses so great. you are my kind of people. you are conservative, you were, you love this country. a lot of people think i am doing this for fun.

they think i am here and doing fat. i'm not doing this for fun. i'm doing it because we have to take our country back. our country is in serious, serious problems. we have a president who is either incompetent which i think he could be or he has his own agenda which i know he does. he does definitely have the agenda. washington is totally broken. and it's not going to get fixed unless we put the right person in that top position. it's just not going to happen. now, the problem i have, i'm not a politician. thank goodness. politicians are all talk, no action. i've dealt with them all my life. the king of zoning, the king of -- i deal with politicians. that's what i do.

i deal with people in this country our politicians are all talk no action. now, i'm a conservative. i'm a republican. but i look at what's going on with the republicans. i'm almost more disappointed with the republicans. and you can go right now. i mean, right now they're sitting over there and they're going

to make a decision on whether or not to fund, and i guarantee the answer is we'll fund, we're going to fund, we're going to keep doing it. our president broke the law when he did what he did. and you're going to have to take a tremendously strong action or you're going to have people just flowing into this country worse than it's ever been. they're coming in now by the thousands and it's going to only get worse. so the republicans have to toughen up. they have to toughen up on the i.r.s. they have to toughen up on benghazi. they have to toughen up on everything and, most importantly, perhaps other than immigration they have to toughen up on obamacare which is a total lie and which is a total and complete disaster. [applause] and when it gets in, because it really kicks in in 2016, when it kicks in, you are going to see some catastrophic result. people are getting out of business. companies are closing all because of obamacare. so they have to do something about that and they have to do it now. now, when was the last time you heard something good about our country?

we won. we beat china. we beat mexico. we beat somebody. we never win. you don't hear good news about this country. we are in a position where we just never win. and that's because of our leadership. you need somebody perhaps that wrote the art of the deal. one of the great business books of all time i might add. now, you know, a little example somebody said i can't believe you got the old post office. you know, right down the road meaning on pennsylvania avenue. i wish it were right down the road. right down the road, pennsylvania avenue. i got a building, the old post office. great building. everybody wanted it. g.s.a. gave it out. we are doing an amazing job with it. it's under construction now for six months. the g.s.a. gave it out. obama gave it out. trump got it. now, is that good negotiating? it was in the history of the g.s.a. one of the most sought after properties ever. and trump got it. people said to me how the hell did you ever get it when obama is in charge of the g.s.a.? but that's the way it goes, folks. and maybe that's what we need some of. so it's really, really important

that we have people in that top position that know, because the country has such tremendous potential. unbelievable potential, and we just are not using it. now, on isis, nobody if i decide to run and win, nobody would be tougher than donald trump. nobody. [applause] i would hit them so hard and so fast that they wouldn't know what happened. i would find a general. remember the old days of general macarthur and general patton and these great generals. we must have somebody in there. but i laugh as i say, and it's laugh through tears, as you say, look. they're announcing when they're going to attack the other side. how often do you see that in two weeks from now we're sending soldiers over here to attack

this. general mcarthur is spinning in his grave. when he sees what we do. so you got to hit them hard. you got to hit them firm. you can't play games. you got to go hard and fast and firm. and there's somebody there that's going to do the job. now, we have a thing, beau bergdahl. we sell. we make a deal. beau bergdahl for five killers. five terrorists who are right now out there trying to kill us. this is the kind of thinking. you don't even hear anything about it anymore. people forget. it's like the one-week schedule. they forget. the beau bergdahl deal is emblematic of what's going on in this country. all our deals are like that. and we can't let it continue to happen. now, iran. they cannot have a nuclear weapon.

we must protect israel. we must protect israel. as far as our borders are concerned we need strong borders. we need a wall. i will tell you, the king of building walls. nobody can build them like trump. that i can promise you. i can promise you that. executive order. we've got to knock it out. we've got to knock it out fast. common core is bad. bad. [applause] second amendment is good. now really good. now they want to take away your bullets, folks. i don't know if you've been seeing what's been going on. they can't get the gups. now they want to go after the bullets. but the common core, look. i came down very hard on mitt romney because he let us down. he really let us down. that should have been an election that was won. that was an easy election to win. i actually think probably easier than the next one coming up.

there was no excuse for not winning that. i came down very strong. jeb bush. he's in favor -- [booing] -- he's in favor of common core. he is weak on immigration. now think of it for a second. in favor of common core, weak on immigration. remember the statement, they come over for love? that was his stance on immigration. i don't see them winning. i don't see any way. you people have to make your own choice. who knows? we have to rebuild our infrastructure. i go throughout the world. i'm all over the world and i see china and i see abu dab ue, places you wouldn't believe. you go to qatar. you go to saudi arabia.

you see bridges and tunnels and airports and just roadways that are so magnificent. they're paved in gold. and then you come home and you land at laguardia. or you land at l.a.x. in los angeles or you land at kennedy airport in new york and they're like third world places. our roads are crumbling. everything is crumbling. we're rebuilding china. it's got to stop. we have the cards. remember that. we have the cards. social security. i'm the only republican that's going to say this and i don't know if people are going to love it or not but we've got to make this country rich again. we can do it with smart leadership. and when we make it rich, we can save social security medicare, and medicaid, and not cut it like almost every republican wants to do. let's cut social security, cut medicare.

now you go after the fraud and abuse but you don't cut it. we make the country rich again. we take back the jobs from china and other nations. nobody else is going to tell you that. we're 18 trillion in debt very soon going to be a lot more than that and we're going to reach 24 trillion dollars. that's a sacred number because it's a number from which there is almost no recovery. we better get going and we better get going fast. i just want to leave this with you. to be a winner you have to think like a winner. our country hasn't been thinking like a winner. we're totally on the defense. we're being laughed at all over the world for our stupidity. we're giving things away. isis, you know, we leave it for iraq and isis comes in and takes it. i see these trucks and beautiful tanks all american tanks. we have to use our head. we need brilliant leadership. we can make america great again. there is tremendous potential in this country. and my whole concept is make america great again. we can do it. thank you. than