2008 Republican National Convention/Norm Coleman's Republican National Convention speech (09/03)
From Wikisource
Mitch McConnell’s Republican National Convention speech
| ←2008 Republican National Convention | To Get the Job Done by |
| Delivered at the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN on 3 September 2008. |
Thank you.
Are you having – are you having fun in Minnesota?
Are you ready for Sarah Palin?
In Minnesota, we are always thrilled to welcome another hockey mom to the State of Hockey. Here in Minnesota, we always talk about the Norwegian husband who cared so much about his wife that he almost told her. In this election, in Washington, we face leaders of the Democrat Party who care so much about working families that they almost do something. But they don’t.
In this presidential election, we have a chance to elect a man who does not just talk about problems and how much he cares, but will actually do something to solve them. Prosperity does not flow down from Washington; it rises up from the creativity, hard work and determination of the American people.
Steve Covey wrote that “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” And the main things is jobs for the American people, and it’s the main thing for John McCain. He would rather spend his time creating two-hundred-thousand jobs in America than speaking to two-hundred-thousand Germans in Berlin.
We create jobs in three ways. Number One: we make government more efficient. The biggest expense of families is not energy, it’s not food, or transportation. It’s government. Yet Barack Obama wants to expand it. He thinks he can grow the economy by raising taxes, which is like using Roundup to grow your garden. Taxes kill jobs, and we need to keep them low.
Number Two: we need to increase energy supply. The Democrat energy plan is like trying to fix a flat tire with a tire gauge: way too little, way too cautious, and way too late. We need to use what we’ve got right here, in America, and not continue to send billions of dollars to tyrants like Madinejad and Chávez who want to do us harm.
We need more drilling. And more oil shales; and more nuclear; and more clean coal. And more conservation and renewables now. Our economy – our economy, and our sovereignty depend on them. America needs to go all-in and gain independence from foreign oil.
Number Three: we reform health care and education. Every American deserves quality health care, and every child deserves a quality education. But blank checks and bureaucratic government programs: they don’t work. If we really empower patients and parents to take charge and make their own choices, they will transform health care and education by demanding the quality all Americans deserve. And I don’t want the folks who run the IRS to run my health care.
As Republicans, we have to say what the Democrats are unwilling to say. That some of our problems are too big for one political party to solve. In the spirit of John McCain’s whole career in Congress, we must work together, today and in the next Congress, to craft genuine reform, genuine change that leads to genuine results. That’s the heart of Country First. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit if the American people win.
We need to bring together people from all regions, and all industries, and all races, and all ages, and all parties to get things done, get the job done for America. And as I said before, the main thing is jobs. Barack Obama will tax them away, and John McCain will build them right here at home. It is as simple as that: it’s about real change, about real results that we can deliver together.
Now: let’s go to work and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin to get the job done.
Thank you, and God bless you all.
