Sarah Palin slams Obama again on Ayers at Florida rally. Transcript.

Transcript courtesy Federal News Service

REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN REMARKS AT A “ROAD TO VICTORY” RALLY LOCATION: CLEARWATER, FLORIDA TIME: 9:00 A.M. EDT DATE: MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2008

GOV. PALIN: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And Senator Lieberman, thank you for that kind introduction. And it is so good to have all of you here today. As Senator Lieberman just said, he’s never seen so many people up so early and we thank you for making that sacrifice.

(Applause.)

Thank you so much for that very, very warm welcome to the state of Florida. You take my breath away. Thank you, Florida.

(Applause.)

The flags are beautiful. Thank you for that also. God bless America. You guys get it. Thank you.

(Applause.)

It’s great to be here in the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, too. (Applause.)

I know that earlier some of the experts this year are kind of tough on the Rays. I’ve been there. But what a difference a season can make. And now the Rays are in the playoffs for the first time ever. Florida knows a little something about turning an underdog into a victor, and together that’s what we can do.

(Applause.)

How about it Florida? Let us do that for Senator John McCain.

(Applause.)

So the last time that our campaign came to Florida it was up in the villages and it was so much fun. Thousands of people out there. Golf carts everywhere. We got such a kick out of that, that was cool. Thousands of people out there to hear our message of reform and positive change. And they came there like you today because the people of Florida are ready to shake things up in Washington.

(Applause.)

So John McCain and I, we are taking our cause and our case for reform to every voter of every background in every region of America. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent, maybe you don’t belong to any party at all, we’re asking for your vote. And it’s going to be a hard fought contest. Right here in Florida it’s going to be a tough contest. With your support, though, we’ll win Florida.

(Applause.)

We’ll win for you.

(Applause.)

So, I wanted to come here a couple of days earlier but I had an appointment in St. Louis that just wouldn’t wait.

(Applause.)

And so on Thursday night I had a little debate with Senator Joe Biden.

(Boos.)

Joseph Biden is a decent man, he is. And I enjoyed meeting him for the first time. I was so proud, though, to get to make the case for the next president of the United States, John McCain.

(Applause.) As I explained to Senator Biden, John McCain is the only man in this race who will solve our economic crisis and not exploit it. And he’s the only man in this race with a plan that will actually help our working families, and cut your taxes, and get our economy back on track.

(Applause.)

He’s the only man in this race who talks about the wars that America is fighting and he isn’t afraid to use the word victory.

(Applause.)

Our opponent gives speech after speech about the wars that America is fighting and it sure would be nice if just once he’d say that he wants America to win.

(Applause.)

See our opponent voted to cut off funding for our troops even after saying that he would never do so.

(Boos.)

And he said that our troops in Afghanistan are just quote, “raiding villages and killing civilians.”

(Boos.)

And that’s not what our brave men and women in uniform are doing in Afghanistan. The U.S. military is fighting terrorism and protecting us and our values.

(Applause.)

And they’re building schools for children in Afghanistan so that there is hope and there is opportunity in that country. That is what our troops are doing and they deserve our gratitude and they deserve our support.

(Applause.)

See, John McCain is a different kind of man. He believes in our troops and their mission. And as the mother of one of those troops that’s exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief.

(Applause.)

Man, some of your signs just make me want to cry. Thank you so much. I love you guys.

(Applause.) Thank you.

(Applause.

)

Senator McCain — Senator McCain served our nation in uniform for 22 years, five and a half years he was a POW. In fact, it was after graduating from the Naval Academy, he was stationed right here in Florida. That’s where he learned to do what he does, here in Florida.

(Applause.)

And Florida, it was in your skies that he trained to become a naval aviator. And Senator McCain is proud to have been part of Florida’s strong tradition of military service. And today, we’re proud of all the Floridians who have worn our country’s uniform. Your state is home to millions.

(Applause.)

Florida is home to millions of our veterans and many of our nation’s active duty soldiers and airmen. And they continue to keep our nation strong and secure. And I know that here in the audience there are veterans, there are those who are serving today. Would you do me the honor, raise your hand, let us applaud you? Thank you, guys.

(Applause.)

We thank you and we love you guys. Thank you — and gals, thank you.

(Applause.)

Florida, in just 29 days it will be the time for choosing in this election. And here’s how I look at the choice that we face. In politics there are some candidates who use change to just promote their careers. And then there are those leaders, like John McCain, who use their career to promote change.

(Applause.)

This is a moment when principles and political independence matter a lot more than just the party line, as Senator Lieberman just told you. It matters a lot more than just the party line. John McCain is his own man. He doesn’t run with the Washington herd. And he and I don’t just talk about change, we’re the only candidates in this race with a track record of actually making change happen.

(Applause.)

As mayor and as a governor, I reminded people that government is not always the answer. In fact, government too often is the problem. So we got back to basics and we put government back on the side of the people.

As mayor, I eliminated taxes on personal property and I eliminated taxes like small business inventory taxes. Those burdens on our small businesses, we got rid of them. Property taxes were too high. Every year that I was in office I reduced that (mill levy ?).

And as governor, I brought the same agenda of positive change on a state level. I came to office promising to control spending, by request if possible, but by veto if necessary. And today, our state budget is under control and we have a surplus. And I put the veto pen to nearly half a billion dollars in wasteful spending.

(Applause.)

We suspended our state fuel tax and I’m returning a chunk of our surplus money right back to the people of Alaska. It’s their money and they can spend it better than government can spend it for them.

(Applause.)

Imagine that. Imagine that, having that principle. And that’s what we’re going to bring on a national level also. That principle of knowing that — no, the people, our families, our businesses they know best so let them keep more of what they earn and produce and not have this government take trying to quote, “solve” all the problems for our families and our businesses. No, we’re not going to do that.

I’ve always known that I was accountable to the people who hired me. There, it was the people of Alaska. And in a McCain-Palin administration I promise you that we will never forget that we’ll be there in D.C. to work for you the people of America.

(Applause.)

So one mission of a McCain-Palin administration will be to set this nation firmly on a course of energy independence.

(Applause.)

Across Florida and all across America, high gas prices is making a full tank at the pump seem like a luxury. And the cost of living, of course, is going up. And the cost of groceries is going up. Everything is going up, but the value of your paycheck is going down. And that’s because of high energy costs. So, to meet America’s great energy challenge we’re going to need an all of the above approach. And that, in a McCain-Palin administration, will mean developing new alternative energy sources. And it will mean requiring to build more nuclear power plants. And in Florida, it means alternative sources of energy like wind and solar. God has so richly blessed you here.

(Applause.)

Look at these sources of energy here in Florida that are still sitting untapped. And we’ll tap into them, along with environmentally friendly off shore production. We do need to drill here and drill now. Now you can chant the drill baby drill.

(Applause.)

It’s as simple as this, Florida. In a McCain-Palin administration we will achieve energy security for our country. It is a matter of national security and economic prosperity. That means American energy resources brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.

(Applause.)

And we’re also going to bring tax relief to every American and cut taxes for businesses so you business owners you can hire more people. That’s how jobs are created.

(Applause.)

Here again, John McCain is the real reformer. In this election, he is the real reformer and he can do this and he has a record to prove it. And so do I, as a mayor, as a governor who cut taxes for the people of Alaska. You know, in this campaign, in this election, I think the phoniest claim in a campaign that’s been full of them, is that Barack Obama is going to cut your taxes?

(Boos.)

I mean, think about it. He’s built his whole career on doling out tax money, first as a Chicago politician, and then raising taxes as a senator. He’s voted 94 times to raise taxes.

(Boos.)

Even on middle class every day working Americans making $42,000 a year, he voted to raise those taxes. And he tried to waste a million dollars a day just on his requested earmarks. And now, he’s committed to almost a trillion dollars in new government spending. And yet, he never bothers to explain where all that’s going to come from to pay for all of that. And dog gone it, no one seems to be asking him how is he going to pay for the huge government growth that he wants. No one is asking him. So you all, just do the math. Either do the math or just go with your gut. In either way, you’re going to come up with the same conclusion, Barack Obama is going to raise your taxes.

(Boos.

)

So, there’s a pattern here of a left-wing agenda that is packaged and prettied up to look like mainstream policies. And everybody knows that this country has got to be put back on the right track. But the problem with our opponent’s agenda is that higher taxes and bigger government and activist courts and retreat in war, that’s not the right track for our country. That’s another dead end.

(Applause.)

We have that plan to put our country back on the right track. Okay now Florida, evidently there’s some interest in what I’ve been reading lately. And I think that this comes from — it’s a result of a probably less than successful interview that I had recently with kind of mainstream media.

(Boos.)

Yet, you know what, in response to critics after that interview what I should have told them was I was just trying to keep Tina Fay in business, just giving her more information.

(Applause.)

Job security for SNL characters. All right. Really in that interview I was just getting really impatient because I was so convinced that Americans want to hear about the issues that are so important in your life: how to win the war, how to get the economy back on trace, public education, accountability in our schools, more choices for our parents with education. Those things.

(Applause.)

So, I do have to apologize, though, for being a little bit impatient, a little bit annoyed. But anyways, so one of the questions about well what do I read everyday? And my answer was sort of flippant, Well, I was reading my copy of the New York Times the other day, okay.

(Boos.) And I knew you guys would react that way, okay. So I’m reading the New York Times, though, and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago, as the New York Times (put it ?).

(Applause.)

Now it turns out one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers.

(Boos.)

And according to the New York Times he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that quote, “launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol.”

(Boos.)

And then there’s even more to the story. Barack Obama says that Ayers was just someone in the neighborhood, but that’s less than truthful. His own top adviser said that they were quote, “certainly friendly.” In fact, Obama held one of his first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers living room.

(Boos.)

And they worked together on various projects in Chicago. And, you know, these are the same guys who think that patriotism is paying higher taxes.

(Boos.)

Remember, that’s what Joe Biden had said. And I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America, as the greatest source for good in this world.

(Applause.)

I’m afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.

(Boos.)

This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change that anyone can believe in, not my kids, not for your kids. What we believe in is what Ronald Reagan believed in, and that is America is an exceptional nation.

(Applause.)

(Chant of USA) Remember Ronald Reagan used to talk about America being that shining city on a hill for all mankind to see and that America is a good and honorable nation. We are not a perfect nation but we learn from our mistakes. And individually, no we are not perfect; but collectively together America represents a perfect ideal. It’s freedom. It’s tolerance. It’s respect for equal rights. It is those things that our military men and women have fought and died for, and freedom is worth fighting for.

(Applause.)

So look at the contrasts. On November 4th, you’ll have that choice, the contrasts. The only man who can take on Washington is Senator John McCain.

(Applause.)

Okay, so Florida you know that you’re going to have to hang onto your hats because from now until election day it may get kind of rough. That’s all right. You’re going to hear our opponents still go on and on about how they’re going to fight for you. But since he won’t say it on his own behalf, I’ve had to kind of make it my business to say it for him. There is only one man in this campaign who has ever really fought for you.

(Applause.)

He has the courage to go on fighting for you. That man is John McCain so god bless you for supporting John McCain. Thank you, Florida. God bless you and god bless America.

(Applause.)

Thank you.

END.