Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Speaks in La Crosse, Wisconsin

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In short, who is ready to lead? In a time of trouble and danger for our country, who will put our country first?

AUDIENCE: John McCain!

John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!

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MCCAIN: In 21 months, during hundreds of speeches, town halls and debates, I've kept my promise to level with you about my plans to reform Washington and get this country moving again. As a senator, I've seen the corrupt ways of Washington and wasteful spending and other abuses of power. As president, I'm going to end these abuses, whatever it takes.

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I will propose and sign into law reforms to bring tax relief to the middle class and help to businesses so they can create jobs. I will get the rising cost of food and gas under control. I will help families keep their homes and help students struggling to pay for college.

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I will make health care more accessible and affordable. I will impose a spending freeze on all but the most vital functions of government.

I will review every agency of the federal government, improve those that need to be improved and eliminate those that aren't working for the American people. I will confront the $10 trillion debt that the federal government has run up and balance the federal budget by the end of my term in office.

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This is the agenda I have set before my fellow citizens, and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent. We have all heard what he's said, but it's less clear what he has done or what he will do.

Rather than answer his critics, Senator Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he's been asked. You know, my friends, he has even questioned my truthfulness. And let me reply in the plainest terms I know. I don't need lessons about telling the truth to the American people, and were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn't seek advice from a Chicago politician.

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What was my opponent's actual record in the years before the great economic crisis of our lifetime? This -- present, 120 times.

This crisis started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And it was only a matter of time before a contagion of unsustainable debt began to spread.

At the time, I called for tighter restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could have helped prevent this crisis from happening in the first place. My opponent was silent on the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his Democratic buddies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. Barack Obama's most notable involvement -- his most notable involvement with the housing issue was to be taking money from executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the very people who were causing the problem.

My friends, on health care, Barack Obama has been misleading on two fronts. Under the plan he has proposed, he will fine employers who do not offer health insurance and put their employees in government health care. What he doesn't say, and nobody has asked, is how big his fine will be.

You deserve an answer. And you sure didn't get one in Tuesday night's debate. So let me give it another try.

Someone needs to ask Senator Obama to please specify the amount of fine he will impose on the employers of America. And while you're at it, ask employers how these new orders and fines from the federal government are going to help them create a single new job in a struggling economy.

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Again on taxes, we see a difference between what Senator Obama says today, what he said yesterday, and what he's actually done.

During the Democratic primary, he promised to double taxes on every American with a dividend or an investment. He promised to raise payroll taxes. He promised higher taxes on electricity. He voted for the Democratic budget resolution that promised to raise taxes on people making just $42,000 a year.

And now...

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

MCCAIN: And now, all of the sudden, Senator Obama claims he'll give 95 percent of Americans tax relief. What he hasn't told you, that he would seek and he would tax half of the income of small business in America.

These are the people who have actually added 350,000 jobs at a time when America lost 700,000 jobs. They're the backbone of our economy and our best hope to get America back on track. When I'm president, their taxes are going down instead of up, and we're going to help them create jobs for Americans.

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On spending, Barack Obama will increase government spending by over $860 billion. That's on top of the trillions in debt that we've already burdened our children and grandchildren with.

He claimed in our debate that somehow he'll still end up with a cut in spending. Only Barack Obama could sell an $860 billion federal spending increase as a net reduction in federal spending.

When I'm president, the spending reductions will be real. And I'll cut the size of government, I'll put the government back on the side of America's working families, and I'll get this country moving again.

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And then there's the matter of earmarks and pork barrel spending. In his three short years in the Senate, he's requested nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel projects for his state, nearly a million dollars for every day he's been in office.

In our debate, I mentioned the example of the more than $3 million he sought for a new projector at a planetarium in his hometown. Do we need projectors for planetariums paid for by you?

I could have mentioned his vote for that Bridge to Nowhere, but the planetarium is in some ways a more interesting case. I guess it was sheer coincidence that the chairman of that planetarium pledged to raise more than $200,000 for Senator Obama's campaign. Even the appearance of this kind of insider dealing disgusts Americans. I'm going to put a stop to that, my friends, if I'm president.

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Washington is on the wrong track, and I'm going to set it right.

The American people know my record. They know I'm going to change Washington because I've done it before. They know I'm going to reform our broken institutions in Washington and Wall Street because I've done it before. They know...

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They know I'm going to deliver relief to the middle class because that's what I've done.

You don't have to hope that things will change when you vote for me. You know things will change because...

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... I've been fighting for change in Washington my whole career. I've been fighting for you my whole life. And that's what I'm going to do as president of the United States, fight for you and put the government back on the side of the people.

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I'm honored that all of you are here this morning. I'm grateful. I'm always even more grateful, if that's possible, for the veterans who are here and those who have served this country.

Could I ask our veterans who are here to raise their hands so we can all recognize them and thank them for their service to our country?

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We have in the rallies we've had across the country veterans from all wars, those from the greatest generation up to those who have recently returned from conflict. And I am so happy to tell you that this generation of Americans that is serving America in uniform is the best equipped, the best trained, the most patriotic and the best generation ever this country has ever produced.

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