McCain Delivers Remarks in Defiance, Ohio

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOHN MCCAIN: I need your energy. I need your enthusiasm.

And, my friends, I know history. I know the last time anyone was elected president of the United States without carrying the state of Ohio was John F. Kennedy. My friends, we're going to carry Ohio, and we're going to win the presidency, and we need you out there working every single moment for the next five days.

(APPLAUSE)

We need a new direction, and we have to fight for it, my friends. And I've been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old, and I have the scars to prove it.

(APPLAUSE)

And there's others who have been fighting for this country in this group of people and great Americans who are here today. And I'd like to ask them to raise their hands. Thank you for your service to our country, our veterans. Thank you so much. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you. My friends, if I'm elected president, I will fight to shake up Washington and take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight; I'm ready for the fight.

(APPLAUSE)

I have a plan to hold the line on taxes and cut them to make America more competitive and create jobs here at home. We're going to double the child deduction for working families. We'll cut the capital gains tax. We'll cut business taxes to help create jobs and keep American businesses in America.

(APPLAUSE)

We have a clear difference, Senator Obama and I do. He wants to raise your taxes. Raising taxes makes a bad economy much worse.

Look at history. Keeping taxes low creates jobs, keeps money in your hands, and strengthens our economy. If I'm elected president, I won't spend nearly $1 trillion more of your money. Senator Obama will, and he can't do that...

(BOOING)

MCCAIN: And he can't do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I'm going to make government live on a budget, just like you do.

(APPLAUSE)

I'll freeze government spending on all but the most important programs, like defense, veterans care, Social Security, and health care, until we scrub every single government program, get rid of the ones that aren't working for the American people.

And, my friends, I will veto every single pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk. I will make them famous, and you will know their names.

(APPLAUSE)

No more. No more pork, my friends. No more bridges to nowhere. No more DNA -- $3 million to steady the DNA of bears in Montana. I don't know if that was a criminal issue or a paternity issue, but we're not doing it anymore.

(APPLAUSE)

I'm not going to spend $750 billion of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who've got us into this mess. Senator Obama will.

I'm going to make sure we take care of the working people who were devastated and are being devastated by the excesses and greed and corruption of Wall Street and Washington.

I'm a reformer. I've fought for reform. Senator Obama has never taken on the leaders of his party on any major issue, and that's a matter of rhetoric -- a matter of record and not of rhetoric.

My friends, I have a plan to fix our housing market so that your home value doesn't go down when your neighbor defaults and so that the people in danger of defaulting have a path to pay off their loan.

That's the American dream. We've got to buy up these bad mortgages, and keep people in their homes, and give them an affordable mortgage. That's the American dream, staying in one's home. That's my first priority for the American people. (APPLAUSE)

If I'm elected president, we're going to stop sending $700 billion a year to pay for oil from countries that don't like us very much.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, my friends, the other night in the debate that I -- last debate I had with Senator Obama, I -- I recognized his eloquence. I appreciate it. But you've got to pay attention to the words.

Remember when we started talking about drilling off-shore? He said he would, quote, "consider" drilling -- we're going to drill off- shore and we're going to drill now. When I'm president, we're going to do it now.

(APPLAUSE)

And -- and we're going to build nuclear power plants, and we can create 700,000 new jobs by building 45 new nuclear power plants. There are some Navy veterans in this crowd who will tell you, we've sailed ships around the world with nuclear power plants on them and it's safe. Senator Obama won't do that.

And, my friends, we will use clean-coal technology. Clean-coal technology will restore the economy of this part of the country. The United States of America sits on the world's largest coal reserves. Clean-coal technology will do it. Today...

(APPLAUSE)

Today, ExxonMobil reported record profits. Senator Obama voted for billions in corporate giveaways to the oil companies; I voted against it.

When I'm president, we're not going to let that happen. As I said, we're going to invest in all energy alternatives, nuclear, wind, solar, tide. We'll encourage the manufacture of hybrid, flex-fuel, and electric automobiles.

And we will restore the automobile industry in America to its pre-eminent position. We must do that for the future of our children and our grandchildren.

And we will lower the cost of energy within months, and we'll create millions of new jobs in America and get this economy out of the ditch.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, we've learned more -- we've learned more about Senator Obama's real goals for our country over the last two weeks than we learned over the last two years. And that's only because Joe the plumber asked him the right question right here in Ohio.

(APPLAUSE)

That's when Senator Obama revealed he wants to, quote, "spread the wealth around," spread your income around.

Joe's with us today. Joe, where are you? Where is Joe? Is Joe here with us today? Joe, I thought you were here today.

All right. Well, you're all Joe the plumber, so all of you stand up and say -- and I thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, I -- I saw Joe on television this morning. He did a great job. And whatever -- wherever you are, Joe, let's give him a round of applause for what he's done for America.

(APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: Now, Joe didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to this house, and he certainly didn't ask to be famous, and he most certainly didn't ask for the political attacks on him from the Obama campaign. And they're investigating everything about him.

What's that all about? What's that about?

(BOOING)

Joe's dream is your dream, to own a small business that will create jobs. And the attacks on him are an attack on small businesses all over this nation. Small businesses employ 84 percent of Americans, and we need to support these small businesses.

Taxing small businesses will kill jobs. We can't let that happen. After...

(APPLAUSE)

So we finally learned what Senator Obama's goals are, and to spread the wealth. In a radio interview revealed this week, he said the same thing, that one of the, quote, "tragedies" of the civil rights movement is that it didn't bring about redistributive change.

You see, Senator Obama believes in redistributing wealth and income, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs. He said that, even though lower taxes on investment help our economy, he favors higher taxes on investment for, quote, "fairness."

There's nothing fair about driving our economy into the ground. We all suffer when that happens, and that's the problem with Senator Obama's approach to our economy. He's more interested in controlling wealth than creating it and redistributing wealth instead of spreading opportunity.

I'm going to create wealth for all Americans by creating opportunity for all Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator Obama is running to be redistributionist-in-chief. I'm running to be commander-in-chief.

(APPLAUSE) Senator Obama is running to spread the wealth. I'm running to create more wealth. Senator Obama is running to punish the successful. I'm running to make everyone successful.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, he and Senator Biden made a lot of promises. First, he said people making less than $250,000 would benefit from his plan. Then this weekend, he announced in an ad that, if you're a family making less than $200,000, you'll benefit.

But this week, Senator Obama said tax relief should go only to middle-class people, people making under $150,000 a year.

See where we're headed, my friends? It's interesting how their definition of rich has a way of creeping down. At this rate, it won't be long before Senator Obama is right back to his vote that Americans making just $42,000 a year should get a tax increase.

We can't let that happen. We can't let that happen to America.

(APPLAUSE)

This Democratic Congress -- this -- this Reid-Pelosi group of liberals, including Congressman Barney Frank, is planning all sorts of new taxes this week. This week, we're hearing they want to tax your 401(k) contributions.

(BOOING)

This is a time when we need to be encouraging more investing, not taxing it. We can't let them get away with making a bad economy even worse. Now's the time to grow our economy, and that's what I'm going to do.

(APPLAUSE)

My friends, my opponent's massive new tax increase is exactly the wrong approach in an economic slowdown. The answer to a slowing economy isn't higher taxes, but that's exactly what's going to happen when the Democrats have total control of Washington.

We can't let that happen. We need pro-growth and pro-jobs economic policies, not pro-government spending programs paid for with higher taxes.

This is the fundamental difference between Senator Obama and me. We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy. The difference is he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high.

(APPLAUSE)

If we're going to change Washington, we need a president who has actually fought for change and made it happen.

MCCAIN: The next president won't have time to get used to the office.

We face many challenges here at home and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world. You know, just the other day, Senator Biden warned that Senator Obama would be tested with an international crisis. I have been tested; Senator Obama has not.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator -- Senator Biden referred to how Jack Kennedy was tested in the Cuban missile crisis, and I have a little personal experience in that. I was on board the USS Enterprise, sat in a cockpit on the flight deck, waiting to take off.

I had a target. I know how close we came to a nuclear war, and I will not be a president who needs to be tested.

(APPLAUSE)

We know Senator Obama won't have the right response to that test, because we've seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign. He opposed the surge strategy that's bringing us victory in Iraq and will bring us victory in Afghanistan.

He said he would sit down unconditionally with the world's worst dictators.

(BOOING)

When Russia invaded Georgia, Senator Obama said the invaded country should show restraint. He's been wrong on all of these. When I am president, we're going to win in Iraq, win in Afghanistan, and our troops will come home in victory and honor, not in defeat.

(APPLAUSE)

So let me give you the state of the race today, my friends. There's less than a week to go, five days. The pundits have written us off, just like they've done several times before.

My opponent is working out the details with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid of their plans to raise your taxes, increase spending, and concede defeat in Iraq.

(BOOING) He's measuring the drapes, and he gave his first address to the nation before the election. We're a few -- just never mind. We're a few points down, but we're coming back. Last night...

(APPLAUSE)

Last night, Senator Obama said that, if he lost, he would return to the Senate and try again in four years with a second act. That sounds like a great idea to me. Let's help him make it happen.

(APPLAUSE)

My friends, I know you're worried. America's a great country, but we're at a moment of national crisis that will determine our future.

I want to ask you this: Will we continue to lead the world's economies or will we be overtaken? Will the world become safer or more dangerous? Will our military remain the strongest in the world? Will our children and grandchildren's future be brighter than ours?

My answer to you is yes. Yes, we will lead. Yes, we will prosper. Yes, we will be safer. Yes, we will pass on to our children a stronger, better country.

(APPLAUSE)

But we must be prepared to act swiftly, boldly, with courage and wisdom. I am an American, and I choose to fight.

Don't give up hope. Be strong. Have courage and fight. Fight for a new direction for our economy. Fight for what's right for America. Fight to clean up the massive corruption, in-fighting, and selfishness in Washington.

Fight to get our economy out of the ditch and back in the lead. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people. Fight for our children's future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all. Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up. Stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for.

(APPLAUSE)

Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history; we make history.

Now, let's go win this election and get our country moving again. Thank you, and God bless. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

END