:puke:
February 17, 2005
snip....
The third reason, the third idea that we will -- that is a reason for our advance is that we are defending time-honored values. Conservatives have long known that political liberty depends on a healthy social and moral order. And so the president is committed to strengthening society's key institutions: families, schools, communities. And he is committed to protecting those mediating structures so important to our freedom, like our churches, our neighborhood and private groups, the institutions that create values, that shape character, that provide our young with moral education.
That is why this president supports welfare reform that strengthens families and requires work. That is why he has supported and our movement supports adoption and responsible fatherhood initiatives. That is why he is committed to building a culture of life and upholding the dignity of every human person, and seeks a world in which every child is welcomed in life and protected in law.
And that is why he's provided unprecedented support for religious charities that provide a safety net of mercy and compassion. And it is why this president the supports the protection of traditional marriage against activist judges; why he signed legislation that insists on testing, high standards and accountability in our public schools; and why he's helped foster a culture of service and citizenship. He supports these things because he believes these things. He believes these things because he knows they will lead to a society that is more compassionate and free and decent and stronger and better. And we are attempting to match that with a spread of liberty abroad, because we understand that we must show that we are worthy of liberty at home.
Let me close where I began. Forty years ago Lyndon B. Johnson, a Texan and a Democrat and a proud liberal, won the presidency in a landslide. Democrats held 68 Senate seats, 295 House seats and 33 governorships. Today we see a Republican president and proud conservative who has won the presidency for a second time, receiving the most votes of any candidate in American history.
Republicans have now won seven of the last 10 presidential elections. We hold 55 Senate seats, 232 House seats, and 28 governorships. These facts underscore how much progress we have enjoyed in the last four decades, and it has been a remarkable rise for our party and our movement. But it is also a cautionary tale of what happens to a dominate party when its thinking becomes ossified, when its energy begins to drain, when an entitlement mentality takes over, and when political power becomes an end in itself rather than a means to achieve the greater good.
We need to learn from our successes and from the failures of the other side and ourselves. As the governing party in America, Republicans cannot grow tired or timid. We have been given the opportunity to govern, and now we have to show that we deserve the respect and trust of our fellow citizens by acting in office as we said we would do on the campaign trail.
At one time, the conservative movement was largely a reactionary movement. Many of us became conservatives and became Republicans at a time when this was the dominate thinking. There was a sense of pessimism even among the most ardent champions. I can remember reading, "Witness." You remember that Whittaker Chambers, who gave up his affiliation with Communism to join the West in the struggle for freedom, famously said he believed he was joining "the losing side."
For decades, Democrats were setting the agenda and liberals were setting the pace of change and had the visionary goals, and Republicans and conservatives were simply reacting to them. But times change, and often for the better. And this president and today's conservative movement are shaping history. Together we are articulating a compelling vision of a better world, and more importantly, we are acting on those ideas and acting on that vision to make that better world a reality by pursuing the right policies in office.
I know this president is grateful for all of you who have helped in this great cause, who have led over the years and given of your time and your energy and your leadership. But we have much more to do. We have a future to make, a nation to renew, values to protect, and an agenda to enact.
Thank you for your attention, for your support of this president, and more importantly for your devotion to our movement, and most importantly of all, for your devotion to our country. May God bless America.
(Freaking freak!!)
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http://cpac.org/cpac05_rove_speech.asp:puke: :puke:
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