November 4, 2008 – Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth. Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer in my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day, though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.

My friends, we have — we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight. I’ve always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too. But we both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much.

Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

It is natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought as hard as we could.

And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours.

I am so deeply grateful to all of you for the great honor of your support and for all you have done for me. I wish the outcome had been different, my friends. The road was a difficult one from the outset. But your support and friendship never wavered. I cannot adequately express how deeply indebted I am to you.

I am especially grateful to my wife, Cindy, my children, my dear mother and all my family and to the many old and dear friends who have stood by my side through the many ups and downs of this long campaign. I have always been a fortunate man, and never more so for the love and encouragement you have given me.

You know, campaigns are often harder on a candidate’s family than on the candidate, and that’s been true in this campaign. All I can offer in compensation is my love and gratitude, and the promise of more peaceful years ahead.

I am also, of course, very thankful to Governor Sarah Palin, one of the best campaigners I have ever seen and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength. Her husband Todd and their five beautiful children with their tireless dedication to our cause, and the courage and grace they showed in the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign. We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican Party and our country. To all my campaign comrades, from Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, to every last volunteer who fought so hard and valiantly month after month in what at times seemed to be the most challenged campaign in modern times, thank you so much. A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship.

I don’t know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I’ll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I’m sure I made my share of them. But I won’t spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been

This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life. And my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Senator Obama and my old friend Senator Joe Biden should have the honor of leading us for the next four years.

I would not be an American worthy of the name, should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.

And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.

Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history, we make history.

Republican Weakness. Where is it? In the Northeast, across the upper Midwest, and in cities and upscale suburbs. To gain a majority in Congress, Republicans will have to win House and Senate seats in those places. To win the presidency, they’ll have to appeal to voters in those locations.

Republicans in Washington must keep these voters–they’re more moderate than conservative–in mind and avoid alienating them. Republicans don’t need to jettison conservative principles. Ryan, the party’s most innovative thinker, says Republicans need only apply these principles to the new political era, and moderates will be comfortable with the result.

One more thing is essential, according to Ryan. “We’ve got to be happy warriors,” he says. “We’ve got to stop being the angry white guy party.” Otherwise, Republicans will play right into Obama’s hands.

More than anything, we need to stick our principles.  But we cannot be overbearing social and neo conservatives.  We are going to do well in the South.  But what are we doing to win votes in the Northeast and the Northern Plains?  Why haven’t we been competitive in the Pacific Northwest?

These are all valid questions and we, as Republicans, need to start digging deep to find the answers.

The 12% margin of victory for Myers in Ocean County is a joke.

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How do we lose two freeholder seats and the county clerk’s office in Burlington County?

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How do we get swept out in Cumberland County?

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We have a lot of questions.  We need to do some soul searching in the next few weeks.  But know this: our path to victory in 2009 and beyond begins today.  We cannot be looking over our shoulders wondering what we could have done different.  It is time to be proactive.  It is time to bring forth a new generation of young Republican leaders.  We need to rally around Congressman Cantor from Virgina and Congressman Ryan from Wisoconsin.  We need to rally around Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and other young Republican leaders like him nationwide.  And we need to dump Tom Wilson, our illustrious State GOP Chairman.  Our party is in shambles here in New Jersey.  Just look at the selection process for our U.S. Senate candidate to understand my point.

My friends, join me: stand with me as I fight to bring about Republican ideas and values.  Stand with me as I work to rebuild our party from the ground up, so we can retake Trenton and Washington.  It is time for a taxpayer revolution my friends, and it begins today!

NJ.com’s Coverage of the Rider University College Republican’s Country First Rally: Click

Joshua Hursa, Vice Chairman

Kyle Battaglia, Public Relations and Recruitment Coordinator

Kevin Van Loan, Treasurer

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

I drove down on Wednesday with 7 TCNJ College Republicans to CPAC.  We stayed just a few blocks from the Omni Shoreham Hotel, where the conference was held.  Little was done on Wed night, as we had a long day ahead of us. 

Thursday, February 7^th, 2008

We woke up early Thursday, took the metro to the hotel, registered and sat down.  First there was a conversation about Ronald Reagan, which included panelists and videos of Reagan himself.  Then, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to the convention.  Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the vice president.  Cheney was, surprisingly, pretty funny.   Next was an interesting panel on conservative roots.  Next, Governor Mitt Romney drops out in front of us.  Of all the Romney bashing I have done, I have to say Romney is the classiest guy I have ever seen.  He starts out with a stump speech, and then throws his support to the front runner, Senator McCain.  I respect Gov. Romney a whole lot more hearing him sacrifice his chances for the white house this time, in order to help the party.  I saw lemmings taking off their Romney shirts and immediately putting on McCain gear.  What happened to standing for your principles?  After he spoke, the buzz was constant.  What could possibly top Romney’s withdrawal from the race?  After Lunch, Senator McCain spoke to the gathered crowd.  I was not able to get into the speech, however I saw him pull up in his car, and have two (very blurry) pictures of the senator at arm’s length away from me.  It was exhilarating.  When I finally made it back into the main room we saw Sec. Elaine Chao (wife of Sen. McConnell and current Bush labor secretary).  She made Ralph Nader sound like Mike Huckabee; it was disastrous.  The main reasons for returning to see Sec. Chao was to see my candidate for president Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul address the convention.  He gave his usual stump speech.  Paul was the only candidate; in fact, the only person who was of any note that spoke at CPAC, who walked into the crowd, took pictures, signed autographs or otherwise engaged the audience.  At this point, it was a long day and the night was just getting started.  Due to the President’s necessary time slot changes (he was going to survey the tornado damage in Tennessee) the president was scheduled to speak at 7 am the next day, with the doors opening at 5.  Most people just stayed up all night.  DC Fest, an annual gathering of the CRs from around the country at the Hawk n Dove, was a lot of fun.  We danced the night away.

Friday, February 8^th 2008

I decided not to wake up early to see the president.  The TCNJ group that went did not get in, so I was able to get some sleep in.  Around noon, I got dressed and went back to the hotel, where I skipped the speakers and went right to the conservative political fair they had.  It was an enormous room filled with every group imaginable, from the ACLU to the Young Americans Foundation.  I spent four hours there.  The SWAG was impressive:  the CRNC gave out bottle openers (the irony haha), bumper stickers, books, bags, shirts, you name it.  They had political buttons, blogging stations, radio shows set up, book signings, internship fairs; it was a lot to take in.  I was able to gather a lot of information for the College Republicans, which we shall use to combat liberalism here at Rider.  Around 5 we went back to the hotel and had another…memorable evening!

Saturday February 9^th, 2008

We woke up, packed, checked out of the hotel, packed the cars and went back to the conference.  We arrived just in time to hear Governor Mike Huckabee speak.  It was impressive.  After Huckabee, there were a couple of panels speaking which we listened to.  At noon, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) spoke.  His speech, which consisted of him mentioning his inexperience in Washington DC, his record as a tax cutting, deficit cutting, fiscal conservative and his unwavering support of the Boy Scouts of America (he was a former eagle scout) makes me believe the 2008 Republican presidential ticket will be McCain-Perry ’08.  At one, Phyllis Schafly spoke.  She was extremely well received and well respected.  I got lunch and watched a portion of Newt Gingrich’s speech.  He makes good points, but he just needs someone else to promote them.  During the same time as Gingrich’s speech, Phyllis Schafly and her son held a panel on judicial activism.  It was very educational and we were able to interact with the panelists, which was nice.  At the conclusion of this panel, we went back into the main ballroom and heard the results of the straw poll.  Even considering Governor Romney dropped out of the race on Thursday, he still won the straw poll.   Tony Snow, former Fox News anchor and White House press secretary, gave one of the better speeches of the convention.   At the conclusion of his speech the convention adjourned.  We went back to our cars and went back to NJ.

CPAC was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I am literally exhausted, excited for this election cycle, ready to get started.  I plan on attending next year and so should interested Rider republicans.  It is an amazing opportunity that I hope we all take advantage of next year.

Source: Breitbart.com