Press Releases

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Remarks As Prepared For Delivery

2012 CPAC Ronald Reagan Banquet

Washington, DC

February 10, 2012

I come here with a message from the Republican National Committee: We’re ready. Republicans have the momentum, we have the enthusiasm, and we will have the resources and manpower to fire Barack Obama and put a Republican in the White House.

And just in case you haven’t heard: the RNC outraised the DNC four out of the last five months; we outraised the DNC in the fourth quarter; and the RNC and the Republican candidates outraised the DNC and Barack Obama. And, by the way, we have 20 million dollars cash on hand—also more than the DNC. We’re back. And we’re ready...

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We must halt Obama’s unrelenting march to the Far Left. His priorities are not America’s priorities. And Barack Obama is not your daddy’s Democrat. He’s not Clinton. He’s not Kennedy. He’s the first unapologetic leftist to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

And he must be the last – because this is a president who’d rather bow to Chinese leaders than stand up for American greatness, a president who’d rather trash the Constitution than preserve our rights, a president who’d rather defer to the United Nations than defend the United States. 

We serve the principles of Jefferson and Washington and Madison. Obama serves the demands of the union bosses, the central planners, and the elitist bureaucrats. We believe in the philosophy of our Founding Fathers. He believes in only one man’s philosophy: the philosophy of Barack Obama…

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After Republicans won big in 2010, the pundits said that the president would move to the center. Does it look like he’s moved to the center? No, he’s moved further to the left. We saw it last month when he ignored the Constitution, defied established precedent, circumvented Congress, and made four political appointments.

We also saw it last month when he said “no” to the Keystone energy pipeline. He said “no” to over 20,000 jobs and “no” to energy security. Why? To please his liberal base.

We saw it just recently when he decided that freedom of religion doesn’t apply to religious organizations. He sacrificed the first amendment at the altar of Big Government – because for him, Obamacare is more sacred than the Bill of Rights.

In America, we’ve had presidents who studied law, who taught law, who practiced law. But we’ve never had a president who thought he was above the law in the way this president does…

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Remember this: every liberal pipe dream the president has pursued…he’s done knowing that he’d have to face reelection.

Imagine what he would do in a second term if he doesn’t have to face reelection. From the way it looks, it would be everything short of making the United States a full member of the European Union. We’ve never had a president who sought to trade the American Dream…for a European nightmare…. 

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We have to win this election, or we’ll lose America. If we don’t, collectivism will replace individualism. Government agencies will replace free enterprise. Presidential mandates will replace the Constitution. Dependency will replace self-reliance. And the dreams of Obama will replace the vision of our Founders.

Barack Obama has put America on an utterly unsustainable trajectory. The more he grows government, the more he grows the debt, the less freedom our children will have to enjoy. 

When Washington runs the economy, Washington runs our lives. And when Washington can tell us what to do, we can’t tell it to stop. It’s time to end Barack Obama’s presidency, before his presidency ends our way of life….

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