 Missing a flag up here. There it is. We've got some placards out. A big welcome to Georgia. Let me hear you. One, two, three. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied by Senator Mack Mattingly. He's always there. He's honest. He's trustworthy. And he's present. But they can't argue with our success. They want to ignore their record of failure. The greatest president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I enjoyed that six more years chant very much. That other one, that other one, there's a little constitutional provision involved there. No, I'll settle for two more years of a Republican Senate. You couldn't hear that. That was a plug for my wife to run. Well, thank you, Mack, for that kind introduction. And let me say hello to the mayor of Columbus, Bill Feitner. And to your next mayor, John Gauze. And having been the drum major of a boys' band in Dixon, Illinois, let me also say hello to some great bands, the Hardaway High School Band, the Shaw High School Band, and the LaGrange High School Band. I love all of you, believe me. And before I get started, let me mention two of Georgia's and the Congress' best, Newt Gingrich and Pat Swindle. And let me also mention the governor for Georgia's future, Guy Davis. And to those of you who've come here over here today from Alabama, I just want to say that you have a true American hero for your senator, Jeremiah Denton. And I'll be seeing him in my next stop in Birmingham later today. And, you know, looking at all these signs and everything, you forgive me, I have to mention one. It was way back in a little school called Eureka College in Illinois many years ago, a fraternity named Tawkapa Epsilon. Not only made me a member, they gave me a job waiting table or I couldn't have gone to school. I can't help but see the young people who are here in the audience, and I have a special message to all of you from my roommate. When it comes to drugs, please, for yourselves, for your families, for your future and your country, just say no. You know, it's wonderful, it's wonderful to be here in Georgia. And, you know, as I often say to my staff when we're taking off in Air Force One, it's great to get out of Washington and get back to where the real people are. You know, I probably couldn't do this much traveling when Congress was in session. As mathematically will tell you, that's because some of those folks need watching. Now, I have great respect for the institution. It's just some of the individuals that Mac and I criticize as he has already. Some of them need watching, really. Some of them remind me of that little story about three fellows who came out of a building and found they'd locked themselves out of their car. And one of them said, well, get me a wire coat hanger and I could straighten it out and figure out how to trip the handle with it. And the second would say, you can't do that. Someone will see us and think you're stealing the car. And the third one said, well, we better do something quick because it's starting to rain and it drops down. And that story says so much about the tax and tax and spend and spend policies that left our country just a few short years ago with negative growth, double digit inflation, the highest entrance rates since Get Ready, the war between the states. And so as a part of that 1980 cleanup crew for the worst economic mess since the Great Depression, Mac Matigly and I headed for Washington. And as he told you, we cut government growth. We slashed regulations. We cut income taxes, yes, almost 25%. And today we're enjoying one of the longest economic expansions in history. In the last 47 months, we have created over 11.5 million new jobs. More jobs than Western Europe and Japan put together have created in the past 10 years. Inflation, as Mac told you, has come down. It's plummeted from more than 12% to 1.8%. The prime interest rate has fallen by two-thirds. Mortgage and auto loan rates are down. And you know, I got the idea that it was working. Our ideas were working when the opponent stopped calling it Reaganomics. Now, just a few days ago, we learned that the figure that represents the country's economic growth, gross national product GNP, and some other indicators show our economy gathering momentum for even more growth, higher take-home pay and more new jobs. In short, we're headed for a second boom. And I'm determined to see that those who still are not sharing fully in our nation's prosperity do so. I give you my pledge, neither Mac nor I will be satisfied if this expansion reaches every sector of our economy and until every American who wants a job has a job. To broaden our expansion, I signed into law last week the most sweeping reform of the tax code in our nation's history. For more than 80% of Americans, it means a top tax rate of 15% or less, and that's why I call it tax cut two. But wouldn't you know it? Even before this fair share tax plan reached my desk, the Democratic leadership in Congress was saying that they wanted to break faith with the American people and turn tax reform into a tax hike. You know, the truth is, those folks never met a tax they didn't like. When it comes to spending your hard-earned money, they act like they've got your credit card in their pocket, and believe me, they never leave home without it. But you, the American people, you know the truth. We have a deficit because we're taxed too little. We have a deficit because Congress spends too much. Now, isn't it about time the Congress started protecting the family budget instead of fattening the federal budget? The contrast between us and the leaders of the other party is just as apparent when it comes to judicial appointments. Now, you know, President appoints judges, but they have to be confirmed by the United States Senate, or they don't become a judge. When we began appointing federal judges to be approved by people like Mack Mattingly in the Republican Senate, the federal judiciary has become tougher, much tougher, on criminals. Criminals are going to jail more often and they're receiving longer sentences. Over and over, the Democratic leadership has tried in the Senate to torpedo our choices for judges. And that's where Mack Mattingly can make all the difference. Without him and the Republican majority in the Senate, we'll find liberals like Joe Biden and a certain fellow from Massachusetts deciding who our judges are. I'll bet you'll agree I'd rather have a judiciary committee headed by Strom Thurman than one run by Joe Biden or Teddy Kennedy. Now, I can't resist telling another story here. There was a Democratic fundraiser and when the people were coming out of the affair at the end of it, there was a kid outside with some puppies. He was holding up these puppies one by one. He held Democrat pups for sale and two weeks later the Republicans held a fundraiser in the same place and the same kid was there with the puppies and he was now holding up Republican puppies for sale. And a newspaper reporter who had seen him two weeks before said, hey, kid, wait a minute. Last time here, two weeks ago you were trying to sell those puppies as Democrat puppies. Now you say the Republican puppies. How come? Kids said now they got their eyes open. Gentlemen, we've come now to an issue that transcends in importance even all the other crucial matters that I've mentioned. My most solemn duty as president, the safety of the American people and the security of these United States. Here too, because of the support of men like Mack Mattingly we've been able to restore America's strength as he told you. There's nothing I'm prouder of than the two million young men and women who make up the armed forces of the United States. The only place where our opponents try to cut spending is with regard to the defense budget. And let me tell you, if we ever have to ask those young people to put their lives on the line for the United States of America then they deserve to have the finest weapons and equipment that money can buy and we're going to see that they get. Because of our young men and women in uniform things really have changed around the world. You know, America used to wear a gun around his neck. We threw that sign away and it now reads Don't Tread On Me. And today, every nickel and dime dictator around the world knows that if he tangles with the United States of America he will have to pay a price. One other thing I'm especially proud of after six years of this administration not one square inch of territory has been lost to communism and one small country Grenada has been set free. And finally there's another special accomplishment. We must never forget that it was our decision to move ahead with SDI, that Strategic Defense Initiative the Defense Initiative Against Ballistic Missiles. It's that that brought the Soviet Union to the negotiating table the bargaining table and today we're dealing with the Soviet Union from a position of strength and let me pledge to you today our goal today is to save the West from mutual nuclear terror to make ballistic missiles obsolete and ultimately to eliminate them from the face of the earth. In Iceland we came closer to real arms reduction than ever before but Mr. Gorbachev decided to make progress hostage to demands that we kill SDI. I had to remind him that SDI is America's insurance policy to protect us from accidents or some madman who might come along as they have in past history or just in case the Soviets don't keep their side of the bargain. And I had to I had to remind Mr. Gorbachev of my pledge to the American people to never abandon SDI and that in America when you give your word you keep your word and that. Thank you. Well, and keeping my word I'm going to try to do in Iceland what we need in Washington is a Congress that won't give away at the conference table what we refuse to surrender at the negotiating table in Reykjavik, Iceland. Now no responsible president should rely solely on a piece of paper for his country's safety. As a matter of fact a good friend of mine and a great student of history has written a book I recommend in public life. It's called The Treaty Trap and it is a history of treaties going back clear back beyond the birth of Christ and history shows that any nation that depended on paper a treaty to protect its interests instead of keeping its hardware up that nation didn't stay around very long to write many more pages in history. No no responsible president should rely solely on a piece of paper for his country's safety. The record on Soviet treaty violations is clear we can either bet on American technology to keep us safe or on Soviet promises and each has its own track record and I'll bet on our technology anytime. I know this crowd couldn't be here in this place unless among you there were a number of Democrats and no I want you to know no I know that during these past six years as president I've relied again and again upon the support of Democrats like those who would be present at this gathering and I thank them as you may know I was a Democrat once myself until I learned that the liberal leadership of that party had gotten completely out of step with a hard working patriotic members of the Democrat party the rank and file who make up that party across the nation now I know how tough it can be to break with tradition but remember what Winston Churchill said when in the British parliament he changed parties he said some men change principle for party and others change party for principle. Here in Georgia the choice couldn't be any clearer this year while Mack and I have been a team Mack's opponent has voted against me more often than any other member of the Georgia delegation he was the only Georgian opposed to the balanced budget amendment and he voted against the B-1 bomber the peacekeeper missile strategic defense and 13 times against helping the freedom fighters in Central America and according to the veterans of foreign wars he voted against veterans more often than anyone in the entire United States Congress ladies and gentlemen the eyes of America are on you and your great state will you choose the Democratic leaders who in 1980 weakened our nation and nearly brought our economy to its knees who raised your taxes and announced their plans to do so again who oppose our efforts to build a defense to protect us from attack by nuclear ballistic missiles or will you choose to give the cleanup crew of 1980 a chance to finish the job just to be sure where you stand I thought I'd conduct an informal poll so speak up loudly and let all America hear do you want to go back to the days of big spending high taxes and runaway inflation do you want Ted Kennedy or Joe Biden controlling the confirmation of federal court judges do you want to return to policies that gave us a week in vacillating America now would you rather have low taxes, low inflation and low interest rates would you rather have an America that is strong proud and free and do you want Mac Mattingly as your senator from the great state of Georgia thank you you just made my day and you didn't make Mac unhappy either you know my name will never appear on a ballot again but if you'd like to vote for me one more time you can you can do so by voting for Mac Mattingly six more years if you mean I should live four more I'm with you but as important as this election will be to me it'll be even more important to you and especially to you young people for it'll shape our nation's future every poll shows that the age group from 18 to 24 has the highest percentage in support of us and what we've been doing but every poll also shows that that same age group 18 to 24 has the lowest voter turnout so do all of you young people here exercise your sacred right as an American participate in shaping history itself by going to the voles and casting your vote and also when you leave here if it's your intention to do that go out as missionaries and buttonhole your friends and tell them to get to the polls and vote they're needed I was gonna ask if I could count on you but I thought you've already given me that answer you know back in World War II General George Marshall then the chief of staff of our army was asked by someone as we entered that terrible great war if we had a secret weapon and if so what was it and General Marshall said yes and our secret weapon is just the best blankety blank kids in the world once again the best blankety blank kids in the world well well it's time to go now but before leaving I'd just like to say that people my age deeply believe that it's our duty to turn over to you young people you young Americans the same freedom and opportunity that our parents and grandparents handed on to us sometimes those of us my own generation and those generations between mine and yours sometimes we slipped up and let things get out of hand as we did several years ago but that has to be our sacred pledge to you when we see your openness your enthusiasm for America and for life itself it gives us heart my friends in casting your vote for Mack Mattingly you will be winning one for yourselves for Georgia and for America yep thank you God bless you thank you very much Mr. President very small present you know I've been pursuing a lot of things the United States Senate but one thing that we think you deserve is the same thing that 43 governors out of 50 states have and when I come back to the United States next year we're going to make sure that you get is the line out of veto Mr. President