Sarah Palin's Cape Girardeau speech

Here is the text of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speech Thursday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. She was introduced by U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau.

Thank you. ... It is so good to be here. First I want to thank Jo Ann [Emerson] for that warm welcome. Jo Ann, you said it all. That was great. Appreciate you.

And someone here I'd like you to meet, and that is Alaska's first dude, my husband, Todd Palin. Todd's a commercial fisherman and he's a production operator up in Alaska's North Slope oil fields, Todd is a member of the United Steelworkers Union, a great dad, and Todd is a four-time world champion snow machine racer, the longest snow machine race in the world, the Iron Run.

So glad to be here in Missouri, the Show Me State, and good to be here because I know there is so much patriotism here. And even walking out here on stage recognizing a couple of the guys in the hats wanting to thank you, those of you who have served our country in uniform. Those of you who are our veterans or serve today raise your hand and we're going thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. To our military troops today and to those who have served us so honorably in the past, we do thank you for your service and for your sacrifice. We appreciate you.

So, Missouri, are you ready to help us carry your state to victory?

Are you ready to make John McCain the next president of the United States?

Are you ready to send us to Washington to shake things up for all of you?

Well, Missouri, it is just five days until election day, that time for choosing. Our nation we're going go one of two ways and our country right now of course we're facing tough times. Tough economic times especially now more than ever we need someone tough as president, we need a leader with experience and courage and good judgment and truthfulness.

We need someone with a bold and free and fair plan of action to take this country in a new direction. And soon that time for choosing, it will be here, and the choice could not be clearer. Only John McCain has the wisdom, and he has the experience to get our economy back on the right track, because he has a pro-growth, pro-private sector plan to put your government back on your side. It is of the people, by the people, for the people. It is your government.

As John McCain and I are protecting every one of your constitutional rights, we will implement an economic plan that will also help our families keep their homes by cleaning up the corruption and the greed that bought us the housing crisis to start with.

We're going help our retirees keep their savings and their investments. These are our esteemed elders in this nation who have built up our families and our communities and then they trusted other people to manage their savings for them, and because of that corruption and greed, they're forced now to worry about their investments. That's not right. That's not fair. It won't happen on our watch, that need to be scared for our elders.

We're going make sure that they're secure and our economic plan too. It will help all of us afford good health care, and its going help our students afford to pay college, that's for our students, and our plan includes confronting the $10 trillion debt that the federal government has run up, $10 trillion that we are in debt and we're expected to pass that on to our children and have them pay that off for us. Again, that's not right. That's not fair. That won't happen on our watch.

John and I will impose a spending freeze to cover all but the most vital functions of government, and we will balance the federal budget by the end of our first term.

Our plan is pretty simple. We're going lower your income taxes. And we'll double the child tax deduction for every family. We're going cut the capital-gains tax. And did you know the U.S. business tax is the second highest is the entire world? It is no wonder that companies are moving overseas to do business because of taxes. It's cheaper for them to do business over there. No, we will cut that tax. We'll keep American businesses in America.

And you can trust John McCain and me to keep our promises, because we're the only candidates in this race with track records of reform. I've done it up in the state of Alaska by confronting the good old boy network and cleaning up corruption and greed there, vetoing wasteful spending. John McCain. he's known in the U.S. Senate not just as the patriot but as the maverick -- he's taken on the wasteful spending and the abuse.

Our ticket has the track record that proves we can do this, we haven't just been talking the talk, but we have both walked the walk. So when it comes to the economy, on this economic front our tax plans reflect the clear choice that you face in this election. John and I have a very basic fundamental disagreement with our opponents on this issue.

Senator Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes and though, granted he's changing his tax plan pronouncements almost everyday now, flip-flopping around on the details now, but his commitment to higher taxes, though, never changes and you just have to be able to look at his record to be able to prove this.

He voted 94 times for higher taxes, even on hard-working middle-class individuals making just $42,000 a year. He wanted to take more from them. Ninety-four opportunities that he had to be on our side and instead he choose the side of bigger government taking more from you, and now he's committed to almost a trillion dollars more in new spending, though he won't tell you where the dollars will come from to pay for those proposals.

You can either do the math or just go with your gut, and either way you draw the same conclusion: Barack Obama has always been on the side of bigger government and raising taxes. And he calls it taking more from you and then doling out those dollars according to his priorities. He calls that spreading the wealth. And his running mate Joe Bidden calls it patriotic, higher taxes.

But remember good old Joe the Plumber there in Toledo Ohio. Joe the Plumber said to him that plan sounded like socialism. Now is no time to experiment with that, and Joe the Plumber, here, good hard working American who just asked a simple straightforward question and ever since then because he finally got a candid answer, not a scripted answer from Barack Obama, ever since then the guy has been investigated and attacked just for asking a good question.

Our opponent says he's for a tax credit, which is when the government takes your money and gives it away to someone else according to their priorities, the politician's priorities.

John McCain and I we are for a real tax cut, which is when the government just takes less of your earnings in the first place. Our opponent's plan is just for more big government and government too often is the problem, it's not the solution.

So John and I, we have just the opposite commitment. Instead of taking more of your hard-earned money and your property and spreading your wealth, we're going spread opportunity so you can create new wealth. Bottom line there, as Jo Ann was suggesting also, we don't think the government should take more, we think bureaucracy should do more with less so that you can you can prosper and thrive. You should not be working for government. Your government should be working for you.

So we're going put government back on your side. It will always be country first, and I promise you after that victory on Nov. 4 those Country First posters won't be just put away somewhere housed as some campaign slogan. That's going be printed on every page of the federal employee handbook: Country First.

Now if you share that commitment, Missouri, if you work hard, if you know what hard work feels like, and if you believe that America is the land of possibilities and you want to get ahead and you don't want your dreams dashed by the Obama tax-increase plan, then we're asking for your vote. And, Missouri, I would ask you, will you hire us? Would you send us to Washington to get to work for all of you?

Good.

Well, good, because we cannot wait to get to work for you. Now one of our first missions John and I, embarking on setting this country firmly on a path toward energy independence.

Now it doesn't seem that our opponents want to talk a whole lot about this either, because you go back in their track record and you realize that they have said no, no, no to the domestic solutions that are there for us to allow us to be energy secure, energy independent.

John McCain and I we're going develop new energy sources, and we'll tap into what we've already got like our oil and our clean natural gas and our abundant coal. We will drill, baby, drill, yes.

We'll adopt the all of the above approach that's needed to meet America's great energy challenge, and that means harnessing alternative sources like wind and solar and biomass and geothermal. We've got to develop clean coal technology.

Now Joe Biden has said to a voter in a rope line -- he said "now there is no such thing as clean coal, we don't support clean coal, they can do it over in China but not here in America."

No, we've got to develop that technology because things like that it's going to create the jobs here in America. It's nonsense Americans what is going on today with the lack of an energy policy in our country. It is not fair to you, because presently what we're doing is circulating hundreds of billions of dollars, your dollars, into foreign countries asking them to ramp up production of energy supplies for all of you so we can purchase from them. Some of these dollars end up in the hands of volatile foreign regimes that do not like America. And they use energy as a weapon.

Those hundreds of billions of dollars need to be circulated here creating the jobs for you and making our nation more secure. We will drill here, will drill now, this is for the sake of our nation's security and our economic prosperity. We need American resources brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.

So good. Once we are hired, John McCain and I -- a couple of those assignments that we just mentioned to get to work on for all of you -- we're looking forward to that. We're going accomplish for you that energy independence and that reform of government.

And then there is another mission that is especially near and dear to my heart and that is working with our families who have children with special needs.

Because it is time, it is time to change the mindset in this country when you consider that for too long now, and too often, children with special needs have been set apart and excluded and made to feel that there is no place for them in this great and beautiful country. And this attitude is such a grave disservice to these beautiful children and to their families and to our country, and I will work to change it because John and I have a vision of an America where every innocent life counts.

Our vision is of an America where everyone has a chance to contribute and every child is cherished, and that's the spirit that we want to bring to Washington.

Now as governor I've been able to secure more assistance in funding for students with special needs, but as vice president to be able to do so much more there making sure that these children and their families, that all of our families in America know family comes first, you'll have a friend and an advocate in the White House.

So, Missouri, with each passing day in this campaign, getting closer and closer to that time of choosing, you're getting a clearer and clearer look at the choice that you have on Election Day, and it's the choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader John McCain who puts his faith in all of you.

It's the choice between a politician who wants to spread your wealth around and John McCain, a leader who will spread opportunity and lower your taxes.

And to Missouri it's the choice between a politician who still hasn't disavowed a group committing voter registration fraud and a leader who will not tolerate it.

And we need a leader, a true leader who is ready on day one, a leader with experience and good judgment and that truthfulness and character that this country needs. Remember Missouri too, we are a nation at war. We need someone who can talk about the wars that America is fighting and isn't afraid to use the word victory.

John McCain served our country in uniform for 22 years, five and a half years as a POW. Those years as a POW, meeting adversity, great adversity in the service to his country, in his own life, he knows how tough challenges are overcome. He will not wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists.

And unlike Barack Obama, John McCain will not support cutting off funding for our troops over in the war zone.

Our opponents go on and on in the speeches they make about the wars America is fighting. Just once I would like to hear Barack Obama say he wants America to win.

John McCain knows how to win the war, and as the mother of one of the troops in Iraq today he's exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief.

So, Missouri if you're ready to shake up Washington and clean up Wall Street, if your ready to get our economy back on the right track, and if you, too, want to win the war, then we're asking for your votes.

The time for choosing is near. The choice is going to come down to what we believe in. Missouri, what John McCain and I believe in is what Ronald Reagan believed in.

We believe in the forward movement of freedom and not the constant expansion of government, and we believe that the virtues of freedom are still worth fighting for.

And we believe that the best of America is not all gathered in Washington, D.C. We believe that it is here, it is in the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday, hard-working Americans -- those of you who run our factories and grow our food and teach our children and fight our wars, this is where the goodness of America is.

It's in you. You know we believe that America is not the problem, we believe America is the solution.

And we still believe, we believe that America is that shining city sitting on a hill that Reagan used to speak of, and I thank God that we have a man who is ready and is worthy to lead it.

Let us be thankful. He is someone who inspires us with heroic and trustworthy deeds instead of just words.

Missouri, if you believe in what we believe in, if you're ready to shake up Washington, clean up Wall Street, get our economy back on the right track, and win the war, we need your vote. And from now until election day Missouri, you're going to hear our opponents go on and on in their claims of how they'll fight for you.

But since he's not here for his own behalf to say this, I'm going say it for him for my running mate: There is only one man in this campaign who has ever really fought for you. He has the courage to keep on fighting for you -- John McCain.

God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you.