Excerpts of Remarks in Fredericksburg, Virginia

It is so great to be back here in the Old Dominion. Good to be here with you here today, Virginia. Thank you. God bless you. First there is someone I'd like you to meet on the campaign trail with me on the stage, Alaska's First Dude, my husband Todd Palin. Todd, too, like James is a small business owner. He is a Commercial Fisherman and an Oil Production Operator up in the North Slope of Alaska. Todd is the four time champion of the Iron Dog, the world's longest snow machine race.

He is a proud member of the United Steel Workers, the union there, and he is great dad. And I thank you for welcoming him, and there are a lot of great people here today, and I recognize some of you with your hats on. And I would like to take just a second here. Those of you who have served our country in uniform in the past as veterans or is serving today in uniform, raise your hand and let us thank you.

Thank you. We thank you for your service, for your sacrifice. You veterans and armed service members today, you're allowing us this free assembly and the free and fair election on November 4th. God bless you. Yes.

You know, this election is gonna be close too. It's going to come down to the wire and that is why we're taking our cause for reform to every voter of every background in every region of America. And whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, maybe Independent, no party at all, we're asking for your vote. Virginia, are you ready to help us carry this state to victory? Yes. 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? Our country is facing some tough times right now, tough economic times, and 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 get this country moving in a new direction. We need John McCain. Yes.

Now, with our economic plan, John and I are going to help our families keep their homes, and we're going to clean up corruption on Wall Street and that greed that brought us the housing crisis to start with. And we're going to help our retirees keep their savings and their investments, and we're going to help all of us be able to afford health care, and we're going to help our students afford college. See, our economic plan is a pro-growth, pro-private sector agenda. It will get this economy back on the right track. John and I will lower your income taxes, and we'll double the child tax credit for every family, and we'll cut the capital gains tax. And right now, the U.S. business tax is the second highest in the world. We will cut that tax so that we can keep American businesses in America.

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[Barack Obama] voted 94 times for higher taxes, even on hard working middle class Americans making just $42,000 a year.

94 times he had opportunity to be on our side, and he took each one of those opportunities to be on the side of a bigger growing government instead of on our families and small businesses side. And now, he is committed to almost a trillion dollars more in new spending, new government growth, but he doesn't tell you where the dollars will come from to pay for those proposals. It will come from increased taxes. So you can do the math or you can just go with your gut, and either way, you draw the same conclusion. Barack Obama is for bigger more controlling government and higher taxes.

Now, you have to really listen to our opponent's words through all of this. He says now that he is for a tax credit, which in his world what he's talking about is government taking more of your money to give it to someone else according to his priorities.

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And earlier today we were with a friend whom John McCain had seen at a rally. His name is Tito Munoz. And Tito owns a small construction business right here in Virginia. We call him Tito the Builder. And Tito is not pleased with how the Obama campaign and its media friends have been roughing up Joe the Plumber because Joe just asked a question, and ever since then, he has been investigated and attacked for asking a question. So Tito has a question of his own. And Barack Obama won't like this one either, but Tito wants to know, and I quote, he said, Why the heck are you going after Joe the Plumber? Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something greater. Why is that so wrong?

And Tito, who is an immigrant from Columbia, he is a U.S. citizen today, he also had this reminder for us. He says that everything is possible in America, and I made it, and Joe the Plumber can make it even better than me. I was born in Columbia, but I was made in the USA. Tito isn't the only McCain supporter who feels that way. In fact, we have a lot of small business owners right here with us today. I know that because you small business owners are the backbone of this economy. You are the backbone of America's economy and if you're like these fine people here and if you want to work hard, if you know what hard work feels like and you want to get ahead and if you believe that America is the land of possibility and you don't want your dreams dashed by the Obama tax plan increase and if you don't like the way our opponents have really treated, roughed up a guy who just asked a simple question, then you-all are Joe the Plumber, too, and we are all in this together.

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So Virginia, from now until election day, though you're going to hear our opponents go on in their claims of how they can fight for you, please know in this race there is only one man who has ever really fought for you with the courage to keep on fighting for you, John McCain. God bless you and God bless America.