Please welcome professional Football PlayerJason Seahorn and accomplished actress angie harmon. [applause] good evening. Tonight we are proud to recognize two men who embody the american spirit of bravery and sacrifice. Their heroic speech earned them our nations highest military award, the medal of honor. Some say that playing football takes courage, but it is just a game. Nothing compares to the valor of these men. These are americas heroes. They know the price of liberty and they support president george w. Bush. [applause] the first sailor to earn the medal of honor was John Williams of the uss pawnee during the civil war. When the ships flags fell, the wounded captain held the splintered remains in his hand keeping the flag aloft and rallying his men. The medal of honor represents the highest aspirations of our country, a duty that represent demands sacrifice, on drawn from character and a country where the flag is lifted high and Freedom Still reigns. Tonight [applause] tonight, we honor the bravest of the brave. It was may 31, 1951, on a hill near a place in korea, where armory Corporal Rudy hernandez and his platoon took defensive positions after gunfire and heavy artillery caused numerous casualties. Lacking ammunition, his comrades were treated, but corporal hernandez, wounded, stayed behind to slow the enemy. When a ruptured cartridge prevented him from firing, he rushed forward anyway, armed with a rifle and a bayonet. One man against many. Before falling unconscious from his wounds. His heroic and selfless actions saved lives and allowed his unit to retake their ground. Ladies and gentlemen, Corporal Rudy hernandez of north carolina. [applause] in december, 1950, in north korea, navy pilot tom hunter came to the rescue of a downed pilot trapped in burning records behind enemy lines. Great risk, he successfully attempted a landing on the mountainous terrain. Enemy fire surrounded him and he knew there was little chance of escape or survival in subzero temperatures. However, lieutenant hunter stayed, packing stones in the burning planes fuselage. He battled time, cold, and flames in an attempt to rescue the downed pilot. Ladies and gentlemen, lieutenant tom hunter of massachusetts, who celebrates his 80th birthday tomorrow. [applause] we thank you both so much for your service to america and to the cause of peace and freedom in the world. We join you in supporting a leader of courage, a president building a safer world, and a more hopeful america. President george w. Bush. [applause] more celebrities spoke at the 2004 republican convention. Elizabeth hassle back hassellbeck, cohost of the view, talked about her mother battle against cancer, and actor ron silver remembered the victims of the 9 11 terrorist attack. [applause] thank you. It is an honor to be here with you tonight. It is a good crowd out there. I can see it already. [laughter] in a distant land, heroic men and women are risking their lives fighting for our freedoms, our families, and our future, and i thank them and their loved ones for their service and dedication to this country. [applause] on american soil, heroic women are fighting a different battle, a silent campaign for their freedoms, their families, and their future. It is the fight against Breast Cancer. [applause] nine years ago, my mother was diagnosed with bilateral carcinoma, a serious form of Breast Cancer that moved through her lymph system. I watched her suffer through massive surgery and four rapid fire, high intensity chemotherapy treatments designed to bring her body to the brink of death. My mother, an independent woman, a tower of strength, was brought to her knees, and i was brought to mine. I will never forget how strongly she held her head that did not until it did not have one strand of hair on it and how she stared down this enemy of cancer through her last. Never letting it get the best of her. My mother, yes, she did. [applause] my mother, her sister, both of my grandmothers all fought and found victory in the battle against Breast Cancer. [applause] i wish no one would get this disease, but the reality is that one in every eight women will develop Breast Cancer. 200,000 this year alone, making it the secondleading cause of death among women. Wishes alone will not make this disease go away. Wishes need action. Fortunately, we have someone at the highest level fighting for a cure, a leader of action who sees Breast Cancer not only as a womans issue, but as a family issue, a human issue. Our nations issue. President george w. Bush. [applause] under his leadership, america is focusing more resources on prevention, Early Detection, and aggressive research into new treatments and therapies. The president is proposing nearly 750 million to assist researchers and we are conducting the largest tests of Early Detection technologies in american history. [applause] Breast Cancer does not discriminate. It spares no kind spirit, no beautiful face, no compassionate heart. It does not care about your age, or your race, or if you can afford to pay your medical bills or not. We certainly could not. That is why president bush is increasing funding by over 20 to provide Screening Services for disadvantaged women. [applause] many who will have access to lifesaving technologies for the very first time. These are mothers and daughters, wives and sisters. Kathy goldberg, kathleen salarsky, and my mother elizabeth delpadre, just a few of the foot soldiers in this combat. Quite possibly, Breast Cancer has knocked on the door or will break down the door of the women woman sitting beside you tonight. Awareness, our research, and funding. Their medals of honor are pink ribbons. Our leader is president george w. Bush. [applause] yeah. Everyone, everyone here can do something. Everyone home can do something, perform self breast examinations, get clinical tests and annual mammograms, donate to research, run in a race for the cure, join a three day walk or sponsor someone who does. Most importantly, help me reelect a leader in the fight against Breast Cancer who does not simply wish this disease away. He wills it away through action. President george w. Bush. [applause] thank you, god bless, and good night. [applause] here we are. Thank you. Thank you. I would like to thank the president and the Republican Party for holding this event in my hometown. [applause] my fathers hometown, my grandfathers birthplace, and my greatgrandfathers hometown. [applause] just over 1000 days ago, 2605 of my neighbors were murdered at the world trade center. Men, women, and children, as they begin their day on a brilliantly clear new york autumn morning less than four miles from where i am now standing. We will never forget. We will never forgive. We will never excuse. [applause] at the end of world war ii, douglas macarthur, general douglas macarthur, the supreme allied commander of the south pacific, said it is my earnest hope, indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion, a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past, a world found upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice. The hope he expressed then remains relevant today. [applause] we are again engaged in a war that will decide the future of humankind. Responding to attacks on our soil, america has led a coalition of countries against extremists who want to destroy us, our children, our way of life, and our values. [applause] this is a war we did not seek. This is a war waged against us. This is a war in which we had to respond. [applause] history shows that we are not imperialists, but we are fighters for freedom and democracy. [applause] even though i am a wellrecognized liberal on many issues confronting our society today, i find it ironic that many human rights advocates and outspoken members of my own Entertainment Community are often on the front lines to protest repression, for which i applaud them, but they are usually the first ones to oppose any use of force to take care of these horrors that they catalog repeatedly. [applause] under the unwavering leadership of president bush, the cause of freedom and democracy is being advanced by the courageous men and women serving in our armed services. [applause] the president , the president is doing exactly the right thing. [applause] and that is why we need this president this time. [applause] [chanting four more years] i am very grateful to the chance to speak tonight to express support to our commanderinchief, our brave troops and the vital cause they have undertaken. General Dwight Eisenhowers statement of 60 years ago is true today. United in this determination, and with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight. We will, with gods help, go forward to our greatest victory. Thank you very much. [applause] at the 1996 democratic convention, after actor Christopher Reeve called for more funding for medical research. The year before, he was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries and for stem cell research, and who later started the Christopher Reeve foundation, dedicated to supporting research for cures for paralysis. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] thank you. [applause] thank you very, very much. Well, i just have to start with a challenge to the president. Sir, i have seen your train go by, and i think i can beat it. [applause] i will even give you a head start. [laughter] over the last few years, we have heard a lot about something called family values. Like many of you, i have struggled to figure out what that means. Since my accident, i found a definition. That seems to make sense. I think it means that we are all family. [applause] and that we all have value. [applause] now, if that is true, if america really is a family, then we have to recognize that many members of our family are hurting. And just to take one aspect of it, one in five of us has some kind of disability. You may have an aunt with parkinsons disease, a neighbor with a spinal cord injury, a brother with aids. If we are really committed to this idea of family, we have to do something about it. First of all, our nation cannot tolerate discrimination of any kind. [applause] and that is why the americans with disabilities act is so important. [applause] it must be honored everywhere. It is a civil rights law that is tearing down barriers, both in architecture and in attitude. [applause] its purpose is to give the disabled access, not only to buildings, but to every opportunity in society. [applause] i strongly believe our nation must give its full support to the caregivers, who are helping people with disabilities live independent lives. [applause] now of course, we have to balance the budget. And we will. We have to be extremely careful with every dollar we spend, but we also have to take care of our families. Family. [applause] and not slash programs that people need. [applause] we should be enabling and healing and curing. [applause] one of the smartest things we can do about disability is to invest in research that will protect us from diseases. And lead to cures. [applause] this country already has a long history of doing it. When we put our minds to a problem, we find solutions. But our scientists can do more. We have got to give them the chance. And that means more funding for research. [applause] right now, for example, about 250,000 americans have a spinal cord injury. And our government spends about 8. 7 billion a year just maintaining these members of our family, but we only spend 40 million a year on research. That would actually improve the quality of their lives, get them off public assistance. Josh get them off public assistance, or even cure them. We have got to be smarter and do better. [applause] the money we invest in Research Today is going to determine the quality of life of the members of our family tomorrow. During rehabilitation, i met a young man named gregory patterson. He was driving in newark, new fromy, and a stray bullet a gang shooting went through a his neckw right into and severed his spinal cord. Five years ago, he might have died. Today, because of research, he is alive. [applause] but merely being alive is not an option. Enough. We have a moral and an economic responsibility to ease his suffering and to prevent others from experiencing such pain. [applause] and to do that, we dont need to raise taxes. [applause] we just need to raise our expectations. [applause] now, america has a tradition that many nations probably envy. We frequently achieve the impossible. [applause] thats part of our national character. Thats what got us from one coast to another. Thats what got us thats what got us the largest economy in the world. Thats what got us to the moon. Now, on the wall of my room, when i was at rehab, there was a picture of the Space Shuttle blasting off, and it was autographed by every astronaut now at nasa, and on the top of that picture, it says, we found nothing is impossible. [applause] now that, that should be our motto. [applause] its not a democratic motto, not a republican motto, its an american motto. [applause] its not something one party can do alone. Its something we, as a nation, have to do together. [applause] so many of our dreams so many dreams, at first, seem impossible. And then they seem improbable. And then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. [applause] so if we can conquer outer space, we should be able to conquer inner space, too. [applause] and thats the frontier of the brain, the Central Nervous system, and all the afflictions of the body that destroy so many lives and rob our country of so much potential. Research can provide hope for people who suffer from alzheimers. Weve already discovered the gene that causes it. Research can provide hope for people like muhammad ali and the reverend, billy graham, who suffer from parkinsons. Research can provide hope for the millions of americans like kirk douglas, who suffer from stroke. We can ease the pain of people like barbara jordan, who battled multiple sclerosis. We can find treatments for people like elizabeth glaser, whom we lost to aids. And now that we know that nerves in the spinal cord can regenerate, we are on the way to getting millions of people around the world, millions of people around the world like me, up and out of these wheelchairs. [applause] now, 56 years ago, f. D. R. Dedicated New Buildings for the National Institutes of health. He said that, quote, the defense this nation seeks involves a great deal more than building airplanes, ships, guns, and bombs. We cannot be a strong nation unless we are a healthy nation. [applause] he could have said that today. President roosevelt showed us that a man who could barely lift himself out of a wheelchair could still lift this nation out of despair. [applause] and i believe, and so does this administration, in the most important principle [applause] the most important principle that f. D. R. Taught us, america does not let its needy citizens fend for themselves. [cheering and applause] America America is stronger when all of us take care of all of us. Giving new life to that ideal is the challenge before us tonight. Thank you very much. [cheering and applause] in 2012, inspired by a line in a neil diamond song, Clint Eastwood decided to address an empty chair. The cherry was intended to chairent president the was intended to represent president obama. [cheering and applause] thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Save a little for mitt. [laughter] i know what youre thinking. Youre thinking, whats a movie tradesman doing out here . You know they are all leftwingers out there, left of lenin. At least thats what people think. But thats not really the case. Theres a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, republicans, democrats, in hollywood. [applause] but, they are there. Believe me. In fact, some of them around town, i saw jon voight. [laughter] Academy Award winner. Terrific guy. These are all likeminded, like all of us. Ive got mr. Obama sitting here. [laughter] i was going to ask him a couple of questions. [laughter] i remember three and a half years ago when mr. Obama won the election. Though i was not a big supporter, he was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about yes we can. It was dark and it was outdoors and it was nice. People were lighting candles and , i just thought this was great. Everyone was crying. Oprah was crying. [laughter] i was crying. [laughter] i have not cried that hard since theres 23 that million Unemployed People in this country. [applause] that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, national disgrace. , thise not done enough administration has not done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough. Think now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem. [applause] how do you handle promises youve made, what do you say to people . [laughter] people are wondering. So many people in their own party were disappointed when you did not close gitmo. I thought, why close that . We spent so much money on it. What do you mean shut up . [laughter] i thought it was because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown new york city. [applause] i have got to hand it to you, give credit where credit is due. You did overrule that. We are moving onward. Against the war in iraq, that is ok, but you thought the war in afghanistan was ok. You thought that was something worth doing. We didnt check with the russians to see how they did their how they did there. [laughter] [applause] it is something to be thought about. You mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You have given the target date, and i think mr. Romney asked the only sen