The Republican nominee for Iowa’s second district congressional seat this afternoon told delegates at the GOP’s National Convention in Tampa that Republicans “can do better.” John Archer of Bettendorf attacked what he called the “tax and spend” philosophy of the Democratic Party.
“Hope and change were elected four years ago and where has that gotten us?” Archer asked to start his three-minute speech.
Archer, an attorney for Deere and Company, accused President Obama of sowing too much doubt into the economy.
“Families don’t know how much ObamaCare will cost them and businesses don’t know what new regulations will burden them,” Archer said, “and we have more despair.”
Archer suggested Republican candidates in 2012 will be successful by talking about “big issues” like a balanced federal budget and tax relief.
“For 42 months unemployment has been above eight percent. We keep waiting for it to improve and waiting and waiting and waiting,” Archer said. “We don’t have to wait any more. We can do better.”
Archer was one of several dozen Republican congressional candidates who spoke in the opening hours of the Republican National Convention. Archer’s November opponent is Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Iowa City, but Archer never mentioned Loebsack during his convention speech.
Loebsack’s campaign issued a written statement this afternoon, accusing Archer of fleeing to Tampa “to hobnob with Republican leaders and pledge his allegiance to their extreme policies.” The Loebsack campaign also blasted Archer for skipping out his duties as a member of the Pleasant Valley School Board, which had a scheduled meeting on Monday.
AUDIO of Archer’s three-minute speech.
Below is the text of Archer’s speech:
Greetings to the Iowa delegation and greetings to all the great people in the state of Iowa!
Hope and change were elected four years ago and where has that gotten us?
We have almost $16 trillion of debt and this White House believes in a tax and spend philosophy.
We have more doubt. Families don’t know how much Obamacare will cost them and businesses don’t know what new regulations will burden them.And we have more despair. For 42 months, unemployment has been above 8 percent. We keep waiting for it to improve — and waiting and waiting and waiting.
We don’t have to wait any more. We can do better and we’ll do better by honestly talking about the issues.
As I have in Iowa this year, we will continue to talk about big issues this week:
We’ll talk about a balanced budget — we can do better.
We’ll talk about tax relief for working families — we can do better.
We’ll talk about stopping the regulatory attack on farmers and small businesses — we can do better.
We’ll talk about protecting Medicare and Social Security for this generation of seniors and the next. Ladies and gentlemen — we can do better.
And finally we’ll talk about getting government out from in-between patients and their doctors by repealing Obamacare — we can do better.
And we will do better in Iowa and across this great nation by electing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as the next President and Vice President of the United States this November!
Thank you. God Bless each and every one of you. God bless the great state of Iowa and God bless the United States. Thank you so much.