Speakers address Lincoln Day Dinner

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker touted his accomplishments and touched on foreign policy, describing his recent trip to Israel. He said President Obama has shown weakness in the fight against terrorism.

“We need to have a commitment because I don’t know about you, but on behalf of my children and yours, I’m not going to wait until the next attempt is made on American soil. I’d rather take the threat to them instead of wait until they take it to us. That’s what we need in America, is strong leadership.”

Donald Trump: “We have to make our country great again. We have to. We are going in the wrong direction. I’ve been watching. Politicians are all talk and no action. It doesn’t get done.”

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush indicted the Obama administration for anemic economic growth, rising poverty, executive overreach, and an overall lack of leadership at home and abroad.

“There is a difference between the liberal, progressive agenda and a conservative agenda applied the right way,” he said. Using conservative principles in Florida, “we protected the most vulnerable. I acted on my faith … so we put the people most vulnerable in our society to the front of the line: the unborn, the disabled, the frail, the elders. I think conservatives need to do that as a higher priority. We can do that if we grow our economy fast enough, we can take care of people and, by the way, that pretty good politics as well.”

Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, touched on her familiar campaign themes of lamenting a nation whose promise has been muted by a swollen federal government and a lack of leadership in the White House.

“When we lose the sense of limitless possibility that has always defined this nation, we lose the core of who we are,” Fiorina said. “The truth is the potential of this nation is being crushed by a government that is so big, so powerful, so costly and so complex that only the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected can handle it.”

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul called for Republicans to be a “bigger, better, bolder” party … that defends the 2nd Amendment, we’ve got to defend the 4th Amendment and the 1st Amendment and the entire Bill of Rights.”

“The way we do it, I think, is bringing a message that has hope, bringing a message that is a clarion call to those who haven’t had hope in our country.” He also called for an end to warrantless searches.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham took the opposite approach.

“If I’m president, I’m not going to call a judge. I’m going to call a drone and I’m going to kill you,” Graham said of terrorists. “We’re at war. I’m tired of treating the war as a crime.”

Former New York Gov. George Pataki delved deep into policy points, pledging to reduce the size of the federal government by 15 percent, repeal Obamacare, Common Core and the IRS.

“Our founding fathers were very wise men. What they feared the most was how we would lose our freedom not from a foreign power, but from a government in Washington that would continue to grow and expand and try to control the lives of Americans."

Former Texas governor Rick Perry said he believes there is much pessimism in the country and the world caused by terrorism and a sluggish economy.

“Every blue-collar worker in America ought to be standing up and saying, ‘I’m voting for the Republicans because they’re going to raise my wages.' If we will unleash people from over-taxation, over-regulation, over-litigation, if we will allow these states to put accountable public schools and policies into place, then we will have the greatest days in America ahead.”

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the country faces two serious threats, one external and one internal: the threat of terrorist organizations and the threat on religious freedom.

He also chided President Obama for changing the American dream to “the European dream of government dependency and government spending.”

Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said divisiveness, a sluggish economy and the failure to take a leadership position on the world stage are the biggest threats to America.

He also spoke of the importance of faith in meeting those challenges.

“We must stop being afraid of being people of faith and having faith in God. This is a Judeo-Christian nation. It is those values that allowed us to go from nowhere to the pinnacle of the world in record time. It is those values that will return us to the pinnacle and allow us to fulfill the mission God gave us.”

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania reminded the crowd he won the 2012 Iowa caucuses, even if only after Mitt Romney was declared the winner on caucus night.

Santorum said the next president must defeat the terrorist group ISIS by arming Kurds, supporting Iraqi Sunnis and having “people in place,” referring to American military in the Middle East.

“I support the idea of not an invasionary force, but a force that says we are serious about defeating the enemy that is going to and is attacking the United States today,” Santorum said.

-- Compiled by Erin Murphy and James Q. Lynch, Journal Des Moines bureau