Remarks Following the Iowa Caucuses

Did somebody call my name? I thought I heard somebody call my name.

(Chanting)

I can hear you, and I also heard, the last part of what Steve King said, and I'm here to say, I'm Fred Thompson and I endorse that message.

(Applause)

I want to talk a little bit more about Steve in a minute. But, um, we'd been waiting around till we got 100 percent of the vote in. Doesn't look like it's going to happen for the next few days, so I don't know if uh -- Thought I would come before you, before you got too tired and went home, but it doesn't look like anybody's tired. Looks like -- (Applause) looks like some people are ready to go long, go long. Yeah!

(Applause)

Well, um, we uh, looks like uh (Applause)--Sounds good to me!

(Applause)

Oh, well, I don't know whether it's going to be a definitive third or tied for third or whatever, but it's pretty clear that we're gonna have a ticket to the next dance. You ready to dance?

(Applause)

And this is my number one dance partner, for all time, and this is my number two dance partner right here.

(Laughter, applause)

I can't tell you what this guy has meant to me and meant to us, not only from a political standpoint but from a personal standpoint. Some people say when you run for president, you don't make any new friends, and that's not right. You do make some new friends, and I've made a lifelong friend and a guy that stands up for his principle, uh the way that Steve King does. And the fact that he is supporting us, has been there all along, means all the world to me, and I know it means a lot to you, too.

(Applause)

I want to, uh, I want to congratulate Gov. Huckabee on his uh, big victory tonight, and Gov. Romney and Senator McCain and all the others who have participated in this process. You come away from this process with a real respect for everybody who puts their selves on the line and all their families who go out there and do the work.

And we'll have to look at the final numbers, and we'll have to look at our money situation and all of that, but it looks like somebody's going to need to carry a strong, consistent, conservative message, and it looks like it ought to be me.

(Applause, chanting)

Alright. Thank you.

Right again, right again.

Let me thank you a minute. Let me thank you seriously for just a moment. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. We came out here, and uh, a lot of people, you know, assumed that we were fourth and gonna be our high water mark and all that kind of stuff. And you put your shoulder to the wheel. And we got a chance to get acquainted with Iowans. We got a chance to go across this state. We got better acquainted with Steve King and other people. We had people coming in here from Tennessee and Texas and all over the country to come in here and work for us because of uh, well because of what you believed in.

I can't tell you what that means to me. I know, I know it's not about me. It's not about you, either. And it's not even about Iowa. It's about our country.

(Applause)

This is, uh, this is the end of a long process here in Iowa, and by tomorrow it'll probably be safe for the average citizen to walk the streets of Iowa because all the politicians will be gone and all the news media'll be gone.

(Applause)

But it is the really the beginning of a very, very important process because we're gonna decide, from here on out, we're gonna decide the leadership of the country that we love so much. We simply have to stop to recognize every once in awhile, as Jeri and I did, as we sat around our kitchen table and we counted our blessings--some that I've had for many, many years, some that were newfound and recent to Jeri and me. And we asked ourselves, "What kind of a world are these kids gonna grow up in? What kind of a world, what kind of country are these grandkids gonna grow up in? And how many people have a chance to do something about it?"

It's always about our country. It's not about padding our resume. It's not about personal ambition. It's about the greatest country in the history of the world and the fact that we need to make sure that we pass on to the next generation the blessings that have been passed on to us. That's what this is all about.

(Applause)

We live in a country that has shed more blood for the freedom of other people around the world than all the other countries put together. That's at the essence of what we are. We became a great country, and prosperous, and free. But we also became a good country in the process. That's what we do honor to when we do what we've done here for these last few weeks and these last few months, and Lord willing, what we will do in the future.

We have to remember how we got to be the great country that we are today. It has to do with sound, commonsense, conservative principles that goes back to our founding fathers. We are going to remember those principles, and we are going to fight for those principles. The fight goes on, my friends.

Thank you very, very much for all that you've done.

(Applause)