Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer was the third speaker at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition gathering tonight in Waukee, Iowa. (Listen to his speech.)
“Honored to be with you in Iowa with Faith & Freedom,” Roemer said, with his trademark drawl, adding: “I’ve always been a church-goin’ Methodist boy.”
He told the crowd that after “a long period as a divorced man” he had remarried. His wife is the woman who played the piano at the church next door. “Thank you, Jesus,” Roemer said of his marriage.
Roemer described himself thusly: I’m a pro-life, traditional values man. I’m the only person thining of running for president who was elected as a congressman and as a governor.”
Roemer described his swtich from the Democratic Party to the GOP. He said the “corrupt old-boy’s network” doomed his bid for a second term as Louisiana’s governor, saying he lost “by a whisker.”
“…For the last 15 years I’ve been building little banks. Banks that come to their greatness one loan at a time…Main Street, not Wall Street.”
Roemer said America’s in trouble. “The debt is a mountain and it’s resting on the chests and hopes of my grandchildren,” Roemer said.
Roemer mentioned that if he runs, he will not accept campaign donations of more than $100. “I always wanted to do it,” Roemer said of running for president with that $100 limit.
“…I want a president free to lead,” Roemer said.
Roemer said he would end federal subsidies for both oil and corn-based ethanol. “Ethanol takes four rows out of 10 out of every corn field…that doesn’t go to hungry people or necessary people. This is not right,” Roemer said. “That’s how you balance a budget…We have to get rid of ‘my little deal’ and ‘your little deal’ and put together ‘our little deal.'”
Roemer said his low-budget approach could succeed and he urged the crowd to tell others this about his: “He’s old enough to know what to do and young enough to get it done…And by golly, he’s a friendly man, too.”
A few moments later, with a hushed vote, Roemer said: “Listen to me Iowa, we’re this close to taking this country back.”
Roemer quoted Proverbs 13:11. “Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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