I'm not running to manage the decline of this great country. I'm running to make real changes in D.C.

Peace through strength works. We've got the greatest military in the world. I want them to dominate any potential conflict.

As everyone in Louisiana knows, there was often no communication or coordination between the state and federal government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Thirty percent of the Nation's energy comes off the gulf coast.

As president I would actually name the enemy, radical Islamic terrorists. We've got a president [ Barack Obama] who wants to apologize for America and wants to criticize medieval Christian and wants to wage war on junk food. He won't even say the words "radical Islamic terrorists."

Under the Obama regime, the president and his allies are intentional in pursuing these conflicts from the perspective that you must sacrifice your most sacred beliefs to government the instant you start a business. You have the protection of the First Amendment as an individual, you see – but the instant you start a business, you lose those protections.

On Thanksgiving I will stop to give thanks that my family is safe and healthy, especially because I realize that, following the tragedies of this year, it is all too real a possibility that they might not have been.