Here is a transcript of the speech delivered by former Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole at the Republican National Convention on Monday. Thank you. Thank you very much. Theresa. You're an outstanding member of the North Carolina Legislature, and I know that you're going to have a resounding re-election victory in November. Thank you so much. Peace, progress, opportunity. That's what we're here to celebrate. That's the legacy of a great president, Ronald Reagan. And that will be the living legacy of the next president of the United States, George Bush. First, let me thank the Democratic Party leaders for televising their Convention. What I saw and heard reminded me and millions of other former Democrats why we're proud to be Republicans. The Dukakis convention speech was just like the Democrat platform, hedging on defense, hedging on taxes, hedging on spending. We're not running against Bentsen and Dukakis, we're running against Bentsen and Hedges. ``Governor Hedges,'' ``Governor Hedges,'' ``Governor Hedges'' tried mightily to paint over his liberal policies with pretty rhetoric. But the make-up job failed. As an old federal trade commissioner, I want to know -- whatever happened to truth in advertising? But we've come to New Orleans not to pin the tail on the donkey. We're here to pin our hopes on the American future. And we're not buying the Dukakis deception. Despite what he says, this election is about ideas and ideology. They do matter. They will matter to Americans who face a choice this year as stark and dramatic as any in memory. We Americans faced a similar choice in 1980. And what did we get for our choice? We got a president who doesn't apologize for American interests _ he asserts them. We got a breakthrough in Soviet relations and the INF treaty. We got the longest economic boom in peacetime history. It was my privilege for seven years to serve the man who made this happen _ one of America's greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President, for that opportunity. Today's strong economy means stronger families. And we affirm the woman who chooses to work in the home. But our strong economy has also provided needed jobs for millions of women, and let me say to the women of America: I respect the fact that some of you have questions. I also ask you to have an open mind. You know better then anyone that a job _ a good job _ is absolutely basic to a family's happiness and stability. That's our freedom. Are we going to let them take it away? (Crowd yells, ``No.'') In the past eight years, President Reagan has created an incredible jobs machine _ more jobs for more Americans than ever before. And two-thirds of the 17 million new jobs created since 1982 went to women. Good jobs, not bad jobs. Real work, not make work. That's our freedom. Are we going to let them take it away? (Crowd yells, ``No.'') You did it. You were the expansion. You, the women of America _ who are holding jobs as never before, who've started businesses as never before, who have invested as never before. This expansion _ it's your triumph. But it was Ronald Reagan and George Bush who set in motion the forces which allowed that growth to occur and the economy to bloom. That's our freedom. Are we going to let them take it away? (Crowd yells, ``No.'') America is on a roll. If this great economic upsurge is stopped, if we have a President who raises taxes again and in creases regulation again and stifles growth again _ and believe me, that's what Michael Dukakis will do _ if we let the liberals back in, we lose all that progress _ your progress.
