The Honorable Martin O'Malley's Speech Before the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, July 28, 2004

/EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UPON DELIVERY OF SPEECH, SCHEDULED FOR 7:26 P.M. EDT TODAY, JULY 28/

BOSTON, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of The Honorable Martin O'Malley's speech before the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004:

Thank you for that warm welcome, and thank you Mayor Menino and the people of Boston for keeping us safe.

In 1962, this city's native son, John Kennedy reminded our nation that: "Others may confine themselves to debate, discussion, and that ultimate luxury - free advice. [But] our responsibility is one of decision - for to govern is to choose ... "

My fellow Americans, today we face a threat unimagined in Kennedy's time: the menace of global terrorism and a loss of American lives on American soil. As we confront this threat to our security and to our well-being, we must choose again.

We must choose knowing the country we leave our children will depend on it.

 We must choose to invest in a safer America.
 We must choose to build a stronger America.

And we must choose a new president who is up to the challenge of this mission, a new president who will lead us in providing for the common defense, no matter the sacrifice.  And that new president is John Kerry.

Sadly, almost three years after that fateful day when thousands of moms and dads, sons and daughters, didn't come home from work on September 11th, America's cities and towns, America's ports and borders, and America's heartland remain needlessly vulnerable.

Three years later, our first responders still don't have the communications technology and intelligence they need to prevent or respond to another terrorist attack.

Three years later, our fire-fighters and police officers -- from New York to Los Angeles; St. Louis to Miami -- still lack the funds to keep our families safe and still don't have the protective gear they need to save American lives.  Ask America's mayors.  Ask America's fire fighters and police officers on the front lines here at home.

When citizens dial 911, it's a local call.  The phone doesn't ring in Washington. When one of America's fire or police heroes sacrifices their life in the line of duty, who rushes to the hospital to comfort the grieving spouse?  When a folded flag is presented to the young son or daughter who will never see their mom or dad again, who is at the graveside?

It's the fire chief.  It's the police commissioner.  It's the mayor.  This is our duty.  We do it proudly, and we can do it well, but not without the support of our federal government.

We need a president who will stand with our cities, with our fire fighters, with our police officers, and with our families. We need a president who will make America strong at home. We need John Kerry.

On September 11th, 1814 -- as Washington burned to our south during the War of 1812 - the people of Baltimore -- 60 percent of us immigrants, one out of five free black citizens of a still as yet very imperfect country - defended the United States of America on our own.

It was an amazing feat in a distant war. But 200 years later, in the war against terrorism, one city can't do it alone.

My friends, John Kerry knows, today, that we cannot fund America's homeland with increased property taxes and fire hall bingos.

John Kerry understands that if graffiti vandals can still spray paint rail cars carrying hazardous materials through our communities, then terrorists can attack those same rail cars, just as easily.

John Kerry recognizes that if the deadly foreign chemical attacks of cocaine and heroin can still flow unchecked through our ports and borders, then biological, nuclear, and chemical weapons can be smuggled through those same unprotected ports and borders, just as easily.

That is why as president, John Kerry will make America stronger -- and our neighborhoods safer.

He will lead the long-stalled effort to improve America's homeland security -- not with words, but with action -- and with funding.

John Kerry will eliminate the shameful backlog of communications and protective equipment for our fire and police first responders; he will make the tough choices necessary to secure our borders and ports.

And John Kerry will lead us in this important mission while reclaiming and reviving the true American values of service and sacrifice. For John Kerry believes deeply in the basic, beautiful truth that Americans are not a greedy or selfish people; that for every right we treasure, there is a duty we must discharge. And my friends, in the war against terrorism, duty most certainly calls.

My friends, for this generation of Americans to have a rendezvous with destiny, we must choose.  We must choose to build a stronger America.

We must choose to defend the brave and generous America that our parents and grandparents were courageous enough to choose for us. "America the beautiful ... , whose alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears ... "

Oh, my friends, to govern is to choose, and at this hour, the man and the mission have met: the mission is America's security, the man is here, the choice is ours.

Come November, we choose America's security.

Come November, we choose the man who bravely answered his country's call to service before, and is prepared to answer that call for us now.

We choose the right president for these times, the right president for the United States, and the next president of the United States.  We choose John Kerry.

Thank you.

Source: Democratic National Convention Committee

CONTACT:  Peggy Wilhide of the Democratic National Convention Committee,
+1-617-366-3100