[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17] [Senate] [Pages 24284-24287] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]ISSUES BEFORE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND GOVERNOR BUSH Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have an interesting number of issues before this body. We have talked on various occasions, not the least of which has been today, about what we have not done: A real Patients' Bill of Rights; a prescription drug coverage through Medicare; a minimum wage increase; tax-deductibility for college-level education, including lifelong learning; education funds to modernize our schools, to have afterschool programs, to have more teachers; commonsense gun safety legislation; long-term tax credits for families caring for elderly parents; and affordable housing. These issues--any one of them--could have been completed with the intercession of the Governor of Texas who is running for President. The campaign, that will be completed in 12 or 13 days, is a campaign of ideas. What I would like to do tonight is spread across the Record of this Senate some of the ideas of George W. Bush, the Governor of the State of Texas. I say this because I think we should understand there are a number of policies that are being advocated by the Vice President and by the Governor of Texas. So what I want to do today is quote verbatim, statements that have been made by George W. Bush. I will not be able to complete all of his statements tonight, but I am going to spend some time reading direct quotes of George W. Bush. Maybe I will return tomorrow or the day after to complete the statements of the Governor of the State of Texas. The first quote comes from October 23, 2000. That was last Monday. Here is the direct quote: I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace. October 18, 2000, another direct quote: Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream. He also said, on that same occasion, in LaCrosse, WI: If I'm the president, we're going to have emergency-room care, we're going to have gag orders. He also said, and I quote: Drug therapies are replacing a lot of medicines as we used to know it. Another direct quote: It's one thing about insurance, that's a Washington term. Direct quote: I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun. This is the Governor of the State of Texas, the man running for President of the United States, who has said these things. The next direct quote: Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is--I'm not sure 80 percent of the people get the death tax. I know this: 100 percent will get it if I'm the president. Next direct quote: Quotas are bad for America. It's not the way America is all about. [[Page 24285]] Direct quote. October 18, in St. Louis, the same day that he said, ``Families is where our nation finds hopes, where wings take dream,'' he said: If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it. In Greensboro, NC, on October 10 of this year, he said: Our priorities is our faith. October 11 of the year 2000: I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children. The direct quote from Gov. George W. Bush: ``I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children.'' Greensboro, NC, the day before--that is, October 10--when he was commenting on the Vice President's tax plan: It's going to require numerous IRA agents. The Governor of the State of Texas said, on October 4, in Reynoldsburg, OH: I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question. This was in response to a question about whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the first debate. The direct quote is: ``I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question.'' I do not think that takes any discussion to figure out what he just said, because I do not think he knows what he just said. In Boston, on October 3 of the year 2000, he said: I would have my secretary of treasury be in touch with the financial centers, not only here but at home. Saginaw, MI, September 29, 2000: I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully. Quote: ``I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.'' Redwood, CA, September 27, 2000: I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy. Again, these are direct quotes from the Governor of the State of Texas, the man who has been nominated to be President of the United States. Los Angeles, September 27: One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected. Beaverton, OR, September 25, this year: It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas. Direct quote, MSNBC, September 20, 2000: Well, that's going to be up to the pundits and the people to make up their mind. I'll tell you what is a president for him, for example, talking about my record in the state of Texas. I mean, he's willing to say anything in order to convince people that I haven't had a good record in Texas. September 9, on the Oprah show: I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans. Interview with Paula Zahn, September 18, 2000: A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an economic illness. I have read these over several times. I still am stunned by what has been said by the man running for President of the United States. Orange, CA, September 15, 2000: The woman who knew that I had dyslexia--I never interviewed her. Westminster, CA, September 13: The best way to relieve families from time is to let them keep some of their own money. The same interview: They have miscalculated me as a leader. Orlando, FL, September 12, 2000: I don't think we need to be subliminable about the differences between our views on prescription drugs. This is a campaign of ideas, Mr. President, a discussion of policies, a discussion of having a vision of what this country needs, someone who can discuss them in a logical manner. Pittsburgh, PA, September 8: This is what I'm good at. I like meeting people, my fellow citizens, I like interfacing with them. Westland, MI, September 8: That's Washington. That's the place where you find people getting ready to jump out of the foxholes before the first shot is fired. Detroit, September 7, 2000: Listen, Al Gore is a very tough opponent. He is the incumbent. He represents the incumbency. And a challenger is somebody who generally comes from the pack and wins, if you're going to win. And that's where I'm coming from. Houston, TX, September 6: We'll let our friends be the peacemakers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers. Scranton, PA, September 6: We don't believe in planners and deciders making decisions on behalf of Americans. Allentown, PA, September 5: I regret that a private comment I made to the vice presidential candidate made it through the public airways. New York Times, September 2: The point is, this is a way to help inoculate me about what has come and is coming. CNN online chat: As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met these standards. Same interview: Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that is trustworthiness. Des Moines, IA, August 21: I don't know whether I'm going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I am ready for the job. And, if not, that's just the way it goes. Same, Des Moines, IA: This campaign not only hears the voices of entrepreneurs and the farmers and the entrepreneurs, we hear the voices of those struggling to get ahead. Des Moines, IA, August 21: We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile. I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is something who brings people together. That is from Bartlett, TN, August 18. August 11, Associated Press: I think he needs to stand up and say if he thought the president were wrong on policy and issues, he ought to say where. Salinas, CA, August 10: I want you to know that farmers are not going to be secondary thoughts to a Bush administration. They will be in the forethought of our thinking. Today Show interview, August 1: And if he continues that, I'm going to tell the nation what I think about him as a human being and as a person. Washington Post, July 15. This was a comment to New Jersey's Secretary of State, the Honorable DeForest Soaries, Jr.: You might want to comment on that, Honorable. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 23, 2000: This case has had full analyzation and has been looked at a lot. I understand the emotionality of death penalty cases. Cleveland, OH, June 29: States should have the right to enact reasonable laws and restrictions particularly to end the inhuman practice of ending a life that otherwise could live. This is another Cleveland quote from a different time, July 1: Unfairly but truthfully, our party has been tagged as being against things. Anti-immigrant, for example. And we're not a party of anti-immigrants. Quite the opposite. We're a party that welcomes people. Wayne, MI, June 28: The fundamental question is, Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy? I will be, but until I'm the president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I think I'll be more effective. NPR radio, June 16: The only things that I can tell you is that every case I have reviewed I have been comfortable with the innocence or guilt of the person that I've looked at. I do not believe we've put a guilty . . . I mean innocent person to death in the State of Texas. Hardball, MSNBC, discussion on abortion, May 31 of this year: I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've read--I understand reality. If you're asking me as the president, would I understand reality, I do. June 9, 2000, Wilton, CT: There's not going to be enough people in the system to take advantage of people like me. April 3, U.S. News and World Report: I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating. This is interesting. This is also on Hardball. Governor Bush: [[Page 24286]] First of all, Cinco de Mayo is not the independence day. That's dieciseis de Septiembre, and . . . Chris Matthews says: What's that in English? Governor Bush: Fifteenth of September. Mr. President, I took 2 years of high school Spanish, and I know that is not September 15. From Albuquerque, NM, on May 31: Actually, I--this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. What I'm talking about--when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me. Again, he said: Actually I--this may sound a little west Texan to you, but I like it. What I'm talking about--when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me. Here is another direct quote from the Albuquerque on May 31: This is a world that is much more uncertain than the past. In the past, we were certain, we were certain it was us versus the Russians in the past. We were certain, and therefore we had huge nuclear arsenals aimed at each other to keep the peace. That's what we were certain of. You see, even though it's an uncertain world, we're certain of some things. We're certain that even though the ``evil empire'' may have passed, evil still remains. We're certain there are people that can't stand what America stands for. We're certain there are madmen in this world, and there's terror and there's missiles, and I'm certain of this, too: I'm certain to maintain the peace, we better have a military of high morale, and I'm certain that under this administration, morale in the military is dangerously low. He was talking with Paula Zahn on May 18 about Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City: He has certainly earned a reputation as a fantastic mayor, because the results speak for themselves. I mean, New York is a safer place for him to be. This was in the New York Times on March 4, 2000: The fact that he relies on facts--says things that are not factual--are going to undermine his campaign. On his meeting with John McCain, in the Dallas Morning News on May 10, 2000, he said: I think we agree, the past is over. This is from Reuters, May 5, 2000: It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it. Here is an interview Governor Bush did with Jim Lehrer on The NewsHour, on April 27, 2000: Governor Bush: Because the picture on the newspaper. It just seems so un-American to me, the picture of the guy storming the house with a scared little boy there. I talked to my little brother, Jeb--I haven't told this to many people. But he's the Governor of--I shouldn't call him my little brother--my brother, Jeb, the great Governor of Texas. Jim Lehrer: Florida. Governor Bush: Florida. The State of Florida. On April 26, 2000, he said: I hope we get to the bottom of the answer. It's what I'm interested to know. On Meet The Press on April 15, he said: Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is sometimes until we get an objective analysis. On April 6, 2000, the Associated Press reports this quote: You subscribe politics to it. I subscribe freedom to it. That was a question about whether he and Al Gore were making the Elian Gonzalez case a political issue. This appeared in The Los Angeles Times on April 8, 2000: I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, DC, is close to California. On March 28, 2000 in Reston, Virginia, he said: Reading is the basics for all learning. This was at Fritsche Middle School in Milwaukee on March 30, 2000: We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the obligations, their obligations as teachers. We want them to know how to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure there's not this kind of Federal--Federal cufflink. Mr. President, I will make my final quote for tonight. We have several pages more we will do at a subsequent time. In the Washington Post of March 24, 2000, this is his quote: Other Republican candidates may retort to personal attacks and negative ads. Mr. President, I read these direct quotes. It would have been very easy to editorialize on every one of them. I chose not to do that. I chose, though, to spread across the record of this Senate statements made by Governor George W. Bush which should lead some to believe that if this man is going to be heavily involved in policy not only of this Nation, but this world, that they should be aware of some of the statements he has made. We want this to be a Government where people are clear on the issues, understand the issues. We have difficult, very complex problems not only domestically, but internationally. I think these quotes speak for themselves. Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senator from Iowa is here and wishes to speak. Mr. HARKIN. I ask the Senator to yield to me for a second. Mr. REID. How much time do I have left? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator was given as much time as he may consume. Mr. REID. I will yield the Senator some time. Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Senator for mentioning some of those quotes. I didn't hear them all because I was on my way to the floor from my office. Mr. REID. I was only able to get to a few of them. I only spent about 40 minutes talking on the direct quotes from the Governor of Texas. There will be more. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada can only yield for a question at this point in time. Mr. REID. It is my understanding he was asking me a question. Mr. HARKIN. Yes. I appreciate the Senator's comments and reading those quotes. I wonder, did the Senator listen to the third and final debate? Mr. REID. I didn't miss a single word of that debate. Mr. HARKIN. I want to ask the Senator, did he hear the quote by about Governor Bush--there was a question asked about agriculture. Vice President Gore answered the question and it came to Governor Bush. He started talking about using food as a weapon. He made this quote--he said: We have got to stop using food. It hurts the farmers. Does the Senator remember that quote? Mr. REID. I listened with amazement. In responding to my friend from Iowa, following the second debate, the Vice President, during that debate, said that there was a young lady in Florida that wasn't able to get a desk. The Republican spin doctors came back the next day and said that wasn't true, she was only out of a desk for a day. In fact, she missed 7 days because of not having room in that classroom, for whatever reason. I was so amazed that the press picked up on what the Vice President said, which to me indicated that was just one of the minor problems that we have in education. I heard a day or two after the debate from Governor Bush. He said this. I heard it. He said: Well, I did fine in the debate because the expectations were so low of me that all I had to do was show up and say my name is George W. Bush and win the debate. I say to my friend from Iowa, that is about how the American press has treated it. All he had to do was show up and tell his name, because if they looked into some of his statements--for one, the statement that the Senator from Iowa asked me about regarding food--it seems to me for our farmers who are suffering so much in our country today that is something the press might want to pick up on. Does the Senator have another question? Mr. HARKIN. No. Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator does not have the right to do that. Under the previous order, the Senate will recess until tomorrow morning at 9:30. Mr. REID. I did not hear the Chair. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from Nevada was allowed time to speak, and after he spoke, the Senate is to be in recess until tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. [[Page 24287]] Mr. REID. I want to complete my statement. I will finish that in a hurry. This is a parliamentary inquiry to the Chair: We are going to come in at 9:30 tomorrow morning? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct. Mr. REID. And we are to pick up the older Americans legislation. Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield? Mr. REID. I am happy to yield for a question. Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I asked for 15 minutes at the end of the time. For some reason it got mixed up and I was not included on the list. It is my intention to ask unanimous consent that I be recognized to speak for 15 minutes before the Senate goes out on recess. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Chair. ____________________