[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[August 21, 1992]
[Pages 1387-1389]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1387]]


Remarks to the Republican National Committee in Houston
August 21, 1992

    I think the Republican National Committee, under Rich Bond and 
Jeanie Austin's leadership, put on the best convention that we've ever 
had. It was first-class. Bill Harris was to be here. But Craig Fuller 
and so many others were intimately involved in all of this. It was a 
complex organizing job. It was done in a wonderfully imaginative way. I 
think that the convention gives us now a great lift as we take the 
battle to the opposition, but more importantly, take this positive 
message to the American people. I first wanted to come over here and say 
thanks. No longer will we tell Rich to cool his jets. We'll simply 
suggest that he keep doing what he's doing.
    Let me just mention another item of business which I hope you all 
agree with me on, and that is I've recommended, as you know, Sam Skinner 
to be general chairman, the same role that Paul Laxalt had. We thought 
long and hard about that, but Sam has earned my confidence through 
superior performance, not just in the trenches politically where he and 
I have been shoulder to shoulder for a long, long time, out in Illinois 
particularly, but more recently as Secretary of Transportation. One of 
the major accomplishments of this administration, and you're going to 
hear more and more about this as the campaign goes on, is an innovative, 
creative, job-creating national transportation bill. No one deserves 
more credit for that major national accomplishment than Sam Skinner.
    So when Jim Baker came back, I wanted to keep Sam suited up, out 
front, working for the cause. He and Rich will do a superb job there at 
the committee. He is good, and I know he's most enjoyable to work with, 
so I strongly recommend that.
    Barbara and I just came from another event. When I saw what our 
local law enforcement people went through at this convention to keep the 
peace and to give everybody their rights, and I mean those that were 
inside the hall as well as those out, we decided that we wanted to go 
over and thank the police officers. So we went over there just now, had 
a representation of the full 3,000 police officers that serve this city 
that Barbara and I love so much.
    As I was walking down the rope line, one of the press reporters 
inquired, ``Well, what about the tax plan?'' I said, ``Well, it's fairly 
simple.'' You see, I do believe, as I said last night, that the 
Government is taxing too much and spending too much. So I mentioned 
something like that. I said, ``Well, it's a very easy plan. What you do 
is you tax people less, and the Government spends less.'' ``Well, how is 
it going to work?'' And I said, ``Well, it's going to work because it 
benefits the taxpayers.'' There was a follow-on question, as always 
happens, and the police officers standing there, certainly not the 
highest tax brackets of all, were saying, ``Hey, we're taxpayers. We're 
taxpayers. It will help us.''
    I think that we've got a good message now to take to the American 
people. It's been there one way or another. I thought when Dan Quayle 
put it in perspective in what I felt was an outstanding speech by him 
last night, incidentally. I was sitting behind the podium, and I watched 
the reactions of various people in the audience that they focused in on. 
Not just that part of his speech but the whole thing resonated very 
well, indeed.
    We came down here to Houston with more dire predictions, more gloom-
and-doom negativism than I've ever seen in my long, long time in the 
political arena or, indeed, in the private arena. I think, first thanks 
to the work of the organizers of the convention, then thanks to the 
speeches and the presentations at the forums of so many of our party 
leaders and so many just plain grassroots Republicans, a lot of that is 
turning around.
    Now I've got a big job on my shoulders; Barbara does; Dan and 
Marilyn do. But I just want to say one thing: I really am ready for this 
challenge. We've got so much at stake. 
As I tried to say last night, it isn't just a question of my winning an 
election. That really is coincidental to who can do the best

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job for the country. We're going to take this out there to the American 
people not just on the financial issues but on the questions of values. 
And then in the final analysis, as I touched on last night, it's going 
to be a question of trust.
    I, for 6 months, have been letting Bill Clinton define me, 
erroneously, I might add, to the American people. Perhaps I 
miscalculated, because I said, look, it's more important to try to get 
something done. It's more important to keep working with Congress to get 
some incentives that will put people back to work or to pass a strong 
anticrime bill or to get our energy bill that we talked about last night 
out or to try to make some steps on passing our health care reform bill. 
I really felt that it was more important to get that done.
    The Congress stalled and did nothing. So, as I told you last night, 
I'm going to link the Gore-Clinton, G-C, to the gridlocked Congress. G-
C, put them right together. Put them right in there, and don't let them 
come apart.
    The reason it will work is because it's true. It's true. The 
American people, if they don't understand it yet, will understand it 
when I get through, because it's factual. It is accurate. That one 
institution, the House of Representatives, that hasn't changed for 38 
years, is now going to have not just a one-way street, which they've 
been pounding me on, every one of those leaders up there; I'm going to 
take it to them. And I'll go into a congressional district, and I'll do 
exactly what Harry Truman did. I'll go into a congressional district, 
and I'll say, ``You have the worst Congressman that you know. You think 
he's a nice guy, but he's terrible because here's what he's doing on a 
crime bill or energy or education, health reform, or whatever it is.'' 
We're going to single them out because they, each one of those liberal 
Democrats in Congress, have been singling me out and singling the Vice 
President out for the last 3\1/2\ years and smiling when I go up there 
to the Congress.
    They say Clinton has a good reaction squad. We're going to give him 
plenty to react to, every single minute. Let them try to sever that 
umbilical cord. Let them sever the umbilical cord between the people 
that are blocking legal reform: Congress, Bill Clinton, and Gore. Let 
them try to sever it. They're not going to be able to do it because they 
can't.
    The American people don't yet have that in focus. When we're through 
with the next 70-some days or whatever it is, I guarantee you they will. 
Then in the final analysis, as I say, I think that people are going to 
go into that voting booth, and I hope that they're going to say that 
this President has upheld the public trust. I hope they're going to say, 
``Look, we may not agree on this issue or that. He might have done a 
better job on this phase of our agenda or that, but he has demonstrated 
that he has our trust. He has treated the White House and the Presidency 
with a certain respect and dignity. He has had a clean administration, 
free of scandal, and he stands with us on these fundamental values.'' 
And that's what I want the people to say.
    And if we are--well, put it this way, when we are successful, we'll 
be accompanied by a lot of new people to town, these new Congressmen. 
It's going to happen anyway. We'll get out, and we'll try again. We'll 
say: You've been out to the American people, and you've been elected. 
And you wouldn't have been elected if you didn't listen to them this 
year, because this is a strange political year. And I wouldn't be 
standing here now with 4 more years to go if I hadn't listened to the 
American people and touched a chord representing what they believe.
    So let's try again to get something done for every family in 
America. I know it will work. It will work especially if all of you, 
whatever organizations you represent, whether it's the RNC or Huda 
Jones' marvelous group in the Federation or the Young Republicans or the 
College Republicans, the State parties which are so vital. We have the 
State leadership here, of course, members of the RNC. If we bring all of 
this together, under Rich Bond and Jeanie Austin's able leadership, I 
know we can get the job done.
    Thank you all very, very much for what you're doing.

                    Note: The President spoke at 8:05 a.m. at the 
                        Hyatt Regency Hotel. In his remarks, he

[[Page 1389]]

                        referred to Rich Bond, chairman, and Jeanie 
                        Austin, cochairman, Republican National 
                        Committee; William D. Harris, convention 
                        manager; Craig Fuller, Bush-Quayle convention 
                        chairman; Paul Laxalt, former general chairman, 
                        Republican National Committee; and Huda Jones, 
                        president, National Federation of Republican 
                        Women.