[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[August 21, 1992]
[Pages 1389-1391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Bush-Quayle Rally in Gulfport, Mississippi
August 21, 1992

    The President. Wow. Thank you very, very much. This is good for the 
soul.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so very much. Thank 
you for this warm Mississippi welcome. It is great to be back in 
Gulfport, great to be back in Fordice, Lott, Cochran, and Bush-Quayle 
country. Thank you very, very much.
    This is our first stop after Houston, the first step into the 
future. We're here to kick off a crusade to bring back values and to 
build a stronger, more secure America.
    We're grateful to be here with your Mayor and our Lieutenant 
Governor, Eddie Briggs. And may I single out my dear friend, a man of 
real values, a man of real talent, Ricky Scaggs.
    You talk about southern hospitality, let me thank all the Republican 
leadership, those who greeted us on the ground, all of you who worked on 
this fantastic rally, and those who came with me on Air Force One. This 
is, as I say, our first step out of Houston, on to the election. I am 
delighted to be back here in this place which has sound family values, 
great tradition, and believes in a strong America.
    I understand that since my last visit, Biloxi is something of the 
Monte Carlo of the gulf coast. Well, my pastor may be listening, so I 
want to say I never was much of a gambler. But let me offer a little 
sporting advice: Don't bet against us in November. We are going to win 
this election.
    Now, let me put something in perspective. You've been reading about 
some of these crazy reports about my health. Well, let me say I am 
blessed with good health, blessed with good health. Last night I laid 
out an agenda for America, and the reaction has been very positive. If 
those overnight polls are any barometer, the American people agree with 
me that I do look better in my jogging shorts than Bill Clinton.
    You know, last night we answered some questions for the American 
people. One of them is, ``Well, why spend any time anymore on foreign 
policy?'' Well, remember the days when some of these schoolchildren, or 
when some of you all were schoolchildren, hiding under the desks in 
drills to prepare for nuclear war. Well, I saw a chance to rid our 
children's dreams of the nuclear nightmare. And I did it, with the help 
of many others before me.
    Seriously, do you know that over the past 4 years, more people have 
breathed the fresh air of freedom than in all of human history? We saw a 
chance to help, and we did it. And understand something: These were the 
two defining opportunities, not of a year, not of a decade but of an 
entire span of human history. We can all take great pride in that.
    And yes, now that we have made the world safer and more secure, it's 
time to build a safer and more secure America. Here in Gulfport, you 
understand how the world has become linked, interconnected. The 
challenge before America today is to bring together foreign policy, 
economic policy, and national security policy to make a difference in 
your home.
    So this election isn't simply, as the opposition, as that new twin 
ticket says, simply about change. It's about who do you trust to make 
the change work for you. That is the question.
    And our opponents, my opponent is----
    Audience members. George Bush! George

[[Page 1390]]

Bush! George Bush!
    The President. Look, creating jobs is the number one issue. My 
opponent has laid out his plan; it is clear, present, and dangerous. 
Here's the way it starts out: $220 billion in new, what he calls, 
investment. When he says investment, watch out for your wallet. 
Investing $220 billion of your money, that is not investment.
    It goes on with the largest tax increase in history. Right up front, 
right up front before he's had to govern at all, he says tax them $150 
billion more. No, we are not going to have that.
    Along with it, a massive scheme to have Government take over the 
health care system. We have a program to make health insurance available 
to the poorest of the poor, to everybody, but not to get the Government 
tell you who your doctor can be.
    I was talking to Thad Cochran and Trent, the Governor coming down 
here. And my opponent, we all agree, seems to like to compare himself to 
Elvis Presley. [Laughter] Well, my apologies to the King, but to me, the 
Governor of Arkansas' plan really does sound like Elvis economics. 
Because the time he is finished, American workers will all be checking 
into the Heartbreak Hotel. And I think we ought to treat those Clinton-
Gore ideas the way Elvis would: Return to sender. Return him to 
Arkansas. Send them back to Arkansas and Tennessee.
    We offer a different way to create jobs and get the economy moving. 
And last night I proposed a brandnew idea--some of you may have heard 
it--to let you, the taxpayer, check a box on your tax return to vote up 
to 10 percent of your taxes to go for nothing but reducing the Federal 
deficit. And then for every check, we have to reduce Federal spending by 
that much.
    There's something else that I want to do, and every place I go in 
America people are saying, ``Please get it done.'' I'm talking about 
this: A lot of sharp lawyers are wreaking havoc in middle America. 
Doctors sometimes, maybe it's true here in Biloxi, scared to practice 
medicine; some parents afraid to even coach Little League. The bottom 
line is we are suing each other too much and caring for each other too 
little.
    We have been, with the help of Trent and the help of Thad, we've 
been trying to go to toe with that Democratic liberal Congress to take 
on the trial lawyers and take on their new hero, incidentally, the 
Governor of Arkansas. I am keeping on fighting to put an end to these 
outrageous lawsuits that raise everybody's costs and scare people half 
to death.
    We've got other ideas we're fighting for: To open markets for our 
products--I saw a sign here about agriculture. Our farmers can compete 
with and outhustle anybody in the world if we give them a chance. Open 
markets for our products, not protection. Make health care more 
affordable without a Government takeover of medicine. Improve our 
schools so our kids can get the education they need to succeed, and tell 
the union to start thinking new ideas. Let's help these kids.
    Now the fundamental: In order to get all these ideas and more into 
action, I need your help. I need you to change the U.S. Congress, to 
clean House. Clean the House. Exactly, exactly.
    Audience members. Clean the House! Clean the House! Clean the House!
    The President. We've got two guys here today that are trying to do 
just that, Paul Harvey and Clyde Whitaker, so help them out. I might 
say, if we had more like Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, we wouldn't have 
this problem of a Congress that obstructs everything we're trying to do.
    You know, let me be very candid with you, Congress is an institution 
in gridlock. The liberal Democratic leadership has been in charge--it's 
hard for these young people to believe--but has been in charge of the 
House of Representatives for 38 straight years. The gridlocked 
Democratic Congress has blocked my jobs program, blocked my education 
program, and blocked the progress of the people of Gulfport, 
Mississippi. They are caught in a knot of PAC's and perks and privileges 
and paralysis.
    Let me give you one example: It took us, with the help of many sons 
and daughters of Mississippi, 43 days, 43 days to win the Gulf war, 
while Congress has taken 533 days, and still counting, to give us a 
national energy policy to cut our dependence on foreign oil. That is 
gridlock. That is congressional gridlock. As I said, I've ridden 
station-

[[Page 1391]]

ary bikes that can move faster than the U.S. Congress.
    Make no mistake about it: We are not going to let the Clinton-Gore 
ticket fool the American people. The Clinton-Gore ticket and the 
gridlocked Congress are totally interlocked. One is C-G, and the other 
is G-C: Clinton-Gore, gridlocked Congress. But don't let them try to 
separate themselves from each other. They are one and the same, even 
though they tried to hide the leaders away at their Madison Square 
convention.
    Now, let me give you one example of what I'm talking about. When 
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, I turned to the American people--and no 
area of our country responded better than the people of Mississippi--I 
turned to the American people and asked for their support, and of 
course, to our young men and women, for sacrifice, before the Middle 
East became a nuclear powder keg threatening us all. Mississippi 
responded, and you made America proud. But many of the liberal Democrats 
in Congress stood against us.
    As I said last night, what about the leader of the Arkansas National 
Guard, the man who hopes to be Commander in Chief? Let me repeat it for 
you. Two days after Congress voted to follow my lead, my opponent said 
this, and I want to be fair about it, so I'll give you the exact 
quotation: ``I guess I would have voted with the majority if it was a 
close vote, but I agree with the arguments the minority made.'' What 
kind of message would that send to a man like Saddam Hussein?
    You talk about wishy-washy indecision that is offered up by both my 
opponent and the gridlocked Congress; they are one and the same. So if 
you want to see this country go forward with optimism, first send Bill 
Clinton back to Arkansas, but just as important, help me shake up that 
gridlocked Congress and get rid of them.
    Speaking for this district, you can do it by electing a seasoned 
leader, General Paul Harvey, to represent you in the Congress. I told 
the general I was going to make a joke about his providing ``the rest of 
the story.'' But I'm sure you heard this kind of kidding. I'm sure he's 
heard it about 3,000 times every day.
    Our crusade, and it is one, will not be easy. And I know that. But 
I'm absolutely certain that in November we will prevail. Two weeks ago, 
they were totally writing off the Bush-Quayle ticket, all those smart 
talking heads on television. We are going to take it to the American 
people. We're going to the people with our message.
    For 9 months the Governor of Arkansas has been distorting my record. 
I don't care what the polls say, I'm going to take this case to the 
American people like Truman did, go against the Congress, go against the 
opponent, say what I'm for.
    God bless the United States of America. We are going to win this 
race. Thank you all.

                    Note: The President spoke at 12:25 p.m. in Jones 
                        Park. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Kirk 
                        Fordice; Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran; 
                        Ken Combs, Mayor of Gulfport; and entertainer 
                        Ricky Scaggs.