[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 26, 1992]
[Pages 1665-1667]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1665]]


Remarks to the Community in Bowling Green, Ohio
September 26, 1992

    The President. What a great welcome back to Bowling Green. Thank you 
all. Thank you very, very much. Thank you, Representative Gardner. 
Barbara and I just want to say it's great to be back in Bowling Green. 
It's good to see your great Congressman, Congressman Gillmor, doing a 
great job for the United States. If we had more like him we would not 
have to clean House. But we've got to clean 'em out--not him. Send us 
more like him. Give us more Congressmen like this one.
    May I salute State Senator Montgomery; thank Representative Gardner; 
thank Bowling Green's Mayor Hoffman and my good friend and former 
Congressman Del Latta. You've had great public servants up here.
    You know, we weren't tuned in. So who won the football game? Just 
kidding. Well done.
    Well, listen, we're in the midst of a great train ride, 233 miles 
across Ohio and into Michigan. Now, I don't want to suggest we're 
picking up support, but Barbara and I were looking out the window a 
couple miles ago, and we saw a bunch of cows doing the wave. Things are 
coming along.
    We saw all kinds of animals on this trip, and in this crowd 
somewhere we caught sight of the chicken, a chicken. Don't worry. What's 
one chicken, compared to thousands of Falcons? There he is, the chicken. 
I'm not sure if that chicken is from Oxford, England----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----or if he's the one that dumps that fecal coliform 
bacteria into the Arkansas River.
    No, the election is about your future: What kind of America you want 
to live in. I want an America where every graduate of this great school 
can find a good, decent job.
    I have laid out my Agenda for American Renewal, a comprehensive, 
integrated plan, so America can win the economic competition. I want to 
open up new foreign markets for our products, because the American 
worker never retreats; we always compete. And we always win.
    I want to see us reform a legal system that is careening out of 
control, faster than a lawyer can chase an ambulance. As a nation, we 
must sue each other less and care for each other more. Enough of these 
reckless lawsuits.
    I am proud, you wouldn't get it from listening to the Clinton-Gore 
ticket cry, but I am proud that under my administration half the college 
students in America now receive some form of Federal grant or tuition 
assistance. We have increased the aid for students.
    Here's another difference I have with the Governor of Arkansas: I 
want to strengthen our elementary and secondary schools by giving every 
parent the right to choose their children's school, public, private, or 
religious.
    But while I'm talking about the positive things, Governor Clinton 
insists on cutting America down. While I'm focusing on the future, he is 
engaged in a deliberate campaign of distortion. I've had it up to here. 
So let's talk about his record. If he wants to talk about the past, if 
the Governor wants to talk about the past, let's do it. We pulled this 
train in here this afternoon to blow the whistle on Governor Clinton and 
his record in Arkansas.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. You know, let me tell you, the people of Arkansas, 
and I used to live right next door to them, the people of Arkansas are 
good and decent. And frankly, they deserve much better leadership than 
they're getting. Here's the scary part: Governor Clinton says he wants 
to do for the national economy what he's done for Arkansas. If you look 
at his record, you'll see that's not a promise. That's a threat. We 
can't have it.
    Okay, he wants to talk specifics. Listen to these: Governor Clinton 
has raised and extended the sales tax, over and over. He taxed 
groceries. He taxed mobile homes. He doubled the tax on gasoline. And he 
even

[[Page 1666]]

raised the tax on beer. How do you like that?
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now he says he's seen the light. In this campaign, he 
proposes $150 billion in new taxes, plus at least $220 billion in new 
spending. But don't worry; don't worry. He says it will all come from 
the rich, the top 2 percent, people who make over $200,000.
    But here's the truth. To get the money that he needs for this tax 
plan and spend plan, the $150 billion he's raised in new taxes, he would 
have to raise taxes on every individual with over $36,600 a year in 
taxable income.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That is a fact. These aren't people that hang out on 
the Riviera. These aren't the people on the ``Lifestyles of the Rich and 
Famous.'' These are good people who work hard all day, and frankly, you 
deserve a break, not more taxes.
    But you know, it's worse than this. I don't want to ruin your day, 
but let me just finish this record. It is worse than this. He has 
promised a new program every time he makes a speech. But he hasn't said 
how he'll pay for them. He'll need hundreds of billions of dollars more, 
beyond the tax increases he's already proposed. You might say, where is 
he going to get the money?
    Well, listen to a newspaper from Governor Clinton's own home State, 
the Pine Bluff Commercial. They said, and I quote, ``If Congress 
followed the example Bill Clinton set as Governor of Arkansas, it would 
pass a program that hit the middle class the hardest.''
    That is a quote from the people that know best. So if the past is 
any guide, Bill Clinton will go to where the money is. He'll take it 
right out of your pocketbook, right from the middle, hard-working class 
in this country. He's not going to stop at just taxing the rich. He's 
going to raise taxes on the middle, and I'm not going to let him do it.
    Just think about what the Clinton plan would mean right here in 
Bowling Green. Let's say you are working in a campus administration. You 
get maybe, what, $38,000 a year in taxable income. Governor Clinton 
could have give you another $1,700 to the tax man. I say you should use 
that money, keep it to pay your bills, not to pay off some special 
interest.
    Here's how he responds: He says, forget it, ``I'm a different kind 
of Democrat.'' Yes, I've heard that one. Listen to his first political 
boss, George McGovern. McGovern says, and here's what I quote, ``The 
Democratic ticket is much more liberal underneath, and they will show it 
after they are elected.'' Let's see that they are not elected to this 
high office.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. He says he's a different kind of Democrat. You tell 
me what's so different about socking it to the middle class. We do not 
need that kind of difference.
    You know, I know Governor Clinton is concerned with his lack of 
foreign policy experience, and frankly, I take great pride in the fact 
that these young people here go to bed at night without quite the same 
fear of nuclear weapons and nuclear war that our predecessors have.
    So Governor Clinton doesn't think foreign policy is important. But 
anyway, he's trying to catch up. You may have seen this in the news. He 
was in Hollywood, seeking foreign policy advice from the rock group U2. 
Now, understand, I have nothing against U2. You may not know this, but 
they tried to call me at the White House every night during their 
concert. But the next time we face a foreign policy crisis, I will work 
with John Major and Boris Yeltsin. And Bill Clinton can consult Boy 
George. I'll stay with the experts.
    But, you know, this U2 is not a description of Governor Clinton's 
foreign policy. It's a description of his economic plan. You, too, can 
pay higher taxes. You, too, can watch inflation waste--write out your 
paycheck. You, too, can see the U.S. get used to 10 percent 
unemployment, where it was when we last had a Democratic President and a 
Democratic Congress.
    I say forget this economic policy. You, too, deserve better, and we 
have the program to move this country ahead. I offer America a 
responsible program but a smaller Government, a Government that sees

[[Page 1667]]

that not every problem can be solved back there along the Potomac but 
understands that the real strength of America is right here in places 
like Bowling Green.
    Our world is filled with so much opportunity, unlike we've ever 
known before. We've stood fast for freedom, and now the world is 
embracing our ideas. And in this election I'm the one that stands for 
freedom and democracy, freedom through strength, freedom from big 
Government, freedom from the arrogance of the bureaucrat, freedom from 
the long arm of the tax man. I stand for these things because they are 
the way we can build a safer and more secure America so that you can 
fulfill your dreams.
    Governor Clinton goes around saying we are a nation in decline, 
somewhere south of Germany and better than Sri Lanka. Let me tell you 
something: We are the most respected nation in the entire world, and 
don't ever let him forget it.
    I am very proud to have served this Nation in war and in peace. I 
ask your support for 4 more years to lead this great country to a new 
prosperity and a new greatness.
    Thank you for this fantastic Bowling Green welcome. And may God 
bless the United States of America. May God bless our great country. 
Thank you very, very much. Thank you so much. Thank you guys.
    ``Millie, not Willie.''

                    Note: The President spoke at 5:02 p.m. at the Reed 
                        and Frazee Streets railroad tracks. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Randy Gardner, State 
                        representative; Betty Montgomery, State senator; 
                        and Wesley Hoffman, Mayor of Bowling Green.