[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 27, 1992]
[Pages 1677-1681]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Concluding a Whistlestop Tour in Grand Blanc, Michigan
September 27, 1992

    The President. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Four more, 
that's it, 4 more of them. Thank you very, very much, Governor Engler. 
You have a great Governor in the State of Michigan. Thank you, John 
Engler. May I salute Mrs. Engler and

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thank Mayor Crane. Thank you all for this fantastic hospitality. And may 
I salute Dick Chrysler and Megan O'Neill, both of whom are running for 
the United States Congress. It's great to have two great people running 
for the Congress. Let us clean House, change the Congress. Get rid of 
that tired old leadership, and get some new blood in there. Clean House!
    And may I salute the three great bands who are here: the Grand Blanc 
High School Cats, Montrose High School, and Davison High School. You 
make us all feel welcome. Barbara and I want to thank all of you for 
this unbelievable reception there. You know, this is the end of a 233-
mile tour across America's heartland, building momentum for this 
election. And you give a guy a feeling of confidence. I am absolutely 
convinced we are going to beat that Governor of Arkansas and win this 
election.
    You know, for 233 miles, we've been hanging off the back of this 
marvelous train, waving to people. We've seen some incredible sights: 
kids and pets and rolling farmlands and factories, thousands and 
thousands of enthusiastic Americans. We've also seen some great signs 
out there. One of them said, ``Blow the whistle on Bill.'' That's 
exactly what we're here to do. Then we must have--saw one guy who 
obviously was a student of the Arkansas environmental record of Governor 
Clinton. His sign said, ``Arkansas fish for Bush.'' The fish are tired 
down there of all that pollution. It's the only place they light up at 
night. [Laughter] You talk about the environment--take a look at that 
Arkansas River, and I'll have more to say about that in a minute.
    We've even seen some chickens along the way. Here's one back here. 
But I can't figure out if that chicken is talking about the draft. I 
can't figure that out. Or maybe he's talking about that Arkansas River 
again, where they're dumping that--I've got to be careful here--that 
fecal, some kind of bacteria, into the river. Too much from the chicken. 
[Laughter]
    You know, this election is like every election, a referendum of what 
kind of America we want for the young people that are here today. And we 
have laid out a renewal plan. We call it the Agenda for American 
Renewal. It is a comprehensive and integrated plan so that in the 21st 
century America will reign as the economic superpower of the entire 
world. We still have the best economy in the whole world. Now let's make 
it better.
    Tomorrow in Dallas some supporters of Ross Perot will gather to hear 
what both campaigns have to offer. And we're going to send a team just 
to make a case for the agenda that I offer for America. Mine is the only 
agenda that includes cutting the growth of mandatory Government 
spending, cutting the size of Government, and reducing the Federal 
deficit because that is the way to give the kids here today a better 
America tomorrow. I'm afraid that Governor Clinton offers more of the 
old big taxes, big Government; no serious plan to control the deficit. 
And when you compare our ideas, it is a very clear choice. He wants to 
do what is right to win an election, and I want to do what is right to 
win the global economic competition.
    Well, you might say, how are we going to do it? Down the street a 
little bit is a small business called Impact Auto Collision. The owner 
of that business lost his job with GM so he decided to start his own 
business, and today it's going strong. This is the story of human 
renewal, a story of American renewal. It is happening all across 
America. No people are more resilient than the American people. No 
people can rise better to any challenge if Government pursues the right 
policies. Send me a Congress that will help, and we will pursue the 
right policies for the next 4 years.
    You see, I believe that small business is going to create the real 
opportunity and the new jobs in this economy. Bill Clinton looks at 
small business as the goose that laid the golden egg. And he wants to 
tax you. I see small business as the sturdy house, that sturdy horse 
that's going to pull the American economy into the next century. And I 
want to give you relief from taxes and build a strong residence, a 
strong house, a strong economy for everybody.
    You know, our legal system today is another thing. He refuses to 
change it. He's in the pocket of the trial lawyers. And our legal system 
today is careening out of con-

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trol. Doctors are afraid to deliver babies. Some guys are afraid to 
coach Little League because they get sued. Some are afraid to stop at a 
highway accident for fear somebody will sue them later on. And the 
victims in the car crash sometimes, therefore, lose out because of 
outrageous lawsuits. And as a nation, we've got to stop that. We've got 
to sue each other less and care for each other more. Help me put a cap 
on these outrageous lawsuits. As a nation, we've got to sue each other 
less.
    But Bill Clinton wants to go another way. He wants to increase 
Government regulation, not cut it. Listen, here's what he wants to do on 
automobiles. You all know something about automobiles. He wants to go to 
40 or 45 miles per gallon on these CAFE standards. And there's a couple 
of problems with this idea. Scientists say we can't do it. It could 
throw 40,000 Michigan auto workers out of work. Help me defeat Governor 
Clinton and those crazy environmental standards. We've got a good record 
on the environment, far better than this chicken has in Arkansas. And I 
want you to know that we've got a good one, but we don't have to come 
down on the side of throwing auto workers out of their jobs. I am not 
going to do that.
    I want to see us fundamentally reform our Government. Governor 
Clinton says he's for change, but he opposes the single most important 
change offered this year. You see, he is against it, and I am for it. I 
want to limit the term for Members of the United States Congress. I want 
to see some change in there. A President's terms are limited; why 
shouldn't Congress be limited?
    While I'm trying to find ways to build America up, the only way 
Governor Clinton can win is to tell everybody how bad everything is. And 
for 11 months he's been doing just that, tearing down America. He says 
we are somewhere less than Germany but a little higher than Sri Lanka. 
And to him I say: Open your eyes, Governor Clinton. We are the most 
respected nation on the face of the Earth. And one of the reasons is 
when we were faced with a tyrant halfway around the world, and the 
President had to make a tough choice, I didn't do what he did, be on one 
side of the issue one day, another the other. I said, we are going to 
have to fight for what is right. We did it. The young men and women of 
Desert Storm restored the pride to the United States. And I am proud of 
that role. And I am proud of this record. And I'll stand for it. To 
listen to Governor Clinton and Gore talk, you'd think foreign affairs 
and national security means nothing. I am very proud that every young 
person here today goes to bed without that same fear of nuclear war that 
their predecessors had. That is progress, and we should be grateful for 
it.
    Now, we're talking about blowing the whistle on Bill. But you see, 
the people of Arkansas are good and decent folks, and they deserve 
another leader down there who will give them a better deal. But let me 
tell you what happened. Governor Clinton says he wants to do for the 
national economy what he's done for Arkansas. But if you look at his 
record you'll see that's not a promise, that's a threat. He's extended 
and raised the sales tax over and over again. He taxed groceries. He 
taxed mobile homes. He doubled the tax on gasoline. And he even raised 
the tax on beer. I don't think we need that now for the United States at 
our level.
    Governor Clinton says he's seen the light. In this campaign, he's 
proposing already $150 billion in new taxes plus at least $220 billion 
in new spending. But don't worry, he says, we can take it all from the 
rich guys, people with over $200,000. But here's the problem. Here's the 
truth. To get the money he needs for this plan, the $150 billion he's 
promised in new taxes, Governor Clinton would have to raise tax rates on 
every individual with over $36,600 a year in taxable income. That is 
$36,600. These are not the people on the ``Lifestyles of the Rich and 
Famous.'' These are not people that are driving Jaguars. These are 
people who are hard at work every single day. And we cannot let him do 
that to the working men and women of this country.
    But it's even worse, if you can take a little more bad news here. 
Governor Clinton has promised a new program every time he makes a 
speech. He's got more answers than there are problems, but he hasn't 
said how he'll pay for them. We'll need hundreds of 
billions of dollars more, beyond the

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tax increases that he's already proposed. So don't kid yourself. When 
Governor Clinton is pulling promises out of the sky with one hand, he's 
pulling dollars out of your wallet with the other. We cannot let that 
happen to the American people.
    Hey, listen, you don't have to take my word for it. Listen to the 
Pine Bluff Commercial, a paper right in his home State, right in his 
home area. And they said this: ``If Congress followed the example that 
Bill Clinton set as Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a program that 
hit the middle class the hardest.'' And I am not going to let him do 
that to the American people. You know Grand Blanc. Let me tell you what 
it would do to somebody right here. Let's say you've got a good job. 
Let's say you're earning 38,000 bucks a year in taxable income. Governor 
Clinton would have you give another $1,700 to the tax man. And I say 
that you ought to be free to use that money to pay for your kids' 
education or to pay the mortgage on your house and not send it to 
Washington, DC.
    Governor Clinton says, ``Forget my record.''
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Governor Clinton says--you know, here's what gets 
me--he says, ``I'm a different kind of Democrat.'' He says. But what's 
different about him? George McGovern, he worked for George. Jimmy 
Carter, he voted for him, brought us the highest ``misery index'' in 
modern time. Michael Dukakis, he nominated him. And he didn't forget 
Walter Mondale, he borrowed his tax increase from him. Different? What's 
so different about that?
    I'll tell you one real worry I've got. Just think about him teaming 
up with those spending Democrats on Capitol Hill. I've had to pass 33 
vetoes to protect the taxpayer against those maniacs. So imagine what it 
would be if they controlled both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. We'd have 
a rubber-check Congress. That's what they are. And we'd have a rubber-
stamp President. And you watch out for your wallet if that ever happens.
    So I say forget his plans to spend more and tax more. You deserve to 
keep your hard-earned dollars, and you can invest them better than any 
Government bureaucrat. And when it comes to the Presidency, we simply 
must not take a risk. This is serious business. The decisions you face 
in the Oval Office are not easy decisions. You can't be on one side of 
the issue one day and then on the other the other day. You can't keep 
everybody happy. You've got to be honest. You've got to call them as the 
umpire does, call them as you see them, take the heat when it comes with 
it. And you can't waffle around, whether it's on your record in the 
military or whether it's on your service as the Governor, or wherever it 
is. You've got to call them straight. And I am asking for your trust for 
another 4 years.
    I honestly believe that that big Government philosophy is wrong for 
America at this time. And any way you cut it, I believe Governor 
Clinton, with this philosophy of tax and spend, is the wrong man to be 
President of the United States. I hope I have earned your trust for 4 
more years in this high office. You know, I'll take my share----
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. When you make a mistake in life, you ought to admit 
it. You ought to stand up and admit it. And I've taken my share of the 
heat, and I'm perfectly prepared to do that. But I want to point out 
that it isn't just the United States that had difficulties. The entire 
world has been in a bit of a global recession. And there isn't one 
country in Europe that wouldn't trade their economy for the economy of 
the United States of America, our problems notwithstanding.
    And the nations that have gone downhill are the ones that have 
endorsed the Clinton plan of more taxes, more socialist ideas, more 
Government. We don't need that. The nations of Europe now that are 
recovering are on the road for democracy and freedom, and that's what we 
want to keep here, and that's what we want to help extend around the 
world. So we must not adopt for the great United States the failed 
strategies that are being rejected in Europe. We're not going to take a 
risk by socking it to the middle class right here in this coun-

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try.
    You know, I think our world is filled with great opportunity, unlike 
any that we have known before, if we in America can rise to the 
challenge. We have stood fast for freedom. And now the world is 
embracing our ideas. And in this election, I stand for freedom, freedom 
from big Government, freedom from the arrogance of the bureaucrat, and 
freedom from the long arm of the tax man. That's the kind of freedom we 
need more of in the United States of America.
    At the end of this trip--I came here to ask for your support. We've 
got a lot of reasons. I happen to think we've got the best First Lady in 
the entire world. And I think when she reaches out her hands to the kids 
in teaching them to read, she's setting an example for family. And when 
she holds an AIDS baby in her arms, she's showing the kind of compassion 
that all Americans feel. And I want to find ways through choice in 
schools and choice in education to strengthen the American family. The 
heartbeat of America is our family, and we ought to strengthen it, not 
tear it down by lousy welfare programs and things that don't work.
    We have a great country, and we can make it even greater. So thank 
you for this fantastic turnout today. It is good for the soul. It makes 
me more convinced than ever that I will have 4 more years to finish the 
job.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Let this chicken back here tell you what's wrong 
about America. I'll tell you what's great about it. We are the freest, 
fairest country on the face of the Earth. Now let's make it even better.
    Thank you, and may God bless each and every one of you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. on the 
                        observation deck of the Spirit of America train. 
                        In his remarks, he referred to Greg Crane, Mayor 
                        of Grand Blanc, and an audience member dressed 
                        in a chicken costume.